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DEREK AUSTIN JOHNSON
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A Scanner Darkly As a CG-Infused Nightmare.

5/25/2013

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Here is Rustmonkey's CG test animation for Philip K. Dick's classic drug-induced science fiction novel A Scanner Darkly.  According to Lauren Davis at io9, the studio created this two-minute piece of surrealism before Section Eight Productions hired Richard Linklater to rotoscope Keavu Reaves and Robert Downey, Jr.  

As much as I admire Linklater's fascinating adaptation, I have to admit really digging Rustmonkey's Lynchian take.
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Dennis Lehane to Write "Travis McGee"

5/25/2013

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Dennis Lehane, whose Gone, Baby, Gone is one of the finest thrillers of the last fifteen years, is about to dip his scrivener's pen into the ink of one of crime fiction's most sublime characters.
Based on the book “Deep Blue Good-by,” the novel was part of 21 book series focusing on Travis Magee who is the central character in a series of mysteries by John D. McDonald.  They are classic sleuth novels, set it Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Fingers crossed for this one.  
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Submerged Condos of the Gods?  Today's News by (Possibly) Erich Von Däniken...

5/24/2013

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Wow. Tell me this doesn't sound like the opening of the coolest technothriller ever written, or that it doesn't have the makings of an outstanding Cthulhu Mythos story.  I can see a novel that mixes James Rollins's Subterranean with Lovecraft's "Dagon," add a little Clive Cussler, and...

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A Trio of Trailers

5/20/2013

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Others have posted these already, of course, but as I continue to rationalize my disappointment with Star Trek Into Darkness and find myself less and less enthusiastic about either Guilliermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim or Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, I find myself far more keenly interested in other, far more interesting science fiction cinema coming this year, such as October's Gravity from Alfonso Cuaron, who did the genre quite proud with Children of Men.
It could work, though I'm still gritting my teeth at hearing sound in outer space.

I'm also intrigued by Europa Report, which apparently is taking The Blair Witch Project into outer space.
Coming back down to earth, and even more compelling, is Ari Folman's (Waltz With Bashir) The Congress, an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's The Futurological Congress, one of my all-time favorite science fiction novels.
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Joe Lansdale's "Cold in July" Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

5/19/2013

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Good news for Joe R. Lansdale fans:  his savagely seasoned suspense novel Cold in July (which, if you haven't read, you should; it has made my list of the best top 25 suspense thrillers of the 20th Century), is slated to be director Jim Mickle's next film.  Via Deadline:

“It was important to us to find partners on the movie who would help us create an environment for Jim, where he would be protected and be able to excel as a filmmaker,” Linda Moran and Rene Bastian from Belladonna said. “We are very happy to have found the full support of the Backup/MFI team.”For Backup Media, this marks a growing determination to put equity into English-language films; in previous investments they provided debt. “We are very proud Cold In July is the first film for which Backup has provided one-stop film financing,” a Backup rep said. “We truly believe Belladonna/MFI/Mickle are the ideal team for us to extend our investment framework.”
Hopefully this will be every bit as good as Don Coscarelli's cult classic Bubba Ho-Tep.
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What the Interwebs Have Brought

5/19/2013

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Via National Geographic, scientists find a lost continent off the coast of Brazil.
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The Atlantis-like lost, hidden, or fantastic world is a common theme in fiction. There are J. R. R. Tolkein's Middle Earth and James Hilton's Shangri-La, not to mention Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. The original lost land, Atlantis, was firstmentioned by Plato around 360 B.C. According to Plato, Atlantis sank into the earth and drowned beneath the seas. Real continents rarely disappear in such dramatic fashion. "Continents by definition are made of low-density rock and cannot be subducted deep into the earth," explained Staci Loewy, a geologist at the University of Texas at Austin.

Nonetheless, there are real "lost lands" like the Brazilian "Atlantis" that have disappeared from view because of rising seas or the geological upheavals of plate tectonics and erosion. "Parts of continents can be worn down by erosion, and fragments can be broken off and isolated as microcontinents when larger continents break apart," Loewy said.

A bit of news that would do H. P. Lovecraft and Erich Von Däniken proud...as would this pictoral essay on the Argenine village of Epecuen, which has resurfaced after being submerged for 25 years.
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In space news, a loophole in Einstein's theory of relativity could provide spaceships with the ability to travel faster than light.
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The Alcubierre warp drive is still theoretical for now. "The truth is that the best ideas sound crazy at first. And then there comes a time when we can't imagine a world without them." That's a statement from the 100 Year Starship organization, a think tank devoted to making Earth what "Star Trek" would call a "warp-capable civilization" within a century.

The first step toward a functional warp drive is to prove that a "warp bubble" is even possible, and that it can be artificially created.

That's exactly what physicist Harold "Sonny" White and a team of researchers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas are doing right now.

And, lastly, Henry Markham discusses how to build a supercomputer replica of the human brain.
Understanding the brain writ large is what drives Markram. It has been his only serious interest since the age of 13, when his mother sent him from the Kalahari game farm where he’d spent his childhood to a boarding school outside Durban. His first year there, he stumbled across some research on schizophrenia and other mental disorders and directed his youthful energy into studying the mind. “It was just amazing to me that you could have a little more or less of some chemical and your whole worldview would be different,” he recalls, smiling with boyish wonder. “If you can switch a chemical and your personality changes, who are you?”
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Excuse me, I have to begin mapping  stories...
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    Derek Austin Johnson has lived most of his life in the Lone Star State. His work has appeared in The Horror Zine, Rayguns Over Texas!, Horror U.S.A.: Texas, Campfire Macabre, The Dread Machine, and Generation X-ed.

    He lives in Central Texas. 

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