Cast your vote for the 2012 Hugo Awards and help decide this year’s winners, recognizing [Read it all...]]]>

GAME OF THRONES (top) and DR. WHO (bottom) could be possible contenders in the Best Dramatic Presentation categories. George R. R. Martin fans and Dr. Who fans may have a major impact on who wins this year's Hugo Awards.

Cast your vote for the 2012 Hugo Awards and help decide this year’s winners, recognizing the best in science fiction and fantasy. In order to nominate for this year’s Hugo Award winners, you must register as either a supporting member or attending member of this year’s World Science Fiction Convention by January 31st — this Tuesday! Chicago will be the site of this year’s convention (AKA “The 2012 Worldcon” or “Chicon 7″), and in 2013, it will be San Antonio’s turn to be the host city for this major event.

By registering as a member of the 2012 Worldcon in Chicago, you’re eligible to nominate AND vote for this year’s Hugos. These are two separate processes. The Hugo Awards nomination deadline is Sunday, March 11, 2012, 23:59 PDT. Once the nominations list is announced, the final voting occurs, and the winners are decided. Your vote can decide who is nominated and who wins!

Advice to all San Antonians and Texans interested in voting in the Hugos, but who do not intend to attend the Worldcon in Chicago:

1. Register as a supporting member of the 2012 Chicago Worldcon. The cost is only $50. The supporting membership allows you full Hugo Awards voting rights this year and is less expensive than an attending membership. If you register by this Tuesday, January 31st, you are able to submit nominations AND vote on the final 2012 Hugo ballot. However, if you miss the Tuesday deadline, you can still pay $50 and vote on the final ballot, but you forfeit the ability to nominate. Therefore, registering by this Tuesday is the best value for your $50.

2. Don’t forget to also register for the 2013 Worldcon in San Antonio (AKA “LoneStarCon 3″). It’s not necessary to register for LoneStarCon 3 by this Tuesday, but do bear in mind that membership fees escalate as the con approaches.

The Hugo Awards are the premier award in the science fiction genre, honoring literature, art, and media as well as the genre’s fans. The Hugo Awards were first presented at the 1953 World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia (Philcon II), and they have continued to honor science fiction and fantasy notables for nearly 60 years.

Wednesday October 12, 2011 is 501st Night at the Alamo Drafthouse North Park were you will get to see the movie Fanboys sponsored by the San Antonio branch of the 501st [Read it all...]]]> Looking to see a movie this week? There’s lots of movie events happening this week and many of them are free. Here’s the low-down…

Wednesday October 12, 2011 is 501st Night at the Alamo Drafthouse North Park were you will get to see the movie Fanboys sponsored by the San Antonio branch of the 501st Legion (AKA Vader’s Fist – the world’s definitive imperial costuming organization). The movie starts at 7:30 PM. Fanboys follows the adventures of a couple of Star Wars fans who travel to Skywalker Ranch to steal an early copy of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

Admission is a $2.00 donation benefitting the American Heart Association. Prepare to be greeted by Darth Vader and Storm Troopers!

Thursday October 13 is overflowing with options.

First, it’s Steampunk Night the at the Alamo Drafthouse Park North featuring a screening of The City of Lost Children. Steampunk Night is presented by the San Antonio Neo-Victorian Association and they host this gathering every second Thursday of the month with a new Steampunk visual experience! Steampunks from all over Texas will be in attendance along with vendors and artists with affordable wares for sale. Costumes are definitely encouraged for this event. Steampunk Night runs from 6:30pm – 9:30pm

The City of Lost Children is a fantastically dark Steampunk look into the world of mad scientists and circus strongmen brought to you by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (before Amelie). The film starts at 7:30, but arriving anywhere from 45 minutes to a hour before the actual start of the movie is encouraged. Free Admission.

For a more family friendly feature, check out My Neighbor Totoro at the Alamo Drafthouse Stone Oak presented by Dragon’s Lair. Showtime is at 7:00 PM and Admission is free, but you will need to get a ticket from the box office.

Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro is that rare delight, a family film that appeals to children and adults alike. While their mother is in the hospital, 10-year-old Satsuki and 4-year-old Mei move into an old house in the country with their father. Mei wanders into the nearby forest and discovers the nest of a giant forest spirit, King Totoro. This film is incredibly popular in Japan and is often considered Hayao Miyazaki’s signature work.

And since it’s Thursday, you can count on Blood Thirsty Thursdays to deliver the gore. And this time they do in spades with John Carpenter’s 1982 The Thing. This is perfect timing since the new prequel to The Thing (creatively called The Thing) hits theaters this weekend.

The Thing is both a remake of Howard Hawks’ 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell, Jr. story “Who Goes There?”  A Siberian Husky shows up at an Antarctic science outpost base leading to a deadly alien encounter. No one knows who to trust as the Thing mutates into anything it kills. Showtimes are at 7:30 and 10:30 PM at the Alamo Drafthouse Westlakes. Regular general admission price.

On Sunday, October 16, 2011 Comic Break kicks off their second installment of Fanboy Flix with Army of Darkness at 7:00 PM. Screening this cult classic just in time for Halloween, the event will also feature local artist Austin “Redbeard” Rogers as he unveils a special Army of Darkness themed art print. Copies of the print will be available for purchase. Army of Darkness is the third installment of the Evil Dead series, but no prior knowledge is required. This is early Sam Raimi at this best before he hit it big with Spiderman, Hercules and Xena. Free Admission!

The [Read it all...]]]> San Antonio has long been known as a weirdness magnet. Whether it’s infamous hotel ghosts, Spurs catching bats, phantom children pushing cars, or Bigfoot himself, SA was a weird streak a mile long. And that streak extends to the skies above the city as evidenced in the following video provided by YouTube user SAUFOTX.

The San Antonio Current has been trolling for UFO stories since May and their blogger Chasing Shadows pointed us toward this one. Read their full article, San Antonio resident’s UFO video of triangular craft receives support from investigator.

Here’s what SAUFOTX had to say about the video:

On September 14, 2011 a huge UFO craft was filmed over San Antonio, TX. As I was facing west I notice this huge glowing object traveling east. I could clearly see this object was no aircraft. No FAA navigational light’s were visible. So I quickly grabbed my camcorder for a closer observation. As i began filming this huge unknown object multiple lights could be seen. This UFO appears to be a solid craft. On the video you can see this object [appears] to be emiting some kind of glowing energy. While I was filming unknown, the lights’ configuration began to change. When zooming in multiple lights were different shape. I did not see any FAA lights [or] hear any noise coming from this unknown object. In my opinion clearly [this was] an UNIDENTIFED FLYING OBJECT. This was an awesome sighting…as it appears to be one solid object. And the size of this object seemed to be enormous. This huge glowing object was clearly no aircraft or satellite.

LoneStarCon 3 -– the 71st World Science Fiction Convention -– [Read it all...]]]> The World Science Fiction Convention will return to Texas — San Antonio to be precise — for the first time since 1997. On Aug. 20, voters at Renovation, the 2011 Worldcon, awarded the right to host the international conference to the Texas in 2013 bid.

LoneStarCon 3 -– the 71st World Science Fiction Convention -– will take place Aug. 29-Sept. 2, 2013, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. The Mariott Rivercenter and Mariott Riverwalk will serve as the host hotels.

The guests of honor list for LoneStarCon 3 includes Ellen Datlow, James Gunn, Norman Spinrad, Darrel K. Sweet and Willie Siros, with Paul Cornell serving as toastmaster and featuring special guests Leslie Fish and Joe R. Lansdale.

Founded in 1939, the World Science Fiction Convention is one of the largest international gatherings of authors, artists, editors, publishers and fans of science fiction and fantasy entertainment. The annual Hugo Awards, the leading award for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, are voted on by Worldcon membership and presented during the convention.

LoneStarCon 3 is sponsored by ALAMO, Inc., (Alamo Literary Arts Maintenance Organization), a 501(c)3 organization. Membership for LoneStarCon 3 may be purchased at www.LoneStarCon3.org. In addition to individual memberships, LoneStarCon 3 will also offer a family rate. For more information about LoneStarCon 3, memberships or hotel information, visit www.LoneStarCon3.org.

Guests of Honor

Paul Cornell is a writer of science fiction and fantasy in prose, television and comics, and is the only person to have been a Hugo Award nominee for all three media. He’s written Action Comics for DC Comics and Doctor Who for the BBC. His novels are Something More and British Summertime. His forthcoming novel, an urban fantasy, will be published by Tor in 2012.

Ellen Datlow has edited science fiction, fantasy and horror short fiction for three decades. She served as fiction editor of Omni magazine and SCI Fiction, and has edited many anthologies for adults, young adults and children. She has won multiple Locus, Hugo, Stoker, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy Awards. She was the recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award for “outstanding contribution to the genre.”

Leslie Fish is one of the best-known authors of filk songs including “Banned from Argo,” a comic song parodying Star Trek which has spawned more than 80 variants since first performed.

James Gunn is a science fiction author, editor, scholar and anthologist. His most significant writings include fiction from the 1960s and 70s and his scholarly Road to Science Fiction collections. Gunn is a founding director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction. He won a Hugo Award for non-fiction in 1983 and was honored in 2007 as a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Joe R. Lansdale is the author of more than 30 books and is known to his fans as Champion Joe, Mojo Storyteller. His is known for his horror stories, the Hap and Leonard mystery/thriller series and the theatrical film Bubba Ho-Tep. Lansdale’s many awards include 16 Bram Stoker Aawards, the Grand Master Award from the World Horror Convention, a British Fantasy Award and the American Mystery Award.

Willie Siros was instrumental in starting the long-running Austin science fiction convention, Armadillocon, serving as chair of the first three editions. Siros also contributed to the founding of the Fandom Association of Central Texas, the original LoneStarCon (the 1985 North American Science Fiction Convention) and Adventures In Crime & Space Books. He is a former para-librarian at the University of Texas Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center where he developed its speculative fiction collection.

Norman Spinrad is the author of more than 20 novels, including Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream, Child of Fortune, Pictures at 11, Greenhouse Summer and The Druid King. He has also published approximately 60 short stories collected in a dozen volumes. Spinrad has written teleplays, including the classic Star Trek episode “The Doomsday Machine.” He is a long time literary critic, occasional film critic and songwriter, and perpetual political analyst.

Darrell K. Sweet is an artist most famous for providing the cover art for the fantasy epic saga The Wheel of Time. He is also the illustrator for the well-known Xanth series by Piers Anthony, the Saga of Recluce series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., and the Runelords series by David Farland. He is also the original cover artist for Stephen R. Donaldson’s series The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.

We’ve seen a lot of incredible art come out of recent ArtSlam! San Antonio events. On of the most iconic has been founder Rob Perez’s mashup of the Misfits skull face with Star Wars arch villain Darth Vader from the Star Wars-themed ArtSlam! on [Read it all...]]]>

Rob Perez's Misfit Invader - Die, Die, Die, My Jedi!

We’ve seen a lot of incredible art come out of recent ArtSlam! San Antonio events. On of the most iconic has been founder Rob Perez’s mashup of the Misfits skull face with Star Wars arch villain Darth Vader from the Star Wars-themed ArtSlam! on May 14th, 2011. The painting sold that night, but now you have the opportunity to sport one of there signature images on a shirt.

While the official release will be August 20th, you can now pre-order Misfit Invader by Rob Perez AKA Deadbeat Hero now. These limited edition pieces are printed on Gilden 100% cotton pre-shrunk shirts.

Get him while you can! Shirts are available from small to large for just $10 and XL and 2XL are $12.

Head over to the ArtSlam! San Antonio web site to buy your shirt now, before they are all gone.

Our favorite journalist at the San Antonio Express-News, René Guzman, will have a great article in the Sunday edition of the paper profiling one of our favorite local artists. Alfredo “Freddy” Lopez, Jr. has been making the rounds, showing his works at local galleries, ArtSlam! San Antonio and [Read it all...]]]>

The Art of Alfredo Lopez, Jr.

Our favorite journalist at the San Antonio Express-News, René Guzman, will have a great article in the Sunday edition of the paper profiling one of our favorite local artists. Alfredo “Freddy” Lopez, Jr. has been making the rounds, showing his works at local galleries, ArtSlam! San Antonio and Art at the Jalapeño. Lopez has done work for 5Finity, Rogue Games, Bregent Marketing, Ape Entertainment, Image/Shadowline Comics, Markosia Publishing and plenty of others. We keep hearing rumors of some higher-profile gigs as well.

We are totally enamored of his work and you will be too. Support your local artists, journalists and newspaper by picking up a copy Sunday and see why Freddy has been getting some notice. You should be able to see the article online at Guzman’s Geek Speak blog on MySanAntonio.com.

Want to see more of Freddy’s work? Check out his web site at LopezStudios.com.

John Picacio’s much anticipated 2012 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar hits North American stores today and we have a sneak preview directly from the source! Picacio worked on this calendar for a year creating twelve gorgeous images of George R.R. Martin’s detailed fantasy world. The calendar from Bantam presents Picacio’s [Read it all...]]]>

John Picacio’s much anticipated 2012 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar hits North American stores today and we have a sneak preview directly from the source! Picacio worked on this calendar for a year creating twelve gorgeous images of George R.R. Martin’s detailed fantasy world. The calendar from Bantam presents Picacio’s view of the the characters and events in the books with his own interpretation, differing in varying degrees from that seen in HBO’s Game of Thrones series. Different, and awesome! Granted, we’re biased because we know John and love his work. And we’ve totally imbibed the GRRM kool-aid. But that doesn’t take away from this stunning portfolio of memorable images.

You will find many of your favorite characters depicted including Jon Snow, Ned Stark, Tyrion Lanister, Jaime Lanister, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark and the Hound; but Picacio also shows some of the second tier players like Gregor Clegane, the Red Viper and Melisandre. This calendar is the perfect way to rest your eyes when taking a break from long passages of GRRM’s new A Dance with Dragons.

John Picacio has posted all twelve images on his blog, but you’ll still want to get the calendar and see all the detail in these images. And if you will be attending San Diego Comic Con, Picacio will be appearing with George R.R. Martin at AA21 from 3p-5p on Friday. He will also have calendars available at his booth (#4600) all weekend and Random House (booth #1515) will have them as well. All ASoIaF and Game of Thrones fans should stop by and visit.

On his blog, Picacio has this to say about his work and his time in Westeros:

All of my artworks in this calendar are a hybrid of traditional pencil drawing and traditional paint, digitally composited together. I love drawing with pencils on a piece of good Strathmore illustration board. Working up those original underdrawings, through the buildups of color, and on to the final layerings, was a labor of love.

I lived in Westeros for many months while doing this work. It was one of the greatest trips of my life, to date. I learned a lot. I would return again in a heartbeat. Thanks to the family members and friends who were my reference models and helped me channel my visions into better drawings and paintings.

John Picacio's 'The Others'

We’ve got more…after the jump…

John Snow & Ghost

Bran Stark

Looking for more? Picacio discusses each image in greater detail on his blog so head over to John Picacio’s blog for the full collection! You can also read a sweet and timely interview with John Picacio on SF Signal. And let us know what you think and which one is your favorite.