A Test Of Faith
By Julian Gilmour

© 2007 and reprinted with the author’s permission.

“Bless me Father, for I have sinned.” Father John looked up with a start as he had seen no one approach the confessional. “I have told lies on occasion,” said the voice “but I am about to tell you the truth.” Father John noticed an unusual echo in the man’s voice, and that his own hair was standing on end, as if he were charged with static electricity.

“Bless you my child. How long has it been since your last confession?”

“That will take some explaining. I am here to deliver a message to you, and I haven’t much time. Locking is only temporary”

“What do you mean by ‘locking’ my child?” The charged atmosphere, Father John felt, was becoming unnerving, and it was then that he noticed the background buzzing noise beneath the man’s voice. He wondered if perhaps the stranger had a radio with him. “A message from whom and about what?”

“Firstly it might be an idea to explain something to you”

“And what might that be?”

“That I am from your future” The buzzing surrounding the stranger ebbed a little.

“I beg your pardon?” the priest hoped that he had misheard.

“I am from your future, Father John”
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Southland Tales

From Richard Kelly, creator of (one of my favourite films) Donnie Darko.

“HAVE A NICE APOCALYPSE!” or “THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS, NOT WITH A WHIMPER BUT WITH A BANG!”

I watched the checkdisk, my brain went to mush. And I could quite easily imagine that is where the above quotes come from, the mushing and/exploding of the brain. As Richard Kelly apparently said, “You need to watch it twice to unlock its mysteries”. Yeah, no brainer really, it’s like a weird comic with so many strands and freaky things all at once it makes me think maybe he made it for his own amusement - a lets see how many ideas and effects and storylines and actors and other such things we can have in a large viewing timeframe-, and forgot there were people who were looking forward to it, to having to pay to watch it, to at least get some semblence of a cohesive story from watching it.

I’ll be putting myself through 2 hrs 25 minutes in the next day or so, and hopefully will be able to work out what the heck was going on.

By the way, the above doesn’t mean I dislike it, it’s just a lot for the five senses to take in. I think two of mine shutdown after about an hour and a half, so, once they’re bolstered up and recovered, I’ll re examine the film.

Until then, here’s some info to whet your appetite…
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Cosmic Ceilings: Glow In The Dark 3D Effect Imagery

Grant Hicks is a painter with a slight difference, he paints Cosmic Ceilings, scenes from outer space onto mainly bedroom ceilings.

Using specialist glow paint (which is actually invisible during the day) he creates stars, shooting stars, blackholes and other such images. These ceilings can only be seen in the dark. They look truly amazing as they have a 3D effect, and you feel as though you are actually looking up to the stars.

He can also do themed ceilings such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and fantasy scenes (images of which you can see below).

He also trains people to do this for a living as self-employed ‘Startists’.

Images Of Ceilings Painted And Websites:
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Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: Reenactment On Your Mobile Phone

SW: TESBOM is an action/arcade game based around a series of fun and challenging mini-games where the player participates in the key events from the Episode V movie.

Take control of either Luke Skywalker or various Star Wars vehicles such as Snow Speeders or even the Millennium Falcon itself.

Travel through the various worlds of the Star Wars universe; fly through asteroid fields, train with Yoda, or even fight the mighty Imperial Forces on foot.

Key Features:

· Re-enact key scenes from the Empire Strikes Back!
· Jedi Combat/Training Mode featuring Yoda and Luke Skywalker
· Millennium Falcon game mode – Escape from the Star Destroyer through the asteroid field
· Train your force abilities with mini-games featuring the famous scenes with Yoda and Luke in the swamps of Degobah
· Easy control mechanism using contextual action points

Actual Screenshots And Purchase Info:
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Bioshock Computer Game Character Statue

Status: Open

Other information: The seller wants this piece of artwork to go to a good home, and doesn’t particularly want to put it on Ebay, as the audience isn’t necessarily targetted. Will accept any reasonable offer and answer questions regarding the product, shipping costs etc.

We reckon this would go in any front room, gaming room or even as an out of the ordinary garden Gnome. As this is the first post of this kind, we will be sorting out a more automated way of passing seller information onto enquirers.

So if you have any second hand books, collectables or anything remotely scifi/horror/fantasy to send to a good home, then please let us know through the contact form.

Disclaimer: Once Scifi UK Review passes enquiries on to the seller, we will not be involved in any communication or potential transactions arising from this post. We won’t take a ‘cut’ and will leave the communication between enquirer and seller, once initial contact has been made.

Photo of the Bioshock Statue:
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The H-Bomb Girl: Stephen Baxter

“The Cuban Missile Crisis, Teddyboys, Rock N’ Roll, The Key To The End Of The World, Timetravel - There’s nothing quite like being a teenager in Liverpool during 1962…”

Laura Mann, 14, is The H-Bomb Girl and has just moved to Liverpool with her mum. Laura’s father is seperating from her mother, and he’s in the RAF, and very close to the rising angst between the US and Cuba.

This is a fictional account of history during the Cuban Missile Crisis, rise of the Beatles, threat of nuclear war and includes bit parts by the Beatles and Cilla Black. As I’ve spent quite a bit of time in and around Liverpool in the last few years, and the descriptions of 60s Liverpool, especially the Cavern and the feeling of the loud music rockets this story onto another parallel. I even looked around for footage of The Beatles playing early on in their career, and you can image The H-Bomb Girl and her friends somewhere in the crowd.

It’s worth pointing out that Baxter is well known for his harder SF, and this is quite a departure for him, don’t expect in your face SF, this is more subtle, and the way he introduces the SF elements are perfectly paced.

There is a big downside though, and that’s towards the end where the story collapses (as does the wall in The Cavern in an idiotic display of dangerousness of the British Military) and my suspension of belief was forced to vacate the area.
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TAU 4: V.J. Waks

“A being known as TAU 4, the terrible and uncontrollable brain child of a brilliant, enigmatic and ruthless scientist.”

On a distant planet of the Homeworld Alliance, Dr. Stephen Weller, acclaimed expert in behaviour, is about to penetrate one of the greatest mysteries of his field. He spent months of planning and care to get access to Altair Base, a high security experimental research facility.

Dark work is afoot at this Base controlled by Dyle Carzon and his entourage, under the guise of its focus for the war efforts against the hostile planets of the Outworlds. Securely tucked away in Altair’s encrouching forest, the Base is a natural strong hold, both to enter, and to exit.

Weller meets the being known as TAU 4, a morph, spliced together from human and Altair animal, to learn of her ‘behavioural problems’.

Victoria J. Waks has sewn together an almost poetic narrative in her debut novel, TAU4.
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Interzone : Now Available From Fictionwise.

Creative writing is not immune to information technology. The literary equivalent to music’s Ipod is the ebook reader and there are many portable devices into readers can download an electronic version of a novel or magazine. Alternatives to specific ebooks are PDAs, laptops and some mobile phones.

Fictionwise (http://www.fictionwise.com/) is a US website which formats books and magazines for web distribution to e book readers such as the ‘Amazon Kindle’ or ‘Sony Reader’. They take a file from the publisher and convert it to the multitude of formats needed to ensure all E book readers and many ‘mobile’ devices can display the text.

Fictionwise sell the files through their website though publishers can also do it themselves via their own, or retailer, sites.

‘MultiFormat’ ebooks are not encrypted and paying for one type of download format allows free access to other formats of that ebook. So customers who update to a new e reader or mobile device do not lose access to their library.
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The Future Of Cinema And Computer Gaming?

What Would You Do If You Accidently Found Someone Crying Out For Help On A Hidden Website?

Chris Purnell, is writer/director of new Alternate Reality Game entitled Gun Shots By Computer - Part 1. The films where produced in Scotland and feature two rising stars of the Scottish acting world, Shian Denovan (Night Is Day) and Claire Dicarlo.

He says this about GSBC1:

Cinema goers are a dying breed and due to spiraling cost, cinemas will soon be a thing of the past. I believe there has to be a future to film, and I think the Internet will play a major role in that. Already people download movies from the Internet instead of going to the cinema; people would rather see a film for free. I understand that, as I am one of those people. So to reach out to those people you have to make the whole experience of watching a film more interesting for them. You have to give them a reason not to just download it. I believe we have created the format to do that.

Our web based films are set in an Orwellian world in the year 2032 which parallels our own
present. The story begins behind the website, HMV, where one girl gives a direct address to the camera done through the style of video blogs.
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Night Is Day : Full Feature

Fraser Coull at Silly Wee Films are to release the episodes of Night Is Day as a feature length edit.

The sci-fi/drama series follows the life of Jason Mackenzie, a young Glaswegian who is bestowed with the power of ancient lightening demi-gods, allowing him the power of foresight whenever he touches another human being.

However when he does, a charge of electrical energy transfers from his body into the person he touches. This can be fatal to both Jason and anyone he comes into contact with.

The feature length DVD is due for release in January. It will include a 50 minute behind the scenes documentary, outtakes from all 6 episodes, cast interviews, a photo gallery, promotional trailers and a music video for Transaudio’s “Frequencies” which is the official theme tune to the series.

Seeing the outcome of the editing will be interesting: will it be edited straight off as it is, sequentially, or will it be edited (as much as can be) across episodes…

You can get upto the minute information from the newly designed nightisday.com.

Watch episodes of Night Is Day.

Read other articles/reviews/background on Night Is Day.

The Highland Arts folk and HI-EX Comics are running a comic weekend event in Inverness on February 2nd and 3rd 2008.

It’s going to be at the newly refurbished Eden Court. It’s a great space and will be an excellent venue. There’s plenty of on and near site parking, a bar and restaurant on site.

Always useful for an event like this is local accomodation (within walking distance), and HI-EX are trying to organise event discount rates at nearby hotels.

So far the guest list is growing, with positive replies from the likes of Alan Grant, Cam Kennedy, John Smith, Andy Diggle, Yishan Li, D’Israeli, Colin MacNeil and a load more. (Subject to their workload).

As well as guest signings and sketching, there will be an art exhibition, kids workshops, talks, panel discussions, traders, small press, publishers, fancy dress, charity fundraisers, generally all the usual comic convention activities but they are working to give the event a wider family appeal with outreach sessions in local schools the week before and a lot of local promotion.

Inverness has boomed in recent years and ‘Highland 2007′ has been a year long cultural celebration across the Highlands with hundreds of diverse arts events. It’s a perfect time to get comics represented up here too.

Upto date details can be found on the HI-EX Comics site.

A world where men and women carry magic in their blood, and spilling it can unleash terrible power

Near the start of its development, we reviewed episode one and episode two of BloodSpell.

It has now been edited together, and the entire story has been released as a feature film, available for free download.

BloodSpell has been four years (and one month) in the making. It’s a “punk fantasy” adventure
story, about a world where some people are infected with magic in their blood. When that blood is spilled, the magic comes out, to harm or heal.

These people have been forced into slums and magical hiding places by the Church of the Angels, who believes they must hunt the “Blooded” down and bring them to their Angelic master to be “cleansed”. The story starts when a young warrior monk in training with the Church discovers that he has magic in his blood, and has to flee into the world of the Blooded…
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Short Fiction Review Magazine, The Fix, Relaunches Online

TTA Press, publisher of renowned short fiction showcases Interzone, Black Static, and Crimewave, also published The Fix. The latter in its print incarnation, provided critical analyses and reviews of an extensive range of short fiction.

Now, The Fix has relaunched in a new, online format, once again providing a venue for critical coverage of speculative short fiction across the full spectrum of magazines, webzines, anthologies, and single-author collections.

Publisher Andy Cox predicts that The Fix will grow into the hub for aficionados and practitioners of short fiction to visit for news and commentary relevant to the community.

Managing Editor Eugie Foster, arriving to helm The Fix fresh from a distinguished career as managing editor of Tangent Online, plans to spotlight short fiction in all its myriad mediums: print, online, audio, and film.
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Dark Tales : Issue Eleven

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

Another large helping of dark and disturbing fiction arrives in the form of Dark Tales #11. The whole issue is entertaining and varied in contents, and looks and feels quite smart too.

The opening story this issue is A. Reader’s Half Life, which is the name of a drug that reduces the patient’s age by half. Sounds like miracle, but as is usually the case there are unforeseen and rather unsettling side effects. The story is well written, and does a good job of outlining the true horror of the situation, with a profoundly thoughtful ending. At least, I thought it was the end, only to find another few paragraphs over the page that I thought rather blunted the impact. So, choose for yourself which end you think best.

Niall McMahon recounts A Dream of Faces, the touching tale of a young boy’s encounter with a terribly scarred burns victim who touches his life for a while. His initial reactions, the subsequent development of their relationship and her ultimately profound effect on his life really are engagingly told. The feelings of both come across well and ensure that the story will stay with you.

Debt is a story of lycanthropy by Andrew J Oliver. It’s only short, so there’s no real development of the characters or motivations beyond a brief setting of the scene. It’s also written in the second person, which I always find a little odd, but that’s just a matter of taste. The confusion and disorientation are conveyed well, but no real explanation is given. The success of the story then depends on whether you like reasons for the strange goings-on, or whether you’re happier with the unexplained.

A man attempting to retrieve his lost wallet from an eccentric old woman is the setting for Davin Ireland’s Growing Season. There’s some good descriptive work of the decrepit house and the overgrown garden, with the old lady becoming more and more creepy. The tale develops well as bewilderment and frustration set in, slowly giving way to horror as the old lady’s true purpose becomes clear. I’m giving up gardening after reading this.
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Fiction Magazine : Issue Four

Reviewed By Gareth D. Jones

Since issue #3, Fiction magazine has moved to PDF format, with the possibility of moving back to print in the future. I don’t find on-line magazines as exciting as having an actual printed magazine in your hand, but the editors are maintaining the standard of fiction established in their first two print editions.

The first and longest story is An Act of Mercy by Sarah Hughes. It’s a multi-stranded story that initially left me confused due to the similarity of character’s names in different threads (Ryan, Rayne, Reuben). This meant that I had to keep checking back , breaking the flow of the story. Several typos didn’t help too. Getting past these problems, it was an interesting story of viruses, nanobots, androids and a sprinkling of very diverse characters to add to the interest. I’m tempted to say it was almost too ambitious, introducing enough characters to sustain a much longer piece. The complex plot was entertaining though and the android characters were particularly well developed.

Gareth L Powell’s contribution is A Necklace of Ivy, a realistically rendered tale set against the backdrop of a mysterious alien plague sweeping through Cornwall. A young couple are making their way out of the county in advance of an army curfew, but make the mistake of stopping for one last break. The realistic dialogue and briefly sketched description make it a compelling little tale.
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