Two of today’s acclaimed horror novelist will be making a joint appearance in San Francisco, California on July 26, signing books and reading from their various works.

Gabrielle Faust and and the Bram Stoker Finalist author Michael Calvillo appear at Borderlands Books! They will be reading from their novels ETERNAL VIGILANCE and I WILL RISE, followed by an audience Q&A session and book signing.

Here are the details for the event:
Saturday, July 26th – Borderlands Books
Time: 5PM PT
866 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Ph: 415.824.8203
webmail@borderlands-books.com
www.borderlands-books.com

Click on the banner for full details.

If you are in the Austin, Texas (USA) area on August 1, 2008 then you might want to stop by the BookPeople on 603 N.North Lamar Blvd. for an evening of literature, wine, beer and music.

Starting at 7PM CT, the gothic rockabilly band Black Molly will be performing, followed by a reading from Gabrielle S. Faust, writer of “ETERNAL VIGILANCE,” an audience Q&A session and book signing!

Faust’s diverse talents have allowed her to pursue an eclectic career as a graphic designer, author and entertainment critic. 2005 marked the release of her first published collection of poetry, Before Icarus, After Achilles (Publish America), which was received by the public with a great enthusiasm. Faust partnered with Immanion Press in August of 2007 for the publishing of her cross-genre technohorror trilogy Eternal Vigilance, a post-apocalyptic vampire saga of epic proportions released in April of 2008. Faust has been consistently active in a wide array of organizations including the Writers League of Texas, Austin Visual Arts Association, SXSW Festivals and Texas Poetry Society. At the beginning of 2007, she was also elected the Southwestern Regional Representative for the International Order of Horror Professionals and Associate Editor/Art Editor for the quarterly horror publication, “The Bloodied Quill”. In April of 2008 she also joined the ranks of the Horror Writers Association as a professional member.

This event is free of charge so please bring your friends, family and strangers from the street to make it an event BookPeople will not soon forget!

For full details drop by BookPeople or give them a call at (512) 472-5050.

Chiller announced the return of the “Dare To Direct” Short Film Contest. The announcement was made by Dan Harrison, Senior Vice President, Emerging Networks, NBC Universal Cable.

“The Chiller fans responded so enthusiastically to our contest last year with 300 entries,” said Harrison. “It was the most popular contest of its kind among all of the NBC Universal Entertainment websites. This year, we’re looking forward to what our incredibly talented viewers come up with. We wanted to give our enthusiastic audience plenty of notice to get their blood - er, creative juices - flowing.”

The “Dare to Direct Contest” challenges fans to get creative and compete for great prizes and a chance to be featured on “Chiller’s Dare to Direct Film Festival” as they write, produce, and submit short horror films. Shorts will be judged in mulitple categories by a celebrity judge. Viewers vote online to select finalists in each category, and a top figure in entertainment will select final winners. The films will be available for viewing and voting online beginning in late summer. On Halloween night, finalists and winners will be announced and featured in “Chiller’s 2008 Dare to Direct Film Festival” at 10 pm (ET). Complete rules, prizes and categories will be announced shortly on both ChillerTV.com and the film festival’s new home, Dare2Direct.com.

Chiller, an NBC Universal Cable channel, launched on March 1, 2007, and is an entertainment cable channel dedicated to the popular horror genre – around the clock. Chiller features exclusive horror and thriller programming from favorite mainstream series like “Millennium” and “Profit,” to fan-favorite series like “Tales From the Crypt” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” to classic horror films like “Carrie,” “Psycho” and “The Exorcist.” To learn more, visit www.chillertv.com. Chiller offers a digital triple-pack service, which features a standard definition digital channel (SD), high definition simulcast (HD) and a video-on-demand (VOD) channel offered as a digital bundle. The VOD and HD offerings will be available in 2008.

Check out the rules and regulations here: http://chillertv.com/D2D2/Rules.shtml, and get to directing!

Click on the image for Guest List and full CON details.

New York, NY, Tuesday July 8, 2008 - With E3 ‘08(The Electronic Entertainment Expo) just one week away, Xcast founder and host Frank Romano has announced what him and his staff have in store for E3 ‘08. Though Romano himself will not be attending the conference he plans on bringing the best E3 experience possible to Xcast Online readers and listeners, giving them the chance to voice their opinion on what is going on in front of them.

First off Romano announced that Xcast Online will be live blogging the Microsoft E3 ‘08 Press Conference Monday, July 14th 2008 beginning at 1:00 PM EST. “Who said you can’t live blog a video stream?” says Romano. “We will probably have a better connection than most on the show floor.” The intent behind Xcast Online live blogging while on the home front is to hear what the community has to say. During the live blog, readers and listeners can post comments and give feedback on what the writers are posting and what they hear. “It gives us the chance to interact with our community on a whole new level” says Romano.

Secondly Romano has revealed that there will be the first ever Live Edition of the Xcast distributed via Blog Talk Radio following the Microsoft Press Conference starting at approximately 3:00-3:30 PM EST. The live show will then last about 45 minutes. This will give Xcast listeners and readers the opportunity to call in and once again voice their opinions on what they heard during the Microsoft E3 ‘08 Press Conference. Also during E3 ‘08, there will be daily shows put up in the Xcast Feed discussing all things going on at E3, not just from Microsoft but from all the major companies.

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As we reported in January 08, the The Puchon Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) begins this month (July 18) with “Waltz With Bashir,” the documentary animation by Israeli helmer Ari Folman. Also being showcased is the joint Korea-Japan SF venture titled “Cyborg She” from director Kwak Jae-yong (”My Sassy Girl”).

PiFan gets bigger and better every year. For the 2008 festival a total of 205 Sci-Fi/horror/fantasy genre-related films from 39 different countries will be featured.

Some of the titles included are “The Chaser,” “The Objective,” “Death Bell” - a high-school horror film, “The Housemaid” and Tom Kalin’s “Savage Grace.”

Special programs include Fanta Masters: Gregg Araki, The Grindhouse Revisited, The Rebellious: Asian Action Special and 100 Years of Nikkatsu among others, according to Asia Variety.

At this years event PiFan will also introduce a industry program called Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF). This new arm of the festival will offer a film project market and an industry showcase of genre cinema.

Continue reading for a list of some of the other films being presented and their representative genres and countries.

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Jane Webb is an artist and curator who will be exhibiting a 4-5ft cube which was very much influenced by the Borg cube first introduced in the popular “Star Trek: The Next Generation” television series.

The work will be exhibited in one of London’s popular underground crypts beginning September 1, 2008 in a show titled “The illumini Event.”

Besides showcasing her own art, Webb will act as the events curator highlighting a mixed show of 15 other artists. The exhibition will have its theme based on light and will be available for viewing by everyone, including its opening night usually reserved for Pv. One the first night free live entertainment jugglers, light shows and fire performers will be on hand as well.

Webb designed her cube from recycled computer and electronic components. It is illuminated and the top of the cube will be a futuristic cyber-city made from miniature cubes cast in glass , metal and resin.

The piece of art is currently still a work in progress but you can get an idea of how unique her art is from the pictures.

Along with the cube, Webb will be exhibiting her cybernetic humanoid sculptures which will illuminate the walls of the studio.

Some of her past works have appeared in the London Sci-fi Film Festival this past May.

[Click on images to enlarge view]

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In a first for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the organization has unveiled its top 10 contenders in both comedy and drama for this years big Emmy presentation in September.

This is the first time the Academy as ever named their short list of the best choices so early in the season. The choices will be officially named on July 17, however, we can tell you a few of them now.

For best drama series are ABC’s SF thriller “Lost,” “Boston Legal” and “Grey’s Anatomy (both also from ABC), the Fox Network’s mega-hit “House,” NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”, the Showtime/CBS thriller “Dexter,” “Mad Men” from AMC, the Glenn Close legal drama “Damages” on FX, and the final two big dramas from cable are HBO’s “The Wire” and Showtime’s “The Tudors.”

Making the top 10 comedy cut are NBC’s “30 Rock” and “The Office,” CBS’s Charlie Sheen ratings winner “Two and a Half Men,” Fox’s animated series “Family Guy” and ABC SF dramedy “Pushing Daisies.” Rounding out the list are past two winners “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Entourage” along with newbie “Flight of the Conchords,” all on HBO. Last, but certainly far from least is Showtime’s big hit starring Mary-Louise Parker, “Weeds.”

The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards will take place September 21.

“Lost,” the ABC series wins big at last night’s 34th Annual Saturn Awards hosted by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.

Special recognition was afforded to director Guillermo del Toro (”Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”) with the George Pal Memorial Award. Producers Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr. (”The Last Templar”) received the Life Career Award.

The Saturn Awards is the premiere event that showcases work done in the realm of the sci-fi, fantasy and horror world of entertainment.

A full list of winners follows:

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The second annual International Horror and Science Fiction Film Festival was distinct leap forward from the first year, which by all measures was excellent to begin with. The level of organization with which the festival was operated was quite clear with nearly every filmmaker remarking how well the festival was run and how well they were treated. We have begun to build a fan following with many repeat festival goers from last year as well as many new faces… Click For More.

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Vulkon Entertainment has a couple of interesting Cons coming up this summer and late fall. If you live, or are in the Orlando, Florida (USA) area when these are happening, you might want to check them out.

First up is the Orlando Sci-Fi Expo running the weekend of July 18-20, 2008. On hand for this one is a great Star Trek lineup of guests that include director/actor Jonathan Frakes (ST: TNG), Nana Visitor (ST: DS9) and Trek/sci-fi cartoonist David Reddick, who was a recent guest on Slice of SciFi. Additional guests include the Duras sisters, played by actresses Gwynyth Walsh and Barbara March, Klingon Ambassador John Schuck, as well as Stargate’s Kavan Smith and Erick Avari (from the original Stargate movie and TV’s “Heroes”).

In late fall (October 31-November 2, 2008) the Fall Orlando Con takes place. Main guest star will again be cartoonist David Reddick and joining him are Michael Dorn and Terry Farrell and BSG’s Tricia Helfer. Also from BSG are Nicki Clyne (Cally) and Bodie Olmos (”Hotdog”); from Babylon 5 are Peter Jurasik and Stephen Furst. Special guest star from B5 and “Lost in Space” is Bill Mummy.

IF YOU BUY YOUR GOLD WEEKEND TICKET to either the July show or the October show between now and July 1st, 2008, it will be upgraded to a PLATINUM TICKET, which will INCLUDE the VIP cocktail party and better seating, of course!

Until these tickets become available online, please EMAIL Vulkon Coordinator Terri A. Tripp at terri@vulkon.com with your phone number and Teri will give you a ring if you’re emailing to purchase tickets.

Seoul, South Korea will play host to this year’s Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (a.k.a. PiFan) set to run July 18-27. On the docket will be 16 different SF/fantasy and horror films coming out of the Korea, the United States, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.

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Vulcan, Alberta, Canada – Named after the Roman god of fire nearly a century ago, the Star Trek-obsessed town of Vulcan, Alberta will eagerly welcome Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr., son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, as he unveils a memorial to his father on June 13, the first evening of the town’s 15th annual Star Trek convention.

“I very much appreciate this tribute to my father, who would be humbled by the continued popularity of Star Trek in big cities and small towns around the world,” offered Roddenberry.

“Vulcan is proud to be coincidentally associated with the Star Trek phenomenon. We are thrilled to host Eugene Roddenberry Jr. at this year’s convention, and especially to have him unveil a memorial plaque dedicated to his father,” said Dayna Dickens, Vulcan tourism coordinator. Vulcan (population 1,942) has a long history with Star Trek, erecting an over-sized replica of the Starship Enterprise and building and operating a Star Trek-themed tourist station with memorabilia and a virtual reality game.

[Pictured above is the late, great Gene Roddenberry - creator of Star Trek]

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New York-Tokyo has joined with UNIQLO USA and KONAMI to host a rare and exciting autograph signing session with the legendary video game creator Hideo Kojima on Thursday June 12th, at the UNIQLO Soho Store in lower Manhattan! This special session is to celebrate Konami’s North American Launch of the highly anticipated tactical espionage action series Metal Gear Solid®4: Guns of the Patriots and to commemorate UNIQLO’s LIMITED edition series of MGS4 collaboration t-shirts. Exclusive details below!

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