The sequel to Tron moves forward, with little known actor Garrett Hedlund cast as the lead by Disney.

The original Tron film was released in 1982 and received a mixed reception - on the one hand, it’s pioneering use of computer special effects was critically acclaimed, but Disney seems to have considered the movie less than successful commercially.

While the original Tron film can look terribly dated now, the current armoury of digital special effects available means that the original vision for Tron can perhaps more accurately be presented now.

Even still, Tron itself may deserve a second look - while Jeff Bridges gets top billing, two of our favourite Babylon 5 actors, Bruce Boxleitner (B5: Sheridan) and Peter Jurasik (B5: Londo) were both in the original cast.

While Jeff Bridges will be reprising his role, there’s no suggestion of Boxleitner or Jurasik returning, though we can live in hope.

Joseph Kosinski will begin shooting the $150 million sequel this spring.

In the meantime, for a little nostalgia, check out the original Tron trailer on IMDB here.

Even so, great joy yesterday, as I finally took delivery of Gary Gibson’s book Stealing Light… for the second time. Foolishly, I managed to leave my first copy on a train shortly before Christmas, when I was halfway through, totally immersed and loving it. Am I the only one who manages to do that sort of thing, as if possessing a suppressed masochistic streak which is determined to make myself suffer?

January’s going to be busy – lots of deadlines to meet and schedules to keep. I hope I can get out to a couple of events towards the end of the month.

The British Science Fiction Association have Michael Swanwick as guest at their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday the 28th (can’t wait to see that – met Michael a few years ago and he’s great fun, not to mention a fabulous writer), while the British Fantasy Society have another event two days later with readings from various people including Pat Cadigan and Kim Newman.

Both of these are in London, and both organisations have been criticized for centring their events programmes in the capital – something they do because that’s where the highest concentration of members are to be found.

So it was great to see the BFS branch out last year, with Lee Harris (editor of Hub magazine) organising open nights (ie excuses to get together, drink lots and hear genre stories read by their authors) in York brewery – proving that, contrary to popular belief, the BFS can organise a… No, we won’t go there; this is a family forum. I went to one such last January and had a great time. The event featured ghost story readings from Ramsey Campbell, Pete Crowther and Ally Bird. Lee’s planning another one for this February.

The rest of the year’s shaping up nicely as well. The organisers of Picocon, the popular one day convention at Imperial College in London, have just announced their guests this year, namely: Pat Cadigan, Robert Rankin, and Michael Marshall, Smith. This will be on February 28th.

I’ve just heard, too, that Ian Watson has been invited to stand as one of the Guests of Honour at this year’s Eurocon in Fiuggi, Italy (March 26th to 29th) following the late withdrawal of Robert Silverberg. Fellow guests include actress Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway of Star Trek Voyager fame).

Hmm… What are the chances of getting to Italy…? Well, I can hope.

It comes after six successful years, in which Elastic Press published 31 books and won five major awards.

Elastic Press was one of only a few independent publishers in the science fiction & fantasy genres that had with book store distribution.

Andrew provides more information on the chronicles forums:

This hasn’t been a snap decision, and isn’t the result of any ‘credit crunch’ or financial difficulties. In fact, I’ve known for two years that ‘Subtle Edens’ would be our final book. The main reason for closing is that I’ve increasingly found Elastic is becoming a burden rather than a pleasure. I’ve run it mostly in my spare time over the past six years (and occasionally part-time and full-time), and I’ve decided that I now want to focus on my own writing and spend more time with my family. Not only that, but I feel I’ve taken Elastic as far as it can go. We’ve had some great successes – in terms of reviews, awards, and sales – with, perhaps ironically, 2008 being the best year to date; however I feel I’ve hit a wall in my ability to expand the press further and my enthusiasm is starting to wane. Rather than wait until such time that I start to do a disservice to the authors, it seems better to quit whilst I’m ahead.

While no doubt it is a sad decision indeed, Andrew has to be lauded for his tireless work and effort in building a successful and popular independent press.

In the meantime, existing writers will continue to receive royalties, and Elastic Press books will be available at UK conventions through 2009, such as Redemption, EasterCon and probably Alt.Fiction.

The BBC has finally announced Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor Who.

The surprise is that Matt is both a relatively little known - and young - actor. At only 26, it will make him the youngest ever Doctor Who.

The move to find Doctor Who no.11 came after David Tennant shocked audiences by announcing he’ll be stepping down for season 5 earlier this year.

While David Tennant still has four specials to film over 2009, he remains plagued by back problems, and is still recovering from surgery.

Meanwhile, Matt Smith will begin filming Doctor Who Season 5 next month, for release in 2010.

The BBC has a profile of Matt Smith, listing his acting credentials, and the BBC Wales seems to be behind him.

However, it would be easy to be cynical at this point over the actors age - Matt Smith needs to prove himself or else be labelled the Boy Doctor.

Still, fans have rarely taken well to the Doctor regenerating - even though David Tennant plays a brilliant Doctor Who, he still had to convince people that he was capable of taking over from the popular Christopher Eccleston.

I picked up The Graveyard Book with a sense of trepidation.

I was originally a reader of The Sandman comic series, starting at Issue #8. I also enjoyed his graphic novel work. However, I stopped my subscription to The Sandman two story arcs from the end because I felt characters no longer served as characters, but instead as plot props.

And the only Neil Gaiman novel I’d read previously was the Anansi Boys, which might have been an interesting book from a new author, but from someone of Neil’s literature stature was poor. While someone suggested to me there was a wealth of research and detail behind the book, I found the story cliqued, superficial, and lacking engagement.

When Neil Gaiman writes well, he writes brilliant stories. But sometimes I think he writes significantly below his own standards.

So a pretty mixed background for reading The Graveyard Book.

The first chapter didn’t start well - it was clumsily written, with sentences building up tension shattered by brief descriptive digressions. These are errors you do not expect from an experienced writer. I thought it was all going to come apart pretty quickly.

However, chapter 2 finally opens into a world that Neil Gaiman really is strong with - engaging characters, a sense of wonderment, and a combination of quirky humour and gothic mystery - and the story never looks back.

As a reader I was dragged in completely, with suspension of disbelief enthusiastically engaged despite the sometimes childish fun in the story itself. And engrossed, Neil opens up a litany of literary figures to add strong peripheral characterisation.

The story has a simple enough premise - a boy is raised in a graveyard by the dead. If I tell much more than that, it’ll spoil it.

However, there are plenty of themes that seem re-engaged from the Sandman series - Neil is on familiar ground as he deals with death in all its forms, and the story is strong for it.

Even more refreshing is the end, which both concluded yet remained open-ended - as if The Graveyard Book promises with a whisper to being a gateway to a literary form of The Sandman in the future.

Expectations aside, The Graveyard Game is an enjoyable, engaging, and fun read, and the only real disappointment is that it finishes.

Probably classed as Young Adult fiction, this is a very accessible novel that is among the best in its class.

Terry Pratchett was said to be “flabbergasted” at the honour.

It comes only a year after it was revealed he had early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and (Sir) Terry has already been tirelessly campaign for Alzheimer’s research.

Terry Pratchett may be known to some readers as a fantasy author, but literary agent John Jarrold pointed out that to many, he is simply a best selling author.

Having sold over 55 million books worldwide, that is some fair achievement for any knight of the realm.

Fox filed in court in February, claiming that the company still owned some of the film rights to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen.

Warner Bros contested - and have now lost - their court case.

It remains to be seen whether Warner Bros will seek a hurried settlement, or try to push to get the film out first and then face the consequences.

Anyone who enjoyed the original TV series or comics is probably sighing with dread at the thought of Miller reframing the character in a dark and violent world over-run by dramatic camera lighting but poor on story.

Okay, so the original TV series wasn’t the richest for story, but at least there was character, interplay, humour and a sense of fun that could be curbed as required for a little pathos.

Unfortunately, Frank Miller’s screen coverage - and let’s be honest, his latter writing credits - have tended towards violence for the sake of violence, with mindless brutality a core focus to the exclusion of all else.

While a modern Buck Rogers movie should be a pretty welcome prospect, somehow Frank Miller being the creative force behind it doesn’t inspire confidence.

The big problem, of course, is that with lots of productions that invoke time travel, inevitably they end up re-writing time and history repeatedly, in order to milk more from the franchise.

While Terminators 1 & 2 were deserved hits, Terminator 3 pretty much languished, and optimism for Terminator 4 has to remain muted.

After all, there are only so many times that an audience can suspend disbelief while script writers mock their sensibilities.

Majel Barratt appeared in the original Star Trek pilot as a brunette number 2 to the Enterprise’s Captain Pike. When the series was commissioned she become the blonde-haired Nurse Chappell, working beside Doctor McCoy.

She also appeared in later series, most prominently playing Deanna Troi’s mother in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The success of Star Trek has often been attributed to her dedication to fans, not least her constant presence at Trek conventions.

Her husband, Gene Roddenberry, who originated Star Trek, died in 1991.