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It must be interesting for a new author to be interviewed for the first time. It undoubtedly gives them a feeling that they've made it to the big time. John Scalzi recently unearthed the first interview he gave which also happened to coincide with the first worldcon he ever attended. The full interview as posted by the CBC author who spoke with him at Torcon 3. Needless to say, Scalzi thought he sounded clueless.

The CBC  must like science fiction, because they recently polled their website visitors to choose their top SF authors. Here's the top 10 list that resulted. Two Canadians made the list, Robert Sawyer and William Gibson, but they just might have made it on the list of readers from any English-speaking country, not just Canada.

I've been sitting on some other author interview links that I thought I'd dump on you.The first is with
Hugo and Pulitzer winning author Michael Chabon. He has been pushing a new book called Manhood for Amateurs. It's not a genre book, but Chabon is such an interesting writer, that I thought you'd like to check out what he has to say.

The next is with Eoin Colfer who's flogging his HHGTG sequel. A lot of Douglas Adams cultists have been trying to paint the book as some sort of money-grab, but it's actually a pretty good piece of fan fiction.

Colfer shouldn't feel too bad. Author Jeff Somers has summed up literary criticism in this witty, but perceptive, video which points out that every book sucks:

Poor Jake Lloyd. Remember him? He was the child actor who played the young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. He's all grown up now and recently spoke about how it affected his life. Let's just say high school was tough.

I wonder if he had a stuffed Jabba the Hutt or jawa toy like these when he was little. I doubt it. These days, he'd probably be more interested in seeing a co-ed stuffed into one of these nifty 202 Star Wars t-shirts.

In the interview, Lloyd says he's studying film. I wonder if he'll ever do anything fannish, like this Star Wars-inspired flick called '77 which sounds more fanboy than Fanboys. Although the idea of recreating the original movie 15 seconds at a time via fan films online probably tops both.

Speaking of fanboys, who else would pay money to see Star Wars music performed live? Some lucky folks in the U.S. will be able to attend Star Wars In Concert as it tours the country.

After a long wait, Doctor Who came back to our television screens with one of four specials that will make up this year's mini-season until Matt Smith takes up the lead role of the doctor next year. While the Easter special was much anticipated by fans, it seems that ordinary Britons had forgotten about the Time Lord as they were much more interested in watching a talent show which drew much bigger ratings.

Guest starring on the show was Michelle Ryan, an actress better known for her work on the East Enders serial. She spoke with the Telegraph about her work on thespecial and how she doesn't have any interest in being the doctor's next companion, despite rumours that she had once auditioned for the part.

Meanwhile, the show's creators are working with Matt Smith to figure out which direction they will head with the character with him playing the lead.

Now if you've ever wondered what it would be like to have The Doctor meet Captain James T. Kirk, wonder now more as this fan film does a pretty good job of depicting such an encounter:

Does the concept of the Singularity still confuse you? Why not have it explained by an artificial intelligence? I sure hope it's an imagined A.I, otherwise we're in big trouble:

You may be more interested to learn about the subject from real experts such as those who attended last year's Singularity Summit. Lots of videos of the event speakers are available on the site.

For another read on the idea of living machines as portrayed in science fiction, here's an essay for you to chew on.

Whatever you do, beware the foul mouth of the Evil Robot Overlord.

You may recall the Star Wars Home theatre that I, and many others, have linked to in the past. While that was pretty cool, if you are diehard Star Trek fan, then you'll probably dig this setup even more.

I'd like to make myself a dedicated home theatre for myself one day, but somehow I don't think the Admiral will approve of me totally geeking out with a Star Wars/Trek theatre.

If you did decorate a room with a Star Wars theme, here's the poster that you should have on the wall. It portrays all six movies in the saga in one illustration.

As for you Trek fans, here's the lost episode that you probably don't want to use to show off your new theatre setup.

I was on YouTube today and I encountered something that I had never seen before - a trailer for a book. It's probably been happening for ages, but it's the first one I've ever seen. The next thing you know we'll see television commercials for books.

Here's an example:

The trailers seem to be from a mix of self-published and small-press authors, but if you poke around enough you may just find something from a more mainstream publisher.