Strange New Star Worlds

Fiona Moore was a guest on the Southside Radio panel discussion of the original Battlestar Galactica pilot, Saga of a Star World. Is it a genuine classic, does it have a better soundtrack than the reimagined series, and what is the true story of the BSG versus Star Wars lawsuit? Listen to it here.

On the South Side of the Street!

Excited by the new free-to-download audio plays from Magic Bullet Productions?

Southside Radio interviews author and producer, Alan Stevens on the subjects of Blake's 7 and forthcoming releases! Listen to it here.

 

A Tribute to Chris Boucher

 

Following the sad news of Chris Boucher's death last month, we bring you Alan Stevens' touching tribute to the modest and ascerbic man behind so many of the things that made Kaldor City what it is. We all miss Chris very much.

Chris Boucher (1943-2022)

All of us at Magic Bullet are very sorry to hear of the death this morning of Chris Boucher, co-creator of Kaldor City, writer of Doctor Who: The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, and The Image of the Fendahl, script editor of Blake's 7; and creative stalwart of many other genres of television. 

Chris was always hugely supportive and we will miss him very much on a personal as well as a professional level. 

Read a 1992 interview with Chris here and a later one here.

Management Lessons from Game of Thrones is now available!

 A non-Kaldor, but KC-related, project is now complete: Management Lessons from Game of Thrones!  This is the management textbook you never knew you wanted, but now you know you have to have it: learn all about strategy, organisation studies and personnel management through battles, murders, and really bloody weddings. The hardback has a scary academic price tag, but the paperback has a nice friendly RRP of £20/$30 or equivalent, and you can get ebooks from the publisher's website.

Purchasing details and links are here.

"The Robots of Death" on ForcesTV

 UK fans! Tomorrow The Robots of Death starts its first time run on Forces TV. Part One is broadcast at 8.30 am, with two further showings throughout the day, at 2 pm and 9.25 pm respectively. 

Link here

A Wheezing Groaning Sound!

 Looking for a way to celebrate Doctor Who Day? Why not buy a copy of the new issue of Vworp Vworp! Among the brilliant Doctor Who content are no less than three articles by our own Alan Stevens, mostly about Daleks! Click the link for more.

Book bundle for the lockdown!

Stuck at home? Need something else besides your Magic Bullet CDs and MP3s to amuse you? Fiona Moore's AI mystery novel Driving Ambition is one of many great books in the Bundoran Buddies book bundle (with a bonus AI story, "Seal", included in the collection Lazarus Risen). For just $15, less than the price of a trade paperback these days, you get 12 books, including, as well as Driving Ambition, works by Robert Sawyer, Tanya Huff, Brad C Anderson and Madeline Ashby.

Link here:

 

https://storybundle.com/scifi

David Collings

All of us at Magic Bullet are very sorry to learn of the death of David Collings. He was a great friend and a pleasure to work with, and we will miss him very much.

Celestial Toyroom: Alan Stevens Speaks

Alan Stevens' guest editor blog post is now up at the site of Celestial Toyroom, the Doctor Who Appreciation Society's zine. Want to know what you'll be getting? Click the link for a sneak preview of the contents!

Paul Darrow

Avon was the ultimate anti-hero, but Paul Darrow faced death with equal equanimity. 

Let us all raise a glass to a true hero.

Logic of Empire download (time-limited)

Thank you to everyone who downloaded the file! The event has now ended.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: We're back in business! Many thanks to Paul Lee. To make up for the downtime, the files will be available for download until 8 AM Friday morning: click the link here to download them.

UPDATE UPDATE: We should be able to have it up again sometime this evening. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: We've been overwhelmed, literally and figuratively, at the response to this post! Unfortunately, the sheer number of people downloading the file has repeatedly maxed out our bandwidth, and we're approaching the limit of what our webhost will allow us to use at all. We've taken the file down so that we can keep the site up, and hopefully we should be able to put it up again at a higher capacity host later on today.

For the next 48 hours, as a memorial tribute to Paul Darrow, we're making the Blake's 7 audio The Logic of Empire free to download. Starring Paul Darrow as Avon, Jacqueline Pearce as Servalan, Gareth Thomas as Blake and Peter Tuddenham as Zen, Orac and Slave, this story answers the question of what Avon did next. Click the title for the link.

Cover for Celestial Toyroom 494 now online!

Alan Stevens' latest editorial work, Celestial Toyroom #494, is now at the printers. To whet your appetite, here's the cover and a link to Alan's editor blog.

"Doomed Youth" in Best Of British 2018

Fiona Moore's story "Doomed Youth," a tale of giant ants and populist politics, previously published in Interzone 278, will be reprinted in the Best Of British 2018 collection from Newcon Press! You can pre-order it at the link.

Behind the scenes with a pistol

Alan Stevens writes:

"This is the photograph, taken during the recording of Kaldor City, that inspired me to write The Time Waster: 

SIMMONS: Oh, for Christ's sake! Gov, this is a complete waste of time. 

ARCHER: I don't waste time, I waste criminals. 

SIMMONS: Fuck off."

Celestial Toyroom 491

Celestial Toyroom issue 491, guest edited by Alan Stevens, will shortly be released to Doctor Who Appreciation Society members! Here's a link to his editor blog on the subject, and a preview of the cover:

Scott Fredericks tribute

We've just found out about this wonderful tribute to Scott Fredericks by longtime fan Stevie Carroll. Check it out at the link.

Jacqueline Pearce Remembered

New on the Kaldor City site, Alan Stevens' tribute to Jacqueline Pearce, as previously seen in Celestial Toyroom. This brief, moving piece explores Pearce's range as an actor and her relationship with Servalan, the character she made truly her own.

Driving Ambition: Print books

Print copies of Fiona Moore's cyber-detective novel Driving Ambition are now available!  The link here will take you to the publisher's website. A reminder that you can also get Kindle and Kobo versions if you're not into dead trees.

Driving Ambition: E-books and Interviews!

Driving Ambition, a tale of murder, labour politics and self-driving cars, is now available as an e-book in Kindle and Kobo formats. Print copies will be available to order later, but some advance copies might make their way to the BSFA's interview event with Fiona Moore next Wednesday. Please come if you're in the London area!

In the meantime, here's a tortoiseshell cat contemplating her new copy...