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Philip Pullman’s fantasy series His Dark Materials included animal daemons, representative of the owner’s souls. Professor Pamela Briggs and Dr Patrick Olivier have developed an idea where devices (called biometric daemons) can carry a person’s details and replace the need for pin numbers and passwords in everyday life – they would also react differently to levels of risk and eventually die if they are apart from their owner for too long a time period. Voice-recognition technology software that monitors the owner’s actions and movements could also be installed to allow the daemon to become more “intelligent”.
Dr Olivier believes that the idea could be ready within a couple of years "The idea of the daemon is that it is a living credit card," he said. "It would recognise it is with you, and if you put it in your pocket, it can recognise your walk and your voice."
Low-risk transactions would mean that the daemon would not need much "reassurance" to allow the deal to be completed. But if an unknown cash point was used, or if a purchase appeared out of the ordinary, it might require the owner to give a fingerprint before authorisation could be completed.
The 10th of June will see the prequel to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series auctioned for charity. An 800-word outline will be added to a literary lot, which will include storycards from 12 other eminent authors also including Nick Hornby, Sebastian Faulks, Neil Gaiman and Margaret Attwood. The 13 storycards will be auctioned at Sotheby’s without a reserve price with all proceeds going to the English PEN and Dyslexia Action charities.
Speculation has reached fever-pitch over the last few weeks as to who will play Bilbo Baggins in the big screen adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The sad news is that Ian Holm, the 76 year old actor who played Bilbo in the The Lord of the Rings films (and Frodo in the BBC radio adaptation) is unlikely to asked to play the role. The names that have so far been mentioned include Jack Black and Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) but a clear favourite has emerged in the form of James McAvoy.
James McAvoy was best known in the UK for his appearances in Early Doors and Shameless until recent roles in The Last King of Scotland (with Forest Whitaker), Atonement (with Keira Knightley) and Wanted (with Angelina Jolie) have made him a high profile, much sought-after film star.
Guillermo del Toro, the director of The Hobbit has refused to comment on the rumours but has commented "I can tell you it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice we all said the same name, it was completely magical."
According to the official James McAvoy web site the actor is a huge fan of JRR Tolkien’s work - http://www.jamesmcavoy.com/
Andrew Adamson made a bold move in changing a greatly loved book for the big screen. In an attempt to update it for a modern female audience Adamson decided to depart from the books a little by presenting the Pevensie girls, Susan and Lucy, as stronger female role models.
"I had a big problem with the first book … because this is one area where my ideologies really did differ from CS Lewis’s. I had a big problem with Father Christmas giving Susan the bow and arrow and saying ‘I don’t intend you to use them’. I was kind of like, all she does in the first book is make sandwiches, and in that case give her a plate and a knife. You know, it’s totally disempowering for women” said Adamson.
In Prince Caspian, the Pevensie siblings are magically transported back from England to the world of Narnia one year after the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. More than 1,300 years have passed and Narnia has been occupied by the Telmarines and is now under the rule of the evil King Miraz. The four children join Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, Prince Caspian and set out to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical control, and return magic and glory to the land.
Adamson directed the first two Shrek movies and felt that the character of Fiona was extremely important "particularly after creating Fiona in Shrek, who is a strong female character, there’s no way I was going to set a role model for my girls that was like, ‘you go and do the dishes honey’," he said.
CS Lewis wrote the Narnia book many years ago when women were not portrayed a strongly as they are today, Adamson was keen to point out that CS Lewis seemed to write stronger female characters after meeting his wife Joy.
Prince Caspian is out in cinemas now.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has been voted The Greatest Movie Of All Time by onepoll.com. 10,000 movie fans were polled and the first film of the trilogy (followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King), starring Sir Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood (see picture on left) grossed £1.5 billion at the box office. The film trilogy is based on the works of JRR Tolkien, who signed the rights away in 1968 for just £8,000. The top 10 appeared as follows… the inclusion of Pretty Woman and Love Actually does make you wonder just who was polled…
- The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Grease (1978)
- ET (1982)
- Star Wars (1977)
- Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)
- Pretty Woman (1990)
- Love Actually (2003)
- The Godfather (1972)
- Gladiator (200)
Vintage Classics are looking for a young artist to create an original illustration inspired by The Wind in the Willows. The Wind in the Willows is celebrating its 100th birthday and needs a new cover. The competition is open to UK residents between the ages of seven and twelve on the 25th of July 2008.
Entries can be in black and white or colour and must be submitted on no larger than A4-sized sheet. Entries must not include any text (even the title or the author). Each entry must include a sheet of A4 paper with the entrant’s name, date of birth, address, telephone number, and the name and signature of a parent or guardian (this confirms agreement to the terms and conditions and consent to the entrant’s participation in the competition). Only one entry per person, and one illustration per entry is allowed. Entries must be sent by post only, to The Wind in the Willows Competition, 2nd Floor, Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Rd, London SW1V 2SA. Entries must be received by July 25, 2008. Winners will be notified by October 10 and announced in The Times
The winner will have their illustration featured on the cover of the centenary edition of The Wind in The Willows, to be published by Vintage Classics in November 2008. The winner will also receive 40 Random House children’s books of his or her choice. Three runners-up will each receive 20 Random House children’s books of his or her choice.
For more information, please visit this article on the Times Online site - http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article3987076.ece
Ursula Le Guin openly mourns the early demise of the Latin language. "During the last century, the teaching and learning of Latin began to wither away into a scholarly specialty," she writes. Le Guin mourns the now all-but-certain passing of the Latin poet Virgil: "This is an awful pity, because he is one of the great poets of the world." Virgil’s best-known work is the Aeneid, which was once taught in schools in its original Latin alongside Homer’s Greek epics, "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad."
Le Guin’s recent novel, Lavinia, is based on Virgil’s epic but subtly written in a contemporary style. Lavinia was Aeneas’ wife who only played a small, non-speaking role in the epic but Le Guin has built up her role and created something truly original. Ursula Le Guin has completely omitted the gods and monsters in her story. Lavinia angers her mother, Amata, who desires that she marry Turnus, a coarse king. The slaughter of an untouchable stag sets off a hideous cycle of conflict between the Trojan and Latins that sees Aeneas eventually kills his adversary, but in such a way that he is haunted evermore.
Le Guin is an ingenious writer, clever with characters and as always; she drops gems of wisdom, infused with her pacifist, feminist and Taoist beliefs, all along the way.
According to a latest Reuter’s article, Barnes & Noble Booksellers has not had the best of times recently in regards to sales. Bookstores in general are experiencing sales losses and are also feeling unable to fall back on JK Rowling’s books to alleviate falling sales. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows helped to boost sales tremendously last year, something that booksellers can no longer rely on.
Craig Horner and Bridget Regan will star in Sam Raimi’s syndicated series Wizard’s First Rule that launches this autumn in the USA. The series is based on Terry Goodkind’s epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth and will be shown in hour-long weekly instalments. Craig Horner will play woodsman Richard Cypher and Bridget Regan will plays Kahlan. The series will be produced in New Zealand with Robert Tapert, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle and John Shiban working with Raimi.
Terry Goodkind biography and bibliography
Wizard’s First Rule is the first book in Terry Goodkind’s The Sword of Truth series.
Richard Cypher holds the fate of three nations in his hands, he must learn the Wizard’s First Rule to achieve his goals. The heart hounds are stalking the humans, blood sucking flies are abound and nowhere is safe. Magic makes love stronger and despair harder.
Terry Goodkind has created a concise, intelligent book that is believable from the start. This is fantasy that is definitely aimed at the adult rather than the child and some chapters do contain quite graphic paragraphs of a sexual or violent nature.
Fantasy writer Steven Erikson will be signing Toll The Hounds at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Saturday, the 5th of July 2008 between 1pm and 2pm.
Steven Erikson is Canadian by birth but presently lives in Surrey. An archaeologist and anthropologist, Toll the Hounds is the eighth book in his Malazan Book Of The Fallen.
Toll Of Hounds: It is summer in the city of Darujhistan and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and the hunters become the hunted.