FF XI title

OK, Planets of Peril will be the working title. The relevant bit of FF X will read:

Forgotten Futures XI has the working title Planets of Peril, and will be based on the science fiction of Stanley Weinbaum (1902-1935), focusing on his unique vision of the Solar System and the worlds he described in classic stories such as A Martian Odyssey. It will contain at least a dozen stories, space travel rules, and everything else needed for a classic pulp SF campaign. Like Forgotten Futures X it will be published in PDF and HTML versions. If all goes well it will be available towards the end of 2009.

I've said "towards the end of 2009" because I know that if I give an earlier date it just won't happen, but I'm aiming for July / August if possible, it's best for me because I get a holiday then and can do all the distribution stuff more easily. Always assuming I don't get blocked or run into problems again...

Bees are back

In other news, following all the "where have all the bees gone?" stuff in Doctor Who I'm delighted to say that my front garden had loads of them buzzing around today, including some very fat-looking bumble bees. Unfortunately it got dark before I remembered I wanted to take pictures.

I'm reliably informed that London now has thriving bee hives which make extremely tasty honey (because there are so many different plant species around). In the country, where there can be miles of single-crop agriculture, it's apparently not nearly so tasty.

Spot the Skrull Challenge

I was talking to rozk a few days ago, and she suggested that the current Marvel story line re. Skrull infiltrators suggests some interesting crossover possibilities. She also suggested I post a challenge, and I've finally remembered to do so.

The idea is simple - someone (or possibly several someones) in the fandom of your choice have been replaced by Skrull infiltrators, or possibly has always been a Skrull infiltrator. The challenge is to show what happens as a result...

For more on the Skrulls and the invasion see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skrull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Invasion

Any genre you like, any pairing or none, my own preference is for short and funny but that's just me, write what you like. I'm not up to organising this as a ficathon or anything of that sort, but if anyone wants to run with this idea please post a link to your story as a comment below.