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Welcome to The Genre Traveler! Please sign up using the form to the right so that you'll get all the latest updates to the site. You also might want to sign up for the RSS feed, which you can do via email or your favorite RSS Reader. The Orlando Science Center will present a special advanced screening of Ron Howard's In the Shadow of the Moon this Saturday, Sept. 15, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The film will open to the public in selected theaters on Sept. 28. Howard is lending his name to this feature documentary about the Apollo space program and the first-ever landing on the moon in partnership with THINKFilm to help promote it to the widest possible audience. It is directed by David Sington. Beginning in the early 1960s with President Kennedy's stated ambition to put an American on the moon before the end of the decade, In the Shadow of the Moon covers the Apollo space program through Apollo 11's successful lunar landing. Read more »

Back by popular demand, the planetarium show at the Museum of Science, Boston, Far, Far Away: The Worlds of Star Wars, will be showing daily now through Oct. 29, 2007.

This "lively, fun show" compares the fantasy planets of the Star Wars movies to the Earth and other real planets and moons in our solar system. Actor Anthony Daniels, who played C3PO in the Star Wars movies, narrates.

For more information, visit www.mos.org/exhibits_shows/planetarium&d=715.

Until I can get the searchable database developed and running, I'm stuck with listing cons in each issue and, if I miss some, here in the blog. Here is a list of ones coming up during the second half of May.

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May 18-20: Keycon 24
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Guests include: L.A. Williams and Kevin J. Anderson
Focus: SF & F
www.keycon.org

May 24-28: Star Wars Celebration IV
Los Angeles, CA
Focus: Star Wars
www.gencon.com/2007/swciv/info/general.aspx

May 24-28: International Space Development Conference
Dallas, TX
Focus: "From Old Frontiers to New: Celebrating 50 Years of Spaceflight"
isdc.nss.org/2007

May 25-28: MediaWest*Con 27
Lansing, MI
Focus: SF (Media)
www.mediawestcon.org

May 25-27: Anime North
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Focus: Anime
www.animenorth.com

May 25-27: OASIS 20
Orlando, FL
Guests include: Joe Haldeman and Mike Resnick
Focus: SF
www.oasfis.org

May 25-27: Marcon 42
Columbus, OH
Guests include: Keith A. DeCandido and Laura Reynolds
Focus: SF
www.marcon.org

May 25-27: ConQuest 38
Kansas City, MO
Guests include: Phyllis Eisenstein and Teddy Harvia
Focus: SF (Literary)
www.kacsffs.org/conquest/conquest.htm

Here's something interestng. According to the Associated Press, France's space agency is "putting years of UFO research and tens of thousands of documents on the Web." According to the story, there has been a small group of researchers spending the last several years trying to explain reports of unidentified flying objects. They've been able to fully explain some, about 9 percent of the cases, and are pretty sure of their explanation for another 33 percent. However, that leaves more than half of the case unsolved and unexplained.

The first batch of documents went up on www.cnes.fr last Thursday. The result was so much traffic that the space agency, known by its French initials CNES, said the site was often difficult to access.

Eventually, about 100,000 of the documents the Group for Study and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena used will end up on the site.

To go directly to the English version of the UAP research, visit www.cnes.fr/web/5038-geipan.php.

OK, living on Mars will probably not be a reality in our lifetimes, but you can always pretend. Avatar Reality, Inc., recently announced that it is developing an online massively multiplayer virtual world (MMVW) where players can develop an avatar to live on a virtual, terraformed Mars.

"Our goal is to create an online virtual world that will feature the highest-level of fun, imagination, romanticism and creative freedom," said Avatar Reality, Inc. co-founder Henk Rogers. "A highly talented team of celebrated game and movie developers has come together to share their knowledge in creating an online world that will quickly become 'the' place to meet your friends."

Sounds cool. However, I think it would have been cooler if they started out with a non-terraformed Mars and had players work on terra-forming it. Then again, maybe that would have taken too long.

For more information:

Avatar Reality: www.avatar-reality.com

Red Colony (on terraforming Mars): www.redcolony.com/art.php?id=0508290