Colonel Frog

Britain wins twice in Nantes: Claire North takes the Prix Utopiales for Slow Gods, and RJ Barker's The Bone Ships wins the Prix Julia Verlanger. The French put on a cracking SF festival, and they have excellent taste. sfcrowsnest.info/prix-utopia… @ClaireNorth42 #PrixUtopiales #SFF

World of Warcraft: Forever opens tomorrow at 11pm UK time: 2004's Azeroth, a thousand new quests and Onyxia at 40 players. Clear your diary, apologise to your family in advance, and bring snacks. sfcrowsnest.info/world-of-wa… @Warcraft #WorldofWarcraft #WoWForever

John Leeson, the voice of K9, has died aged 83. For a generation he was the most dependable voice in the TARDIS, and "Affirmative, master" was far friendlier in the playground than "Exterminate". Good dog, good man. sfcrowsnest.info/john-leeson… @bbcdoctorwho #DoctorWho #K9 #RIP

Ben Wang is in talks to play Iceman in Marvel's X-Men. After four Fox films of Bobby Drake mostly chilling drinks and frosting windows, here's hoping this one finally lets him slide into the big leagues. sfcrowsnest.info/ben-wang-ic… @MarvelStudios @XMenMovies #XMen #Iceman

Dave Bautista has put on 20lb to play Kratos, and Amazon is reshooting every scene from before the recast. Ronald D. Moore is in charge, so expect grief, beards and very serious Norse family therapy. BOY. sfcrowsnest.info/god-of-war-… @PrimeVideo @SonySantaMonica #GodofWar #Kratos

Not that James Gunn. This one wrote The Cave of Night in 1955, before anyone had been to space, and got the details uncannily right. Four classic stories, and our reviewer says he's well worth seeking out. sfcrowsnest.info/some-dreams… #JamesGunn #SciFi #BookReview

Worlds of IF #180 is out, at nearly 300 pages, which for a digest is a doorstop with ambitions. Flip it over for a Bruce Pennington back cover and you're straight back at a 1970s paperback spinner rack. sfcrowsnest.info/worlds-of-i… @WorldsofIF #SciFi #BrucePennington

Teghaza 001, a pink rock picked up in the Sahara, turns out to be a 4.1-billion-year-old piece of Mars. No cylinder unscrewing near Woking, no little green men, just proof the neighbours once had weather. sfcrowsnest.info/teghaza-001… @NASAJPL #Mars #meteorite #science

Queen's Domain is out: a King's Field-style dungeon crawl where your sword doubles as a jet pack. Excalibur never had an upgrade path like this. Every corridor still wants you dead, mind. sfcrowsnest.info/queens-doma… @QueensDomain_ #QueensDomain #RPG #indiegames

A fan serial used AI to bring back Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane, and her daughter Sadie Miller isn't having it: Mum never said yes. The show got there first: in 1975 the Kraals built a fake Sarah Jane, and she was the villain. sfcrowsnest.info/ai-sarah-ja… #DoctorWho #SarahJaneSmith

Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold slips to 23 February, and Yoshi-P bowed his apologies. The consolation is Zephyr, a new crossbow job that fights alongside a bird, which is the most reliable battle plan in the history of warfare. sfcrowsnest.info/final-fanta… @FF_XIV_EN #FFXIV #Evercold

The Rubber-Keyed Wonder, Kim Justice's ZX Spectrum history book from @golden_slumb, hit its Kickstarter target in 98 minutes. Faster than most of us loaded Manic Miner, and with no R Tape loading error. Pledges close tomorrow. sfcrowsnest.info/rubber-keye… #ZXSpectrum #retrogaming

Percy Jackson season 3 took The Titan's Curse to Lucca, with Holt McCallany's Atlas as its first real bad guy. Percy must hold up the sky, which is still easier than a teenage conversation. On Disney+ 20 November. sfcrowsnest.info/percy-jacks… @DisneyPlus #PercyJackson

Over 100 basket makers have reviewed Wicker: Alexander Skarsgård's wicker husband is plaited, not woven, and isn't even willow. Finally, film criticism from people who know how the magic is done. sfcrowsnest.info/wicker-husb… #Wicker #OliviaColman #folkhorror

Peter Medak, director of The Changeling, has died aged 88. He scared a generation with an empty house, a wheelchair and a rubber ball bouncing down the stairs. We still can't look at a staircase. Rest well. sfcrowsnest.info/peter-medak… #PeterMedak #TheChangeling #RIP

AO3 is offline for up to four weeks after a break-in. Good news: all 18.8 million works are safe. Bad news: fandom must wait for chapter 47 like it's 1998. Reused your AO3 password? Change it! sfcrowsnest.info/archive-of-… #AO3 #fanfiction #fandom

Yu-Gi-Oh! Maze of Machines arrives in March: 153 cards, with Bandit Keith's coin-flipping, slot-machine DARK Machines. Finally, a deck that feels like a wet afternoon in a seaside arcade, in the best way. sfcrowsnest.info/yu-gi-oh-ma… @Konami #YuGiOh #TCG

Spoilers! In Captain America #16, Doctor Doom takes over Hell and voids every one of Mephisto's contracts. Somewhere, Peter Parker and Mary Jane are suddenly very interested in the small print. sfcrowsnest.info/captain-ame… @Marvel #CaptainAmerica #DoctorDoom #comics