Maybe PW didn't look hard enough, suggests About.Com's Linda Lowen. PW's list includes a John Cheever biography and some fairly doughty books of essay and non-fiction. But what about Cherie Priest's Boneshaker? "The fact that it's from Tor, an acclaimed science fiction/fantasy publisher with an award-winning author list, says something...as does PW's inclusion of it in their Top 100 Books of 2009," writes Lowen. Meanwhile, Lowen speculates that the literary ghost story in question was Sarah Waters' Booker Prize-shortlisted The Little Stranger — although there's also Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry.

Lowen's whole discussion of how the culture industry overlooks women writers, including links and quotes from other people's discussions, is well worth checking out. But it's also fascinating that, in a sense, women literary writers and science-fiction writers seem to get excluded from the mainstream "best of" lists for opposite reasons — the literary women's books are deemed too "small" and "unambitious," whereas science-fiction novels, one senses, are too huge and over-reaching, with their far-future settings or world-transforming technologies. [WomensIssues.About.Com]

Jennifer Check (Jennifer's Body)
Nature of Her Hunger: Demonic Possession — the result of a "virgin" sacrifice gone wrong.
Preferred Food Group: Boys, although she might make an exception for Amanda Seyfried.

Cal Thompson's ex-girlfriends (Peeps by Scott Westerfeld)
Nature of Their Hunger: Parasitic Infection, passed along through sexual activity.
Preferred Food Group: Whatever crosses their paths.

Lyekka (Lexx)
Nature of Her Hunger: Innate. She may look humanoid, but she's really a carnivorous plant.
Preferred Food Group: Pretty much anything and everything (including whole crews and countries at once), though she keeps her gums off the Lexx crew, out of affection for Stan.

The (Mostly Female) Carnivorous Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park)
Nature of Their Hunger: Innate. If you're going to keep Raptors and Tyrannosauri around, you have to expect a few casualties.
Preferred Food Group: Meat in general.

Heidi Barrie and Rhonda Kelley (Buffy the Vampire Slayer "The Pack")
Nature of Their Hunger: Hyena Possession, though they weren't very nice to begin with.
Preferred Food Group: High school principals.

Jodi Melville (Smallville, "Craving")
Nature of Her Hunger: Meteor-rock radiation, combined with an intense desire to be thin.
Preferred Food Group: Anything with fat on it.

Bilquis, The Queen of Sheba (American Gods by Neil Gaiman)
Nature of Her Hunger: Sacrificial. She devours men during the sex act to maintain her fertility goddess power.
Preferred Food Group: Men, though her preferred orifice for intake is not her mouth.

Zenelle (Madman)
Nature of Her Hunger: Mantis-like. Females of her species devour their mates.
Preferred Food Group: Men she's bedded, with the exception of one of the Mutant Street Beatniks, with whom she's fallen in love.

The Women of Eureka (Eureka, "Maneater")
Nature of Their Hunger: Chemical. An ancient spore turns the dial up on Carter and Dr. Stone's pheromones, and if what happened to the wolf whose lady friend got a whiff of his pheromones is any indication, the women of Eureka literally want to eat them up.
Preferred Food Group: Carter and Stone, though they never actually manage to sink their teeth into them.

Paula Gray, Doris Kearns and the Other Women of Dudley, Arkansas (The X-Files "Our Town")
Nature of Their Hunger: Cannibalism in an attempt to gain immortality.
Preferred Food Group: Anyone not in the cannibalism club. But they don't screen for diseases, and a good bit of the town ends up with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

Frau Totenkinder (Fables)
Nature of Her Hunger: Sacrificial. She eats children to increase her magical power.
Preferred Food Group: Children, including her own infants.

Jillian Boone (Fringe, "Midnight")
Nature of Her Hunger: Bacterial. She's been infected with a sort of vampiric syphilis as part of an elaborate blackmail ploy.
Preferred Food Group: Spinal Fluid

The Women of Moodley (Doghouse)
Nature of Their Hunger: Infection by an Airborne Toxin.
Preferred Food Group: Men.

Giganta (DC Comics)
Nature of Her Hunger: Murderous. When you're giant, it's a handy way to dispose of people.
Preferred Food Group: Ryan Choi, The Atom, though just she ends up puking him up later.

Maryann Forrester (True Blood)
Nature of Her Hunger: Epicurean. She happens to know the perfect recipe for human (and shifter) hearts (and makes Tara an unwitting accomplice to her cannibalism), though she also needs a humanoid sacrifice for her god.
Preferred Food Group: She has a particular affinity for supernatural beings, though nothing undead.

Janet Weiss and Columbia (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Nature of Their Hunger: Unwitting. When you're invited to a dinner party, you generally eat what's placed in front of you.
Preferred Food Group: Meat Loaf — as in the person, not the stuff that's baked with tomato sauce.

Lizzie (My Favorite Martian)
Nature of Her Hunger: Monstrous. Thanks to a gumball that transforms humanoids into other creatures, Lizzie (who is normally shaped like Darryl Hannah) turns into a carnivorous alien beast.
Preferred Food Group: Bad guys.

Giggerota the Wicked (Lexx)
Nature of Her Hunger: Epicurean — in her words, she "likes to eat."
Preferred Food Group: Pretty much anything, although she finds brains too salty.

Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors)
Nature of Her Hunger: Innate. She's a mean, green mother from outer space.
Preferred Food Group: Anything human.

Helen Sherman (Torchwood, "Countrycide")
Nature of Her Hunger: Epicurean. She and the other villagers happen to enjoy human flesh.
Preferred Food Group: Travelers.

Miss French (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Teacher's Pet")
Nature of Her Hunger: Mantis-Like. Actually, she is a giant praying mantis.
Preferred Food Group: Male virgins, no matter how much they boast about their supposed "experience."

Every Female Zombie Ever
Nature of Their Hunger: Innate. Fish gotta swim, zombies gotta chomp.
Preferred Food Group: Any living human, but there's sometimes a special emphasis on brains.

The Horde
I'm getting very excited for the zombies cops and robbers flick The Horde by Benjamin Rocher and Yannick Dahan. All of the set reports and stills we've seen so far have been lovely, and I'm hoping it's as pretty as it appears to be. The basic premise is a high rise stake-out/shoot-out between a gang of cops and a bushel of robbers has been interrupted by a herd of zombies. Will foe become friend to help escape the tower of doom? Who knows, but please let there be at least one French Mime zombie, please. Here's the latest teaser trailer:

Planet Of The Vampire Women
A cute little graphic poster and a few sexy stills have been released from this campy film, still in production. The vampire ladies themselves are band space pirates who:

pull off the ultimate heist only to crash into an unknown world. Finding themselves trapped on a storm-shrouded planet overrun with monsters, the intergalactic outlaws unknowingly awaken an unspeakable horror that causes the dead to walk...with an insatiable lust for blood!

For more stills check out Monster Island.

Humpty Dumpty
Remember a few weeks back when we talked all about alien rape and the film Humpty Dumpty? Well, new concept art was released of the backwater abode of Brakk Brothers Swamp House. We can only guess that this is the classy habitat of the villains that brutally assaulted a crashed down UFO, thus ending in the unholy human/alien half breed the movie is calling Humpty Dumpty.

Human Centipede

Ok now this is something so disturbing I'm not even 100% sure it does or should exist. The comedy Human Centipede is screening at London's Fright Fest (which is worth a look on it's own) and it's all about a mad scientist hell bent on making a real life human centipede by conjoining bodies butt to face, no seriously:

Outside the more outré work of Takashi Miike and David Cronenberg, you won't have seen anything quite like Dutch avant-garde artist Tom Six' totally bizarre off-the-wall oddity. Internationally respected Siamese twin surgeon Dr. Josef Heiter has a demented vision for mankind's future existence. He wants to remove human beings' kneecaps so they have to exist on all fours and then surgically graft them mouth-to-anus to form a centipede chain. When two stranded female Americans arrive at his luxury home-cum-hospital looking for help, his long-gestating plan swiftly moves into chilling action with a shocking force. Kidnapping a third Japanese male tourist he begins the tissue matches, teeth removal and buttock moulding to create his triplet creature… The First Sequence in Six's intended trilogy features truly unforgettable imagery, clinically dazzling direction and a so-far-round-the-bend mad doctor performance from German superstar Dieter Laser you'll scream. Behold the grotesque New Flesh. If you dare!

So, you can see where I had my doubts about the mere existence of this flick, and yet in these tiny pictures (I can't make them any bigger I'm sorry) you see a group of people with bandages on their knees, attached face to backside. Make of it what you will readers, it terrifies me.

Deadgirl

And finally, last week we showed you the new trailer for the deeply disturbing story about a group of teenaged boys and their love for a naked zombie girl tied up in their basement. In this new, highly NSFW clip, watch as one boy lovingly rubs dark lipstick all over his undead girls lips, because who wants to spend their days raping a zombie if she looks all tired?

Deadgirl is getting a small little release on July 24th, at these particular theaters:

Landmark Sunshine Cinema - NY
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Nuart Theater - LA
Screening July 24th @ midnight

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - AUSTIN
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Landmark Tivoli - ST. LOUIS
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Music Box Theater - CHICAGO
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Grand Illusion - SEATTLE
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Inwood Theater - DALLAS
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

River Oaks Theater - HOUSTON
Screening July 24th & 25th @ midnight

Fantasia Film Festival - MONTREAL
Screening July 24th @ midnight

Orions (Star Trek): Orion slave girls are known for their beauty, their carnal appetites, and their skills in the bedroom. Being with an Orion woman is a common male fantasy in the Federation, and the women feature in many a holosuite program. But the Orion women are more in control than any outside their species realize. They emit a powerful pheromone that turns men of most species into their willing slaves.

Queen Veranke (Marvel): The princess Veranke was sent to a prison planet for having the audacity to question the leadership of the Skrull king, saying that the prophesies foretold the destruction of the Skrull homeworld and the need to find a new planet. When the prophesies come true, Veranke is freed and made empress of the Skrull Empire. She quickly plots and enacts the Secret Invasion of Earth, acting as one of the plan’s early agents by impersonating Spider-Woman Jessica Drew.

Princess Aura (Flash Gordon): Although later media would remove her verdant hue, Princess Aura was the originally green-skinned daughter of Ming the Merciless, the despotic ruler of the planet Mongo. Her attraction to Flash Gordon proved one of the protagonists’ greatest assets, causing her to turn against her father, though she ultimately falls for the rebel Prince Barin, the rightful heir to Mongo’s throne.

Athena (Lost in Space): Few people are fond of Lost in Space’s villainous stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith. But one such person is Athena, the girl from the Green Dimension. Although she at one point hypnotizes Smith into dumping the Jupiter 2’s fuel, hijacking the ship, and taking a walk in space, she later returns to romance the sad doctor, hoping to escape her brutish suitor and bring Smith back to her home dimension.

Miss Martian (DC): M’gann M’orzz is actually a White Martian who poses as a Green Martian to earn a slot on the Teen Titans. But even after her true form is discovered, she prefers her green appearance, though she is plagued by the fear of her more aggressive White Martian nature.

Tak (Invader Zim): The female Irken Tak is far more clever than her nemesis Zim. She has a more convincing disguise, builds a superior robotic unit, and is single-minded in her pursuits. But after Zim’s actions condemned her to 70 years of janitorial duty on the Planet Dirt, she’s also dangerously insane. She aims to steal Zim’s commission by conquering the Earth and stuffing it with junk food for the benefit of the Irken Armada.

Elmira (Space Cases): The warlike Spung were the primary antagonists of Nickelodeon’s lost in space drama. But Elmira escaped her Spung upbringing because of their shoddy treatment of women. Like Aura, Elmira is green-skinned royal who ends up falling for her father’s enemy. She’s also an oracle, and foresees Jewel Staite’s unfortunate departure from the show.

She-Hulk (Marvel): After Jennifer Walters was gunned down by members of a crime family, her cousin Bruce “The Hulk” Banner saves her life by donating some of his gamma-irradiated blood. The transfusions transforms her into the amazonian She-Hulk, but, unlike Banner, she sees the advantages of going green. Her She-Hulk form gave Walters the strength and confidence not only to fight superpowered crime, but also to practice superhuman law.

April the Gorlock (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius): Genius Jimmy Neutron may have a secret crush on his intellectual rival Cindy Vortex, but his hormones go into overdrive when he meets April the Gorlock. While trying to protect her planet, April performs her people’s seal of trust on Jimmy, which just so happens to be a kiss. Jimmy was happy to lend a helping hand, hoping to earn himself another seal of trust once the planet’s safety was assured.

Oola (Star Wars): Unlike the Orion women, Oola is a bona fide slave, a Twi’lek tragically tricked into becoming a dancer for Jabba the Hutt. There, she was starved, forced to service Jabba, and beaten for any disobedience. Just before she believed she would be rescued by Luke Skywalker, Oola performed one final dance for her master, but when Jabba pulled on the chain around her neck, beckoning him to her, she defied him, pulling back until Jabba tugged her over a trapdoor and dropped her into the chamber of his hungry rancor.

Xylene (Ben 10): Xylene is the carrier of the Omnitrix, a powerful alien device that can transform the wearer into a number of different aliens. When she finds herself under attack, she sends the device to Earth, where it comes into the possession of Ben Tennyson. When Xylene comes to reclaim the Omnitrix, she butts heads with Ben, but reconnects with Ben’s Grandpa Max, her ally and one-time lover.

Updated by popular demand:

Dot Matrix (ReBoot): We were remiss in not immediately including Dot Matrix, the Command.Com of ReBoot's Mainframe. After her father's experiments wipe out most of Mainframe and nearly all the computer's sprites, Dot keeps Mainframe running, fighting off its resident viruses, Megabyte and Hexadecimal, and ensuring the population isn't decimated by incoming games. At the same time, she owns many of the local business and raises her only remaining family, her younger brother Enzo.

James Tiptree Jr.
Given Name: Alice “Alli” Sheldon
Works: Numerous short stories, including “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” and “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?”
James Tiptree Jr. was an elusive figure, giving only one interview in “his” career, which was condcted by mail. He had a post office box and his own back account, but no one had ever met him in person. In 1976, they learned why: Tiptree was actually Alice Bradley, a one-time CIA agent who had adopted the Tiptree pseudonym while finishing her doctorate in psychology. Bradley said that when she started writing science fiction, she wanted to create a persona who would be sufficiently removed from her previous writing – which had focused largely on women and the nature of girlhood – and she wanted to submit her stories with a name that no editor would remember rejecting. She took the name “Tiptree” from a jam jar and the name “James” because male names were more common in science fiction than female ones.

When Tiptree was revealed as a woman, it caused quite a stir among the science fiction community. Tiptree’s followers recognized the name as a pseudonym, but Bradley’s frequent travels and intelligence background led many to believe he was a high-ranking government official, but few had considered he might be a woman. Sheldon would later say that she was “ashamed” of taking a male pseudonym because she had taken the easy path into the male-dominated field.

CJ Cherryh
Given Name: Carolyn Janice Cherry
Works: Over 60 novels and short story collections, including Downbelow Station, Cyteen, and Cuckoo’s Egg.
Carolyn Cherry submitted her first two novels, Gate of Ivrel and Brothers of Earth to DAW Books in 1975. Donald Wollheim, DAW’s founder, purchased both manuscripts, but, for marketability, suggested she go with a different name. The initials CJ disguised the fact that she was a woman and adding an “h” to her last name made it look less like a romance novelist’s.

Vernon Lee
Given Name: Violet Paget
Works: Several ghost stories, notably “Oke of Okehurst: or the Phantom Lover”
Vernon Lee wrote not only supernatural fiction, but also papers the theory of philosopher and aesthetics, subjects women were not considered intellectually suited for. Lee herself once said, “I don’t care that Vernon Lee should be known to be myself or any other young woman, as I am sure no one reads a woman’s writings on art, history or aesthetics with anything but mitigated contempt.” But she quickly became known as one of the premiere scholars in aesthetics and her fiction continues to be republished today.

Paul Ash(well)
Given Name: Pauline Ashwell
Works: “Invasion from Venus,” “The Winds of a Bat,”
The short story “Invasion from Venus” appeared in Yankee Science Fiction in 1942 under the name “Paul Ashwell.” But the real author was a fourteen year-old girl by the name of Pauline Ashwell. John W. Campbell would eventually publish “Unwillingly to School,” Pauline’s “debut” (now under her real name) in Analog magazine in 1958. She would continue to publish stories from time to time under the truncated name “Paul Ash,” including the Nebula-nominated “Wings of a Bat.” In the 1990s, Ashwell would publish two novels, Unwillingly to Earth and Project Farcry.

CL Moore
Given Name: Catherine Lucille Moore
Works: Numerous short stories, including “The Code” “Promised Land,” and “Heir Apparent”
Although claims that CL Moore tried to conceal her gender are in dispute, Astounding editor and fellow scifi writer Frederik Pohl once said that Moore “felt a need to tinker with” her name to appeal to her overwhelmingly male readers. It apparently worked, as in 1936, Moore received a letter of admiration from science fiction writer Henry Kuttner, who believed Moore was a man. They married in 1940. The pair would go on to collaborate on many short stories, signing each work with a single pseudonym – one that was invariably male.

L. Taylor Hansen
Given Name: Lucile Taylor Hansen
Works: A handful of short stories and 57 science articles in Amazing Stories from 1941-1949.
L. Taylor Hansen, who was better known for her science articles than her fiction, didn’t merely attempt to obscure her gender; she denied it entirely. Hansen once titled a letter in Amazing “L. Taylor Hansen Defends Himself” and once included a photo of a man with one of her stories, claiming it was a photo of herself.

Tarpé Mills
Given Name: June Mills
Works: Miss Fury
Comic book artist June Mills dropped her first name in favor of her more gender ambiguous middle name when she started making action comics. She created Miss Fury, one of the early female action characters in comics, and the first created by a woman. When Miss Fury proved a commercial success, she couldn’t hide her gender from interviewers, who realized that the comic creator was not only a woman, but bore a close resemblance to her character.

Andre Norton
Given Name: Alice Norton
Works: Over 300 titles, including Star Born, Merlin’s Mirror, and Star Man’s Son
Alice Mary Norton went beyond pseudonym to increase her marketability. The year she published her first short story, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton, figuring the male name would fit better with the boys her were her primary market. Over the years, she also published under the names Andrew North and Allen Weston.

Murray Constantine
Given Name: Katharine Burdekin
Works: The Devil, Poor Devil, Proud Man, Swastika Night, and Venus in Scorpio
Katharine Burdekin’s novels dealt primarily with fascist dystopias, and as her work grew more critical of fascism, she adopted a pseudonym to protect her family in the event of a German invasion of England. But her choice of a male pseudonym was likely linked to her feminist approach to the subject, and she frequently linked fascism to a “cult of masculinity” and “reduction of women.” Although the feminist overtones led many critics to believe that Constantine was a woman writing under a pseudonym, it wasn’t until two decades after her death that a scholar identified Constantine as Burdekin.

JK Rowling
Given Name: Joanne Rowling
Works: The Harry Potter Series
These days, people will wait in line hours to purchase something from Ms. Joanne Rowling. But when she first submitted her tale of a boy wizard to Bloomsbury, the publisher suggested that she use two initials instead of her first name, so as not to turn off the young boys (Rowling doesn’t actually have a middle name, and took the K for her grandmother, Kathleen). If children care that the creator of Hogwarts is a woman, it certainly doesn’t show.

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According to the Times:

The network has expanded its audience, especially among women, chiefly by stretching the definition of science fiction . . . It is not just "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" that would fit the definition. Superheroes, Indiana Jones and even the baseball fantasy movie "Field of Dreams" would all be considered part of the genre as defined by Sci Fi's programmers . . . The network has drawn more women by making subtle tweaks to marketing and programming. In marketing materials for "Battlestar Galactica," for example, there are no spaceships, and the story lines try to create more of a balance between action and emotion. . . .

"There were a lot of misperceptions that Sci Fi was for men, that it was for young men and that it was for geeky young men," said Bonnie Hammer, the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, which oversees Sci Fi. "We had to broaden the channel to change the misconceptions of the genre."

One of the shows that did this was Steven Spielberg's "Taken," a miniseries shown for two weeks in 2002 that dominated those nights in the ratings. While the series "literally put Sci Fi on the map," Ms. Hammer said, it also exemplified the network's notion of the genre with its main characters as human beings living on earth, not aliens on some far-off planet.

Sorry, but this kind of wacky logic says a lot more about people's misperceptions of science fiction than it does about science fiction itself. It's true that there's been a stereotype that science fiction is for men, just as there's a stereotype that science itself is for men. And those stereotypes are wrong.

If there's something keeping women away from enjoying science fiction, it's not spaceships. It's not "aliens on some far-off planet." It's the fact that people on our very own planet keep telling us that women aren't supposed to like science fiction. It's a self-confirming prophesy, because the more that scifi creators are told this, the more they imagine that their audience is all boys. So they write rich, believable male characters and boring, cookie-cutter lady characters. They organize conventions with panels devoted to shit like "the hottest women of science fiction" and nothing devoted to female heroes — or the kinds of hotties that straight women might want to see (i.e., men).

Women who do love science fiction see all this going down, and they are ashamed to admit that they like science fiction. I'm not saying this happens to all of us, but many women wind up assuming that there's something wrong with them for liking SF. After all, everybody keeps telling them that SF is for boys, and the only reason why women would like it is if the definition of SF is "expanded" to include magic and romance. (Nothing against magic and romance, mind you — it's just not typical of SF.)

And on top of all this load of crap, women who like SF sometimes get the impression that men don't really want them to like it. After all, if men really wanted women to hang out and talk to them about SF, those men wouldn't write exclusively about male characters and make jokes about how the fun thing to do at SF cons is hire hookers (haw haw haw).

Luckily, it would appear that most people interested in SF do consider women to be part of the genre at this point. Battlestar Galactica is a perfect example of the kind of SF that appeals to women and men equally because the show offers both male and female characters in positions of power (and positions of yuck). Women are gobbling this show up without shame not because ads eschew pictures of spaceships (WTF), but because there are cool women characters in it. Women love Joss Whedon shows like Firefly for the same reason.

And you know what? Women love tons of science fiction, regardless of how many boys are main characters, because they like good stories as much as the next guy. They just might be ashamed to admit they like SF because they don't want people to give them the old "you don't exist" speech. Or, worse, give them the old hairy-eyeball that really means "there is something wrong with you."

So if the SciFi Channel is really concerned about courting women — which it really doesn't have to be, since tons of women watch it — then maybe they should consider airing more shows about women. In space. On other planets. Fighting monsters. And maybe they should consider acting like it's NORMAL for women to like stories about aliens ripping people's faces off. Instead of behaving as if they've discovered fucking faster-than-light travel because they noticed that tons of women enjoy SF, create SF, write about SF, and goddamn live and breathe the stuff. Hell, I'm heading to an ENTIRE CON devoted to women and science fiction on Friday.

Next time somebody tells you that women don't like science fiction, just send them to io9. Our phasers are not set to stun.

At SciFi Channel, Universe is Expanding [New York Times]

• 
  
• Wilma Deering first appeared in the August 1928 "Armageddon 2419 A.D." story that ran in Amazing Stories magazine, and she is depicted as heroic and beautiful. In the story, she encounters Anthony Rogers (not yet "Buck" Rogers) in the during a war in the far future. Anthony joins her team of fighters, and at end of the story, they get married. *sniffle*
• 
  
• in the late 20s to the mid 60s, Wilma also appeared in the Buck Rogers comic strip, although she was much more of a stock female character instead of the spunky adventurer from the pulps.
• 
  
• In the Buck Rogers serial that ran in 1939, Lieutenant Wilma Deering encountered a thawed-out Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade, and together they fought the oppressive regime of Killer Kane.
• 
  
• In the 1979 television show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Wilma was played by Erin Gray, and had made it all the way to Colonel. However, she was now a near-emotionless soldier with little interest in Buck. Although as time went by she opened up and tossed her shiny hair more, while continuing to dazzle as a pilot and a fighter.
• 
  
• In the Buck Rogers XXV Roleplaying Game, Wilma is described as a strawberry blonde with a fiery temper, and as an "8th level Terran warrior and a freedom fighter." But, she still serves as a love interest for Buck.
• 
  
• Princess Ardala was one of Buck's enemies in the comic strip, along with her sidekick Kane. However, she didn't appear in the 1939 serial at all.
• 
  
• Ardala became the vampiest scifi television show vixen on the airwaves when she appeared in the first season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, although they didn't bring her back for season two.
• 
  
• She was portrayed by actress Pamela Hensley, and she frequently wore very little clothing. In most of her episodes, she puts Carrie Fisher's Slave Girl Leia bikini to shame. Fairly racy stuff on television for 1979.
• 
  
• Buck finds himself in the episode "Awakening" from the 1979 television series, and is first discovered by a Draconian fighter. He's brought aboard the flagship Draconia, where he meets the Draconian emperor Draco extremely briefly, and is then left with the Draconian Princess, Ardala. These people really need to buy a book of baby names or something.
• 
  
• Surprisingly, Ardala only made four actual appearances on the show, but it's impossible to think of it without remembering her slinky cattiness.
• 
  
• In one episode of the show, Ardala holds her own "shotgun wedding" where she points a massive orbital weapon at New Chicago, and threatens to blow it off the map if Buck doesn't consent to being her consort. He thwarts her, and she lets him go... looks like she's a fan of captive men.
• 
  

• 
  
• Day Glo Assassin (on the far right): "This isn't too dissimilar from how I normally dress, so I'd probably just take off my wig and book it. But, if I had to get naked, I'd probably start with the boots first, because it's hard to take anything off over them."
• 
  
• Agent Orange (second from the right): "The gloves! Because they make everything more difficult to maneuver around, especially zippers."
• 
  
• Random Hot Friend In Leopard Dress (second from left): "I think the tights, those are the hardest things to get off. I'd have to start there and move upwards."
• 
  
• Obsidian Blackbird McKnight — The Arch Nemesis (on the far left): "I'm wearing seven layers, there is no fast way for me to get naked. I guess I'd start with the corset I guess. That would make things easier."
• 
  

A 15 minute long portion of the film was shown to some of the cast and crew, and according to Ricci, "A lot of guys were crying at the end of the 15 minute [reel] because there's this real guy-sad thing." What's a sad guy thing that's not a sad girl thing? Does Speed lose his penis during one of the races and get told that he can't have any Speed Juniors? Inquiring minds want to know what's going on. The movie looks like a technicolor vomit comet that merged with a hyperactive video game, but we're not saying that's necessarily a bad thing. As long as the lipstick matches the hurl.

Ricci Promises Positive Female Role Model in Speed Racer [Rotten Tomatoes]

The new year is barely three weeks old, so if you love mutant powers and nakedness, then this calendar should be right up your alley. (Sadly there is no beefcake version.) Like the first Nerdcore calendar, this one is also full of geeky dates, like the opening days for Iron Man and The Dark Knight. You'll also get nerdy trivia dates like Sarah Connor's assassination, the morning Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 departed, and the day Marty was sent back to the future.

So, if you're looking to decorate your dorm room, office cubicle, or basement rumpus room, you might want to pick one of these up. You may have a hard time convincing your co-workers or significant other that it's actually research for Heroes, but if you're able to pull it off, then we salute you. It'll certainly get a lot more attention than your old Far Side calendar.

Do they spray water out of the soles or give the wearer the ability to leap through flames? The robot dog with a hose for a tail is a lot more self-explanatory. He could scout ahead for hotspots and then take care of them himself with a flick of his hind end.

While we wouldn't mind living in a world populated with artist Neville Page's civil workers, we doubt that much work would get done. Everyone would probably be busy taking the day off to pose for calendars. Still, we love the attention to detail in these boots, even if neither we nor Neville know what they do. He tossed the whole piece together in a day and a half, wanting to work mainly on a pinup in some futuristic fire-fighting gear. Looks like he succeeded. Pair her up with the futuristic fire engine and you're playing with fire.