An anthology of authentic and realistic hard science fiction
Due 2012
Tony Lane bought two of my stories for his Kindle and has posted about them on his blog. The two stories were ‘The Amber Room‘ (Tony’s thoughts here) and ‘Human Resources‘ (Tony’s thoughts here). You could, of course, buy copies yourself to see if you agree with Tony. On the other hand, I have several [...]
Filed under: my fiction, science fiction | 2 Comments »
Last night, I read The Old Funny Stuff by George Alec Effinger, a collection of four short stories and a poem published as the first volume of Author’s Choice Monthly back in 1989. I have no great liking for humourous science fiction – possibly because most of it is so bad. And the stories in [...]
Filed under: science fiction, world-building, writing | Leave a Comment »
Perhaps at one point last century the future was so bright because of all those nuclear bombs exploding – at least, so they imagined. But they were also wildly optimistic about what the twenty-first century would hold. And it certainly wasn’t double-dip recessions, an ever-widening equity gap, anthropogenic global warming, and rule 34. Sometimes they [...]
Filed under: jetpunk | 3 Comments »
A bit of an epic post this, partly because in my last readings & watchings I only gave the books I’d read and not the films I’ve watched. But how can more be bad, eh? Books Troika, Alastair Reynolds (2010), is the first piece of fiction Reynolds has had shortlisted for a Hugo. It lost [...]
Filed under: books, films, readings & watchings 2011 | Tagged: abbas kiarostami, alastair reynolds, chris moriarty, cs lewis, d'israeli, david cronenberg, david lean, david s goyer, gareth l powell, howard hawks, ian fleming, liz jensen, lukas moodysson, michael cassutt, michelle shirey crean, otto preminger, ousmane sembène, pamela sargent, robert aldrich, serge pellé, sue thomas, sylvain runberg, toby litt, warren ellis, william shakespeare | 1 Comment »
There are those who believe science fiction is a predominantly pessimistic genre, and certainly many of the futures that sf novels posit can hardly be called utopias. Of course, much of this depends upon your personal politics – a neoliberal fantasy, for instance, would likely appeal to a plutocrat, or to someone so deluded they [...]
Filed under: 2011 reading challenge, book review, chris moriarty, science fiction, women in sf | 5 Comments »
Apparently, World Book Night asked people to nominate their top ten books in order to determine what titles would be given away next year. Bold if you’ve read it; italicise if it’s on the TBR. 1 To Kill a Mockingbird*, Harper Lee 2 Pride and Prejudice*, Jane Austen 3 The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 4 [...]
Filed under: book list, meme | 4 Comments »
It’s been over a month since my last book haul post, but if I leave it any longer, it’ll take me an entire weekend to photograph my purchases. So herewith approximately five to six weeks worth of slippery “bid”, “buy it now” and “place order” buttons, and the results thereof. Some time this month, we [...]
Filed under: book haul, books | Tagged: adam roberts, alan moore, alexander jablokov, anthony burgess, brian aldiss, carolyn ives gilman, edgar rice burroughs, frank herbert, gary gibson, geoff dyer, he bates, iain m banks, ian mcewan, jack finney, jacques tardi, james sa corey, jane palmer, jane rogers, jo anderton, joanna russ, john shirley, lawrence durrell, lewis shiner, sebastian faulks, tom mccarthy | 1 Comment »
You know when someone on-line puts together a list – especially for films – and not only do you disagree with the choices they’ve made, but whether or not their choices actually qualify for the list in the first place? Well, someone did that recently with a “top ten space opera movies” list, and half [...]
Filed under: films, science fiction | 16 Comments »
There has been some discussion of late of the role science fiction might play in inspiring science – see Damien G Walter’s piece here, Cheryl Morgan’s here, and Mark Charan Newton’s here. The argument being that, allegedly, innovators read science fiction, or many scientists chose their careers because of science fiction, and so the genre [...]
Filed under: science fiction, writing | 12 Comments »
Ever have one of those days where you’re busy all the time but never seem to get anything done? I’ve had a few weeks like that. Possibly because I have so many things on the go – and a day job as well – that though I chip away at each individual one I don’t [...]
Filed under: my fiction, science fiction, writing | 1 Comment »
