This weekend, I watched the movie 'Arrival'. It starts off with the now common scenario of several floating ships appearing in the skies around the world. But unlike most movies in this mold, it focuses on humanity's efforts to communicate with the aliens and understand why they've come. The protagonist is an expert in linguistics. I … Continue reading Arrival, the shape of aliens, and bridging the communication barrier
Category: Science Fiction
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (spoiler free)
I saw the new Star Wars flick Friday morning. I considered blogging about it later that day, but then figured there were already a zillion reviews on the web and adding one more wouldn't be particularly useful. But some of my friends, including a few who read this blog, have asked me what I thought about … Continue reading Star Wars: The Force Awakens (spoiler free)
Childhood’s End and why a war between us and aliens is profoundly unlikely
Last night, SyFy debuted two shows, 'The Expanse', which I've already written about, and 'Childhood's End', which is an adaptation of a classic science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. With these two shows, along with some other pretty decent ones earlier this year such as 'Dark Matter' and 'Killjoys', the network seems to be on … Continue reading Childhood’s End and why a war between us and aliens is profoundly unlikely
The Expanse: Intelligent space opera you should check out
Last night, I watched the pilot episode to the new science fiction TV series, 'The Expanse'. It's based on a series of novels by a writing team that goes by the pseudonym James S.A. Corey, the first of which I reviewed a while back. I've read all the books in the series and enjoyed them … Continue reading The Expanse: Intelligent space opera you should check out
Thoughts on knowing and targeting your audience
Writing can be a tricky business. Whenever you do it, it has to be with an audience in mind. When I do blog posts here, I'm usually aiming for a general audience. I try not to assume that my readers know obscure scientific or philosophical terminology. That's a decision I've made, hopefully one I've lived up to. … Continue reading Thoughts on knowing and targeting your audience
Mad Max: Fury Road – Wow!
This week I watched the movie Mad Max:Fury Road. I had heard a lot about this movie, that it was incredibly action packed, that it had stunning visuals, that it put every other action movie to shame, that it had in fact re-defined what it means to be an action movie. Pretty high praise. With a … Continue reading Mad Max: Fury Road – Wow!
A machine in the likeness of a human mind
In the fictional far future of the classic science fiction novel, 'Dune', computers are taboo across all human cultures, the result of an ancient jihad which resulted in the religious commandment: "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." The result of this commandment, is that computers, robots, or artificial intelligence … Continue reading A machine in the likeness of a human mind
‘The Martian’: Robinson Crusoe meets Apollo 13
I recently read Andy Weir's novel: 'The Martian'. Weir's book is a self publishing success story. An admitted life long geek, he enjoyed thoroughly researching how a mission to Mars might work and what might go wrong with it. He originally published the book, in serialized form, on his web site. In response to reader … Continue reading ‘The Martian’: Robinson Crusoe meets Apollo 13
What is the crucial element of a story?
I've been reading a lot of science fiction short stories lately. As an aspiring author, one of the things I've been trying to pay attention to are what the properties are of the stories I end up enjoying. And, just as important, what are the properties of the stories I don't enjoy, particularly the ones I end … Continue reading What is the crucial element of a story?
Literary “rules” I wish science fiction and fantasy books would break more often.
Read any book on writing, or take a creative writing course, and there are certain pieces of advice that you are almost certain to encounter. In many cases, the advice is good, but some have a tendency to take these tools of the craft and turn them into rigid rules. And just about any rigid rule … Continue reading Literary “rules” I wish science fiction and fantasy books would break more often.
SelfAwarePatterns 