I recently read Ann Leckie's new book 'Ancillary Sword'. It's a sequel to 'Ancillary Justice', which I recommended last year, and which went on to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel. That first book explored a lot of mind bending concepts. The first had been the main character, Breq, a woman, originally one of … Continue reading Ancillary Sword
Tag: Science fiction
HBO will make a Foundation TV series
IO9 has the details. Apparently Jonathan Nolan, of 'Interstellar' fame, is involved. I'm not sure how I feel about this. The Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov, is classic golden age science fiction. It's one of those works that has influenced lots of other science fiction, with many common tropes originating from it. Galactic empires? Foundation. … Continue reading HBO will make a Foundation TV series
The mind / body dualism of ‘Edge of Tomorrow’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw61gCe2oqI This weekend, I watched the movie, 'Edge of Tomorrow', also known as 'Live. Die. Repeat.' It's the latest in a common motif in science fiction and fantasy, the time loop story, where the hero repeats the same events over and over until they find a way to break out. It's a concept that's been … Continue reading The mind / body dualism of ‘Edge of Tomorrow’
The Paraphrase Challenge: How to understand what your opponent is saying
Earlier today, John Zande clued me into an awesome science fiction novella by David Brin called 'Stones of Significance', which I highly recommend to anyone interested in AI, post-singularity fiction, and the nature of reality. By coincidence, the author, David Brin, tweeted this video earlier which, given the epic online fights that have happened recently, … Continue reading The Paraphrase Challenge: How to understand what your opponent is saying
I have to say it. I hated the Doctor Who episode: ‘Kill the Moon’
SPOILER WARNING: If have haven't seen the latest Doctor Who episode and don't want to be spoiled, you may want to hold off reading this entry until you have seen it. Indeed, you might find this post confusing until you have seen it. There has been some reactions to the episode, from Charlie Ann … Continue reading I have to say it. I hated the Doctor Who episode: ‘Kill the Moon’
Blindsight by Peter Watts, a review
I recently read Peter Watts's book, 'Blindsight', a hard(ish) science fiction novel about first contact with extraterrestrials. This is a book that's been out for several years, and was a Hugo Award nominee in 2006, so I'm a bit late to the party. Indeed, since I started this blog in November, a number of people have … Continue reading Blindsight by Peter Watts, a review
Doctor Who: ‘Deep Breath’ – I like the new Doctor
The new Doctor Who season started Saturday and I just got around to watching the season opener. I think Peter Capaldi is going to make an excellent Doctor. I'm pretty pleased to see the show return to an older Doctor. Since it was restarted in 2005, the Doctors have been getting younger and younger, but anyone … Continue reading Doctor Who: ‘Deep Breath’ – I like the new Doctor
Poseidon’s Children: a review of the first two books
I've recently read the first two books in Alastair Reynolds's new series, 'Poseidon's Children': 'Blue Remembered Earth' and 'On the Steel Breeze'. I've mentioned before that I'm a fan of Reynolds's work, and these books fit his usual style: hard(ish) science fiction, a rich and interesting universe, and characters in interesting situations and dilemmas. The … Continue reading Poseidon’s Children: a review of the first two books
Most science fiction is actually a blend of scientific fiction and fantasy.
Quentin Cooper, looking over a top 100 sci-fi movie list which has many questionable entries, ponders this question: BBC - Future - Why is science fiction so hard to define?. Time Out, the weekly listings magazine, recently ranked the 100 best sci-fi movies of all time. They did it by polling 150 “leading sci-fi experts, filmmakers, … Continue reading Most science fiction is actually a blend of scientific fiction and fantasy.
Transcendence
I finally watched the movie, Transcendence. I had commented a while back, when the trailer came out, the problems I had with what appeared to be the central premise of the film. Since then, there's been a lot of harsh reviews of the film. I did find a lot of silliness in it, but overall … Continue reading Transcendence
