So this week I was reading Burnt Worlds, a science fiction novel by S.J. Madill, in which the spaceship Borealis tests out a new hyperspace jump drive by leaping 35,000 light years away from home, whereupon said jump drive promptly explodes, leaving the ship facing a multi-year journey to get back. Of course, they only packed enough supplies for a day trip. Whoops.
So recently, having finished up with all available seasons of The Serpent Queen*, we found ourselves in need of a new show to watch, possibly one that would blend drama and black comedy like TSQ did. Or maybe one that would blend science fiction and black comedy. Enter Murderbot.
So this week I was reading The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis, a low-technology steampunk adventure where they fly around in zeppelins, but shoot at each other with muzzle-load muskets, cannons, and flintlock rifles. Because why not?
Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: “The Guns Above””So this week, I was reading Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson, AKA Humans: No Matter Where They Go, There They Are.
Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: “Aurora””So last week, as everyone in the United States is no doubt aware, we celebrated Independence Day. This involves fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. These fireworks may be shot off by your town or municipality, your local businesses, and, of course, your neighbors, and many pets find the noise stressful, including our dog Lulu (the rest of our animals, including former street dog Bean, don’t care that much). We planned ahead for this by getting her a quick-acting prescription medication for her nerves that can be applied half an hour before fireworks are expected to start, and also by lining up a noisy movie for us to watch during festivities. But which one to choose?
Continue reading “Your Independence Day Guide To Picking A Noisy Movie”So not long ago, the Academy Award-winning* kaiju film Godzilla Minus One made a surprise appearance on Netflix**. The astute reader will not be surprised to learn that we (meaning I) watched it as soon as possible.
So this week I consulted the Gods of Randomness and they instructed me to reach into my big file of rejection letters and pull item #9 out of folder “F”. There aren’t a lot of papers in this folder, and there would be even fewer if I had decided to file rejections from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction under “M” instead of under “F”, but for whatever reason I went into the prepositional clause to sort this one. I know I sent a lot of stuff to F &SF (none of which was accepted) and there are only three rejection slips from them under “F”, so maybe I was inconsistent and there are more under “M”. We’ll find out at some point I guess.
Continue reading “Random Rejection: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, “The Light””So this week (well, probably several weeks ago by the time this post appears) I was reading Way Station, a classic SF novel from the 1960s by Clifford D. Simak:
Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: Clifford D. Simak, “Way Station””So recently I was watching the third Doctor Who special of 2023, AKA The One Where the 15th Doctor Shows Up. Although my wife is not, as a general rule, interested in Doctor Who, I knew that she was curious about the new Doctor, although she did have some questions.
Wife: “What number Doctor is this? Fourteen?”
Me: “No, this is Fifteen. Thirteen was Jodie Whittaker, and then they brought back David Tennant as Fourteen, so the new one is Fifteen.”
Wife: “But didn’t David Tennant already play the Doctor?”
Me: “Yes, he was Ten. But he’s also Fourteen.”
Wife: “I don’t think they should give him a new number when he was already the Doctor before. He should be like 10A or something.”
But we’re not in charge of the numbering, so Ncuti Gatwa will be Fifteen. Besides, they probably used an integer for this variable, so can’t just go slapping a string on the end of it. Oh and, by the way, in case you need it …
So recently (well, by the time this appears, probably around a month) ago, I was reading New Watch, the fifth book in the “Night Watch” trilogy*, by Sergei Lukyanenko, translated from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield:
Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: “New Watch””
Viscosity 