science fiction

Here are some of my peeves with space, the final frontier, in books and movies. At best these elements are not even mentioned, and at worst (read: usually) they're exactly wrong. Maybe it will help someone who's writing a SF to get it right for a change. 1. Rogue planets. I.e., planets that...

I am currently reading "Revenger", the latest book by Alastair Reynolds. Reynolds is very fond of the concept of Deep Time -- many of his books (sometimes parts of books) take place tens of thousands or millions years from now, with enough time in between for many civilizations to arise and fall...

Many years ago I read a very early science fiction novel by an English author, and I have forgotten both the author and the book, and am hoping the members can help identification. It was probably written around the turn of the century, I think before the First World War, so has as lot in...

Best Novel Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie Best Novella “Equoid” by Charles Stross Best Novelette “The Lady Astronaut of Mars” by Mary Robinette Kowal Best Short Story “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere” by John Chu Best Related Work “We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women...

The sci-fi/comic book genre is to science as religion is to God. There is a secret history to the sci-fi/comic book genre and it involves the paranormal, just so with religion too. Sci-fi/comic books inspire us, and sometimes that inspiration influences science. We write sci-fi, and sci-fi...

From the wikipedia article on The Demolished Man: Since reading the novel as a young man, director Brian de Palma has considered adapting it for film.[15][16] Lack of financing has long since kept the film unproduced. The Demolished Man was adapted for German radio by RIAS Berlin in 1973 under...

It seems to me that the classic villains in fantasy and science fiction are somewhat superficial. Like, what are their goals besides being evil? Let's take The Lord of The Rings, a story most people here are probably familiar with. Sauron wants the ring in order to "enslave the world" and bring...

No more Slippery Jim. :( http://scifibulletin.com/2012/08/15/rip-harry-harrison/ http://www.harryharrison.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19270109 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/15/harry-harrison http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/08/15/rip-harry-harrison/ Thoughts...

Why do so many skeptics like science fiction and fantasy literature? It puzzles me. It just seems odd that people who don't believe in the paranormal or the unscientific should love these genres. Am I missing out? :(

My wife is looking for suggestions of books to read set in a science fiction universe but a romance is the major driver of the plot. None of the regular authors I can think of will fit this bill. Is there however some cross genre authors that may be able to quench her literary thirst

Which SF story has absolutely worst, makes-no-freaking-sense economics? My vote goes to "Smoke Ring" by Larry Niven. SPOILERS AHEAD! "Integral Trees" and its sequel "Smoke Ring" take place within a gas torus around a neutron star -- gas dense enough for life to develop and for...

I've been reading eddings and Jordan WoT - yes I know it's not great stuff but I find it relaxing. so I am looking for a new series to read. Anyone have any suggestions?

Read the rest here. I followed the comic strip that was printed in my "Boy's Life" magazine almost religiously. Fascinating concept and very entertaining.

Anybody hang out at any sci-fi or fantasy forums or blogs? Which do you like and why?

I was going to post this on "Could our minds handle effective immortality?" thread, then decided to make it separate. The thread above is not so much about immortality as about mind uploading (or about immortality through mind uploading). It reminded me of a rather minor plot point in Alastair...

LoneStar Con 3 will host WorldCon in 2013! Y'all come!

In every day in every way the Science Fiction of my youth becomes less fictional. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008347/Test-tube-burger-coming-soon-Lab-grown-meat-needed-feed-world.html I particularly like: Paging Harry Harrison. Harry Harrison, please pick up the green phone. PS...

I am re-reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (the first 3 books) for the first time in about 15 years. I've noticed a few minor coincidences with the Star Wars universe and wonder if George Lucas didn't borrow some tidbits from Foundation. There is a Wikipedia article that discusses...

This might date me but when I read Dune back in high school it was a life changing experience. Frank took the trouble to create a believable world with a life of its own. Why then did every sequel to the Dune book suck? Is Frank Herburt still alive so I can go ask him?

Thousands of titles out there, too many for me to sort out. So, here goes. I loved: Niven Pournelle Heinlein Andre Norton Jack Chalker Harry Harrison Those kind of guys. Given that, what would you recommend? (I'm not fond of thud and blunder, btw.) And that should be scifi fan in the subject...

Playing with one of my several laser pointers, I realized something. When I was a child, science fiction movies and TV shows depicted a laser as an exotic weapon, a “ray gun”, that would disintegrate anyone shot therewith. Now, lasers have become very common items. Research into...

I am looking for the name of a story I recall reading possibly in the mid 70's but may have been part of an anthology of older works. From what I recall of the style it had to be golden age or later Anyway it is set on Earth in the last days of a giant space slug invasions. These creatures...

What are your favorite sci-fi / fantasy movies that are neglected, forgotten classics? These are movies that are just not seen any more on cable or broadcast TV. three of mine: 1) The Illustrated Man. Rod Steiger is great in the excellent adaption of Ray Bradbury's book. 2) Dark Star...

One of my favorite fantasy and comic artists has passed away. I have an 1st edition print of his Battlestar Galactica poster on my wall, as well as the Ringo Starr portrait from Mad Magazine. Some of his stuff is NSFW, but here's the "official" unofficial site. http://www.frankfrazetta.org/

My wife's book club is interested in trying some science fiction. They generally only read standard fiction, but are willing to gove sci fi a go. Most of the sci fi I know is the classics from the 1960's, Zelazny, Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke, etc. I think that might feel dated, so I'm looking...

Could a long rotating cylindrical space station keep rotating around its lengthwise axis without active stabilisation? Last semester a teacher briefly mentioned a cylindrical satellite which unexpectedly began wobbling after a while, and eventually switched to rotating around an axis going...

I noticed that very few SF books make any mention of literature in the world they depict. Yet a major point of science fiction is to portray a world significantly different from our own; shouldn't art and literature in that world reflect the difference? I wonder what literature would be like in...

Any of you ever read about current events and think "Why the hell are they doing that, didn't they see ________ (fill in science fiction movie)?" I thought that when I read about the attempts to clone a wooly mammoth. (Jurassic Park) I just thought about it today when I read about the South...

Issak Asimov wrote "The Martian Chronicals" and H. G. Wells wrote "War of the Worlds". Recently a scientist has written a book about a dead civilization on mars. This fictional book was about the discovery of a Martian civilization destroyed by a hugh asteroid strike. The book serves two...

I work with kids who are public schooled, and almost all the high school students I work with say that they hate math and science. When I hear such global statements, I try to understand what the students mean. For example, I might ask someone, "Don't you just mean that you dislike a particular...