We saw Arrival this afternoon and quite enjoyed it. No spoilers in this post, though I can't make any promises about comments ( Read more... )

The last of the books I read on our trip was The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated from Chinese by Ken Liu (after which it won a Hugo). I enjoyed the novel for both the science-fiction plot and the view into Chinese culture and history, and the translator did an excellent job of not just translating words but making the context ( Read more... )

I recently spent a lot of time on airplanes without an Internet connection -- a perfect time to catch up on some reading. First up: Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor ( Read more... )

It's funny the things that do and don't trigger suspension-of-disbelief problems for me. I enjoy speculative fiction -- science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, etc. This means accepting some basic premises -- faster-than-light travel, teleportation, magic, time travel, or whatever. I'm totally cool with all that ( Read more... )

From Fantasy in Miniature: Check, Please, on playing a certain game with Death.

From Meirav Beale on G+: an epic tale of technology and grandparents. Excerpt: Some in the kingdom thought the cause of the darkness must be the Router. Little was known of the Router, legend told it had been installed behind the recliner long ago by a shadowy ( Read more... )

Wandering Stars is the classic compilation of SF around Jewish themes, including halachic issues that just don't arise in day-to-day life like whether space aliens can convert (and, IIRC, managing the calendar on other planets). Some of my readers might be interested in the following speculative questions that have been asked on Judaism. ( Read more... )

Netflix suggested that I would enjoy The Lost Room, a six-(TV)-hour show that ran on the Sci-Fi channel a few years ago. Boy were they right ( Read more... )

The Butterfly Effect got lukewarm reviews when it was in theatres and I don't go out to see that many movies anyway, so I missed it at the time. Last night I remedied that with the DVD, and boy am I glad I did. (No spoilers in this post, but I can't vouch for comments.)
The story follows a college student, Evan, who had several blackouts as a ( Read more... )

Several years ago I learned about the TV show Jeremiahwhich was written (and produced, at least in part) by JMS (of B5 fame ( Read more... )

I read an early draft of Alex Feinman's novella "Duplicate" and found it compelling. It's now available for sale, either as a print book or an e-book. I'm looking forward to getting my (print) copy ( Read more... )