I just finished reading Allen Steele's novel Arkwright (which I didn't publish, but I won't hold that against him). For a space-exploration nut like me, it's kind of depressing, because his theorizing of what's to come is probably spot on. On the other hand, he does present a plausible method for getting humanity out into the cosmos. He grabbed me ( Read more... )

I finally saw the new Star Wars movie, and I enjoyed it. It was the big-screen spectacle I was hoping for, with enough echoes of the earlier movies to feel familiar mixing with enough new story-telling to not be boring.

But then I walked out of the theatre, and as I was getting into my car, I remembered walking out after seeing the first Star Wars ( Read more... )

Paul Di Filippo has some very good things to say about Tom Purdom's new book, Romance on Four Worlds. In his review in Locus, Paul writes, "This whole moderately transhuman milieu of the initial adventure... llustrates Purdom's ability and desire to write the best postmodern SF that he can.... it's not any off-the-shelf inhabited Solar System ( Read more... )

I wound up sitting through SyFy’s “Ascension” “three-night event” (their words, not mine). I’m disappointed with myself ( Read more... )