If the stories in 2008’s   Mammoth Book of SF 21 were particularly concerned with death, annihilation and endings, the overarching theme in this collection from 1992 seems to be a questioning of the relationship between concepts of nature and normality.  Some of the best stories collected here look at the ways in which nature, as a concept, is ( Read more... )

First, some literature:

A list of 50 novels by African American writers

Flavorwire tells us that these are the 20 most iconic books covers ever . It’s interesting that most of the books on the list are books that middle-class adolescents are expected to read.   This is not to say they’re not iconic covers, just that someone with more mental ( Read more... )

I’m still on my SF reading binge and in the last week I have finished Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man, which I liked very much, am still working my way through Iain M. Banks’s complex The Algebraist and have just started Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow. Andy and I have started rewatching Season 4 of Babylon 5.  I haven’t watched any of the new ( Read more... )

The film version of Carl Sagan’s science fiction novel, Contact (1997), seems to divide people into “love it” and “hate it” camps.  Personally, I love it: it’s elegant, has an imaginative story and, of course, stars Jodie Foster as Dr Eleanor Arroway, so I was looking forward to reading the novel on which it was based.

The story has a simple ( Read more... )

Recently, I’ve been feeling the science fiction urge, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to read some of the classics and catch up on newer stuff.   With the help of the NPR’s Top 100 science fiction and fantasy books, I’ve compiled a reading list and, thanks to the library and local secondhand bookshop, made a start on working my way ( Read more... )

Amazing view of a galaxy

And a detailed panorama of the Milky Way  (this gives me a total nerdgasm)

My partner posts a poem by Sylvia Townsend Warner’s lover Valentine Ackland. Posted here also because I think poor Valentine deserves more attention.

A couple of good films reviews from Bad Reputation: Source Code, which I saw last week and really liked, and Red Riding Hood which I might end up watching when it comes out on DVD.

From Tor.com, the ( Read more... )

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Fashion it So! A Star Trek fashion blog.  Hours of fun.

From Heroine Content, a review of the anime film Blood, The Last Vampire

Ursula Le Guin on the Sci-Fi channel’s whitewashing of her Earthsea series

From the FWord a review of the ‘Bloody Women’ strand at the Bird’s Eye View film festival - this was a mini-season of horror films by female ( Read more... )

I happen to be an optimist. It may take decades after the initial indications of alien life for scientists to gather enough evidence to be certain or to decipher a signal of artificial origin. The full ramifications of the discovery may not be felt for generations, giving us plenty of time to get used to the presence of our galactic neighbors ( Read more... )