Category Archives: science fiction

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

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The Andromeda Strain was Michael Crichton’s first blockbuster novel. It made his reputation and marked him as the master of scientific theory novels. The basic formula of Michael Crichton novels is to start with a scientific theory, mix it with additional made up scientific theories and throw them together into a novel that lets him explore the reality of the theories. The Andromeda Strain does a wonderful job of pushing a real-life scenario into the scientific theory mix.

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The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

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The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is a classic science fiction novel, but it’s really more like a set of vignettes covering almost 30 years of Earth astronauts going to and living on Mars. The book was written in the late 1940s before being collected as a novel in the early 1950s. My first introduction to The Martian Chronicles was the TV mini-series in 1980 (starring Rock Hudson) and from there I went to the find the books. It was my first introduction to Ray Bradbury and what an introduction it was.

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Dr. Who season finale

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And we have the finale of Dr. Who, the first season with the 11th Dr. and my first season watching Dr. Who. Without any other Dr. Who to compare it to, I have to say that Dr. Who is now my favorite ongoing science fiction series. I love what Steven Moffat has done and I love the two main characters, Matt Smith as the Dr and Karen Gillan as Amy. Read on for more thoughts.

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The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi

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The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi is Scalzi’s first non Old Man’s War universe book. The setting and characters are different, but you can still tell it’s a Scalzi book by the writing and the tone. It’s a fun science fiction, political thriller that starts off with a fart and ends with a sheep.

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Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds

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Century Rain is my favorire Alastair Reynolds book. It combines a noirish mystery with a science fiction mystery and uses technology to link them together. In my Terminal World review, I mentioned that this was my favorite Reynolds book and I wanted to revisit it, mainly to get the bad taste of Terminal World out of my brain. This is truly Alastair Reynold’s finest novel.

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Classic Science Fiction: Foundation by Isaac Asimov

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Foundation by Isaac Asimov is one of the earliest science fiction ongoing story lines. Previous authors would have the same set of characters in the same universe with self-contained stories. Foundation kept the universe the same and changed the characters while furthering the same extended storyline. Asimov has thought out a 1000 year storyline and set these stories against that backdrop. The result is a classic in science fiction.

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Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

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Terminal World is the new book by Alastair Reynolds. I’ve been a huge fan of Reynolds since I picked up Revelation Space at a used book store a few years ago. It was the first of several book in the same universe that are not directly linked together. He’s also written a few books outside that universe, including this one. My favorite Reynold’s book is Century Rain, which ties together a science fiction mystery with a noir mystery book. So, it was with great joy that I picked up his latest book. Unfortunately I put it down early disappointed and I don’t really know why.

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A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

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A Scanner Darkly is a book that could have only come from Philip K Dick in the 1970s. The book deals with Dick’s themes of alienation and identity. This was Dick’s last book before the vision that compelled him to write his VALIS books. It’s a wonderful view of a modern (well 1970s modern) small town and the effects of a drug war on the people chosen to fight on the front lines.

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WWW: Watch by Robert Sawyer

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WWW: Watch by Robert Sawyer is the middle book in Sawyer’s WWW trilogy. Where the first book was about an emergent intelligence out on the web, this book deals with the consequences of this new life form. Sawyer also uses the book to discuss ethical issues that an emergent intelligence might face. But what is an emergent intelligence interested in?

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