Isaac Asimov has a very unique plotting style. His book rarely have any action in them, or more accurately all the action happens off screen. And in places it can be frustrating. A character leaps to a conclusion and the reader is wondering why this crazy character is spouting nonsense. Asimov then clearly and logically lays out all the information that led to that conclusion and the reader then understands. But, during that process, you just get the feeling that every Asimov character is much smarter than you. This is the feeling I had several times while reading The Caves of Steel. It’s a mystery mixed with science fiction in the form of robots, along with a lengthy digression on humans and space colonization. Overall a fun read. So, let’s see what happened.
Category Archives: science fiction
The Other by Matthew Hughes
After reading, and loving, the first two books in the To Hell and Back series, I decided to check out some more books by Matthew Hughes. The first one I grabbed was The Other. The book revolves around master criminal Luff Imbry, who stars in several Matthew Hughes short stories. I wasn’t aware of those stories before I started reading the book, so this was my first exposure to Luff. I liked the character, but the story was just missing something. Let’s check out what happened.
Triggers by Robert J Sawyer
Robert Sawyer isn’t a great writer, but he usually writes about great ideas. His WWW series dealt with an emerging AI, while Flashforward dealt with seeing into the future (and how that affects free will). His newest book, Triggers, deals with memory at the quantum level and an accident that links people’s memories together. It’s an interesting concept inside a mediocre story. So, let’s find out what happens.
Costume Not Included by Matthew Hughes
After finishing the first book in the To Hell and Back series, Damned Busters (review), I eagerly ran out to get the sequel, Costume Not Included. Where the first book dealt with some philosophical issues in addition to some crime fighting, this book does a lot more on the philosophical/religious side with only minor crime fighting. But it handles it in such a fun way that I’m more eager then ever for the grand finale. Let’s see what happened.
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
I have seen Olaf Stapledon’s name in several recent articles talking about classic science fiction. Prior to this, I had barely heard his name before. So, I decided to go out and read his most famous work: Last and First Men. It is subtitled “A story of the near and far future” and it that’s probably the most accurate description. So, let’s check it out.
In Her Name: First Contact by Michael Hicks
There’s been a lot of discussion around the web about self-publishing. Some people swear by it and believe that it does a better job of getting quality works to readers. Others believe that it’s all vanity and that if the books were any good, then a traditional publisher would grab them. Since I really don’t have an opinion one way or the other, I decided that maybe I should look at some of the self-published science fiction and see what is out there. I ended up choosing In Her Name: First Contact by Michael Hicks. The book is the first book in a trilogy, but the trilogy is the second trilogy in the series (if that makes sense). Hicks had a trilogy about a war between humans and an alien species. This book (and trilogy) is about the beginning of the contact between the two races and how the war started. So this is kinda like starting at Phantom Menace rather than A New Hope, but I’d rather not make any Star Wars comparisons. So, let’s check out the story.
Continuum Season 1 Review
One of the best science fiction shows in recent memory just finished it first season and almost no one saw it. The reason for so few people seeing it is that it was only available in Canada. The Showcase channel in Canada is the only place you could have seen Continuum. Despite the name, it’s not related to Stargate: Continuum, but is (was?) a time traveling police procedural with an interesting timeline and mythology. So, let’s see what Continuum is all about;
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Damned Busters by Matthew Hughes
I first saw the second book in the To Hell and Back trilogy (Costume Not Included) and thought it looked interesting, but decided to wait and read the first book, Damned Busters, instead (since I hate starting in the middle of series). And I’m glad I did. Matthew Hughes has written a funny, subversive wish-fulfillment story about a man who got a chance to be a superhero and what it entailed. The story is quite funny, with wonderful characters and deserves a much wider audience. Let’s check out what happened.
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow WIlson
I hadn’t heard of G. Willow Wilson previously. In fact the first time I heard of her was when I saw the rave reviews for her new novel Alif the Unseen. So, I decided that with all the rave reviews, I should at least give the book a chance. Am I glad that I decided to. Wilson has spun a fun mashup of jinn and hacking that I haven’t seen previously. Wilson has a great voice and does a great job telling the story she wants, not the story you expect to read. So, let’s see what the book is about.
Salvage 1
To honor the memory of Andy Griffith (RIP Andy Griffith), I wanted to point out his science fiction show that he did in the late 1970s, Salvage 1. The two hour pilot centered around Andy Griffith as Harry Broderick, a junkyard owner who gets a wild idea to go to the moon and salvage the junk left up there by the Apollo missions. He hires an ex-astronaut (Joel Higgins who later played the dad on Silver Spoons) to fly the ship and an female explosives expert (Trish Stewart) to figure out the propulsion. The two hour pilot was a lot of fun with the hair-brained idea become reality with this rag-tag bunch of amateurs. When they converted it to a series, they really didn’t have enough ideas (where do you go after you’ve been to the moon) and it died early in a second season.
The show has never been released on DVD (probably because there isn’t a lot of demand) and the series itself was pretty bad. But for a single two hour pilot, I loved the show. And, as a fun side note, as I researched the show, I discovered that Isaac Asimov was the Science Advisor for the show. So, I’m assuming that a lot of the science (at least in the pilot) was fairly accurate. See after the jump for some clips. Someone put the full pilot on YouTube. Watch quickly before it disappears