An article in Science presents research showing that the building blocks of life are more prevalent than previously thought. It says a lot of other things too, but this is what I get out of it. This makes me wonder more than ever about the Fermi Paradox, which states that reasonable assumptions lead to the …
Tag Archives: speculative fiction
Book Review of Wrestling With Gods
I picked up Wrestling With Gods (Tesseracts Eighteen) because I’m a sucker for speculative fiction that intersects with religion. On the other hand, I rarely read anthologies, preferring novel length fiction. Nevertheless, I can say that I was happily surprised on several fronts. First, the writing is undeniable excellent throughout. Liana Kerzner and Jerome Stueart …
Book Review of WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
I’ve often been disappointed by a movie based on a book I like. However, when I find that a movie I like is based on a novel I haven’t read, I often find I like the novel. After the death of Robin Williams, I thought about his movie What Dreams May Come. I love this …
Book Review of THE BEAUTIFUL LAND
Alan Averill’s THE BEAUTIFUL LAND was a real surprise for me. I picked it up on a bit of a whim; the premise was interesting and I knew it won the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, so I was curious. Technically it is speculative fiction, but the physics concept is so far beyond the bleeding …
#MyWritingProcess
Welcome to this tour of my brain. Hopefully it will provide some enlightenment as to my writing process, or at least supply more data for my future commitment proceedings. I lead with a current picture of myself in my writing attire. If you suspect I’m pushing the definition of “current” too far, then I’ll have …
Book review of NEVER LET ME GO
Kazuo Ishiguro’s NEVER LET ME GO is speculative fiction at its best. Ishiguro contemplates an alternate reality where clones are raised for spare parts. Do I hear groaning? Relax, this isn’t yet another rehash of a tired old science fiction troupe: step one, clones are blissfully ignorant; step two, clones realize they’re only spare parts; …
Book Review of THE HANDMAID’S TALE
I first read this book soon after it was published and just re-read it a quarter century later. This is a seminal work about gender roles that is often mistaken as a rant against religion. Atwood needed a dystopia in which to set her tale of Offred. She chose a religious dystopia, perhaps because there …
Physics and Art 