science fiction
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Science Fiction Friday – Technophiles Unite!
By Richard C. Influx (2014) We might very well laugh at how “flying cars” symbolized technological progress 100 years ago, or, we might think about our own symbols (fusion power, singularity, etc.) and then wonder hey what’s the damn holdup here! Physicist John Grady finds one disturbing reason for the holdup when his major discovery in gravity reflection… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Friday – Oh How The Mighty Are Fallen!
By Richard C. Oh how the mighty are fallen… What greater theme in Fantasy than the dramatic succession and intrigue of rulers and rogues in turbulent kingdoms? Kingdoms covered by darkness wrong and terrifying, terrains dangerous and foreign to poor little earthling readers like ourselves? Well, you came to the right place: 1) The Falcon Throne… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Friday – Careful What You Think!
By Richard C. I would be in big, big trouble around telepaths! But it is fun to think about, and telepathy has been a compelling sci/fi theme for decades. These six telepathy tales cover the empowering and sometimes maddening experience of mind readers: 1) The Demolished Man (1953) In one of the earliest takes on telepathy in sci/fi, ruthless… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Friday – Leading Women
By Richard C. Sometimes it’s good to zoom out on your reading tendencies and see what you’re missing. The leading women in these sci/fi choices may cause you to wonder if some diversity would refresh your favorite themes, or perhaps even spark some new ideas: 1) Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney. A poet, linguist, and ship’s captain sci/fi heroine?!… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Friday: Winter Is… Here?
By Richard C. Even with summer waning, winter is coming has become a popular phrase, what with the ice-cold specter of death and desolation hovering over the latest installments of A SoIaF. Eagerly awaiting the release of Winds of Winter, know that the coldest season has long snowed up the pages of sci/fi, pages buried deeply in ice ages and harsh glacial landscapes, where the stark realities… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: Something in the Sky. Something BIG!
By Richard C. Remember that huge cylinder hovering over Earth, desperately sucking up the ocean in search of long lost whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home? Well the “gigantic and probably dangerous object in the sky” theme makes great science fiction. No “take me to your leader” message here, folks, instead an unfathomable confrontation with… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: NW SF & Fantasy Authors Part 1: Rising Stars
The Northwest doesn’t just have the best coffee and the greenest trees, we also seem to be a breeding ground for science fiction and fantasy authors. In addition to our plethora of local litfic and narrative nonfiction authors, genre authors are here in great numbers. This is bound to be the beginning of a long… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: The best eco-horror of the year
Black Feathers by Joseph D’Lacey The world is in the middle of an environmental apocalypse and one young boy must escape the clutches of those that seek to profit from the decay to find the Crowman, a mythical champion of the planet. A strange and thrilling read that flirts between fantasy and dystopia in interesting… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: 5 new books that go great on ice
Plaguewalker by Gemma Tarlach A brutish executioner sets off on a mission to find his runaway daughter after the plague decimates his entire village and puts him out of work. This dark fantasy has a nice dreaminess to it that is easy to get carried away in, but has vivid characterization that will make the whole… Continue reading
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Romantic Wednesdays: The Romance of Military Science Fiction
There are two definitions of the word “romance”: 1) a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love, and 2) a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life. In fiction, we talk so much about the first definition that we sometimes lose track of the second. Military science fiction is all… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: 5 great horror reads to keep your thrills going through the holidays
The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron A short story collection from the award-winning author melding horror, hard-boiled noir and the weird into unforgettable tales. Barron is a master at the craft of short story writing and his newest collection is yet another jewel on his crown. Fans of literary horror and… Continue reading
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Mysterious powers and New Mythologies
Did you miss me? I’ve been reading. Here are some paranormal goodies for cozy autumn nights. Blythewood by Carol Goodman Avaline Hall survives. I was going to say what she survives, but there are so many things: grief, the mystery of her mother’s past, hard work and humiliation and the terrors of the Triangle Factory… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: 5 frightfully great books to start your October off right
The Necromancer’s House by Christopher Buehlman After an irreverent wizard inadvertently kills the wrong man, he finds himself stalked by an unrelenting terror that won’t stop until everything and everyone loves is in ruins. The book starts out like a typical urban fantasy, with humor, myths and quips that wouldn’t be out of place in… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: An interview with Grand Master of Science Fiction James Gunn
In this week’s Science Fiction Fridays, we are honored to have an interview with Grand Master of Science Fiction, James Gunn. His stunning new novel, Transcendental, is a smart, complex and stirring novel that has echoes of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. There are so many interesting aliens in Transcendental. Where do you start when creating aliens?… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: Five audiobooks guaranteed to make your commute better
Friday by Robert Heinlein In which an creche-born would-be assassin discovers the joy of polygamy. There isn’t much in the way of plot here, and the misogyny is horribly dated, but there is still plenty of charm in this comic and irreverent romp. Friday is a fun character with brains and beauty in equal bounty who searches for a… Continue reading
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Do you like speculative fiction? Check out Seattle’s own Clarion West!
The Clarion West Writer’s Workshop is a gem of the Seattle literary world. They hold workshops throughout the year and a fantastic, crowd-funded write-a-thon for writers around the world. Continue reading
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Science Fiction Fridays: The essential James Tiptree, Jr. reader
James Tiptree, a pseudonym for feminist science fiction writer Alice Sheldon, is one of those authors that feels like a secret treasure just for those genre fans in the know. Her influence can be seen far in wide in authors as diverse as Octavia Butler, Ursula K. Le Guin and Robert Reed. Few authors have… Continue reading
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Science Fiction Friday: The three best 19th century fantasies. Oh, also with dragons!
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir By Lady Trent by Marie Brennan An irrepressible young woman in a stifling alternate history Victorian age finds action and adventure when her new husband takes her on an expedition to study dragons in their natural environment. The way the author uses little period details to flesh out the… Continue reading