Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2 by Various Creators 2023 would have been Osamu Tezuka’s 95th birthday year, and in commemoration of the great manga and anime creator, this series was commissioned to show other artists’ take on his famous (and not so famous) works. For reasons, most of these were French and Spanish… Continue reading Manga Review: Tezucomi Vol. 1 & 2
Tag: asteroids
Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction & Fact January/February 2024
Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction & Fact January/February 2024 edited by Trevor Quachri Let’s look at a recent issue of this long-running science fiction (and fact) magazine. The opening editorial by Howard V. Hendrix, “Machines Passing for People Passing for Machines”, which among other things discusses the Turing Test, where a simulated person tries to… Continue reading Magazine Review: Analog Science Fiction & Fact January/February 2024
TV Review: Star Trek: Prodigy
TV Review: Star Trek: Prodigy The mining asteroid Tars Lamora is ruled with an iron fist by the ruthless being called The Diviner, his right hand robot Drednok and their army of robotic Watchers. Their “prisoners with jobs” are called “the Unwanted”, a motley assortment of criminals, slaves and abductees sold to the Diviner by… Continue reading TV Review: Star Trek: Prodigy
Book Review: Binary Star #4: Legacy | The Janus Equation
Book Review: Binary Star #4: Legacy | The Janus Equation by Joan D. Vinge | Steven G. Spruil “Binary Star” was a short-lived series of paperbacks from Dell SF in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Their gimmick was pairs of novellas with a loose theme, something like the classic Ace Doubles. #4 was the first with… Continue reading Book Review: Binary Star #4: Legacy | The Janus Equation
Book Review: Away and Beyond
Book Review: Away and Beyond by A.E. van Vogt This paperback anthology is a partial reprint of the first hardcover collection of A.E. van Vogt short stories from 1952, with 7 of the 9 1940s tales. It’s not explained why two stories were dropped, but my research suggests they were lesser works. “The Great Engine”… Continue reading Book Review: Away and Beyond
Book Review: World’s Best Science Fiction: Third Series
Book Review: World’s Best Science Fiction: Third Series edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr (also printed as “World’s Best Science Fiction 1967”) The introduction to this volume of science fiction stories from 1966 mentions that there was a tendency to longer stories in the field, perhaps because many of the ideas required more… Continue reading Book Review: World’s Best Science Fiction: Third Series
Book Review: The Best of R.A. Lafferty
Book Review: The Best of R.A. Lafferty by R.A. Lafferty Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (1914-2002) was one of those “American originals” you hear about every so often. His writing takes some form from the American tall tale, some from Native American yarn spinning, and mixes it into a style all his own. This anthology collects 22… Continue reading Book Review: The Best of R.A. Lafferty
Magazine Review: Wonder Stories January 1934
Magazine Review: Wonder Stories January 1934 editor-in-chief Hugo Gernsback Wonder Stories was one of the first dedicated science fiction magazines, started up after Hugo Gernsback lost control of Amazing Stories. It started in 1929 as two magazines titled Air Wonder Stories and Science Wonder Stories before being consolidated in 1930. He held onto it until 1936 when financial considerations made him sell it to Beacon Magazines. They… Continue reading Magazine Review: Wonder Stories January 1934
Book Review: Escape from Earth: New Adventures in Space
Book Review: Escape from Earth: New Adventures in Space edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois Per the introduction, in the Fifties and Sixties, many young science fiction fans’ introduction to the genre was “juveniles”, books aimed at an age above “children’s” but not quite “adult.” In the 1970s or so, this category was re-labled… Continue reading Book Review: Escape from Earth: New Adventures in Space
Book Review: The Best of Planet Stories #1
Book Review: The Best of Planet Stories #1 edited by Leigh Brackett Planet Stories was a pulp science fiction magazine that ran from 1939-1955. Its specialty was “space opera”, exciting tales of adventure set in the future and on other worlds, full of square-jawed heroes, scantily clad damsels and bug-eyed monsters. Not always the most… Continue reading Book Review: The Best of Planet Stories #1