Book Review: The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury Once, Mars was a place of mystery. Humans looked at it from the blue Earth with feeble telescopes, and imagined what life, if any, might inhabit that red dot in the sky. Were there canals filled with water? Bloodsucking tripod operators? Beings that had never fallen from grace… Continue reading Book Review: The Martian Chronicles
Tag: Mars
Book Review: One in Three Hundred
Book Review: One in Three Hundred by J.T. McIntosh Most of you will have run into some variant of the “Lifeboat Problem” at some point. (In my youth, it was done with bomb shelters due to the strong possibility of atomic war.) A disaster has occurred, and a large number of people are going to… Continue reading Book Review: One in Three Hundred
Book Review: The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution
Book Review: The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution by David Wootton At the beginning of the Fifteenth Century, there were no scientists as we understand the term, and no science. Received wisdom from Aristotle and Galen ruled knowledge and philosophy. Then a series of changes in technology and the way people… Continue reading Book Review: The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution
Book Review: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
Book Review: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories edited by Otto Penzler I have a fondness for Sherlock Holmes, as I am sure the majority of my readers do. Unsurprisingly, there has been a ton of Holmes fanfiction over the years. Pastiches that try to capture the feel of Arthur Conan Doyle’s prose, parodies… Continue reading Book Review: The Big Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
Book Review: Slow Dancing Through Time
Book Review: Slow Dancing Through Time by Gardner Dozois in collaboration with Jack Dann, Michael Swanwick, Susan Casper and/or Jack C Haldeman II. The art of collaboration is an interesting one; two authors (rarely three) blending their skills to create a story neither could produce individually. Ideally, the reader should be able to see the… Continue reading Book Review: Slow Dancing Through Time
Book Review: Galaxy of Ghouls
Book Review: Galaxy of Ghouls edited by Judith Merril October is scary stuff season, so let’s look at a book of creepy tales. This collection of 16 “science-fantasy” stories is themed around various monsters, from the classic to the out-there. We open with “Wolves Don’t Cry” by Bruce Elliott, turning the traditional werewolf story upside… Continue reading Book Review: Galaxy of Ghouls
Manga Review: Captain Ken 1 &2
Manga Review: Captain Ken 1 & 2 by Osamu Tezuka Mamoru Hoshino lives on his family ranch on Mars near the town of Hedes. Life in a backwater frontier town can get a bit stale, so he’s excited when he learns a distant relative, Kenn Minakami, is coming from Earth to live with them. … Continue reading Manga Review: Captain Ken 1 &2
Book Review: Creatures from Beyond
Book Review: Creatures from Beyond edited by Terry Carr This 1975 speculative fiction anthology has the theme of monsters from outside human experience. The question of what lies in the outer darkness has haunted humanity since we developed imaginations. These nine stories look at the possibilities, from implacable enemies, to beings a lot like us… Continue reading Book Review: Creatures from Beyond
Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition
Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition edited by Judith Merrill This 1960 book features a selection of speculative fiction short stories published during the 1958-60 time period. Editor Judith Merrill provides an introduction about the concept of wonder, chatty introductions to each story (she doesn’t think much of Kingsley Amis as a… Continue reading Book Review: The Year’s Best S-F: 5th Annual Edition
Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1
Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1 Comic books were still a very new thing in 1940, and the publishers were still trying to figure out what there was a market for. Science fiction themes seemed popular, so Fiction House created the pulp-inspired Planet Comics to appeal to fans of rockets and aliens.… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Roy Thomas Presents: Planet Comics, Vol. 1