Stephen King – A Beginner’s Guide
For a long time I paid no attention to the writing of Joyce Carol Oates. But I kept seeing her mentioned in the context of modern American Gothic, being recommended by writers whose work I […]
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Review: When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
When I punk, it’s usually with steam. Any SF fan, regardless of his particular poison, thinks about the future. With my historical background, however, my gaze tends to be fixed on the past and I […]
Apollo’s Outcasts Brings Back the Space Adventure
Finally, we have an author not afraid to approach fresh innovative science fiction with an old-school style. Apollo’s Outcasts by Allen Steele is an inspiring throwback to the youthful excitement of space travel carved out […]
Is Science Killing Science Fiction?
Gregory Benford shared this on facebook, asking if this notion was true: Strahan, Jonathan, “Introduction,” Edge of Infinity, Solaris, 2012. This is just a short introduction to Strahan’s latest book of short stories, but he […]
Synthetic Voices #14 – January 2013 Top Picks
This month’s Top Picks are some of the most clever stories I’ve heard in a while. I guess January is just a clever kind of month! [powerpress] Discuss on: Jimmy RogersRead My Profile www.scienceismagic.com
Crossroads: Romance – More Powerful than You Could Possibly Imagine
Today is February 7th, and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, love is in the air. Which is why this month I’ll be taking a look at romance, and how it rubs up against speculative […]
The Galapagos Frontier Thesis
The formative American experience was the conquest of the western frontier. Would science fiction and fantasy exist without the frontier model? What does Japan’s parallel conquest of Hokkaido tell us about the legacy of colonial expansion?
Crackpots, Conspiracies, UFOs and Air War
I have mentioned elsewhere that my participating as a contributor to the new Amazing Stories feels like one of those Six Degrees of Separation experiences. Once upon a time I worked for a technical publishing start up, The Cobb […]
In the Hall of the Mountain King
I was asked by Sol Cohen in April 1968 to succeed Harry Harrison as Editor of Amazing Stories. One hundred dollars a month, a limitless supply of letterhead stationary and full reimbursement of postage. “We’ll […]
Frogs in Aspic, Like a Box of Chocolates
Frogs in Aspic Keith P. Graham Kindle only $1.99 I’m partial to short fiction, especially lately when I have so many interruptions it seems to take forever to finish a novel. So when a collection […]
Lost In Space! Reviews of Unknown or Underappreciated Books: #2 Emergence by David R. Palmer
Hello again, and welcome back! So – what, exactly, do I mean by ‘unknown or underappreciated’? To put it simply – not everyone is a Kevin J. Anderson or David Weber or Eric Flint or […]
No. 5 – John W. Campbell, Who Goes There?, The Ultimate Weapon, and Hostile Aliens.
John W. Campbell, aka – Don A Stuart, wrote for Astounding Science-Fiction. His work Who Goes There? was voted the best science fiction novella EVER. Okay, slip of the tongue. ONE of the best. Sorry. […]
“I Like Science Fiction, It’s Got Like Giant Robots and Stuff, Right?” Science Fiction’s Self-Esteem Problem Part IV: To Boldly Go Where No Fan Has Gone Before
Over the last three weeks I have discussed the sources and causes of Science Fictions self-esteem problem. The genre’s inability to shed it’s pulp roots and ongoing pulpishness, the relative obscurity of SF to the […]
The Virtual Truth of the Bloodlight Chronicles
The Bloodlight Chronicles by Steve Stanton revives originality in today’s science fiction with a complex cyberpunk series.
A Kepler’s Dozen
NASA’s Kepler mission has been watching a swath of the Milky Way watching for the signs of stars being eclipsed by planets in orbit around them. This takes patience and favorable geometry, but Kepler has […]
Objects in Dreams (Imaginings Volume 4) by Lisa Tuttle
Lisa Tuttle has long been one of the masters of the deeply unsettling tale. Last year her short story Objects in Dreams may be Closer than they Appear opened Jonathan Oliver’s excellent anthology, House of Fear, […]
Synthetic Voices’ Top Podcasted Stories of 2012
Over at the Synthetic Voices podcast, I see a LOT of fiction over the course of a calendar year. Now, the 2012th year of the Common Era is coming to a close, so I thought I’d […]
Dead Cosmonauts and Other Eldritch Horrors
Space Eldritch Nathan Shumate, ed. Cold Fusion Media Tpb $13.99, ebook $5.99 Kindle Nook Smashwords Two of the most popular subgenres of the fantastic are space travel (with its myriad sub-subgenres) and cosmic entities with […]
Some Things Are Not As They Seem
Stories can become dated and lose their luster, but amazing stories have a tendency to shrug off changes over time and shine on with fresh wonder. Written in 1932, The Lost Machine by John Beynon Harris is one of those amazing stories.
“I Like Science Fiction, It’s Got Like Giant Robots and Stuff, Right?” Science Fiction’s Self-Esteem Problem Part III: Robots, Reboots and Remakes. How Hollywood Kills Serious Science Fiction
The only time the public pays attention to Science Fiction is when that great machine of mass marketing and “entertainment” called Hollywood inundates the collective consciousness with that most dreaded of phenomena: the Summer Blockbuster. But […]
The Speed of Science
Science deals with a lot of high speed phenomena, like the speed of sound and the speed of light, which can make the topic seem fast and exciting. We also see science news on tv […]
Time Travel Defined: A device for repairing a poorly thought out plot. Usually.
Time travel is one of those devices that seems to turn up eventually in most long running Science Fiction shows, particularly in the later seasons when they’ve worked out their main story arc already. I’ve […]
Crossroads: A Genre Darkly
World-building, extrapolation, analogy, conceptual breakthrough, thought experiment – these are science fiction’s basic methods. Other genres might occasionally borrow them, but SF has sharpened them to a razor’s edge. So what happens when this set of tools works alongside the themes, styles, and plot structures of noir?
Synthetic Voices #13 – December 2012 Top Picks
This month has been a tumultuous one – travel, holidays, and illness. Podcasted fiction seems to have also had a hard time, December representing the weakest month for fiction that I have yet seen. Even […]
A Conversation with Kevin J. Anderson
We’re heeeeere! Today’s interview is with Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times Bestselling author. Probably best-known for his contributions to the Star Wars universe and his Dune prequels with Brian Herbert, Kevin is currently hard […]
Five Military SF Novellas by Five Authors
Five by Five Aaron Allston Kevin J. Anderson Loren L. Coleman B. V. Larson Michael A. Stackpole WordFire Press electronic only $4.99 Kindle B&N Kobo Smashwords I thought I’d look at some good old fashioned […]
To Be Continued . . .
Back in the old days you could read a novel in a series and pretty much enjoy that one novel as a stand-alone. The Asimov’s Foundation novels work this way, so do the novels in […]
No. 3 – Jules Verne, From The Earth To The Moon, and Space Opera.
Jules Verne hovers between number two and number three on the list of the most translated books worldwide and I think it’s deserved. He became one of the earliest science fiction writers to make it financially […]
Scientists and Stereotypes
Older male (check), glasses (check), white lab coat (check). A scientist! Even without the funny hat or breaker full of red liquid, everyone recognizes the stereotype. Stereotypes can be based on a nugget of truth […]
Guide to Alternate History Literature
I’m often asked to recommend a good alternate history book, but you might as well ask me to name my favorite film. My mind rebels at the thought of picking just one. For the sake […]
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