Remembering the Best Short Science Fiction
If I could travel back to 11/25/64, the day I turned 13, to talk with myself, I d warn him about the dangers of reading science fiction. In the Fall of 1964, I became addicted to science fiction after discovering Robert A. Heinlein. I wouldn t try to convince my younger self not to read science fiction,
Time and Again by Clifford D. Simak has the distinction of being the first story in the first issue of Galaxy Magazine back in October 1950. It was serialized in three parts as Time Quarry. (All three issues can be found here.) It s currently in print as a paperback, Kindle edition, and audiobook on Amazon.
Let s imagine an alien spaceship parked itself in orbit within view of the International Space Station. Let s also assume the aliens announce themselves by transmitting television signals to every nation on Earth. We ll also assume they have the technology to use the appropriate Earth language for each nation. How soon would everyone on Earth know
I thought it would be fun to look at old book reviews of the two books I just read and reviewed. I ll start with The Fittest, which I liked, and then go to Ruler of the World, which I didn t. Follow the links if you want to read my reviews. The Fittest Astounding Science Fiction
After being thoroughly disappointed with Ruler of the World, one of J. T. McIntosh s later works, I decided to try one of his earliest novels. One from his prime. I chose The Fittest when I read that it was about animals with enhanced intelligence. It was his fourth published novel, from 1955. I love science
I m ashamed to admit that I wasted my time reading this book. Let s hope I can find something insightful to say about the experience. I confess I have a lifelong addiction to fiction. Even though years of studying consciousness, philosophy, and spirituality have shown me wiser pursuits for my time on Earth, I still prefer
Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouye is one of those science fiction books you should read without knowing anything about the story. I listened to the Audible.com edition, and Richard Dawkins blathered too much about the story in his introduction. If you get the audio, skip the introduction until after you ve finished the book. Dark
Recently, on the YouTube channel Pulpmortem, I viewed Jake s video 9 So Bad, they re Good Science Fiction Books you ve probably never heard of. Jake, evidently, is a connoisseur of bad science fiction, and the nine novels he reviewed indeed sound dreadful. Since Jake claims that bad books still can be fun to read, I gave
On the surface, Peter Watts novel Blindsight is a space adventure about first contact, but it s mostly a series of lectures on the nature of consciousness. Watts works to convince the reader that space-faring intelligent aliens can exist without conscious self-awareness. The aliens in Blindsight are far scarier than the xenomorph creatures in the Alien
I didn t discover the concept of time travel until September 25, 1965, when the 1960 film version of The Time Machine was shown on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies. That was two months before I turned 14. It blew my mind. The next day at Cutler Ridge Junior High, kids excitedly talked about the