Politics, Theatre, Sci-fi... Mainly Sci-fi.
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Read 6 days ago and current, but nothing has been published for 13 months.
In Allegra Solomon’s stories, human desire is an unruly thing. In ‘Seeing It Through,’ the female lead contemplates her relationship with her partner: “Her love for him sometimes felt like an affliction; all the operations and logical functions of her anatomy cowering to the whims of her almighty heart.” In ‘Coda,’ the narrator reflects on … Continue reading Review: There’s Nothing Left For You…
It’s a phrase with a decades-long history, utilised by queer activists in the 2000s and popularized by anarchist artists in the 2010s. At a time when queerness itself is increasingly criminalised, it might risk feeling redundant, yet the appeal of the slogan persists. I suspect this is partly due to its sheer literary power; four … Continue reading Review: Be Gay, Do Crime: Sixteen Stories of…
What were science fiction and fantasy doing in 2024? If, as seems likely, this past year goes down as one of the more catastrophic in an already turbulent period, it is a question historians are likely to ask. Of course, this volume can’t answer it. Like nearly all annuals, it has the wrong year on … Continue reading Review: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024, Edited by John Joseph…
This article first appeared on Patreon on 6 December 2021. Well, that was better than I expected. It was not, I hasten to add, good. It had all the problems of the previous Flux episodes: forward momentum but no clear goals, an over-abundance of under-motivated villains, a poorly communicated set of stakes, and an unwillingness … Continue reading Review: Doctor Who: The Vanquishers
This article first appeared on Patreon on 29 November 2021. Well I for one am relieved to see that the Sontarans are still in this show. The idea that Doctor Who’s most epic adventure yet might end after only one encounter with the Sontarans scarcely bears thinking about. Really, where would we be without them? … Continue reading Review: Doctor Who: Survivors of the Flux
This article first appeared on Patreon on 21 November 2021. If this episode demonstrates anything, it is the utter banalisation of Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who. It throws a bucket of his high concepts at the viewer, but with none of the wit, verve, or ingenuity that made them interesting in the first place, resulting in … Continue reading Review: Doctor Who: Village of the Angels
This article first appeared on Patreon on 15 November 2021. Well, that was a pleasant surprise, if only because I’m mildly shocked the show is still capable of surprises. Sarcasm aside, Once, Upon Time offers the best initial viewing experience of the Flux event so far; a vast quantity of shit being thrown at the wall, some … Continue reading Review: Doctor Who: Once, Upon Time
This article first appeared on Patreon on 8 November 2021. Ah, so this is still a Chris Chibnall show. While The Halloween Apocalypse was a raucous party with music loud enough to distract from the cracks in the foundations, War of the Sontarans feels like waking up the following morning to a hangover and a worrying lack … Continue reading Review: Doctor Who: War of the Sontarans
The term ‘commercial fiction’ can be a loaded one in literary criticism. It is often used to dismiss writers as beneath consideration; their work is not ‘serious’ or ‘literary,’ but merely ‘commercial.’ The overtones of snobbery here should be obvious, and thus it’s a term I try not to deploy too often. And yet there … Continue reading Review: The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho
0. No, I am not calling it “Season 1.” It follows directly on from the previous year’s specials, for goodness’ sake. With all the random classic series shit it brings back, it’s lucky I’m not calling it Season 40. 1. I still remember my first proper Doctor Who Magazine comic strip. It was Mike Collins’ … Continue reading Fourteen Thoughts on Series 14
