Category — Sci-Fi

Folks, this is AWESOME.
Okay, basically Walton’s set this alternative history in a world where Britain and Germany work things out, and WWII never happens. Germany’s building concentration camps ALL over the continent, and things suck for Eastern European Jews. Britain’s got its own issues with rising fascism, but, interestingly, Walton examines this rise in the upper classes. So, [...]

‘When I finally made it downstairs, wearing an old tracksuit I had found in my cupboards, she [my mother] put her hand to her mouth. “You look very sick,” she said. “Your eyes are like pits of tar: yellow and black. And your skin is the colour of white people. What were you trying to [...]

Comments contain ***SPOILERS***
How do I love Mara Jade from Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novels. Let me count the ways. (Oh, and this is going to be a *spoiler free* post for recent Star Wars novels, if you know what I mean. I’d prefer to keep it that way. And if you don’t know what I [...]

Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassinhas been herald as one of the finest novels of the 21st century. And it is. Yet, it is perhaps a novel that often gets overlooked because of it’s “sci-fi” billing. Don’t’ get me wrong, I ADORE sci-fi/fantasy novels. In fact, at least eight out of ten [...]

In my first year of teaching Freshman Comp at a local Boston college, I taught a class that I designed myself called “Virtual Realities, Virtual Bodies: Technology and Identity.” Students were asked to examine the evolving role of technology vis-à-vis human and gendered identity. Truth be told, I molded this entire class [...]

“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” has been nominated for a Hugo, and has been made available on-line. It’s one of the short stories in Gaiman’s collection, Fragile Things.
I should first admit that although I’m a bit of a comics geek, Gaiman’s not on my must-read list. Occasionally I will adore his work, [...]

I ran across this snippet at author John Scalzi’s blog Whatever this morning. It’s from the schedule at Penguicon, which is this weekend in Troy, MI.
6-7PM Promenade East Limited Female Roles In Fantasy, Comics, and SF TheFerrett, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi, Sarah Monette, M. Keaton Why is it that a female character will either be [...]

After a recent conversation with Michelle of I Am A Tree, I felt inspired to pick up and re-read Madeline L’Engle’s An Acceptable Time, which had been one of my very favorite books when I was a teen.
More often than not, when I revisit things I was enthusiastic about when I was younger, I’m disappointed [...]

I just re-read Douglas Adams’ The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, which I first read as a teenager and have read several times since. But this was the first time I realized why it’s my favorite of his books. I mean, they’re all fantastic entertainment - why this one?
Because it features [...]