Starship Fonzie

For those who haven't yet read or audio-booked Dennis E. Taylor's "bobiverse" series, you're missing out. The series begins with We Are Legion (We Are Bob) , which was published first as an audiobook in 2016, becoming one of Audible.com's most popular selections. It was subsequently published in paperback in 2017. Two more volumes, For We Are Many (2017) and All These Worlds (2017) soon followed. Some quick background: Bob Johansson, a wealthy eccentric, signs an agreement to have his brain put into cryo-stasis after death, then is subsequently killed in an accident. Decades later, his brain is uploaded into a computer - a process which destroys his original brain. As a living program, he is placed into a probe and sent into space. But he is not just any probe, he is a Von Neumann probe, capable of making copies of himself to spread to other parts of the galaxy and explore even further. At first he is reluctant to copy himself. When he eventually does, the c...

   Of all the science fiction fan personalities, none gained as much influence over the genre than Forrest J (no period after the “J,” for James) Ackerman (1916 – 2008). While most fans paid good money to enjoy sci-fi, “Forry,” managed to make money doing it, simultaneously amassing one of the greatest collections of sci-fi, fantasy and horror movie memorabilia ever gathered under one roof. (And sometimes two roofs!)   Ackerman, or Forry, or The Ackermonster, 4E, 4SJ, Dr. Ackula, or a host of any other nicknames (he had so many), got his start in sci-fi at an early age. While other kids had parents and grandparents who read books to them, Forrest’s grandmother read to him out of the pulp magazines. He would never look back. He was also greatly blessed in the area he lived and grew up in. Los Angeles was central to so many who wrote science fiction, and Forrest took full advantage of having so many great writers living in such close proximity. A precocious young kid, h...

  I'm always excited about independent sci fi films which are reasonably good. They're rare, they're fun, and frequently launch careers. (Someday I hope to do one!) Which is why I was really excited when I heard about an indie film called Save Yourselves! written and directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Elanor Wilson - two names which I suspect we will hear again. After waiting for many months for the film to be available for streaming, it's finally accessible through Amazon Prime. **Warning** there are mild spoilers. Discretion is advised. The film begins in a cutesy sort of way, focusing in on a young couple, Su (Sunita Mani) and Jack (John Paul Reynolds), who are so modern it almost hurts. They're very cute together, but also very hapless. Su cannot do any sort of a project without getting a list from an online magazine. Jack is an unassertive metrosexual. They both admit they have "no skills." After realizing that their lives have gotten into a rut, the...

  Radio played a pivotal role in science fiction’s golden age. The dawn of the pulp era was also the dawn of the radio era. Radio greats were the staple of entertainment in the late 1920’s through the late 1940’s, and everyone knew and enjoyed greats like George Burns & Gracie Allen, Abbott & Costello, Jack Benny, Arthur Godfry, Fibber McGee & Molly, and Basil Rathbone portraying Sherlock Holmes, among others. Science fiction, however, was under-represented during the heyday of radio. This was partly due to Orson Welles’ colossal blunder with War of the Worlds in 1938, and partly because there was a war on between 1941 and 1945, which meant radio stations had higher priorities than outer space adventures. There were two notable, pre-Golden-Age exceptions: Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century (1932 – 1936), and Flash Gordon (1935 – 1936). But otherwise, science fiction was kept outside the radio broadcast booth.   With the onset of post-war television, all that chan...

Pick up any novel by Kim Stanley Robinson, and you will find a course on climate science cleverly disguised as a novel. Such continues to be the case with Robinson's latest masterpiece, The Ministry For The Future. The plot revolves around a new Paris Climate Accord which creates the Ministry for the Future - a bureaucratic arm of the U.N. - in the year 2025. Naturally, co-signing nations give it lip service and very little actual action. But a massive heat-wave which strikes India causes that nation to take matters into its own hands. India begins to engage in massive efforts to cool the planet - without waiting for international sanction first. To India's mind, it was the United States and China which caused the heat wave due to their liberal use of fossil fuels in the preceding decades. They therefore have no right to block India's efforts now. In another aftermath of the regional India heat-wave, in one populous city, millions died. All except for one young American ma...

Why is science fiction so big in Canada? Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer, one of my all-time favorite writers, gave a lecture at Darwin College in Cambridge University recently. I believe the lecture was given last year, although I can't be sure. I can only be sure that the lecture was uploaded to YouTube in 2020. In that lecture, Sawyer talked about the history and impact science fiction has had throughout science and culture, but during that talk, he said something amazing which really got me thinking.  He pointed out that Canadians have received roughly 40% of all science fiction awards. Now, that's an interesting figure! Canada has a population of about 37.59 million (as of 2019). That's only 11.45% of the population of the U.S. at 328.2 million. A large portion of the remainder of the awards go to the U.K., which has a much higher population than Canada at 66.65 million, but that's still only 20% of the population of the U.S. That gives Canada a hugely disproporti...

Christopher Paolini has not really been known as a science fiction writer. His Inheritance Cycle series, which begins with Eragon , his best-known work, has been a beloved set for fantasy readers for quite some time. But now he has crossed over into sci fi with a true space opera, and one which is good enough for Hugo Award consideration. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars . The novel centers around the main character of Kira Navarez, a xenobiologist attached to the military, part of a survey team looking for habitable worlds. Her character is set up well, albeit a bit too thoroughly. (It takes rather long.) All she wants is to encounter alien life (beware what you wish for) and has been consumed with her career, but is in love with a man named Alan, whom she has spent too much time away from. She and Alan decide to get married and live as colonists, and in these early chapters, the scene is so lovey-dovey that one is certain things are about to go completely sideways. They do. After picking ...