Starship Fonzie

 For Towel Day, here is a salute to The Great Humorist, Douglas Adams             A gentle giant of a man (he was six feet, five inches tall), Douglas Noel Adams (1952 – 2001) (whose initials, DNA, he was especially proud of) deserves to stand alone in his own special category in the same way Ray Bradbury and William Gibson do. He was a soft and giddy soul who loved a good story, good food, and a good joke. He is remembered best, of course, for his radio-show-turned-novel, The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy (1979), which has become a must-read for anyone who loves comedy, much less science fiction.              He got his start in writing after college doing comedic shows in London. It was there, in the 1970’s that he was discovered by Graham Chapman of Monty Python, and collaborated with him on various works. Adams helped to write at least one Python episode and app...

   In Janet Jeppson Asimov’s opinion, the best science fiction writer was, not her husband Isaac, but Clifford Simak. Isaac wholeheartedly agreed with her. One of the first stories he read as a young man was The World of the Red Sun (Wonder Stories, 1931), which so enraptured the young Asimov that he sat on a street curb and read it to his fellow junior high school peers.   Clifford Donald Simak (1904 – 1988) was born in Millville, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and began working as a newspaper reporter in various locations around the Midwest, eventually settling at the Minneapolis Star, and Minneapolis Tribune. A writer after the mold of H.G. Wells, and patterning himself somewhat after E. E. “Doc” Smith (though not limiting himself to that style), he reported on science and technology issues while being a writer of, and an enthusiast for, science fiction. He became the editor of the Minneapolis Star in 1949, and coordinator of the Mi...

Martha Wells is a truly amazing talent. She's stacked up so many awards over the last four years that it's impossible not to recognize her. She has normally been known for her fantasy and young adult works, but there is one series which is undoubtedly science fiction, and it's one of the best around. The Murderbot Diaries follows the adventures of Murderbot, a mostly-robotic cyborg who hacked his own governing module in order to watch his favorite entertainment shows. Having freed himself in this way, he has the power to kill thousands of humans, but chooses not to do so - not out of a sense of ethics or morality, but out of enlightened self-interest. He is blunt about this from the very beginning, and this makes his character instantly likeable. Murderbot is not his real name. He does have a name, as he readily admits, but keeps it secret, calling himself "Murderbot" as a byline. He is a Security Unit, or "Sec Unit," as they call him. Ostensibly his job...

               Perhaps the greatest science fiction writer of the 1930’s, Edward Elmer Smith, Ph.D. (1890 – 1965), a.k.a. “Doc” Smith, E.E. Smith, E.E. “Doc” Smith, “Skylark” Smith, or “Ted” to his family members, wrote stories of space opera before they were vogue. He was a food chemist, specializing in pastries, but his imagination soared to the stars.              In the late 20’s, he began working on the Skylark series, getting some help on the romance dialogue from his neighbor’s wife. He submitted the first story, The Skylark of Space , to various publications before it was finally accepted by Amazing Stories , and serialized in 1928. He would go on to write three more Skylark stories, Skylark Three (1930), Skylark of Valeron (1935), and Skylark DuQuesne (1965). These made him into a well-known name in science fiction.        ...

  The Milwaukee Film Festival begins today, and once again, it has snubbed the science fiction genre. I'll give credit where credit is due, they've presented a great lineup of outstanding films yet again. But when it comes to genre-specific films, the MFF doesn't seem too concerned. Yes, I know, it's difficult for an indie film to get any special effects into a limited budget. And yes, I also know that doing special effects is daunting, even for professionals. And yes, doing special effects with only 90% proficiency is a perfect formula for ruining an otherwise brilliant script. But everyone has the means to produce an independent film in one's pocket already. We even use CGI to put cute mouse ears and funny faces on our friends for fun. We put our own faces on famous artists' music videos for the hell of it. If the brilliant people at the MFF don't have something this year, when will it ever happen? And it's not like they didn't have great sci fi in...

  So, I was evaluating this year's Hugo Award nominees, and came across a doozy of a controversy. Going through the nominees list, I went back-to front, just like the awards ceremony does, and started first with the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. First name on the list: Lindsey Ellis. I googled her name to see what she'd done lately to garner a Hugo nomination, and immediately found a shitload of websites reporting that she'd been cancelled on Twitter. Half of them supported her, half said she deserved it, and nobody was clear on which side of the political aisle that they were on. What, what?!   When I made my recommendations list for the Hugo Awards back in February, I recommended Isabel Fall for her trans-positive short story, "I Sexually Identify As An Attack Helicopter," even though, and because of the fact that, many of her allies attacked her for misunderstanding the story based on its title. I strongly felt that a fellow liberal should be strongly...

"Afrofuturism" is becoming a real trend. As it gains ground, many people want to know more about what it is, what it isn't, and how one might get on board. It should be noted that Afrofuturism is difficult to define because it can have different meanings to different people. Some even argue that "Afrofuturism" is a misnomer. For the purposes of this blog, the definition is anything pro-black or pro-Africa that has an impact in science fiction books and movies. But it should also be noted that the phenomenon extends into music, comic books, paintings, and other forms of art. Certainly the phenomenon begins with the emergence of great black sci fi writers, and the two most cited (for good reason) are Samuel R. Delany and Octavia E. Butler. During the New Wave era (roughly 60's and 70's), Delany blazed the trail with edgy science fiction which was blunt in its depictions of black characters, cultural rebels, and homosexuality. But he did this with a beauty ...