Science Fiction

After a bit of an unexpected summer hiatus, I'm back to regular blogging, at least as regular as it's been the last year or two. Of course, I'm a committed Game of Thrones fan. I read the first book in paperback soon after it was reprinted, some twenty years ago. And I've also been a fan of the HBO series, which though a bit inconsistent and wobbly at times, has been quite worth watching. And speaking of winter, has anyone else noticed that winter doesn't seem to be coming? Has anyone noticed the person most worried about climate-related issues, Jon Snow, is having trouble being believed? In…

Evil Speaks: Warriors and Watchers Saga by S. Woffington is a new scifi/fantasy novel with an interesting twist. If there is a Bechdel Test for ableism, it would pass. This is an interesting story written for youthful readers (see publisher's summary below) that is well written and mostly devoid of the usual plot holes we find in this genre, but where the characters represent a range of non normative persona. Benny, fifteen, is solitary by circumstance more than choice: he counts each move to a new town as “a life.” He’s on Life Number Seven. His last! He plans to run away from his…

This post is now located, strangely enough, HERE.

Somehow I think 2017 is going to be a bit more of a Friday Feak Out year than a Friday Fun year... And in that spirit, some freak out fiction for your reading list this year. It'll be a great year for novels highlighted how truly awful the world could get if we let it. For your 2017 reading please, a year of dystopian reading. A dozen suggestions (with a few bonus suggestions) for dystopian reading in the new year, one per month to keep us all grounded in an unforgiving world, but not so much that we'll lose hope. One per month should leave plenty of time for reading comedy! Of course, in…

As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I've done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,2014 and 2015. And here we are in 2016! As in previous years, my definition of "science books" is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, public health, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion. Today's list is Goodreads Choice Awards:…

Bounty hunter Jahdo Kyn intends to start a new life, but in order to leave his troubled past behind he has to buy himself a new future. He has a plan, but as his plan develops he discovers a dilemma, one that requires him to make choices he is not well-prepared to make. This is what happens when you have the kind of past Jahdo Kyn has made for himself. The Recompense concept art: Analiese Miller as Aisha Lefu. The beautiful and deadly Aisha Lefu is part of that past. And she’s not the only individual that will make Jahdo Kyn wish he hadn’t gotten out of bed that one morning, a long time…

Sorry about that, but posts and articles about climate change fiction seem especially prone to bad puns... In any case, climate change fiction (or "cli-fi" to use the rather ugly short form) is fiction -- either speculative or realistic -- that takes as it's basis the fact that the earth's climate is changing and jumps off from there. It's actually been around for quite a long time in various guises, even before it became obvious that anthropogenic global warming was an issue, with JG Ballard's The Wind from Nowhere and The Drowned World being perhaps the earliest modern examples. Not…

Like Rocket—a genetically engineered, cybernetically enhanced raccoon—Guardians of the Galaxy is a strange beast. Wanting to make a little cash, Rocket and his talking tree-buddy Groot try to collect a bounty on that guy from Parks and Recreation (and Zero Dark Thirty [Chris Pratt]). But the human, who wishes he were known as Star-Lord, not only has a 40,000 unit bounty on his head, but a softball-sized orb of power that every bigwig in the galaxy wants to steal or buy. Gamora, a femme fatale working for her supervillain step-daddy, crashes the party as Rocket and Groot try to bag Star-Lord,…

With 2001 in the rear-view mirror, there have been no little green men, no meal-replacement pills, no flying automobiles, no space odysseys. But as big-budget plans to model the human brain prove, proponents of artificial intelligence remain hopeful. In its most literal sense, AI exists already: encoded and executed, endowed with sensors, lenses and microphones, connected to the internet, and stuck in your pocket. But how intelligent does a machine have to be before our worst nightmares come true? Intelligent enough to pass a Turing test? Intelligent enough to nuke the human race? And/or…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 98 Table of Contents Chapter 100 Chapter 99 The Third Day, March 22, 2061 I had two classes Tuesday morning and was not able to watch the trial as it happened. I got back to my office in the early afternoon and, again in the privacy of my office, settled in to watch. The trial was not being broadcast. I checked a news portal and learned the trial was over. I went searching for an archive. Jon was not in the court. They used a video link up. An old fashioned flat screen monitor showing Jon sat on the desk beside the young lawyer. There was…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 97 Table of Contents Chapter 99 Chapter 98 The Second Day, March 21, 2061 On Monday morning, I watched the second session of Jon's trial alone in my office at CCU. I didn't have a class until mid-afternoon, so time was not an issue. Jon was led into the courtroom in shackles, his hands bound in front of him, his feet less tightly bound. He was wearing a bright orange one piece suit. As he moved I could see his hands and feet were wired to a metal saucer shaped connector that hung about his knees. He was deposited in a steel chair beside…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 96 Table of Contents Chapter 98 Chapter 97 The Trial, March 18, 2061 Although I had resolved never to expose Edie and Anna to Jon's vitriol since the first call, I didn't have a lot of choice when it came to the trial. Unfortunately, I had a class at the same time. By the time I got back to my office, it was over. The video transcript was not yet online, so I headed home. It was a warm day. As I walked along the lake, the trees were turning green. Birds were singing. Ducks splashed in the water. It was beautiful, but I rather dreaded what I…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 95 Table of Contents Chapter 97 Chapter 96 Eco550 - The Oceans, November 14, 2060 After flying around the Arctic spring and summer, fall classes felt a little tame, but I must admit I was glad for the calm spell. All I had to do was explain Liebig's Law of the Minimum or some such every once in a while and change a lot of diapers. I spent the morning checking up on the various UNGETF projects. Group 12 had started too late in the season to make any appreciable impact on Greenland melting that year. One American city, Philadelphia, had funded…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 94 Table of Contents Chapter 96 Chapter 95 Four Mouths, October 4, 2060 Having a baby in the house again was not at all the same as with Anna. This time I was not a curious bystander. I had duties. We took turns getting up at night, but sometimes I was slap-happy from lack of sleep, With Andrew taking so much of our attention, Anna's birthday was in danger of passing without making a ripple, so both Edie and I went out of our way to celebrate her day. Anna invited some friends from summer school. We had cake and ice cream and a crying baby. I…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 93 Table of Contents Chapter 95 Chapter 94 Andrew, September 21, 2060 Edie woke me from a deep sleep. "Luc. It's time." It was 2:45 in the morning. We had planned for several possibilities. I called a cab, then I called our next door neighbour, Bessie Waters, to watch over Anna. We were just getting in the cab when Bessie came around the corner of the house. She stood by the foot of the back stairs and waved goodbye as the cab pulled out. "Did you leave the back door open?" asked Edie. "She has a key." Until this point, I had been going…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 92 Table of Contents Chapter 94 Chapter 93 A New Disaster, September 18, 2060 I was feeling overwhelmed. It seemed like everything was happening at once. Edie was overdue. I was scrambling to revise my letter about EF1 and the UV effect. Group 12 was starting their Greenland project. They were going to try to stabilize what remained of the Greenland icesheet before expanding their scope and I wanted to monitor their progress. A major fire in the boreal forest north of Great Slave was burning uncontrollably and the smoke was noticeable all over…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 91 Table of Contents Chapter 93 Chapter 92 Ultraviolet, September 4, 2060 I came back from the Arctic to more news of meaningless deaths. While isolated in the North, it is easy to forget the numbing effect the constant drumbeat of tragedy has on a person. It catches me every time. A dike had burst in London and a major fire in the American west both claimed lives. The hurricane season was particularly bad. Australia, Japan and Florida got battered. Several thousand people died. It was an unending litany of suffering. What my father had…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 90 Table of Contents Chapter 92 Chapter 91 Second Tour, August 30, 2060 The second tour was supposed to be primarily photographic. No stopping for samples meant it would be shorter as well, only four or five weeks. I met my pilot in Churchill again. This time it was a taciturn fellow named Louis Lasseur. He flew the plane and kept his mouth shut. After listening to JJ go on and on about nothing for hours, I didn't mind in the least. I can live with no nonsense. We encountered the anomaly on the 13th day. It stood out like a sore thumb as we…

Congratulations to the Kavli Science in Fiction Video Contest winners!! 1st Prize Winner: Zachary Katko Video:   "Superluminal Communication" Age : 17 School: Dansville High School, Dansville, Michigan What are your favorite subjects? Science and Social Studies mainly, though I also enjoy English. Can you tell us what inspired you to make this video? Firstly, my engagingly ruminative English teacher, Ms. Pauline Lee. She introduced me specifically to the Kavli Video contest. Secondly, I drew inspiration from numerous captivating science shows (eg. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, How The Universe…

The Bottleneck Years by H.E. Taylor Chapter 89 Table of Contents Chapter 91 Chapter 90 Ecology 330 -- Extinction, July 7, 2060 I only had time for a few weeks of classes while I was back. The students were eager to hear of my exploits in the North and what I had learned about EF1. I related several tales and then brought them back to course content. "The subject of this lecture can be disturbing. When I first started to study the patterns of life on Earth, I several times found myself unnerved at contemplating extinction --- the deaths of so many life forms. "It is important to realize…