This book was first published in 2009, by a small publishing company that went under. It was republished in 2016 by another, more successful small publisher, and the author has since sold a story set in the same world and a sequel, Tinker’s Sea. The setting makes a review timely. A credible future world, recovering from environmental and social collapse, faces a plague.
JD DeLuzio
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Dune Trailer Released
September 13, 2020 by JD DeLuzio Movies 13 Comments
Last week saw the release of the trailer for the third adaptation of Frank Herbert’s SF classic, which will be out this December.
Will it do the novel justice? How will it compare to its two predecessors? Does it fill you with more hope and anticipation than any of the recent Star Wars films?
What do the Bureau-cats think?
Raised By Wolves Review: “Nature’s Course” and “Infected Memory”
September 12, 2020 by JD DeLuzio TV Series 4 Comments
Raised by Wolves continues, with past influencing the present, shifts to relationships and characters’ allegiances, and clear evidence that the human survivors are not alone.
Big Dumb Object and unsolved mysteries ahead.
The Were-Traveler, Lovecraft, and Bureau42
September 9, 2020 by JD DeLuzio B42 Site News, Books 0 Comments
The Were-Traveler has been running since 2011, with each issue featuring short fiction (usually quite short) related to a particular theme or topic in fantasy, SF, or horror. Their current issue addresses the problematic legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, the imaginative and monumentally influential author whose racism and xenophobia, extreme even for his time, frequently entered his stories. This were-issue’s weird fiction draws upon Lovecraft’s influence and tropes to examine and critique his less savoury side.
Among the contributors you may recognize a writer from our Bureau.
Raised by Wolves Review: “Raised by Wolves,” “Pentagram,” “Virtual Faith”
September 5, 2020 by JD DeLuzio TV Series 2 Comments
HBOMax’s new SF series (available in Canada on Space the Sci-Fi Channel) takes us to Kepler 22-B, where Terran survivors and some androids try to keep humanity alive. The planet isn’t overly hospitable– but our own demons may doom us a good deal faster.
TV Discussion: Away, “Go”
September 4, 2020 by JD DeLuzio TV Series 4 Comments
Hilary Swank, Vivian Wu, and Mark Ivanir head the cast of Netflix’s new foray into space, Away. The series depicts the drama surrounding a first crewed mission to Mars. Is anyone watching? Here’s a place to comment.
Movie Review: Tenet
August 30, 2020 by JD DeLuzio Movies
The first Hollywood blockbuster released during the pandemic is a SF techno-thriller, sort of James Bond meets La Jetée, with a second-generation movie hero in the lead. It also received its international release ahead of its American one.
I saw it at an old-time drive-in as a double-feature with Them!
X-Files brings out its “Lower Decks”
August 30, 2020 by JD DeLuzio The X-Files
The X-Files will return to the small screen, but in a comedic animated cartoon that will depict the B-Team, the agents who investigated “X” cases that are too ridiculous or trivial for Scully and Mulder.
It’s in development at Fox. Although the original series never shied away from humor (remember “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space?”), I suspect the response to this announcement may be mixed.
Review: Tales from the Loop (Season One)
August 28, 2020 by JD DeLuzio TV Series
Possibly the best successor to The Twilight Zone dropped its first season on Amazon Prime back in April. We’re finally getting around to reviewing that season. Taking its inspirations from paintings by Simon Stålenhag, the show gives us T-Zone plots with a modern sensibility, a recurring cast, and a world where one bizarre occurrence remains in continuity when the next one occurs.
It’s a brilliantly-made, thought-provoking depiction of an alternate reality where, one suspects, insurance premiums must be terrifically high.
Raised by Wolves Review: “Lost Paradise” and “Faces”
September 19, 2020 by JD DeLuzio TV Series 1 Comment
The power dynamic shifts in Raised by Wolves, while the mystery of the planet deepens, and the show grows increasingly mythic.
In the face of danger and threats to the continued survival of the human race, people continue to act like buttheads. It’s depressing, but entirely plausible.
More…