The world has run short of fresh water, and the great Dune Sea spreads across the west:
From space it seems a canyon. Unhealed yet scar-tissue white, a wound yawning latitudinal between the sluice grafts of Los Angeles and the flaking, friable, half-buried hull of Las Vegas (114)
Into this world head a dysfunctional family, two drifters who have overstayed California, and a foundling baby. They hope to make it to the other side, but the great Dune Sea, Amargosa, has other plans and peoples.
According to Variety, the BBC have ordered “an initial eight-part series” of an adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy for BBC One.
Given that it says “initial”, can we hope that the first season will just cover Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, thus giving the trilogy the room it needs to develop on screen? I’m hoping that the recently excellent adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell points the way towards the possibility of another superb fantasy adaptation heading for our screens.
She envisioned the work of evolution as a kind of blind, inarticulate poetry (121).
I’m a fan of Robert Charles Wilson’s work, but I took some time catching up to the award-winning author’s 2013 novel. Burning Paradise unfolds in an alternate present on a comparatively peaceful earth, infected by an interstellar parasite.
Not to be confused with the 1994 film of the same title.
Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest novel works as a story about interesting people in a difficult situation and a metaphor for a great many real-world concerns.
It also raises the possibility that the stars are not our destination.
For the record… I didn’t die on Sol 6. Certainly the rest of the crew thought I did, and I can’t blame them. Maybe there’ll be a day of national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say, “Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars.”
And it’ll be right, probably. ‘Cause I’ll surely die here. Just not on Sol 6 when everyone thinks I did. (1)
Andy Weir first posted his debut novel online in 2011. More recently, it was picked up for general publication and became a bestseller, receiving praise from the likes of Larry Niven, Wil Wheaton, and Chris Hadfield. Next month, the movie, directed by Ridley Scott, will receive its mainstream premiere.
Does this hard SF thriller live up to the hype?
A med student finds intricate etchings on a cadaver’s bones.
A poker-player’s game expands when he gets handed the Dowager of Bees—one of the occult hidden cards.
Societies form on a space elevator.
Floating icebergs appear in the sky, prompting exploration.
The twenty-eight pieces of China Miéville’s collection cover a broad range. Not all writings will please all readers, but he certainly displays originality and range.
“The book combines my favorite aspects of my favorite authors into one. James Patterson-the master of the psycho killer who kidnaps girls, Patricia Cornwell-scientific thriller, and Dean Koontz-really spooky plots.”
Want a free audiobook, narrated by yours truly?
Here’s your chance. I have a limited number of free downloads on Audible to giveaway for my latest narration project, Shatter Point, written by Jeff Altabef.
William Gibson’s 2014 novel presents a world where time travel exists, but only digital information can be exchanged. Someone from our near future witnesses a murder from a world years in a future she won’t see, a fact which pulls several characters from the periphery into the roiling center of world-changing events.
And performance art.
Twenty years after the end of air travel, the caravans of the Traveling Symphony moved slowly under a white-hot sky… They were near Lake Michigan, but they couldn’t see it from here. Trees pressed in close at the sides of the road and erupted through cracks in the pavement, saplings bending under the caravans and soft leaves brushing the legs of horses and Symphony alike. The heat wave had persisted for a relentless week. (35)
Emily St. John Mandel’s early novels have caught the attention of literary readers. Her most recent work was shortlisted for the National Book Awards; it should be nominated for the Hugo and Nebula as well. Her literary approach to the post-apocalyptic begins on a winter night during a performance of King Lear at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. An aging Hollywood actor returns to the live stage, only to die— not figuratively— before his audience.
Most of the human race will follow.
Hard science fiction, often set in the terrifically-near future, explores the impact of hard science and plausible technology on all-too-human characters. This new anthology, edited by Ben Bova and Eric Choi, presents seventeen diverse stories, with technology we may well live to see, and themes as old as our species.