Author: Stephen Higgins

by Lachlan Shrives

War and words

war2

 

 

This week’s post was vaguely inspired by last weekend’s commemoration of ANZAC Day. We’ve served up a variety of links about writing, warfare, and writers in wartime.

–George R. R. Martin talks engagingly about writing tips, including how to write medieval warfare well.

-A more general piece with tips about writing large battle scenes, particularly in fantasy settings.

-An exhaustively researched resource, which provides fascinating insight into First World War experiences of some of the best-known science fiction and fantasy writers.

–A BBC feature article discussing the influence of the First World War on The Lord of the Rings.

-A short alternate history of what might have happened if the ANZAC’s had won the battles at Gallipoli.

–The stunningly animated short from Russian CG enthusiast Dima, which imagines the remains of a post-apocalyptic world-war.

 

by Lachlan Shrives

Station Eleven crows a victory

post apocLast week saw the announcement of the winner of the Tournament of Books: Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. In honour of this title, here are a collection of links about Mandel’s book, which has caused waves in the ever-widening pool of post-apocalyptic literature over the last year or so.

–Bustle interviews Emily St. John Mandel, who explains how Shakespeare crosses over into post-apocalyptic sci-fi

–i09 asks Mandel and four other authors why their stories are set beyond the point of mass annihilation

–Mandel explains her vision of the protracted moment of apocalypse to the BBC

–The New York Times review of Station Eleven (slight spoilers)

-A fascination article by The New Yorker about the evolving relationship between genre and literary fiction, with reference to Station Eleven

-An upcoming unique (albeit unrelated) project by a pair of Australian editors to publish an “anthology of apocalypse survival fiction featuring characters with disability and chronic illness”. Sounds interesting!

by Lachlan Shrives

Titan: Soupy, frozen, exotic

A speculative view from Titan's surface
A speculative view from Titan’s surface

This week saw the 360th anniversary of Christiaan Huygens’ discovery of Saturn’s moon Titan. Titan is the second-largest moon in the solar system and the only known natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere. As a result, Titan has long captured the imaginations of writers, film-makers, readers, and of course scientists.

–Is water really necessary for life to form? Cosmos Magazine writes on the possibility of life evolving in Titan’s hydrocarbon seas

–Space.com shines light on the conflicting reports of Titan’s mysterious, soupy atmosphere

–Titan’s methane-rich nature comes up in io9’s discussion of the logistics of terraforming

-Along with Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes, the geography is also dominated by giant sand dunes that have an enigmatic origin

-In this video, NASA asks: why are there no waves on Titan’s lakes and seas?

-The History Channel explores what a day on Titan’s surface would be like

by Lachlan Shrives

Lockdown

Photograph of a crumbling prison
Photograph by Marcin Haszczu

Today is the anniversary of the closing of Alcatraz, one of the most infamous prisons of all time. So we’ve put together a short post about prisons, freedom, and their representation in sci-fi and fantasy.

–io9 covers 10 of the greatest prison breaks in sci-fi and fantasy

–An impressive review of 14 of the ‘freakiest’ prisons

–Bitch Magazine explores the concepts of retribution, punishment and freedom in the context of sci-fi prisons

-Robert Heinlein’s penal sci-fi classic ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress‘ will be adapted to film by X-Men director Brian Singer

–Wired writes on the new sci-fi prison comic series ‘Bitch Planet’

–Finally, the amazingly gory and hilarious Adult Swim show ‘Superjail’

by Lachlan Shrives

Gibson and the cyberpunks

A man in a leather coat with intrusive augmentations

May 2015 Update: A fascinating (and in-depth) article from the New York Review of Books about Gibson’s works and life

This week saw the anniversary of William Gibson’s birth. Gibson is one of the canonical writers of early cyberpunk fiction, and his book Neuromancer was the first to win all three of the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick awards. Today’s post hits up some of the interviews that shed light on Gibson, as well as a few nicks and nacks.

–The Paris Review provides an excellent precis of Gibson’s literary life along with an in-depth interview

–An audio interview between the BBC World Service and Gibson (49 minutes)

-Bruce Bethke, whose eponymous story gave name to the subculture, writes on the etymology of ‘cyberpunk’

–The Guardian speaks with Gibson in the wake of the release of his latest book The Peripheral

-In contrast, an interview with Gibson back from 1985, which includes a prescient prediction about Michael Jackson

–6 cyberpunk books to introduce you to the cyberpunk literary genre

–The trajectory of cyberpunk is traced by the Guardian

-A video from the Chicago Humanities Festival, where Gibson speaks on the decline of ‘Cyberspace’

-For a laugh, here’s Lorem Gibson – a website that provides filler text, ala Lorem Ipsum, based on Gibson’s work

by Lachlan Shrives

In memoriam: Terry Pratchett

Discworld reader's guide
A reader’s guide to the discworld novels

Beloved fantasy humorist author Terry Pratchett passed away on the 12th. This post is a collection of tributes to his works and life.

–An in-depth examination of what makes the discworld books great.

–Pratchett’s thoughts on dementia.

–Crime novelist Val McDermid eulogises Pratchett in The Guardian.

–The New York Times interviews Pratchett in late 2014.

–Neil Gaiman writes on anger, injustice and Pratchett.

And finally, the last three twitter posts from Pratchett’s account:

“AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER”

“Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night”

“The End.”

 

 

by Lachlan Shrives

Apollo 9 anniversary, blasting off

apollo 9

Today marks the anniversary of the launch of the Apollo 9 mission, which was one of the manned precursors to the first successful moonwalk only 4 months later. In memory of the mission, here are a handful of posts that refer to Apollo 9 documents and books, and the Apollo series of missions in general.

–The hidden importance of the Apollo 9 mission, and its fallout

–Five of the best insider accounts of the Apollo moon landings

–i09 discusses two new recently released books. The books describe the Apollo missions in detail, along with the reality of NASA’s financial situation at the time

–A video of Earthrise as witnessed by members of Apollo 8. The video is reconstituted from audio and photographs as well as computer animation.

–National Geographic’s original series of photographs of the Apollo program 

-Although it has been around for a couple of years, Chris Hadfield’s rendition of Space Oddity is something I’m always happy to come back to (even if it doesn’t relate directly to Apollo!).

by Lachlan Shrives

The legends and the legacies of King Arthur

Original by Évrard d'Espinques

In honour of John Steinbeck’s birthday (27/02/1902-20/12/1962), today’s post is about the ongoing legacy of the Arthurian stories, as well as the men and women who have reimagined and retold Arthurian legends. Steinback’s own retelling was published posthumously in the 1976 novel ‘The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights‘.

-The top ten films about King Arthur

-The BBC discusses the history of the legends and where its past and future lie

–The ten historical and archaeological sites that hint at Arthur’s very real past

-A serialisation of The Once and Future King, performed by well known writer and presenter Brian Sibley, and produced by the BBC

–A posthumous look back at Mary Stewart’s illustrious career including the Merlin Trilogy

 

by Lachlan Shrives

Chinese New Year special

This week, we bring you a post inspired by Chinese New Year – recommendations for some of the best Asian-inspired fantasy and science fiction around. Some we suspect will be familiar, some will be brand new, and some will take you by surprise. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

-Reviews along with a list of some Wuxia and Oriental fantasy

–Asian inspired (not necessarily set in Asia) fantasy novels

-A discussion by The Guardian of three of the best recent Asian fantasy series

-An exhaustive list of fantasy titles from all over the world, sorted by culture or nation

–Wall Street Journal interviews Cixin Liu, author of China’s newest best-selling science fiction book ‘The Three-Body Problem’

 

Bonus fact: Did you know Chinese New Year festivities actually last for 15 days?

by Lachlan Shrives

Extraterrestrial Culture

Today’s theme was heralded by the arrival of Extraterrestrial Culture Day last week. While the day itself is native to New Mexico, USA, it does give us a chance to talk – or wonder – about what extraterrestrial culture might be like.

-In an attempt to learn more about alien culture: the 7 longest messages sent into space.

-In counterpoint to the above, a discussion of whether we might be shooting ourselves in the foot by transmitting messages.

-Speaking of alien culture, the last wishes of deceased author of the Culture series, Iain M Banks, were recently released: that the series be continued by his friend Ken MacLeod.

-A summary of some interesting and well-realised aliens and their cultures from the last 70 years.