cosmic tunnel between Earth and another similar planet and moon

Book Review: The Kiss Catastrophe

It’s always nice to read science fiction with believable science. Getting through a whole book without wincing while you try to contort your brain around a ridiculous scientific assertion is refreshing. So, when I learned that Colorado author Raima Larter has a multi-decades-long background in chemistry, thermodynamics, kinetics, statistical mechanics …

watercolor of man's hand holding pocket watch and woman's hand holding a smart phone

Book Review: The Ministry of Time

Few sci fi books have been as popular lately as Kaliane Bradley’s novel, The Ministry of Time. It’s a beautiful work, but as I’m about to show, it has its flaws. And no, they are not small ones. I’m aware of a certain controversy surrounding this book. When the BBC …

Writer with pen and paper creating new worlds from his imagination

Tips for Building Worlds

Worldbuilding can be the most liberating piece of telling stories in speculative fiction, particularly in sci-fi and fantasy. Being unbeholden to the limits of our world allows your characters to have an entirely different set of environmental, cosmic, and cultural settings. It’s an opportunity for you, as the writer, to …

eye with overlying measurement apparatus

Author Elaine Clark

Elaine W. Clark is a native of New Mexico where she has lived all but eight months of her life. Reading was a joy she discovered from the yearly Christmas present books she received as a child from her uncle and aunt who were both librarians. Influences The first book …

Man on pier, smoking

La Jetée: A Classic, Mindblowing SF Experience

Chris Marker’s 1962 film, La Jetée, clocks in at a mere twenty-eight minutes, but once seen, will stay with its viewers forever. In French, the phrase la jetée denotes “a pier,” and it is one man’s childhood memory of standing on a pier, watching planes take off, that forms the linchpin of this sf …

Face of William Gibson

The Influence of William Gibson

As a relatively new genre, at least in comparison to mystery or romance, science fiction has many pioneers making their mark and developing the genre in the last century. One of the most influential is William Gibson who is credited with coining the term cyberspace and is a founder of …

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L.V. Ditchkus Publishes New Novel

Speculative Fiction Writers Association member L.V. Ditchkus’ novel has been recently published. Here’s the blurb: New Release: Chrom Y Returns: The Chrom Y Series: Book One by L.V. Ditchkus “Hundreds of years after a horrific disease destroys Earth’s male population, Sofia Andes7 and her wife embark on a perilous journey …

Chinese Flag with a rocket and the words Hugo Award with big stamp of Censored

Hugo Awards Bow to Chinese Censorship

What are the Hugo Awards? Hugo Awards are one of the preeminent speculative fiction awards. They call themselves a ‘science fiction award’, but many of the nominees and winners are clearly in other genres like fantasy, time travel, or even the supernatural. The Hugos date back to the 1950s and …

Red Rising Book Cover with angry clouds in background

Book Review: Red Rising

Red Rising, by Pierce Brown, takes place in a dystopian version of our galaxy, where a dying Earth sent pioneers to terraform the other planets in the solar system and altered their genetics to ensure their success, using hair and eye color to differentiate between the different levels of hierarchy. …