Monday Book Pick: Go Tell The Spartans
Go Tell The Spartans by Dr. Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling
Part of Pournelle’s Condominium series, and more specifically part of the Falkenberg Legion series. An excellent read in the Military SciFi genre, and a damn good primer on low intensity conflicts as well.
SciFi Geek Bonus Points: The first mention of “Major Falkenberg” and the “Falkenberg Rifles” isn’t in a book by Mr. Pournelle. Geek points for identifying which Military Sci-Fi book does.
Sunday SciFi: Babylon 5
Very good, nay, excellent SciFi. Especially for TV. This show wasn’t just SciFi, it was Space Opera in the best sense of the genre.
Grand sweeping story arcs over five seasons, great battles; personal, man to alien, and large fleets of space craft battling for control over this corner of the galaxy.
Much, much better than the Star Trek knock off of Babylon 5. Yes, gentle readers, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 was a cheap knock off of Babylon 5.
The B5 pilot aired first, even though Paramount rushed ST:DS9 to the small screen before the B5 series was approved and made it to the airways. The best ST:DS9 seasons were the ones where they did what B5 did the season before. The ST:DS9 “creative” team even hired the same actor B5 used the season before in appear in what was essentially the same role. The B5 team found this out when they tried to bring the actor back to reprise the role and found out he was over at Paramount filming a DS9 episode. JMS responded by killing off the character and replacing him!
Five full seasons, plus a handful of made for TV movies. Enough to keep you busy for a while if you enjoy really good SciFi.
Monday Book Pick: The Mote in God’s Eye
The Mote in God’s Eye by Dr. Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
One of the classics of Science Fiction by two of the best “Hard Science Fiction” authors out there. This was their first collaboration and for extra bonus points, they had it vetted by the Grandmaster of Science Fiction, Robert A. Heinlein.
Monday Book Pick – Special Double Volume Edition: To Your Scattered Bodies Go & The Fabulous Riverboat
To Your Scattered Bodies Go & The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip Jose Farmer
A double hit by one of my favorite authors. The first two books in his Riverworld series are back in print in a single volume. To Where Your Scatter Bodies Go was my book pick way back on 9/7/09, but I saw that it was back in print today. It’s worth the repeat, especially combined with The Fabulous Riverboat. This is one of the grand epics of Science Fiction and certainly worth the read to any student of the genre.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol
I’m a Doctor Who fan going back to the early 80’s when I was watching the Tom Baker episodes on the local Community College public access channel. The new series does Christmas specials every year, and I have to say, IMNSHO, that this is the best Doctor Who Christmas special yet. They set the bar very high with this one.
This is my second “Christmas Carol” pick.
Monday Book Pick: Citadel
Filed under: Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
This is the second in his “Troy Rising” series and it doesn’t fail to deliver! The first book in the series was a pick last year. He said he was going to go old school SciFi Space Opera with this series, and my hope what he would go E.E. “Doc” Smith big. Let me just say that my faith in Mr. Ringo was not misplaced. A very fun read. I recommend this series to long term Ringo fans, like me, and to those who haven’t sampled his particular brand of reader crack yet.
Sunday SciFi: Firefly and Serenity
Joss Whedon’s SciFi/Western series and feature film. IMNSHO, one of the best SciFi series since Babylon 5.
A really top notch cast and great writing produced a series that the fans loved and the network execs just couldn’t grok.
The result a single season, with four episodes never being aired, followed by rather brisk DVD sales and a feature film.
If you haven’t seen Firefly, do yourself a favor, block out a weekend and watch the entire season.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Runaway
Yes, B-Movie Fans, the 1984 Michael Crichton classic starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, and nicely, but not overly, rounded Kirstie Alley. Household robots are being programmed to kill by an evil genius. I picked this one because I got one of my kids a Roombra for Christmas.
Monday Book Pick: Out of the Dark
Out of the Dark by David Weber
Weber takes a look at a near future Earth invaded by a ruthless alien species. Raw meat for Weber fans right up to the surprise ending. An ending which horked off some fans, but not me. I took at a hat tip to the late Fred Saberhagen.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Predators
The latest in the francise, and probably the best since the original. Decent cast portraying hardened killers up against Alien Predators. Honestly, better than I expected.