Monday Book Pick: Triplanetary
TriPlantary by E.E “Doc” Smith.
The first in the classic Space Opera Lensman series. This series influenced a lot of what was to come. Robert Heinlein considered Edward E. Smith to be one of his mentors.
Quick SciFi update
I watched the first episode of the forth season of Heroes. Frankly it didn’t leave me with a strong desire to watch anymore.
I’d rather see new episodes of Warehouse 13 or the up coming season of Doctor Who. Reruns of Brisco County, Jr. would be probably be better.
Avatar spoilers
This is a comment I left on a review of Avatar on Dark Worlds blog that raises issues with the lousy science in Avatar:
Then there is the subject of evolution on Pandora. All the animals have six limbs. Four up front and two in the back. All of them, including the Pterodactyl like creatures. Four wings and pair of legs. Four eyes as well. One pair above sightly farther out than the inner pair.
Everything except the Terminator Smurfs. Two eyes, and four limbs.
Radically different biology, yet they could mesh their nervous system with the local animals.
Did the Terminator Smurfs braid their hair to protect the nerve bundle or did it grow like that naturally.Oh, why did the Pterodactyl like creatures naturally develop stirrups for the Terminator Smurfs?
With all the “scientists” they had on that planet, why didn’t any notice that the Terminator Smurfs obviously didn’t evolve there?
Originally posted at e-Ramblings
Update: One of the comments points out that the story line is remarkably similar to a Poul Anderson short story, “Call Me Joe.” There are also comments about the movie drawing from Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The World for World is Forest.” I would add Alan Dean Foster’s Midworld as well.
Quote of the Day
“I made it to 2010 and all I got from the SciFi books of my youth was the lousy dystopian government.”
Friday B-Movie Pick: Star Wars
The 1977 original! The one where Han shot first! B-Movie? You betcha! Check out sets, the plot, and delicious evilness oozing out of the bad guys. George Lucas is a big film buff and this is a tip of the hat to multiple genres, including some Japanese classics and WWII flying Ace movies.
Monday Book Pick: His Majesty’s Dragon
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
An interesting bit of historical fantasy that reads like a cross between Horatio Hornblower and Jane Austen, with dragons. Yup, dragons, and the best dragons, of course, come from China. This is the first in series about a British Navy Officer who captures a dragon’s egg in a sea battle and ends up bonding with the beast when it hatches. Of course, it speaks English, and French. An interesting read. While I’m a mostly a hard core SciFi reader, I do enjoy good alternate history stories.
Star Trek Crossover
There was a really cool, in an uber-nerd Trekker kind of way, cross over in the latest big budget Star Trek movie. In the middle of the bridge set, the one that looks like an Apple Computer threw up, not just once, but twice, you saw on of the biggest ST:TOS fans in existence, James Cawley.
Cawley is the man behind Star Trek: Phase II, some of the finest fan produced Star Trek episodes out there.
Monday Book Pick: She Murdered me with Science
Filed under: Monday Book Pick, Pulp, Science Fiction
She Murdered Me with Science by David Boop
A delightful mix of hard boiled dective story and good old fashioned pulp science story, with a dash of Jazz thrown in for flavor.
Ya, ya. I know it’s Tuesday. I’ve been busy.
Monday Book Pick: March to the Sea
Filed under: Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
March to the Sea by John Ringo and David Weber
Second in the Empire of Man series. Prince Roger continues his education as he and the Bronze Barbarians continue their trek across a harsh alien wilderness filled with hordes of aliens, hostile and otherwise, but mostly hostile.
Monday Book Pick: Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Another classic by the Grandmaster of Science Fiction. Valentine Michael Smith, born during, and the only survivor of, the first manned mission to Mars. Raised by Martians, he looks at Human society through a very different perspective than the rest of his species. Heinlein takes on sex and religion in a most irreverent fashion.