8/10 (Very Good)
tagline (a remarkably prescient one): “War in the Air! Possibilities of the Future! And actual motion picture prediction of the ideas of Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and other powerful writers of imaginative fiction. Shows what might happen in the near future Continue reading
John Sherwood’s The Monolith Monsters (1957) is by far one of my favorite B sci-fi (ish) monster movies! I’m being very generous with rating but, this is a hilariously average (but wonderful) romp with one of the more peculiar “monsters” matched up with some of the best 50s special effects I’ve seen. The Monolith Monsters is without doubt one of the more interesting films of the 1950s American Realist Science Fiction movement Continue reading
4.5/5 (Very Good)
J. G. Ballard’s High-Rise (1975) is a fascinating yet relentlessly mono-thematic novel inspired by the effects of class conflict and urbanization on society drawing on some ideas explored in earlier SF masterpieces such as John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar (1969) and Silverberg’s The World Inside (1971) (both of which I prefer to High-Rise). Continue reading
Hawkwind’s ‘Damnation Alley’ from the album Quark, Strangeness and Charm (1977) was inspired by Roger Zelazny’s novel Damnation Alley (1967) — which chronicles a suicidal voyage (in an armored vehicle) across post-apocalyptic America Continue reading
5/10 (Average)
Robert Parrish’s Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is a British science fiction film of average quality. The first two thirds are well done before the final act kicks into gear with all its hokeyness and painfully glitzy camera work. The central “idea” is on the surface an intriguing one Continue reading
4/5 (Good)
1966 Nebula Nominated Novel
Jack Vance’s The Blue World is a delightful (straightforward) sci-fi/fantasy adventure story. There’s something truly wonderful about Jack Vance’s world building skills, simplistic yet adept prose, and tightly constructed plots. He’s a top-notch story Continue reading
3.25/5 (Average)
1971 Nebula Nominated Novel
T.J. Bass’ Half Past Human is a flawed yet occasionally intriguing fix-up novel which was nominated for the 1971 Nebula Award. I found that the atrocious prose overshadowed all the work’s positives and made it a chore to read. Bass is a practicing doctor and thus apparently finds it fun to inundate his narrative with medical Continue reading
My old sci-fi book hunting grounds have proved abundant (again) — Half Price Books Austin, Texas….
1. Son of Man, Robert Silverberg (1971)
I’ve been on a Silverberg binge recently. This is not supposed to be one of his best Continue reading
The brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière were two of the earliest and most influential film directors. La Charcuterie Méchanique (1895), considered one of the earliest “sc-fi” films of all time, predicts the mechanical butcher. A rather simple machine “transforms” a pig into Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 