9/10 (Masterpiece)
Notable Awards received: Nominated for the Palm d’Or Cannes, Won Best Artistic Contribution Cannes, Won Jury Prize Cannes, Won Technical Grand Prize
For some reason despite my obsession with European cinema Continue reading
Author: Joachim Boaz
Book Review: The Reefs of Space, Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson (1964)
3/5 (Average)
The Reefs of Space, by Frederick Pohl and Jack Williamson, is the first novel of the Starchild Trilogy (which includes Starchild and Rogue Star).
The novel follows the brilliant (and amnesia induced) scientist Continue reading
Book Review: Star Winds, Barrington J. Bayley (1978)
2/5 (bad)
Future Earth uses special ethereal silk (from Mars) to power wood ocean going boats across the sky. The silk is running out and the ocean going boats with canvas are going to be the next big thing. OK.
AGAIN, the draw of the “future crumbling empire fixation” (FCEF) Continue reading
Book Review: Mission to the Stars (variant title: The Mixed Men, A. E. Van Vogt (1945)
3/5 (Average)
A. E. van Vogt spins a great space opera in this short (157) page volume. Mission to the Stars–as it was later known–was originally published under the name The Mixed Men.
Here is a brief plot summary: Lady Gloria Laurr, Grand Captain Continue reading
Book Review: The Warlord of the Air, Michael Moorcock (1971)
3/5 (Average)
Notable as an Early Steampunk/Jules Verne homage….
The Warlord of the Air is the first of a trilogy of steampunk novels (Land Leviathan, The Steel Tsar) by Moorcock collected in the omnibus edition The Nomad of Time and later as The Nomad Continue reading
Book Review: Shield, Poul Anderson (1965)
4/5 (Good)
I was impressed with Poul Anderson’s minor novel, Shield. Many other reviewers point out that the novel is dated. Yes. But so are almost all sci-fi novels written in the 1960s when it came to Continue reading
Book Review: Interstellar Empire, John Brunner (published as a collection in 1976)
1.75/5 (Bad)
John Brunner is rightly famous for his dystopic works Stand on Zanzibar (won Hugo for best novel), The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and Shockwave Rider but most of his output Continue reading
Book Review: Perseverance Island Or The Robinson Crusoe Of The Nineteenth Century, Douglas Frazar (1885)
A SUSPECT RUMINATION
O the joys of wanna be Victorian Robinson Crusoes…
3/5 (Average)
Douglas Frazar’s ‘Perseverance Island or the Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century’ (1885) is the American Victorian reinterpretation of Robinson Crusoe and it shares shelf space Continue reading
Book Review: Iceworld, Hal Clement (1953)
4/5 (Good)
(spoilers — however, most back covers also ruin the great surprise)
Hal Clement, an Oxford educated astronomer who contributed immensely to the hard-science fiction movement, is best known for his books Mission of Gravity and Needle, however Iceworld Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 