technology

Update: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. V

/ Joachim Boaz / 14 Comments

I promised not to buy any more books over the summer unless I ran out — alas, Memorial Day Sale at one of the best Half Price Books in the country (Austin) is a “bad” combination.  I had to reduce my gigantic pile by half before I dared approach the buy counter….

I’m proud of this haul!

1. Hawksbill Station (1968), Robert Silverberg (MY REVIEW)

I’ve wanted to procure Hawksbill Station for quite a while — the premise is fantastic, five dangerous prisoners are held at Hawksbill Station located in the Cambrian era… One bizarre use of time travel!  I hope Silverberg is at his best à la The World Inside and Downward to the Earth.

2. Master of Life and Death, Robert Continue reading →

SF TV Episode Reviews: Space: 1999, episode 2, ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ (1975)

/ Joachim Boaz / 5 Comments

5/10 (Average)

Continuing my nascent series of episode by episode blog posts of Space: 1999 (1975) I present Episode 2, season 1 ‘A Matter of Life and Death.’

Plot Summary (spoilers — inherent in the very nature of this sci-fi episode post series because endings are the easiest to rant about)

Moonbase Alpha, hurtling across space, comes into contact with its first potentially inhabitable Continue reading →

Book Review: Journey to the Center, Brian M. Stableford (1982)

/ Joachim Boaz / 6 Comments

journey to the center.jpg

3/5 (Average)

Brian M. Stableford’s Journey to the Center (1982) is a poor man’s Ringworld (1970) mixed with a light dose of Pohl’s Gateway (1977).  The combination is pleasantly surprising in parts but also downright dull.  Stableford’s alien species are interchangeable and uninteresting and his descriptions of the world — although a fantastic idea — fail to encapsulate the awe Asgard should inspire. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Time Hoppers, Robert Silverberg (1967)

/ Joachim Boaz / 4 Comments

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2.5/5 (Average)

For me Robert Silverberg has finally lost his aura.  I knew it would happen eventually if I delved into his lesser read 60s works — but I’d been impressed recently with a string of his best (Thorns, Downward to the Earth, The World Inside) which created the aforementioned aura.  I believe in the demystification of an author (for nebulous reasons) however painful the reader’s experience might be — at least The Time Hoppers (1967) clocks in at a mere 182 pages.

The Time Hoppers takes place in an overpopulated world Continue reading →

Book Review: The Steel Crocodile, D. G. Compton (1970)

/ Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

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1971 Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel

3.75/5 (Good)

D. G. Compton’s novel The Steel Crocodile (1971) is a thoughtful yet ultimately unspectacular exploration of the intersection of religion and science.  Although the work is nowhere near the level of Compton’s masterpieces (Synthajoy, The Unsleeping Eye), it infinitely surpasses the later The Missionaries (1972) which attempted to explore similar themes.  I find his strong female characters Continue reading →

SF TV Episode Reviews: Space: 1999, episode 1, ‘Breakaway’ (1975)

/ Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

Everyone!  I’ve decided to start a new series of posts!  An episode by episode log of my reactions (including, but not limited to rants, ravings, tangential ruminations, mutterings, and indecipherable utterances) to Space: 1999 (1975-1977).  I’ve never seen the show before and don’t have very high expectations.  But with 2001: A Space Odyssey inspired visuals and some 70s flare (see the hilarious costumes of the cast image below), how bad can it be? (haha).  A general naïveté (on my part)  Continue reading →

Update: Sci-fi about the social ramifications of overpopulation, a call for suggestions

/ Joachim Boaz / 9 Comments

    

I need reading suggestions.

After reading John Brunner’s Hugo winning masterpiece Stand on Zanzibar (1968) a few years back I became entranced by science fiction exploring social themes (intelligently) extrapolated from a future Earth condition of extreme overpopulation.  In the recent months I’ve read and reviewed a glut of similarly themed works of uneven quality.  Many of these works were inspired by Paul and Anne Ehrlich’s non-fiction The Population Bomb (1968) which warned of the mass starvation of humans in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of overpopulation. Continue reading →