1. The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard, J. G. Ballard (2009)
My girlfriend gave me this MASSIVE (1196 pages) newly released volume of all of Ballard’s short stories (arranged in chronological order) for my birthday. I’m extremely excited because I enjoyed my first Ballard work, High-Rise (1975). Does anyone have a particular story which I should start with? Continue reading
6.5/10 (Average)
Maurice Elvey’s Transatlantic Tunnel (1935) inhabits the forlorn ranks of seldom seen early science fiction films. Is it a masterpiece of the genre? No. Is it worth watching for fans of early sci-fi? Definitely! The production value is remarkable (which surprised me) and a few scenes remain to this day awe-inspiring Continue reading
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
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
3.5/5 (Above Average)
A. E. van Vogt’s The World of Null-A is a frustrating but worthwhile experience. This is in part because of the trite introduction inserted in my edition of the work by A. E. Van Vogt defending his work against the notorious (and career making) critique by the sci-fi writer Continue reading
3.75/5 (Good)
Barrington J. Bayley’s Collision Course (Collision with Chronos) (1973) is based on a fascinating hard sci-fi premise, the intersection of two time waves, one from the future heading into the past, and the “present”, heading Continue reading
3.75/5 (Good)
They Shall Have Stars (1956) is the first of James Blish’s famous Cities in Flight novels (note: the series was not released according to its internal chronology — the third volume, Earthman Come Home was published first in 1955). Continue reading
A wonderful creepy cover by John Schoenherr
4/5 (Good)
Readers from the first days of my blog might recall my rather dismissive comment in my review of John Brunner’s abysmal Born under Mars (1967),
“I have still yet to find in Brunner’s early pulp(ish) novels any solid indication of his future brilliance that manifests itself so poignantly in his great novels of the late 60s Continue reading
2/5 (Bad)
This novel feels like two separate stories connected by the presence of the dueling machine. The story when the dueling machine is a dueling machine and the story when the Bova decides that the dueling machine is also teleportation device and a therapy device and only occasionally used for duels. The first part of the novel Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 