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

May 2, 2011May 23, 2011 / 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 →

Update: Recent Science Fiction Acquisitions N. III

April 25, 2011August 16, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 2 Comments

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 →

A Film Rumination: Transatlantic Tunnel (variant title: The Tunnel), Maurice Elvey (1935)

April 25, 2011May 23, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 13 Comments

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 →

A (short) Film Rumination: The Airship Destroyer (variant title: The Battle in the Clouds), Walter R. Booth (1909)

April 8, 2011April 8, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 3 Comments

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 →

Book Review: The Blue World, Jack Vance (1966)

March 25, 2011August 3, 2019 / Joachim Boaz / Leave a comment

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 →

Book Review: The World of Null-A, A. E. van Vogt (published as a serial in 1945, revised in 1948)

January 17, 2011August 1, 2011 / Joachim Boaz / 19 Comments

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 →

Book Review: Collision Course (variant title: Collision with Chronos), Barrington J. Bayley, (1973)

December 11, 2010June 28, 2017 / Joachim Boaz / 11 Comments

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 →

Book Review: They Shall Have Stars (Variant title: Year 2018!), James Blish (1956)

November 13, 2010June 20, 2016 / Joachim Boaz / 8 Comments

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 →

Book Review: Meeting at Infinity, John Brunner (1961)

September 13, 2010June 4, 2018 / Joachim Boaz / 4 Comments

https://i0.wp.com/www.isfdb.org/wiki/images/3/39/MTNGTNFNTF0000.jpg

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 →