Author: Steph P. Bianchini
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Eris, the goddess planet of discord
Eris is the name of the Greek goddess of chaos and discord, famous for being the one who caused the Trojan War by throwing the…
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SF Classics – The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin, is an utopian SF novel. It belongs to the same fictional universe of the Left Hand of…
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Going to Pluto: New Horizons’ new imagery
One of the most exciting features of New Horizons, on its way for the expected Pluto’s flyby next month, is the amazing pictures the…
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Where Gundam fights – locations ガンダムシリーズ
This is post number 3 in the Gundam series, aimed at helping you find your way in the complex multiverse of this amazing franchise…
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Lost in translations
A quick post while the migration of The Earthian Hivemind is ongoing. A lot of features still don’t work and I have a lot of…
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Bloggers’ dilemma – Moving over to a self-hosted blog?
After many doubts, considerations and evaluation of pros and cons I think I have made up my mind. I’m migrating to a self-hosted platform,…
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SF Classics – Titan by Stephen Baxter
Titan (1997) is a SF/ techno-thriller by Stephen Baxter. It examines Saturn’s moon Titan as the object of a manned mission aiming at discovering…
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Apollo 18 (2011) – A review
“There’s a reason we’ve never gone back to the Moon.” This is how the opening line on the movie’s website, a American-Canadian SF/ horror…
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Solar System’s Best Flybys – which one is your favourite?
Thanks to Cassini, we got spoiled for flybys over planets and moons – just think that we are now at number 111 (the last…
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Deaths of Tao, Rebirths of Tao – Wesley Chu’s amazing trilogy.
I have already written – rather enthusiastically – about the first instalment of this trilogy, The Lives of Tao, saying that the book is an innovative example…
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SF Classics – Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet (1938) by C. S. Lewis is the first of the Cosmic Trilogy and an early example of space travel…
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Life in the universe – where to search for it
I have recently read many articles about where life in the universe is likely to be found and what are the preconditions for it. This…
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Guest Post – The invisible geometries of the Solar System
This is an abridged version of the article “The invisible geometries of the Solar System” by Roberto Flaibani, first published in Italian on Il Tredicesimo Cavaliere, a…
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Space missions – updates
2015 is an amazing year for space missions (not that 2014 has been a bad one) – plenty of them under way and expectations…
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Shade of horrors: The Girl Next Door
I was recently discussing with some friends about our favourite horror novels and more precisely which specific kind of horror each one of us…
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XXI CENTURY SCI-FI – The City & the City by China Mieville
The City & the City (2009) is a weird fiction novel by the British author China Mieville and based on the investigation of a…
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The once and future Hubble – 25 years in space, and counting
It’s impossible not to celebrate these days the incredible achievements of Hubble’s Space Telescope – which has just turned 25. A joint ESA/NASA project, launched…
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Gundam, alternate timelines – ガンダムシリーズ
Post number 2 in the Gundam series. Let’s talk today about something I have already mentioned in my introduction to this amazing anime franchise,…
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SF Classics – Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut is a novel about World War II experiences and journeys through time, narrated in a non-linear order by a soldier…
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Song of Kali, by Dan Simmons – Book Review
In SF fandom Dan Simmons is especially known for the Hyperion Cantos series, and with a reason: those books, especially the first two – Hyperion and…
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Exoplanet series – strange creatures
Keeping on with my exoplanet series. First of all, some updates in their number, that keep changing – due to new observations, discoveries and so…
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Europa Report. A Review
No, Europa Report is not a Jupiter Ascending ante-literam movie (the fear is legitimate considering the astronomical proximity) and, while I have still to…
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Name (or vote) your favourite Pluto-Charon Features
It seems that nominations and votes are taking up all my time this week. After Hugos, it’s Pluto, and the NASA’s campaign to encourage…
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Flaming the Eastercon (and the web) – The 2015 Hugo Controversy
If you had the impression by following the twitter feed of Dysprosium/ Eastercon 2015 (i.e. the Eastercon SF convention in the UK where, among…