Tag: SF
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SF Classics – Rendezvous with Rama
Rendezvous with Rama (1973) is a novel by Arthur C. Clarke, set in the 2130s in the Solar System. Rama, initially mistaken for an…
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Dangerous visions – a controversial SF anthology
In 1967, Harlan Ellison put together a short-story anthology titled Dangerous Visions. Mildly put, this collection made history and “almost single-handedly [it] changed the…
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XXI CENTURY SCI-FI – 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
2312 (2012) by Kim Stanley Robinson is a SF novel about a (relatively) near future of interplanetary colonisation. Humanity has spread across the whole Solar…
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Interview to Ken Liu, on Amazing Stories
An interview to Ken Liu, the SF Chinese-American writer, author of some excellent short stories (published on F&SF, Asimov’s, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld among others)…
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One year of blogging
Today is my first birthday as a blogger. The Earthian Hivemind was online first on December, 16 2013, just giving a flash report on…
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SF Classics – The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard
The Drowned World (1962) is a SF novel by J. G. Ballard, an author that has written in other literary genres and became especially famous…
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Science in SF – Articles for Amazing Stories
In addition to astrophysics and space exploration, I do also write articles about another of my favourite subjects, science in science-fiction, on this blog and…
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BloodLight: The Apocalypse of Robert Goldner. A review
There are two things about this odd yet fascinating book worth mentioning straight away. The first is that, albeit featuring a seventeen-year old boy,…
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SF Classics – The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
The Shadow of the Torturer (1980) is a fantasy novel by Gene Wolfe. It is the first of four volumes in The Book of…
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NaNoWriMo – Mission accomplished (wow)
Here I am. Just finished validating my draft of 50,932 words. I barely believe I made it – but those words came somehow out…
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Does size matter for life? Giant and tiny exoplanets
Post number five in the exoplanet series, covering this time the important aspect of size. (In case you are interested to other variables examined so…
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SF Classics – The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman is a military science fiction novel, telling the story of William Mandella, a soldier of the United…
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SF heroes and villains – a portrait gallery
I have been an avid manga reader (and anime fan) since childhood, and what I loved the most was to pick my hero and follow…
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SF Classics – Steel Beach by John Varley
Steel Beach (1993) by John Varley, is a sci-fi novel where humans now live on the Moon after an alien invasion. Steel Beach, this…
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When SF and science work together: Dyson spheres and black holes (thanks, Interstellar).
That SF has anticipated and/or even come out in first instance with some of the most creative ideas now seriously considered for scientific research is nothing new.…
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SF Classics – Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell is a novel that needs no introduction. Difficult to imagine a dark, dystopian book that had a stronger…
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SF Classics – Ringworld by Larry Niven
Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven, is the first of a series of stories – including prequels and sequels – set in a version of…
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SF Classics – The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
The Player of Games (1988) by Iain M. Banks is a SF novel belonging to the Culture series. It features the most skilful and…
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The importance of a correct worldbuilding: Lagrangian points
Astrophysics has to make sense, especially in a SF book. When designing your fictional worlds you need to make sure things can survive on their own,…
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SF Classics – Helliconia Summer by Brian W. Aldiss
Helliconia Summer (1983) by Brian W. Aldiss is the second instalment of the Helliconia Trilogy, set on the Earth-like Helliconia. The planet, orbiting a…
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XXI CENTURY SCI-FI – Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
Spin (2005) by Robert Charles Wilson, describes a future Earth that a race of powerful aliens, the Hypotheticals, have put in protective cocoon –…
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SF Classics – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) is a novel by Philip K. Dick, a dystopia set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, where nuclear radiations…
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SF Classics – Shikasta by Doris Lessing
Shikasta (1979) by Doris Lessing is a speculative fiction novel. The book is the first of the series Canopus in Argos, and portraits the final days…
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Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. A review.
When I asked the editor (Pan Macmillan) through Netgalley for a copy of Station Eleven – in exchange of a honest review, as usual –…