Let's Get Off This Rock Already!
An Author's Adventures in Space Travel, Science Fiction, and Worlds Beyond
This site's been on hiatus for a little while, but I'm back, and I'm kicking it off again with a review of a hidden gem of Soviet science fiction: A Dream Come True. It's an hour-long film from 1963, depicting first contact between humanity and an advanced alien race known as the Centurians. The aliens are... Continue Reading →
Here we will explore how not to write a science fiction novel. Now, I really wanted to like The Killing Star. Pellegrino and Zebrowski's novel is beloved in some sci-fi circles, and I can see why: their vision of the galaxy is a brutal place, where any civilization becomes an existential threat the moment it develops... Continue Reading →
Post by Nic Quattromani: I’ve got some tragic news to share today: NASA’s Kepler space telescope, formerly our premier planet-hunter floating in the sky, has ceased operations. This was not due to any technical failure aboard the craft. Rather, it simply ran out of fuel, rendering it unable to conduct stationkeeping or even orient itself... Continue Reading →
Post by Nic Quattromani: Tidal locking is one of the more interesting phenomena in the realm of speculative fiction, partly because it clashes with our terracentric ideas of what a planet should look like. While our comfortable, spinning Earth has two icecaps sandwiching a hot equatorial region, its tidally locked counterpart, called an “eyeball world”... Continue Reading →
Post by Nic Quattromani: I’m quite fond of tropes. Yes, when overused they can flatten a story, make it a bland template more than a work in its own right (looking at you, Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars), but nevertheless they provide a tremendous library of ideas, stories, and tools spread across literary space, which... Continue Reading →
Post by AJ Rise: Are we alone in this universe? Where are the space aliens? What do they look like? When, if ever, will we get to meet them? These questions all relate to the holy grail of astrobiology: discovering an intelligent alien species. Countless scientists and philosophers have attempted to tackle the question of... Continue Reading →
