http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/sciencefiction/ en-us Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:14:47 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041848/posts Thomas M. Disch, science fiction writer and poet, committed suicide July 4 in New York. He was sixty-eight years old. Disch was an exceptionally talented writer. Unfortunately, he was a man without hope, without which no man can survive. A futurist who had little use for the future, Disch specialized in stories of humans struggling to survive against inhuman, invincible forces outside of their control. His first novel, 1965's The Genocides, is a bleak no-future tale in which the entire human race is wiped out by aliens; his (arguable) magnum opus, 334 (1972), is a detailed examination of the grim,... brucelewis.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041848/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:14:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2041709/posts SF author, critic, and poet Thomas M. Disch, born 1940, died July 4, 2008, of suicide in his New York City apartment. Ellen Datlow reports that Disch had been depressed for several years, especially by the death of long-time partner Charles Naylor, and worries of eviction from his rent-controlled apartment. Biographical details shortly. Locus http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2041709/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jul 2008 06:00:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2028542/posts I noticed that Wikipedia has announced the death of science fiction writer, Algis Budrys, author of "Rogue Moon" and other works. At the moment, no MSM sources have mentioned this. However, several blogs have. Wikipedia article various http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2028542/posts#comment Mon, 9 Jun 2008 23:24:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2005297/posts It goes without saying that climate realists around the world believe Nobel Laureate Al Gore used false information throughout his schlockumentary "An Inconvenient Truth" in order to generate global warming hysteria. On Friday, it was revealed by ABC News that one of the famous shots of supposed Antarctic ice shelves in the film was actually a computer-generated image from the 2004 science fiction blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow." Newsbusters.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2005297/posts#comment Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:34:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992798/posts Now a fixture at Department of Homeland Security science and technology conferences, SIGMA is a loosely affiliated group of science fiction writers who are offering pro bono advice to anyone in government who want their thoughts on how to protect the nation. The group has the ear of Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Jay Cohen, head of the science and technology directorate, who has said he likes their unconventional thinking. Members of the group recently offered a rambling, sometimes strident string of ideas at a panel discussion promoting the group at the DHS science and technology conference. Among the group’s... National Defense Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992798/posts#comment Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:36:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1988315/posts As news of Arthur C. Clarke's death spread through communities of scientists, writers and science fiction fans, many people shared their memories of how the visionary writer, inventor and futurist inspired and influenced them. Clarke is famous for his book, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (he also co-wrote the screenplay for the subsequent movie), for coming up with the idea for the communications satellite and for predicting space travel long before humans left Earth. "I think the passing of Arthur C. Clarke is really epical," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "There is no one of his... Space.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1988315/posts#comment Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:33:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1985978/posts When I was about 18, I went to a science-fiction bookstore in Berkeley, Calif., to attend a book signing by Harlan Ellison. I had a couple of well-thumbed paperback collections for Ellison to sign, and was totally unprepared for the long line of fans, many of them bearing 10 or 15 pristinely preserved hardcover books. The college-age woman in front of me had just such a pile, but was carrying something else too. When she got to the front of the line, she cleared her throat and thrust something toward Ellison. "Mr. Ellison, I wrote a story and you're in... Salon.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1985978/posts#comment Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:13:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1972880/posts Where have all the sci-fi films gone? Those simple, thought-provoking speculative tales about how people respond to something new, what kind of moral choices they make, keeping traditions in the face of technological change. Essentially, the kind of films that were thought provoking and story/character driven - Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of Apes, 12 Monkeys, Minority Report (more action though but good), etc. The "Superhero and Fantasy Genre Craze" since Spiderman and LOTR has really eaten up a lot of support for original sci-fi works to film... For 2008, we have two horror/slasher types "I Am Legend" (Omega... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1972880/posts#comment Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:03:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1951004/posts The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz: Identify sounds from science fiction movies and TV. How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you? SheGoddess http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1951004/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jan 2008 21:17:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1950391/posts Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I ran a story a few days back about Kirk and the Kobayashi Maru test that features in JJ Abrams' STAR TREK. It was about how Kirk cheated his way out of a no-win situation (in this case he used his sexual man-charms on a lovely cadet and got her to alter the programming). It was a rumor from an untested source, but a regular source quickly followed up the story with a confirmation. Not only that, but I also got a quicky review of the complete script, which I've cut and pasted below. It's decidedly... Ain't It Cool News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1950391/posts#comment Tue, 8 Jan 2008 19:58:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1942956/posts [spoiler alert] ...the story had been changed in a not quite so subtle manner. The first indication was in a flashback near the beginning of the movie when Smith and his family were praying together. That doesn't happen very often in Hollywood-produced movies. Then, when a surviving mother and her son found Smith, the woman indicated that she had been called by God for that purpose. Smith was skeptical, having spent years trying to find a way to reverse the effects of a "cancer cure" that had mutated and killed most of the human population and turned the remaining members... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1942956/posts#comment Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:53:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1937587/posts He was a onetime utopian socialist who became an assertive right-winger, a libertarian nudist with a military-hardware fetish, a cold warrior who penned an Age of Aquarius sensation with a hero who preached free love. He won admiration from Ronald Reagan, who enlisted his ideas in his "Star Wars" missile shield, and Charles Manson, who was captured with the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land" in his backpack. He predicted the European Union and invented the water bed. But Robert A. Heinlein, the California-based science-fiction writer who stood over the midcentury decades like a colossus, casts a different kind of... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1937587/posts#comment Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:55:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1914206/posts The Trojan Twinkie caper BY DAVE BARRY I'll tell you when I start to worry. I start to worry when ''officials'' tell me not to worry. This is why I am very concerned about the following Associated Press report, which was sent to me by a number of alert readers: 'RICHLAND, WASH. -- Radioactive ants, flies and gnats have been found at the Hanford nuclear complex, bringing to mind those Cold-War-era `B' horror movies in which giant mutant insects are the awful price paid for mankind's entry into the Atomic Age. Officials at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site insist... Maimi Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1914206/posts#comment Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:05:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1905742/posts Science Fiction has a lousy record of predicting the future. In the 1930s, for example, it was widely held that by 1970, toga-clad descendants of the Depression Generation would be living in giant art deco cities full of speeding Dymaxion Cars and dining on food pills. In the '50s and '60s, it was rocket belts and atomic-powered flying cars we were supposed to be enjoying by 2000. And today? In almost every extrapolation of the future I've read lately, the ultimate fate of mankind is uploading -- the transference of consciousness from biological to digital substrates. Such uploads, it is... Brucelewis.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1905742/posts#comment Wed, 3 Oct 2007 08:31:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1904982/posts So did you read the latest Christian novel? You know, the romance. You know, the historical one. Oh, then there was the other one that made me think, "Boy, all my unsaved loved ones will be so sorry they got left behind." Thus, you can summarize the vast majority of well-known Christian novels. Many new authors are stepping into this mix, but none take a bigger leap than Frank Creed, author of Flashpoint, the first novel in what promises to be a series called, "The Underground," the first ever Christian Cyberpunk series. Cyberpunk movies such as Blade Runner and The... Renew America http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1904982/posts#comment Mon, 1 Oct 2007 18:06:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1903611/posts Star Trek — the Kirk version — was the first television show I ever watched regularly. By age three, I had become convinced that, just as mid-afternoon was naptime and early morning was breakfast time, Sunday nights were always and forever to be designated as Star Trek time, and I began a lifelong interest in all things science fiction. My social life has been in decline ever since. To a small town, midwestern boy still learning to read picture books, Star Trek seemed both awesomely exciting and delightfully familiar. On one hand, I revered Kirk, Spock, and McCoy as space-faring... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1903611/posts#comment Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:32:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893074/posts 2007 Hugo Awards Announced Published on 1 Sep 2007 at 4:22 am. No Comments. Filed under Worldcon, Results. The results of the 2007 Hugo Awards, as announced at Nippon 2007, the 65th World Science Fiction Convention, in Yokohama, Japan, on September 1st 2007, are as follows: Best Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge [Tor, 2006]Best Novella: “A Billion Eves” by Robert Reed [Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2006] Best Novelette: “The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald [Asimov’s July 2006]Best Short Story: “Impossible Dreams” by Tim Pratt [Asimov’s July 2006]Best Related Non-Fiction Book: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon by... The Hugo Awards http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893074/posts#comment Sat, 8 Sep 2007 14:27:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1890708/posts In the opening of any book today that involves origins, dinosaurs, ECT. you can always expect to see the term billions of years as they know for a fact. Like some one was there to record this event. Well here is another fine example of the evolutionist religious belief. From the book Natural Wonders of the World, by P.J. Banyard, Page 6 Once there was nothing. There was no space and there was no time. (Now you will have to understand this if there is nothing the laws of conservation of energy state you can not create or destroy matter,... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1890708/posts#comment Tue, 4 Sep 2007 00:31:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890610/posts Two recent studies demonstrate how the hysteria about alleged "global warming" has resulted in wasted research money. As I noted in the previous post, meteorologists have trouble predicting weather conditions a day or two in advance. They cannot possibly predict what will happen decades in the future. Attempting to predict the future based on science based assumptions is called "science fiction". I've been interested in science fiction for over 40 years. I've even attempted to write some. Science fiction writers make assumptions about reality, including future technology, and then base a work of fiction about it. The "Star Trek" family... London Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1890610/posts#comment Mon, 3 Sep 2007 20:27:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1877078/posts Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.   In theory the discovery could be used to levitate a person In earlier work the same team of theoretical physicists showed that invisibility cloaks are feasible. Now, in another report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together. Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University... UK Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1877078/posts#comment Mon, 6 Aug 2007 15:31:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1876050/posts ABC has scheduled Masters of Science Fiction for Saturdays at 10:00 ET beginning August 4. Six episodes were produced but apparently ABC is showing only four of them. Hopefully, the other episodes will be online. The series host is Professor Stephen Hawking. It looks like the show has good production values. Official site (includes clips)ABC site for the seriesA review from Reuters that criticizes ABCIMDb info various http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1876050/posts#comment Fri, 3 Aug 2007 22:17:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1873004/posts It is 2057, and the Sun is failing, causing the Earth to enter an ice age. A spacecraft, the Icarus II, with a crew of eight, is launched as a last hope, carrying a massive bomb with a thermonuclear payload equivalent to the mass of Manhattan in order to re-ignite the Sun... (Wikipedia) No, I'm not reviewing the movie here. I haven't seen it and don't plan to see it. However, it seems to be getting some buzz so I thought I'd see if anyone else here wanted to comment on it. The movie was originally released in Europe, including... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1873004/posts#comment Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:32:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1872277/posts ...As Arthur C. Clarke put it: "Almost every good scientist I know has read science fiction." And the greatest writer who produced them was Robert Anson Heinlein, born in Butler, Mo., 100 years ago this month. The list of technologies, concepts and events that he anticipated in his fiction is long and varied... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1872277/posts#comment Fri, 27 Jul 2007 04:43:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1856885/posts I'm not BSing you. They're really doing a new Bionic Woman. What's next? A new My Mother, the Car? http://www.nbc.com/Fall_Preview/Bionic_Woman/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionic_Woman_(2007_TV_series)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0880557/ various http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1856885/posts#comment Wed, 27 Jun 2007 03:51:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1854400/posts ...UC Berkeley has the world's premiere collection on Mark Twain — and Yale an unmatched trove of rare medieval manuscripts. But for research on Capt. Kirk, Frankenstein or Harry Potter, nothing tops the 110,000-volume Eaton collection at UC Riverside, the world's largest library of science fiction, fantasy and horror books... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1854400/posts#comment Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:44:25 GMT