An overview of a book for anyone interested in the idea of Time and Time Travel – James Gleick’s Time Travel: A History, a book that’s bigger on the inside.
Author Stories
Brave New Words (or rather, a few more of them)
A look at some interesting words coined in works of science fiction (that need to be used more!)
A few fun (little-known) facts & stories about the “the proverbial ‘really good’ science-fiction movie” (2001: A Space Odyssey of course!)
And as with many classics, so it is with 2001: A Space Odyssey, that the behind-the-scenes stories are equally fascinating.
History’s Alternatives: Five stories about all the worlds that might’ve been (Part I)
“History does not reveal its alternatives”. Thankfully, we have alternate histories. Here’s just some of them.
Democracy in the age of Information: A spotlight on Infomocracy, and a Q&A with its author Malka Older
An overview of Infomocracy, the sci-fi political thriller about the future of democracy in an age of Information; with an exclusive Q&A with its author, Malka Older.
Speaking of Stephen Hawking, the sci-fi fan who played poker with Einstein and Newton, and threw a party for time travellers
A brief history of Stephen Hawking and his love of sci-fi & pop culture including the one bit of his work he wished science fiction writers would use (they haven’t, yet).
The fabulous women writers who’ve enlivened – and are enriching – Indian SF
Here then, are just some works from Indian women writers whose SF you should definitely be reading – if you haven’t already that is!
A story for our times: Adolf Hitler’s Hugo-award winning SF classic, Lord of the Swastika
Hailed by Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison et al, Hitler’s science-fantasy book is only available thanks to Norman Spinrad’s The Iron Dream, which comes with a scholarly afterword by NYU’s Homer Whipple.
When Big Brother meets Big Data, we get to live in glass houses!
Secrets are lies. Privacy is theft. All your data is belong to us. Every move you make, every step you take, I’ll be watching you.
A whole much more than the sum of its small parts: Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti Trilogy
The list of books I’d recommend to someone who wants to start reading sci-fi has now ben updated, with this tale from a master storyteller telling a different kind of sci-fi story.
Scientists doing scientifiction: The science fiction of India’s people of science
From Bengal and Maharashtra, to Karnataka, Assam, and Tamil Nadu, a brief overview of Indian scientists and their contribution to science fiction literature.
‘Star Wars for adults?’: The timeless appeal of a masterpiece called Dune
Revisiting Frank Herbert’s seminal – and enjoyable – must-read epic of political intrigue, human emotions, ecology, imperialism, mysticism, messianic deliverance, and more. Soon to be a Denis Villeneuve film.
Beyond the books: Ursula K. Le Guin’s many tentacles
From calling Google the devil, breaking down Amazon’s BS machine, and the time she ‘tricked’ Playboy and bought a Volkswagen bus, to the time refused to blurb a sci-fi anthology, four times Ursula Le Guin showed us what she’s made of.
Fake news often reads or looks on video, like weaponized design fiction: Bruce Sterling
Award-winning science fiction author, cyberguru and technopundit, Bruce Sterling on Aadhaar, Fake News and cyberpunk.
Gravity’s Poet: Kip Thorne continues to help us explore the warped side of our universe
Communicating science via fiction and art, Nobel Prize winner Kip Thorne – a rock star in his own right – continues to make waves with his work, well after his ‘retirement’.