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Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny – #VintageSciFiMonth

By John Folk-Williams

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny

I had intended to write about a new science fiction novel this week, but that turned out to be a disappointment. So I’m eagerly diving into Nine Princes in Amber, the first book in Roger Zelazny‘s epic 10 volume fantasy series, The Chronicles of Amber. This rounds out my contribution to the great not-a-challenge of […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: battle strategy, epic fantasy, family, imagination, memory, multiple worlds, power, Roger Zelazny, time travel

Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny – #VintageSciFiMonth

By John Folk-Williams

Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny

Every January is Vintage Science Fiction Month, the not-a-challenge created by Andrea at the little red reviewer and Retro Rockets podcast as well as Red Star Reviews. It’s definitely one of my favorite scifi celebrations. The original idea was to comment on science fiction written before your birth year – but I believe “vintage” came […]

Filed Under: Space Opera, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: alien life forms, gods, multiple worlds, religion, revenge, Roger Zelazny, telepathy

Ringworld by Larry Niven – #VintageSciFiMonth

By John Folk-Williams

Ringworld by Larry Niven

If you’re new, as I am, to Larry Niven’s Known Space world, you’ll find an astonishing amount of information online about this hugely influential series of novels and short stories. Ringworld (1970) was Niven’s first novel in the sequence. There are articles about all the characters, alien species, technologies and events of Known Space as […]

Filed Under: Space Opera, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: agency, alien life forms, alien technology, city, fallen world, Known Space, Larry Niven, religion, spaceships

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick – #VintageSciFiMonth

By John Folk-Williams

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick asks a basic question that is all the more pressing today. What’s the difference between a human being and an android? Dick goes beyond the current debate about the potential replacement of humans by robotic software to produce creative works we feel should only […]

Filed Under: Post-Apocalytic, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: androids, human emotion, identity, Philip K. Dick, religion, ruined earth

Excession by Iain M. Banks – A Culture Novel

By John Folk-Williams

Excession by Iain M. Banks

Well, it’s a new year – and good wishes all around! After a mentally tired December when I wrote little, I relaxed while getting to know the work of Roger Zelazny – and re-reading Iain M. Banks’ Excession, the fifth of his Culture books. Some people suggest starting with other novels set in this universe […]

Filed Under: Space Opera Tagged With: alien life forms, artificial intelligence, gender, Iain M. Banks, identity, spaceships, The Culture

Best SFF TV Scenes of 2022

By John Folk-Williams

This blog is obviously devoted to reviewing books, for the most part, but after reading imyril’s post on Severance, I starting thinking of the great scenes of SFF TV that I watched this past year. I can’t pretend to any great knowledge of SFF TV shows, but this year forced me to pay attention because […]

Filed Under: Scifi TV/Movies Tagged With: Andor, His Dark Materials, House of the Dragon, Night Sky, Philip Pullman, Severance, The Peripheral, William Gibson

9 Favorite Fantasy Fiction Books I Read in 2022

By John Folk-Williams

Babel An Arcane History

Though I’ve usually thought of myself as a science fiction reader primarily, this year’s favorite fantasy fiction has shown me how diverse and vital this vast category can be. None of the nine books in this list resorts to the tired conventions of Eurocentric medieval-style settings and hero questing. Each one takes a completely original […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Favorite SFF Tagged With: Emery Robin, Jadie Jang, Leslye Penelope, Ling Ma, Liz Williams, Nicola Griffith, R.F. Kuang, Simon Jimenez, Tasha Suri

9 Favorite Science Fiction Novels of 2022

By John Folk-Williams

Eversion by Alastair Reynolds

End-of-year time seems to slow down a bit from rest-of-the-year time, and that enforced (relative) rest gives me a break to look back for my favorite science fiction novels of 2022. I have to say that the current period, imho, eclipses past golden ages of SFF and redefines standards in a fundamental way. There is […]

Filed Under: Favorite SFF Tagged With: Adrian Tchaikovsky, Aimee Pokwatka, Alastair Reynolds, Gigi Ganguly, Lavie Tidhar, Linda Nagata, Maurice Broaddus, Olga Ravn, Tochi Onyebuchi

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Something is struggling to be born in this damaged and inspiring world, and I believe science fiction and its speculative cousins are helping us figure out what it is. It’s pushing the imaginations of fiction writers to bend and twist familiar forms to try to capture the forces that are hurling us into a barely conceivable future. This blog is my small way of exploring the half-perceived … Read More about About

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  • Nine Princes in Amber by Roger ZelaznyNine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny – #VintageSciFiMonth
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About the Author

A late-comer to the worlds of science fiction, John Folk-Williams circled around it, first by blogging (primarily through Storied Mind) about inner struggles and the mind’s way of distorting reality. Then he turned directly to SFF as an amazing medium for re-envisioning the mind and the worlds it creates. He started this blog as a way to experiment with writing science fiction and to learn from its many masterful practitioners.

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