In Liz Williams’ wonderful fantasy, Blackthorn Winter, sequel to Comet Weather, a lot can happen in the blink of an eye. A winter landscape can turn to summer, an ancient ruin can become a mansion full of dinner party guests, an empty auditorium a maze with a charging minotaur. For the four Fallow sisters, as […]
H.G. Wells’ Things to Come – the 1936 Film
H. G. Wells wrote the screen adaptation of his future history, The Shape of Things to Come, to give a dramatic setting to his sweeping vision of a world first devastated by war then resurrected by a corps of brilliant engineers. The result was Things to Come, a 1936 film produced by Alexander Korda and […]
The Wall by Gautam Bhatia, Book One of The Chronicles of Sumer
Gautam Bhatia’s The Wall is an intricate and compelling cross between fantasy and fable that strikes at something deep within human nature, a yearning to break through the barriers that hem us in. In the world of The Wall, the barrier is a literal one, vast, black, blocking out every sign of a world beyond. […]
Northwest Smith Stories by C. L. Moore
Getting to the end of Vintage SciFi Month, I’m back to the 1930s again with the amazing Northwest Smith Stories by C. L. Moore. Lurid and pulpy though they are, well matching the Weird Tales cover art of Margaret Brundage, each story is a tour de force of riveting intensity. But be prepared. Lurid they […]
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey – Vintage Science Fiction Month
Every now and then a book surprises me, especially when searching through the often dated fiction for Vintage SciFi Month. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight, first in a mighty line of 23 novels set in the Pern universe, is one of those. It’s a surprise because I’m not a big fan of fantasy, yet I keep finding […]
The Shape of Things to Come by H.G. Wells
On with Vintage Science Fiction Month! H.G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1933) purports to be the “dreamed” history of the next hundred and fifty years of human experience. Be warned: it’s serious future fictional history without a character or action-driven plot, though there are a few strong personalities who take the spotlight […]
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
Continuing on my list for Vintage Science Fiction Month, I read Theodore Sturgeon’s 1953 novel, More Than Human. This was my introduction to Sturgeon’s work, and I’m in awe of his accomplishment. From the beginning, it’s clear you’re in the hands of a master. Forget genre, this is just great fiction writing. More Than Human […]
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin – Vintage Science Fiction Month
I’m starting off my Vintage Science Fiction Month with Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven (1971). It is one of the most thrilling books I’ve read but also one of the most philosophical and poetic. It achieves an amazing balance in the confrontation between two opposing characters: George Orr, whose “effective” dreams change […]
