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Translation State by Ann Leckie

By John Folk-Williams

Translation State by Ann Leckie

Ann Leckie has written a strange and compelling story in Translation State that is set in a part of her Imperial Radch universe different from what we know from the Ancillary novels. For all its trappings of space opera and bizarre species, it’s very much a captivating story about family, loneliness, friendship, and the need […]

Filed Under: SciFi Mystery-Thriller, Space Opera Tagged With: alien life forms, Ann Leckie, family, friendship, gender, human, politics, self-worth

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

Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy: A New Species Emerges

By John Folk-Williams

Dawn by Octavia E. Butler Xenogenesis Trilogy

Prepare for a deep dive into the most intimate details of human-alien contact in Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy. Step by step she takes you through the initial encounters between a human, Lilith Iyapo, and her Oankali captors (Dawn), the coming of age of a construct resulting from this union (Adulthood Rites) and the reconciliation […]

Filed Under: Great Series Read Project, Reviews, Vintage Science Fiction Tagged With: alien life forms, apocalypse, colonialism, gender, human emotion, Octavia E. Butler, sexuality, slavery, species, xenogenesis trilogy

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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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