One may readily be prepared to die. Any punter can act bravely when faced with imminent death. Even the foolish among warriors can be willing to die for the most hopeless of causes. Necroface knew this. He also knew that such fearlessness could potentially undermine a good, well-fought victory. So he decided to ramp proceedings … Continue reading INTERCEPT THE WET SPARROW
Author: Bill Kandiliotis
Daybreak over the Valley
The first chapter of the novel, No Absolution What cat? In the darkness, you are flying. You feel motion, yet you are sitting at a table, opposite a dirty, unshaven guy pointing a burning cigarette at you. I know this person. When an angry Bruce Harvey says, “Where’s my cat, fucker?” you conclude it’s a … Continue reading Daybreak over the Valley
Chthonic Punk
Aris Forcer sensed it in every cell in his human body. Another dimension. Another universe. Ever since their ordeal with the tesseract, having survived the gatekeeper, nothing had been the same. Not physics. Not biology. Not logic. Everything was upside down, inside out. But he felt alive, and as much as things were different, many aspects of … Continue reading Chthonic Punk
Panology of Science Fiction: E
Engineering A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jamFrederik Pohl Photo by ThisIsEngineering on Pexels.com It was stories about the ‘mad scientist’ that kicked off genre literature, ever since Daedalus fabricated wings from feathers and wax for himself and his son Icarus. Invention is the heart of … Continue reading Panology of Science Fiction: E
A Year of Independence
Building a platform is difficult. It takes time, dedication, learning new skill sets and much sacrifice. To pay this price, be successful, and then have some corporate goons shut you down, is a serious hazard in this strange new world. The Axis of Evil Individual freedom has a new enemy, and it isn't the government. … Continue reading A Year of Independence
The Carpenter
All artists are influenced by the previous generation of artists. Westerns were part of John Carpenter's cinematic diet growing up. John Ford, and Howard Hawks, these filmmakers were shaping cinema at the time, stamping out a movie language that would become the standard for anyone wishing the tell a story using cinema. A fan of … Continue reading The Carpenter
The Forever Slave
“A slave?” asked Aris. “Yes, a slave,” answered Owis, bemused why the Earthman’s facial features had suddenly shrivelled up. “Why in Gaia’s name did you do that?” asked the renegade cop from the human-infested Milky Way. Owis thought it obvious, but explained, “This is the slave capital of the Dark Galaxy.” “And?” “The Kocubani’s last words,” … Continue reading The Forever Slave
Star Wars: A Lost Hope
Now that this sad shit-show of a saga is over, the only thing we have left, is the thought, 'What if they did a decent sequel trilogy with a coherent story without the political rape that Disney inflicted upon this series?' How hard was it to produce something that remotely resembles a Star Wars story? … Continue reading Star Wars: A Lost Hope
Relic Hunters
At the edge of the galactic core, a supercluster of fourteen thousand stars, caught in an asymmetric elliptical orbit around a supermassive black hole, is home to hundreds of extinct civilisations. The pirates of the inner arm embark on an odyssey to raid as many artefacts as they can before the EXO Consortium locks down the entire Sector. What Silv and the crew of the Vitalis Express uncover on a far and remote ice planet, is a grave... mistake.
Brunner 2010
Stand on Zanzibar is a sci-fi novel by John Brunner known for its predictions about the future, despite being written several decades ago.