Author: Bill Kandiliotis

Panology of Science Fiction: C

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Books, Panology, Review, Science

Cliodynamics (psychohistory)

Cliodynamics is a field of research that tries to apply scientific methods and mathematical models to the study of history and its patterns. It aims to explain and predict historical phenomena such as the rise and fall of empires, the cycles of war and peace, the dynamics of social movements, and the effects of cultural evolution. Cliodynamics is based on the idea that history is not random or chaotic, but follows certain laws and regularities that can be discovered and tested with data.

Continue reading “Panology of Science Fiction: C” →

Halloween: The Two Evils

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Film, Review

The Halloween remake, or second remake, is, by all means, a very good return to the franchise. It does its job of capturing the feel, atmosphere and style of John Carpenter’s original. It doesn’t miss a beat, the dread and the scares are genuine, and the Shape is as menacing as ever. One decision the producers went for in this reboot, however, is the elimination of the events of Halloween 2, and pretty much everything that came later.

Michael Myers ceased being this paranormal, un-killable ‘Shape’.

Why?

A fascinating aspect of horror, in particular the slasher genre that the Halloween series ventured into, is which of the following possess the most frightening kind of horror; psychological evil or supernatural evil?

Continue reading “Halloween: The Two Evils” →
The Hate Triangle

The Hate Triangle

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Chapter, Novel

An excerpt from the book “The Blood Ring.”

Her russet eyes stood out, through dark mascara, heavy makeup and curly hair. There were several things I disliked about the girl; her open, shameless flirtation with Sophie being one. The dress she wore, an embroidered, simple number, suggested she’d been living in a bus shelter, a vagrant of sorts. She smelled like cheap homebrew perfume. Yet, my gal, my lover of nine years, seemed infatuated with her.

Continue reading “The Hate Triangle” →

Permian Spring

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Short Story

First published on Wattpad, and part of the Ytterbium Fires collection of short stories

Apparently, they aren’t even reptiles.

With skin covered in scutes, boasting a vertebral sail and powerful jaws, this thing looks like a fat, bear-sized lizard, but Russell Hansard seems to think the wildlife around here predates the dinosaurs by fifty million years. Out of the two thousand surviving passengers on board the Cruise Ship Eudora, Mr Hansard is the only one who claims to be schooled in palaeobiology.

Too bad he isn’t here to see this monster. Somehow it managed to get into the ship and feast on an elderly couple lodging in one of the balcony cabins.

“It’s the biggest one yet,” I gasp, having abandoned living in fear; embracing this impossible, marvellous world.

Continue reading “Permian Spring” →

Ideography – 8 Free Tools for Writers

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Writing

If you’re like me, you probably have hundreds of story ideas floating around inside your head. The good ones, as Stephan King once said, are the ones that you can’t shake from your memory. I found this to be true, but having access to a pool of ideas, concepts and research is still a valuable tool for any author looking to create content using free tools for writers.

Continue reading “Ideography – 8 Free Tools for Writers” →

The Fright Machine

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Short Story

Hacking robots can be lots of fun. Celebrating April Ghouls Day at horrorscribes.com with this flash fiction entry.

Sawtooth froze.

His clown quartet went from performing a slo-mo at the crossing lights to lunatic postures, ridiculing the angry driver. The black Audi inched closer, but when Mr Axe showed off his plastic hatchet, the motorist reversed and made a wide turn to avoid the colourful foursome.

Continue reading “The Fright Machine” →

The Robocaust

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Books, Review, Technology

I bought a novel, Robopocalypse (2011) by Daniel H. Wilson, at an airport bookstore for a fast, time-killing read and while I wasn’t totally disappointed with it, it left me once again tackling the question about this ‘robocalypse’ that everyone is fearful about.

As for the book itself…

Continue reading “The Robocaust” →
Year of the Dog

Year of the Dog

Posted on by Bill Kandiliotis in Chapter, Novel, Topix

An excerpt from the book “The Blood Ring.”

“I’m gonna feed you to the dogs,” said Fred Greenway brandishing a cleaver. He brought it down and cut into the young punk’s thigh.

Doctor Gus flinched even though he’d seen this a hundred times. Having taken a Lava pill, his brain perceived the high-def images on the screen as real. The narco-psychotic was formulated to assist with augmented reality training. Mindject users take the drug to help them form neurological pathways inside their heads so they can perceive artificial imagery or sound. Ingested without a mindjector, Lava forced visceral emotions to merge with one’s logic. The end result is exhilarating for some users, and terrifying for others.

Continue reading “Year of the Dog” →