Dead Drop Society

When access to the internet and information becomes inaccessible to a vast majority of the population, dead drop networks spring up everywhere. But someone needs to maintain this free access to information, otherwise, the population remains mired in ignorance and cut out of the wealth cycle.

*first appeared on Wattpad

Mateus Fiel knew of the fierce territorialism between rival scanbob gangs in the area. He chose to ignore it, the score proving too lucrative to pass up. Venturing outside of his home exurb constituted a risk. Many did so to engage in leisure activities, and many more did so for business opportunities. Mateus did it for both reasons, so he considered the risk he took this time around as absolutely justified.

Continue reading “Dead Drop Society”

Flash Gordon Saves the Universe

When Flash Gordon was ‘again’ resurrected back (thanks, Princess Aura for the first time) into pop culture by Seth MacFarlane in his film, Ted (2013), I was filled with bemusement and joy. Ever since that day, walking home from school and coming across the giant movie billboard, Mike Hodges’s Flash Gordon has remained doggedly on my top ten list of favourite movies.

Why?

For three decades I felt alone being a fan of this movie. Mention it at film school and people would look at me as if something was fundamentally wrong with my brain. I remember critics panning it at the time, much to my dismay.  They were worried about cardboard characters and cardboard sets. Again, to my utter dismay.

Continue reading “Flash Gordon Saves the Universe”

Ice Hangar

This short story won 1st prize on TheNextBigWriter → Locked Door Contest


The ephemeris data seemed healthy enough. The storm, on the other hand, ripping across space from the comet’s horizon, appeared hazardous. Transiting through the comet’s coma the shuttle vibrated slightly. Carl Reagle knew the outgassing from the bright side lacked enough violence to cause any serious problems. The comet had just emerged from out of the frost line, so the sun’s rays were not harsh enough to feed a fully-fledged tail.

Continue reading “Ice Hangar”

Sell Outs

What if I were to tell you that a vast galactic civilisation exists, much older than ours and that this space-faring society was a great consumer of things such as art, food and resources…

…that we Earthlings are a newly discovered delicacy and that a vast market waits?

Is this a bad eventuality for mankind or a good one? If a taste for humans takes off, if this becomes more than just a fad, to feed such a vast market, how many billions of people would need to be exported to meet such demand? Billions more would be required to be bred to sustain supply. Humanity will eventually be farmed on other planets across galaxies.

A shortcut for humanity to spread across the stars, yes?

What if I were to tell you that the wretched and corrupt among us were to abandon resistance and flock to these new overlords, selling out their fellow humans in a mad scramble to secure their own individual survival, to carve out their own suzerainty over the helpless, clueless majority?

You would say this is ridiculous paranoia.

I’d say this process has already started.

Panology of Science Fiction: B

Biology

Biology is a fascinating and diverse field of science that explores the living world and its interactions. Science fiction is a genre that uses biological concepts, themes, or elements to create imaginative stories, worlds, and creatures. Some aspects of biology that are commonly found in science fiction include evolution, disease, genetics, physiology, parasitism, and symbiosis.

Continue reading “Panology of Science Fiction: B”

PKD

The early eighties were remarkable, to me anyhow. Not only did my fascination with science fiction grind into high gear, but there was an explosion of new and modern genre films that hit the scene at around that time, in particular, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner many having been influenced by film-makers from a bygone era, and more importantly, by novels penned by hardcore science fiction authors, such as Philip K Dick, just a decade earlier.

Continue reading “PKD”

Terminator Reterminated

There’s nothing more bewilderingly mind-numbing than watching a science-fiction movie franchise get butchered and killed then brought to life again, re-butchered and murdered once again. It’s sad in a way because I really love this time-bending, robot monster, chase story. The potential, even without branching away from the hunter and the hunted plot device, is endless.

Continue reading “Terminator Reterminated”

The Five Internets

The future is likely to witness the rise of multiple internet protocol platforms. The internet, which has already undergone substantial evolution since its inception, is expected to advance further, giving way to new iterations. These “new internets” may feature protocols that are developed independently and implemented unilaterally, reflecting a diversification in how digital communication systems operate.

Continue reading “The Five Internets”

Panology of Science Fiction: A

An A to Z of science fiction fields of study.

With Dan Simmon’s Hyperion Cantos and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series inching closer to television screens, a question resurfaces, a question I’ve been asking ever since first reading these two works of classic science fiction, both of whom have been fighting an eternal battle for the number one spot on my favourites list.

Continue reading “Panology of Science Fiction: A”