The conclusion (for now) of the Wyrd West Chronicles releases tomorrow! The Widow’s Gambit is a full-length novella! The Widow Brinks, leaving a trail of death behind her, has fled to the city of Saskatoon to catch a train. The Gunslingers and their posse are hot on her trail. But she has acquired some of […]
Read More Conclusion of the Wyrd West Chronicles! (So Far)By Abbey White One of science fiction’s most famous food tropes, spice often exists as something outside its everyday culinary use. Whether a deadly, interstellar travel enhancer in Frank Herbert’s Dune, a magical form of seduction in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices, a drug in George Lucas’s Star Wars or currency in EA Games sci-fi simulation Spore, across mediums […]
Read More Why Spice Is a Staple of Science Fiction(Image features Cordelia Vorkosigan, nee Naismith, from the Vorkosigan Saga; an amazing example of a kick-ass heroine!) I was reading an SFR with a “kick-ass” heroine recently. The book is universally lauded. But something happened early on that ensured I wouldn’t go on to finish it, much less read the rest in the series. The heroine was […]
Read More How NOT to Write Kick-Ass HeroinesBy Mara Johnson-Groh The space high above Earth may seem empty, but it’s a carnival packed with magnetic field lines and high-energy particles. This region is known as the magnetosphere and, every day, charged particles put on a show as they dart and dive through it. Like tiny tightrope walkers, the high-energy electrons follow the […]
Read More NASA Studies the MagnetosphereRoads of the future could be lit by glowing trees instead of streetlamps, thanks to a breakthrough in creating bioluminescent plants. Experts injected specialized nanoparticles into the leaves of a watercress plant, which caused it to give off a dim light for nearly four hours. This could solve lots of problems. The chemical involved, which […]
Read More Living Plant LightsBy Nancy Jane Moore At a recent meeting of my writers’ group, we discussed fight scenes while critiquing an early draft of my novel in progress. The discussion went something like this: “Women fight differently from men,” one of the guys said in pointing out that the sword fight scenes didn’t vary much. I didn’t […]
Read More Fighting and GenderOne of my favourite authors, and personal heroines, died on Monday. I am grieving, as I’m sure many of her fans are, and I’d like to send out my deepest condolences to her friends and family. The world has lost a great light. But what is remembered, lives, so here’s a tribute I put together […]
Read More Farewell, Ursula K. Le GuinMan Plus by Frederik Pohl My rating: 3 of 5 stars Read for the 12 Awards in 12 Months Challenge and the SF Masterworks Reading Challenge and Science Fiction Masterworks Reading Club here on Goodreads. This novel won the 1976 Nebula Award. Some books stand up to the vicissitudes of time better than others. I’m […]
Read More Book Review: Man Plus by Frederik PohlBy David Plotz Being an astronaut is not all zero-gravity gymnastics and big blue marble flyovers. There’s also all the time spent repairing the urine collector and hunting for lost screws. Scott Kelly’s delightful new memoir, Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, chronicles the mundane, frustrating, and surprisingly funny reality of life on the […]
Read More Scott Kelly: An Astronaut’s Exit Interview
