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Everywhere he found boiling resentment, a fierce willingness to fight against the tyranny, but it was undirected, uncoordinated, and, in any modern sense, unarmed. Sporadic rebellion was as futile as the scurrying of ants whose hill has been violated. PanAsians could be killed, yes, and there were men willing to shoot on sight, even in […]

The Science Fiction myth of The Singularity (as best described by Vernor Vinge) has its non-mathematical intellectual origins in the older, pre-AI concept of Pierre Tielhard de Chardin known as The Omega Point. The Omega Point concept portrays a universe that is simultaneously Progressive and doomed because of it: that mankind (and all matter, really) […]

Euhemerus was a 4th century B.C. Greek (by way of Sicily) thinker and mythographer who is best known for his idea that Greek myths had their origins in non-supernatural historic events. He was an atheist and wrote speculative romances (yes, fiction) that showed how – for example – Zeus was originally a powerful king of […]

In an interview earlier this year, Robert Silverberg provided a number of new details regarding the old selection process he employed circa 1969 when compiling an anthology of “The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time Chosen by the Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America.” The title of the anthology is The Science […]

Part One (of Two) of The Electric Hunt The Electric Hunt (Part II) What was she looking for? I had no idea, but the rendering of deer was clearly a fact-finding routine: the deer were hung, bellies slit, entrails rifled through, then abandoned. I came upon two more slaughter points. The only communicator that worked […]

Sometimes, distinguishing  Pink Science Fiction from Blue can be difficult, so I thought a simple comparison of two very similarly themed science fiction tales might help. There is some required reading involved, but it will only take you a few minutes: The first is Rachel Swirsky’s Hugo-nominated short story “If You Were A Dinosaur, My […]

H.P. Lovecraft was fatherless, and his mother fell to madness. C.S. Lewis lost his mother before he turned 10. Ray Bradbury’s formative years were in a stable community and a large supportive family. Orson Scott Card–a direct descendant of Brigham Young–comes from a traditional Latter Day Saints background, complete with five siblings. Gene Wolfe is […]

“The old saw says that the first time is an accident, the second time a coincidence, and the third time enemy action. As a matter of policy, I’m suspicious of accidents, and I don’t believe in coincidences.”– Walter Slovotsky Anachronism in Fantasy is a very different creature than anachronism in Science Fiction. In Sci-Fi, anachronisms […]