58 posts tagged with sf.
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FanFare Book Club?
I just went through the book posts for the last three months. There's lots of books I'm considering reading, and one book I read a while ago but don't remember well enough to do deep insightful commentary. In order to get more synchronicity on this, does anyone want to start a book club? Or even a couple in different genres? I would love a romance, science fiction, fantasy and/or nonfiction book club.
Book: The Vanished Birds
Nia Imani is a woman out of place and outside of time. Decades of travel through the stars are condensed into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. Her friends and lovers have aged past her; all she has left is work. Alone and adrift, she lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky.
Book: Agency
William Gibson's "sequel and prequel" to 2014's The Peripheral.
See: (Full Season) Season 1, Ep 0
One of Apple's premiere shows for their new streaming service, See takes place in a post-apocalyptic world several centuries after viral warfare has devastated mankind, leaving the few survivors and their descendants completely blind. [more inside]
Book: The Dazzle of Day
Leaving a dilapidated Earth behind, Quakers across the globe pool funds and resources as they select colonists to send to a newly discovered planet to start life anew in this “miraculous fusion of…science fiction with unsparing realism and keen psychology” (Ursula K. Le Guin).
Another Life: Through the Valley of Shadows Season 1, Ep 2
As tensions rise aboard the ship, the crew gets ready for an expedition to explore the planet; on Earth, Erik tries to decipher a clue from the artifact.
Another Life: Across the Universe Season 1, Ep 1
After saying goodbye to her family on Earth, Niko wakes in space to find the Salvare off course and divided loyalties among her young crew. (Netflix Original) [more inside]
The Expanse: Immolation Show Only Season 3, Ep 6
The protomolecule replicates, infiltrates and disseminates. [more inside]
The Expanse: Reload Show Only Season 3, Ep 4
Derelicts are salvaged and words twisted. [more inside]
The Expanse: Fight or Flight Show Only Season 3, Ep 1
The Rocinante is repaired, but the same cannot be said of its crew. [more inside]
Altered Carbon: Out of the Past Season 1, Ep 1
Waking up in a new body 250 years after his death, Takeshi Kovacs discovers he's been resurrected to help a titan of industry solve his own murder.
Black Mirror: Black Museum Season 4, Ep 6
On a dusty stretch of highway, a traveler stumbles across a museum that boasts rare criminal artifacts -- and a disturbing main attraction.
Black Mirror: Metalhead Season 4, Ep 5
At an abandoned warehouse, scavengers searching for supplies encounter a ruthless foe and flee for their lives through a bleak wasteland.
Black Mirror: Hang the DJ Season 4, Ep 4
Paired up by a dating program that puts an expiration date on all relationships, Frank and Amy soon begin to question the system's logic.
Black Mirror: Crocodile Season 4, Ep 3
Architect Mia scrambles to keep a dark secret under wraps, while insurance investigator Shazia harvests people's memories of a nearby accident scene.
Black Mirror: Arkangel Season 4, Ep 2
Worried about her daughter's safety, single mom Marie signs up for a cutting-edge device that monitors the girl's whereabouts -- and much more
Black Mirror: USS Callister Season 4, Ep 1
Capt. Robert Daly presides over his crew with wisdom and courage. But a new recruit will soon discover nothing on this spaceship is what it seems.
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time Season 10, Ep 13
Two Doctors stranded in a forbidding snowscape, refusing to face regeneration. [more inside]
Movie: Children of Men
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.
Stranger Things: Chapter Nine: The Gate Season 2, Ep 9
Eleven makes plans to finish what she started. (Season finale) [more inside]
Stranger Things: Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer Season 2, Ep 8
An unlikely hero steps forward when a deadly development puts the Hawkins Lab on lockdown, trapping Will and several others inside. [more inside]
Stranger Things: Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister Season 2, Ep 7
Psychic visions draw Eleven to a band of violent outcasts and an angry girl with a shadowy past. [more inside]
Stranger Things: Chapter Six: The Spy Season 2, Ep 6
Will's connection to a shadowy evil grows stronger, but no one's quite sure how to stop it. Elsewhere, Dustin and Steve forge an unlikely bond. [more inside]
Stranger Things: Chapter Five: Dig Dug Season 2, Ep 5
Nancy and Jonathan swap conspiracy theories with a new ally as Eleven searches for someone from her past. "Bob the Brain" tackles a difficult problem.
Stranger Things: Chapter Four: Will the Wise Season 2, Ep 4
An ailing Will opens up to Joyce -- with disturbing results. While Hopper digs for the truth, Eleven unearths a surprising discovery.
Stranger Things: Chapter Three: The Pollywog Season 2, Ep 3
Dustin adopts a strange new pet, and Eleven grows increasingly impatient. A well-meaning Bob urges Will to stand up to his fears.
Stranger Things: Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak Season 2, Ep 2
After Will sees something terrible on trick-or-treat night, Mike wonders whether Eleven's still out there. Nancy wrestles with the truth about Barb.
Stranger Things: Chapter One: MADMAX Season 2, Ep 1
As the town preps for Halloween, a high-scoring rival shakes things up in the arcade, and a skeptical Hopper inspects a field of rotting pumpkins.
Dark Matter: It Doesn't Have to Be Like This Season 3, Ep 2
The crew is fulfilling their promise to take the fight to Ryo [more inside]
Book: All the Birds in the Sky
Hugo and Nebula Award short-listed novel about the end of the world―and the beginning of our future. A sort of coming of age novel, philosophical exploration of nature and technology, action/adventure/romance with some bittersweet humor on top. [more inside]
Dark Matter: We Were Family Season 2, Ep 4
Three reconnects with his former crew; the Android finds herself in unique company.
Blakes 7: Seek – Locate – Destroy Season 1, Ep 6
In which our intrepid seven heroes encounter the ruthless Queen of All Space, and her peeved henchman with a gun arm, Travis. Travis hates Blake, Servalan wants power, Avon wants money, Vila wants to steal something, and Blake just wants to be left alone long enough to steal to bring down the tyrannous Federation … except he leaves something important behind. [more inside]
Blakes 7: The Web Season 1, Ep 5
Aka The One With The Mud Men. The crew get new outfits, including Gan who chooses a lovely macrame vest. But one of the crew is a traitor! Who are The Lost? What's the deal with the mutant baby in a jar? And what is the secret of The Space Web that has ensnared the Liberator? And, can Blake make the ultimate decision? [more inside]
Blakes 7: Time Squad Season 1, Ep 4
The Liberator crew intersects a strange ship, and finds a group of killers from the past on board who will stop at nothing to kill Blake's Six and take over the ship. But why? And can Gan and Jenna stop them? What is Gan's dark secret?
Meanwhile, in the other plot, Blake decides to become a terrorist with a fiendish plot to blow up a Federation communications outpost, but does he have the skills to avoid flesh-eating plants, the Federation's crack security forces, a super-high tech killbot? And can he, Avon and Villa trust a silent, mysterious stranger?
Blakes 7: Cygnus Alpha Season 1, Ep 3
Blake, Jenna, and Avon commandeer the alien ship, which is surprisingly easy to fly, and decide to jet off to the fearsome Cygnus Alpha, the prison planet they have just escaped being sent from to find a crew for the newly-named Liberator, but what is the fearsome mystery of Cygnus Alpha, who will survive, and what is BRIAN BLESSED shouting about? [more inside]
Blakes 7: Star Fall Season 1, Ep 2
Blake, Jenna and Vila (and some other potential members of the eponymous Seven, who may or may not make it to the end of the episode) take an all expenses paid cruise to the mysterious planet, Cygnus Alpha... and you won't believe what happens next... [more inside]
Blakes 7: The Way Back Season 1, Ep 1
Roj Blake, brainwashed by the Federation, learns of his true identity - a major resistance leader against what appears to be a corrupt society. Unbelieving at first, he is persuaded to attend a rebel's meeting illegally outside the dome... and then things get interesting. [more inside]
Movie: The Man Who Fell to Earth
Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to get the billions of dollars he needs to build a return ... [more inside]
Other Space: Finale Season 1, Ep 8
The crew makes contact with an alien at long last, but this historic moment is cut short when they realize they have a chance to make it home through an interplanetary ripple. [more inside]
Other Space: First Contact Season 1, Ep 7
An alien appears in Stewart’s dreams, but only seems to communicate if Stewart’s dreams are erotic in nature. [more inside]
Other Space: Powerless Season 1, Ep 6
When the ship is struck by lightning, the crew must conserve power to avoid being destroyed. [more inside]
Other Space: Trouble's Brewing Season 1, Ep 5
Michael and Tina are sent down to the planet for a six-hour fuel retrieval mission—upon arrival, they realize that thanks to a planetary quirk, they’ll be stuck there for the equivalent of eight months. They progress from apathy to romance to insanity in a single afternoon. [more inside]
Other Space: Ted Talks Season 1, Ep 4
Tina gets a message from her boyfriend on Earth, who dumps her. She goes into hysterics, which is a problem, because she is the only crew member qualified to perform an essential fuel extraction on a nearby planet. [more inside]
Other Space: The Death of A.R.T. Season 1, Ep 3
A.R.T. accidentally damages the ship while showing off his magnetic capabilities. When an angry Karen sends him outside to fix the damage, A.R.T. gets stuck, forcing Karen and Michael to come rescue him. While squabbling with Michael, Karen accidentally kicks A.R.T. into space. Meanwhile, Stewart, Tina, and Kent work on a message to send out into the new universe. [more inside]
Book: Foundation and Empire: "The Mule"
In the imaginary science of 'Pataphysics there's the concept of the "clinamen", or "swerve". As method in the arts, it can be roughly paraphrased as: "To create art you must first create a system. Once you have the system, you must introduce an anomaly which brings the system into a state of chaos. Then you have art." To put it bluntly, until writing "The Mule", Asimov's Foundation series was a perfect system, described by the imaginary science of psychohistory. Things were moving predictably to a predicted end. But then there came a swerve, in the form of "The Mule", a warlord not predicted by Hari Seldon. And in the titular character, Asimov created one of the most interesting anti-heroes of early science fiction. [more inside]
Other Space: Getting to Know You Season 1, Ep 2
In an attempt to raise the morale of his frightened and fudge-riddled crew, Stewart initiates a bonding session that devolves into ice-breaker games. When Karen discovers that one of the crew members is actually an alien who’s implanted memories in their heads, they play a high-stakes game of Mafia to weed out the intruder. [more inside]
Other Space: Into the Great Beyond... Beyond Season 1, Ep 1
Young Stewart Lipinski is made captain of an exploratory space mission into space... his older sister Karen is made his second in command, and is none too happy about it. When their ship and crew stumble into a different universe with no way home, Stewart and Karen have to figure out their differences in order to survive. [more inside]
Book: Foundation and Empire: "The General"
"The General" is the last of the classic Foundation stories. In it Asimov tackles the central dynamic head on, setting the "living will" of a single human being against the "dead hand" of psychohistory. It should be no surprise, and indeed is no surprise to modern readers, that the long arc of history doesn't bend around brilliant individuals. There are other characters than the titular general, but Bel Riose is the only one that matters. He knows exactly what he's up against, and backs himself to win. He's undoubtedly the purest example of a tragic hero in the series. [more inside]
Book: Foundation: "The Traders"
The next jump forward in the Foundation storyline takes us well into the second century of the 1000 year plan (which, incidentally, was the original name of the the first book). A merchant from the Foundation on a trading mission to a distant planet runs afoul of local laws and customs. Another trader, Linmar Ponyets, is sent to save him. [more inside]
Book: Foundation: "The Mayors"
Compared to the previous story, there's a lot more going on in "The Mayors". While "The Encyclopedists" is a bit bare bones, this story is painted on a much bigger canvas. Political intrigue, deluded mobs and huge warships flying through space all feature. All of this is familiar from space opera, both modern and contemporary to the Foundation series. But in this story, it isn't the most destructive weapon that wins the day, but the soft power of religious authority. [more inside]
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