Read This: Emergence

I first read Emergence, by David R. Palmer, in the magazine Analog back in 1981. I was thrilled with it then. The protagonist, Candy Smith-Foster, all of eleven years old, was a self-described plucky female adventurer taking on a depopulated post-apocalypse world with the help of her hyacinthine macaw companion. How could I not be thrilled?

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Read This: Dune

It is hard to believe it has been fifty years since Frank Herbert’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning Dune was published in August, 1965. The novel, and its titular planet, are still as vast and imposing as when they were new. Dune is space opera at its finest, a grand sweep of empire and conquest.

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Read This: Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?

If your interest in all things zombie extends beyond “It’s a virus!” or “It’s a fungus!”, to what could actually cause typical zombie behaviors, Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? A Neuroscientific View of the Zombie Brain by Timothy Verstynen and Bradley Voytek might be just the book for you.

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Meet the Author: L. Sprague de Camp

I would like to offer a fresh introduction to L. Sprague de Camp–one of the old guard in the art of speculative fiction. He is, among other things, the author of The Compleat Enchanter, rejuvinator of Conan the Barbarian, biographer of Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, and master of sword and sorcery.

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Fantastic Four: Missed Again

I didn’t want to trash Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, there are precious few aspects of it to praise: The cast was good. Some of the effects were pretty cool, especially the interdimensional travel. Doom was imposing with his fused metal skin and tattered cloak. The young Reed and Ben were cute. However, the whole thing ultimately fell flat.

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Ex Machina Thinks Before It Speaks

Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland, is a beautiful, quiet, well-told little movie. It has complex characters, low-key effects and minimal flash, and gives its audience space to contemplate the hazards of artificial intelligence. In its understated way, Ex Machina gets under one’s skin.

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Read This: A Canticle for Leibowitz

Walter M. Miller, Jr’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a novel heavy with philosophical observations about faith, hope, and human frailty in the long wake of a nuclear apocalypse. The following is what I took away with me.

In broad outline, A Canticle for Leibowitz tracks the progress of humanity over the eighteen centuries following a worldwide nuclear apocalypse.

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Ant Man: A Little Bit of Fun

It’s mid-way through the summer, and we need a refresher, little light super hero entertainment. And now we have Ant Man! It’s hard to be epic when your hero is the size of an ant. But it’s easy to be pretty harmless fun.

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Lots of Borribles

Read This: The Borribles

Michael de Larrabeiti’s novel follows eight Borribles, who are selected to go on a grand campaign to rid London of the scourge of the Rumbles. Rumbles hate the Borribles as much as the Borribles hate them.

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