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The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen My rating: 2 of 5 stars The book seems to be about science fiction. It is not. It just uses sci-fi as a tool for the plot. The small section that does deal with sci-fi is time travel is where "protectors" try to keep other time travelers from altering our present. The protectors have embedded computers and network systems in their skulls. It allows them to hack the best of any secured network including the government. Since they are from the future it is logical that they have a good idea of how antique computer systems work. Their DNA is vastly different and they use that difference to locate "hags" (people who want to change the past). That about it on the future technology side. The rest of the story is about Washington politics, a bit of romance, mystery, and private intelligence contractor. The Twist of the story is--Is the guy from the future is from the future or an over-intelligent nut case?-- Remember the book and movie

Tesla Prime and the Regulus Event by Douglas Equils My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is "hard science". As always I am not going to get into the plot of the story in detail, but I am going to mention the technology behind it. The storyline or plot is a simple one, and it's very common. "A group of seven astronauts embark on a mission to explore the distant and alien world of Proteus. Twenty-seven years later, the crew of Tesla Prime returns to find that the Earth has vanished" (Goodreads). There is the classic interstellar space travel which uses Alcubierre Drive technology; the concept of time dilation and of course the stasis chamber. All females friendly aliens that are not really friendly. The use of megastructures powered by black holes with the ability to transport entire planets-physically-. All science, not an ounce of magic or mysticism. The book was written by astronomy professor Douglas Equils. The biology of the aliens is interesting because they

Rare Earth by Kurt Allan My rating: 3 of 5 stars A different type of science fiction book about mining the asteroid belt. Very realistic with today's physics. It is a good detective story that exposes today's politics and corporate read, applied to mining in the solar system. View all my reviews

1984 by George Orwell My rating: 3 of 5 stars This past week I finished reading the book 1984 by George Orwell. The first publication of the novel was in 1949 The summary of the book can be found on Wikipedia if you're interested; as with my other reviews, I am just going to call attention to the point that I find interesting and relevant to science fiction. I read this book when I was younger and I believe I saw the movie, believe it or not in the 1980s. I saw other movies that were similar, Clockwork Orange, Farenheight 451 and Brazil. (yes I do have a dark sense of humor) 1984 should not be compared to a more modern novel from Japan titled 1Q84 pr 1q84. The book from Japan was supposed to be written in the same dystopian environment as in the British book. But the plot and subject matter is totally different. Technology is different. I really couldn't see any plot tie-in or many similarities between both books with the exception of mind control in regards to religion and

Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present by Cory Doctorow My rating: 2 of 5 stars I have read from this Author before. I really don't have any complaints. Some of the stories are good in this book and some of them to be honest, I did not waste my time. I am very particular when it comes to hardcore science fiction. Of the stories in this book I liked: " When sysadmins Ruled the Earth"; " I, Robot". I've already have written about the first one. The second one has the same title as one of Isaac Asimov's novels or short stories. In the book, he gives an explanation of why he picked this title and he follows Asimov three laws of robotics. It is entertaining and it has a twist. But I'm not going to spoil it for you, I will talk about the technology. Part of the story has to do with a subject that I have always been interested in. This is because of my background as a JW; I will not discuss theology here, but it is sufficient to say that we have a be

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric S. Nylund My rating: 3 of 5 stars The common topic is about augmented soldiers. These like other Halo books deal with cyborg/genetically enhanced soldiers. I think we are at version 3 of these cyborgs. One irony I did notice was the first batch of these approved soldiers were... (drum roll please)... 300. They need drugs to keep them under control. It kind of reminded me of the Jem'Haddar in the Trek universe. The Jem'Haddar were genetically engineered creature who lifespan was just 5 years and was made to be suicidal soldiers. Sort like a poorly trained pitbull with intelligence... the exception is they were not cyborgs. If you are into military futuristic tech. This story is for you. There are other hardcore science fiction aspects of the story that is part of the Halo Universe that not unique to it. First sample you have: 1) Advanced ancient civilizations, where the technology survives the said civilization. 2) Advanced human AI that can inte

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book that's a little bit of hardcore science fiction. However it is a young adult book it is similar to the Hunter Games and Divergent. And with all such books or stories I should say the plot is very common. View all my reviews

I have been reading Star Wars books, magazines, and comics after it was first published in Readers Digest. I imagine that many did not know that Star Wars came out in Readers Digest before the book (I think). I was a teenager and enjoyed Readers Digest. At the time I did not see Star Wars as a fantasy space opera, I saw it as hardcore science fiction. I am an Avid Reader of hardcore science-fiction. As of today, I no longer see Star Wars as hard science fiction. I see it more like fantasy. And I do have mixed feelings about fantasy construed as science fiction. The more Star Wars has evolved over the years the more I consider it to be a fantasy; fantasy while entertaining is not science fiction. When Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars well... it definitely killed what little of Science Fiction remained. Most of Disney's Movies rolls into mysticism. The Mandalorian series ran by Disney proves my point. Is the Mandalorian a good series? I think so. Is it science fiction? Take

This was a short story written by Corey Doctorow. -When the Sars2-cov pandemic, followed by quarantine became part of our lives --a short story from science fiction came to mind--. The story is part of his book call Overclocked. I think he may have made a short story into a novel. I have to check it out. The story had to do with computer nerds known as system administrators or Sysadmins and it was written originally in 2005. The plot is about a virus that was part of a bioweapon and of course it affected the whole world; the system administrators that didn't die because they were in clean rooms where the ventilation system filtered the air to avoid servers from being damaged by outside pollutants and humidity. Many sysadmins were safe but now they deal with other issues like maintaining the internet in spite of the disaster that was occurring. In the real world what keeps the world going on communication-wise would be in Hands of amateur radio (HAM). Unfortunately in this sto

Children of the Fleet by Orson Scott Card My rating: 3 of 5 stars No doubt this was an interesting book to read. I have read about all the other books in the series that has to deal with Ender's universe. But I have to admit that this book, in particular, was not that great the reason for this which is just my opinion it's because the author was trying to duplicate another Ender but in a civilian setting. It was a cute story per se but it did not have that intrigue one would find and many of the Ender Universe books that's why I really don't have much to write about and this review of the book. View all my reviews

I'm sure many of the hardcore science fiction readers are probably amazed at what's is going on today due to the current pandemic COVID19. There are many science-fiction novels, stories, movies, etc where the plot is of a dystopian future because of a pandemic. The term "social distancing" is now the catchphrase of today. However, it reminds me of a story arc inside the Asimov universe. If you have read the Caves of Steel, you may recall that there is a difference between Earthmen and Spacers. Spacers are the group of modified humans who descended from the first wave of colonists that left Earth. The term Spacer is very general and is primarily used by the people of Earth in a derogatory manner. Spacers prefer to refer to themselves by their planet of origin; that is, Auroran, Solarian, etc. Of the spacer worlds, one that called my attention is the Aurorans. They live extremely isolated from one another and they are very afraid of disease. Spacers tend to look do

Good day everybody I was following a few threads in many different groups about the canon of certain shows. When it comes to science fiction there are a few factors that need to be considered. One factor is the original intent of the author if we are talking about a specific novel like Dune. Another factor is his age and the generation where he perceives from. This is important because the culture of the time will affect his writing. Writers for TV shows fall into the similar parameters that I mention but they are not identical, a TV show can be owned by a corporation. For example, Doctor Who is owned by the BBC and has many writers. For now, let's talk about the Canon in regards to the author of books. Good novels will sometime end up in the media in the form of movies or TV shows some novels develop their own fan base, like Dune. So far I have seen two versions of Dune the theater version and a TV serial. Both versions are based on the book but the writer has taken some libert