Category Archives: science fiction

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime: My Own Journey to 2001

Posted on 3 April 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday, April 2, 2018, was the 50th anniversary of the release of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, still regarded as the best (or at least one of the best) science fiction films of all time, and as among the … Continue reading →

Posted in Arthur C. Clarke, Films, Personal history, science fiction | Leave a comment

Ray Bradbury Reread, Introduction

Posted on 8 February 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

In January 2018 I began a grand, systematic, plan to revisit the books by the core authors of science fiction. I’ve explored some of the books by these authors in recent years, and have posted reviews and comments about them … Continue reading →

Posted in Ray Bradbury, science fiction | Leave a comment

Links and Comments: SF, fantasy, and SF cinema

Posted on 18 December 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

» io9: 10 works of science fiction that are really fantasy I love lists like these, and I still mean to compile many of them. Still, I’m not sure I agree with some of the selections on this list. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Films, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: SF, fantasy, and SF cinema

Sfadb progress toward ultimate Top 100 Lists

Posted on 3 November 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Over the past two weeks I’ve made much progress on the next stage of my sfadb.com site — the compiling of all awards references and citations references into overall scores and rankings. One product of this effort will be Top … Continue reading →

Posted in science fiction, Website Issues | Comments Off on Sfadb progress toward ultimate Top 100 Lists

Isaac Asimov: Foundation

Posted on 21 September 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Rereading classic SF in the 21st century: In which I both tease out themes of, and try to summarize, Isaac Asimov’s first Foundation book. I reread Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, i.e. the first book in the ‘Foundation Trilogy,’ a couple weeks … Continue reading →

Posted in Isaac Asimov, science fiction | Comments Off on Isaac Asimov: Foundation

Link and Comments: NYTBR reviews Kurt Andersen’s FANTASYLAND

Posted on 11 September 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Just published, a big book by novelist and journalist Kurt Andersen, Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History (Random House), which is in my to-read stack. For the time being, here are some passages from Sunday’s front page review … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Religion, science fiction, TV Sci Fi | Comments Off on Link and Comments: NYTBR reviews Kurt Andersen’s FANTASYLAND

Link and Comments: SF and Science

Posted on 11 September 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate has an interesting essay by Lawrence Krauss that covers basic points about how science fiction doesn’t/can’t truly predict the future, with an interesting point how the internet arose as a tool to coordinate very complex scientific experiments: Indeed, perhaps … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, science fiction | Comments Off on Link and Comments: SF and Science

Links and Comments: Science and Science Fiction

Posted on 26 July 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Harvard Business Review: Why Business Leaders Need to Read More Science Fiction. Science fiction can help. Maybe you associate it with spaceships and aliens, but science fiction offers more than escapism. By presenting plausible alternative realities, science fiction stories empower … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Science and Science Fiction

Science Fiction as Engagement with Inhuman Reality

Posted on 13 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

A thought for the day. I’ve seen a post by SF critic Paul Kincaid wondering how a film like Hidden Figures — a historical film about the early US space program — can be nominated for a Hugo Award, an … Continue reading →

Posted in science fiction | Comments Off on Science Fiction as Engagement with Inhuman Reality

Winter Comes to Water As Well As Land: Gene Wolfe’s “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”

Posted on 14 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Gene Wolfe, “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories” (1970) (~15 pp) Winter comes to water as well as land, though there are no leaves to fall. The waves that were a bright, hard blue yesterday under a fading … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, science fiction, Short Fiction | Comments Off on Winter Comes to Water As Well As Land: Gene Wolfe’s “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”