Category Archives: science fiction

Three Perspectives on Trump’s First 100 Days

Posted on Wednesday 30 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times summarizes Trump’s first 100 days; The Atlantic on how Trump voters like what they see; My comments about the theme of Tom Nichols’ books — people are bored with success — and the implications this has for the … Continue reading →

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Viewpoint Diversity and Consensus

Posted on Wednesday 16 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry Coyne on Harvard vs the US government and the idea of “viewpoint diversity,” with a response by Steven Pinker; Why do conservatives think themselves under-represented in academia? Because they promote ideas that are not true; Will there ever be … Continue reading →

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Perhaps Humanity Has Hit a Conceptual Ceiling

Posted on Sunday 13 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Alternate title: America was supposed to be better than this. Perhaps MAGA is about making America *simpler* again; perhaps what we’re seeing is a rejection of the complexity of the modern world; Why is it Americans love watching crime shows? … Continue reading →

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Two More Books of Futuristic Art

Posted on Thursday 27 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

FUTURE PERFECT: Vintage Futuristic Graphics, ed. Jim Heimann (Taschen, 2002, unpaginated) DRIVING THROUGH FUTURES PAST: Mid-20th Century Automotive Design, by Hampton C. Wayt (Kythe Publishing, Feb. 206, 59pp) Here are two more books that I read the same couple days … Continue reading →

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Isaac Asimov, FUTUREDAYS

Posted on Wednesday 26 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “A Nineteenth-Century Vision of the Year 2000” (Henry Holt, trade paperback, 1986, 96pp) This is a thin little book I’ve had for nearly 40 years, since it was published. It’s ostensibly about a set of “cigarette cards” (presumably included … Continue reading →

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Pretty to Think So

Posted on Friday 13 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

One of my running themes — here on this blog, in the reviews I’ve written of SF novels and stories in recent years, in my essay for Gary Westfahl awaiting publication, and in my book if I manage to write … Continue reading →

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This Much is Reality… and This Much is Fantasy

Posted on Saturday 23 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Silverberg on reality vs. fantasy; It wasn’t a landslide, thus not a mandate; OnlySky: why is fascism rising? OnlySky: how knowledge endures or disappears. Here’s a passage from a key science fiction story that addresses the nature of reality, in … Continue reading →

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Skiffy Flix: The Day the Earth Stood Still

Posted on Wednesday 9 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Of all the 1950s science fiction films, this one is arguably the most profound, the least typical, and the most liberal. It involves an alien arriving on Earth, but he is not hostile, despite the knee-jerk fears of the military … Continue reading →

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Nones, and Genre

Posted on Thursday 15 August 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Why did the rise of the “nones” begin in the 1990s? Thoughts about how science fiction is, or is not, a “genre”. Here’s an article I stumbled upon today, from 2019 in The Atlantic, by a writer I’ve see a … Continue reading →

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It Can Happen Here

Posted on Tuesday 2 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m not the first to make this observation. Trump’s rise echoes a famous 1935 novel called (ironically) It Can’t Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis. Wikipedia: The novel describes the rise of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President … Continue reading →

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