Category Archives: science fiction

Declinists and Decadence: TV/Movies? Science Fiction?

Posted on 23 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Quillette, Kevin Mims, 20 May 2022: Undiminished by Decadence Subtitle: “I grew up in the 1960s and ’70s and I’m happy to report that, for the most part, television and mainstream cinema today are orders of magnitude better than they … Continue reading →

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LQCs: Science Fiction, Christian Fantasy, and Part B

Posted on 13 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Washington Post, Michael Dirda, 10 Jan 2022: Science fiction — please, let’s not call it ‘sci-fi’ — is more than just a reaction to the present

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LQCs: KSR; Conservative History

Posted on 11 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT, Alexandra Alter, 11 May 2022: A Sci-Fi Writer Returns to Earth: ‘The Real Story is the One Facing Us.’, subtitled: “Kim Stanley Robinson, one of the most acclaimed living science fiction writers, is done with deep space narratives. His … Continue reading →

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LQCs: News, Propaganda, Ideologies, and a Modern Wise Man

Posted on 25 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

First, two items that follow-up the last item in yesterday’s post. Following, a modern wise one about ideologies.

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Globalization, Wokeness, and Trek

Posted on 8 April 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

New York Times, David Brooks, 8 April 2022: Globalization Is Over. The Global Culture Wars Have Begun.

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Arthur C. Clarke, RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA (1973)

Posted on 13 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This was Clarke’s first novel after “returning” to writing novels after the break of nearly a decade collaborating with Stanley Kubrick on the book and film 2001: A Space Odyssey. (His previous major novel had been A Fall of Moondust … Continue reading →

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L&Cs: Yet Another All-Time Novel List

Posted on 12 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Just discovered, at 4:45pm, that I don’t have time for anything substantial this evening; we’re having guests within half an hour. (Was going to write up Clarke’s RAMA. Maybe tomorrow.) So here’s a kind of link and comment I don’t … Continue reading →

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Daniel Keyes: FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (1966)

Posted on 11 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s the next part of the batch of brief reviews of SF novels that I began last week. I’m now thinking, though, that with more substantial books like this one I’ll just cover one book per post — back to … Continue reading →

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About Changing SF Book Lengths and Formats

Posted on 10 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Some more SF history, here in drafty first draft; first written last October, cleaned up a bit here. My target for essays like these are the very casual consumers of science fiction books and movies, and even some sophisticated current … Continue reading →

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SF Impressions: Chambers, Kowal, McGuire

Posted on 4 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

As I mentioned early last week, I think I’ll start posting short reviews, or impressions, of recent SF novels I’ve read, every month or two, in groups. This is supposedly a blog mostly about science fiction, after all! These won’t … Continue reading →