“We are Forerunners. Guardians of all that exists. The roots of the Galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms… And the impervious shelter, beneath which it has prospered.”

One for the nerds

Specifically, the Trekkies: I’m not a Trekkie, and never really have been, but I’ll say a few things about this one: DAAAAAAMN but Marina Sirtis sure as hell hit the Wall hard, eh?!? Then again… she is 62. Having a sense of humour goes a...

The monsters in the closet

Greetings from sunny Dubai!!! Where the dunes are sandy, the airport is full of all sorts of useless overpriced shit, and the women are… well, y’know. And that is about all of the chirpy cheeriness that I can summon for now- partly because I got off a...

Well imagine my shock!

It would appear that our friends over at Tor Books are outraged- OUTRAGED, I tell you!!!- at the thought of some jumped-up johnnies from Finland and Italy jumping up and down all over their jumped-up Johnny’s latest magnum non-opus: We just received an...

The ageless juveniles

I recently finished the twelfth, and last, of Robert A. Heinlein’s famous “juvenile” novels, published when the late Grandmaster of science-fiction was approaching, but not quite yet at, the very peak of his immense literary powers. Now I am, of...

The Collapsing Tor-pire

It would appear that Castalia House has decided that a certain 6’3″ ex-Marine badass hasn’t been piled onto enough for the questionable quality of his writing: The Third Edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction says: “If anyone...

The Green Hills of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein

This poem is contained in one of Mr. Heinlein’s best short stories, “The Green Hills of Earth”, which I remember reading when I was, like, 16 years old- and which has remained vivid in my memory ever since. It’s a superb story by a true...

Book-bombing the Beast

We are now less than 100 days out from the final showdown between Trump-Muad’dib and the Hilldebeast. On that day, this country gets to decide whether the government by, for, and of the people (at least in theory, anyway) is actually worth keeping around. The...

The Rabid Awards 2016

With just 3 days left to go until online voting closes for the Hugo Awards for 2016, I have just finished submitting my ballot. Whether you are one of the VFM or not, if you are a MidAmeriCon member, please remember to submit your ballot as soon as you can; this is...

HALO became “safe”, that’s what

A fellow HALO maniac asks the question that is on the minds of a great many fans of the series these days: The full video raises a number of interesting points about what I consider, still, to be simply the greatest franchise in the history of gaming. Yes, I know,...

Bad Puppies! Sit! Stay! Heel!

… Sod off. And shove that newspaper you were about to whack us with up where the Sun don’t shine while you’re at it: For the second year in a row, nominations for the prestigious Hugo Awards for science fiction & fantasy have been swept by the...