A Far Out Fantastic Site

Credit: Pixabay Needless to say, the Covid-19 pandemic has made these past three months one of the scariest moments in history. It’s as if we are living in an apocalyptic sci fi, in some respects even a post-apocalyptic one! Even during this time of spring and new life the streets are dead. Things appear to be really down. So, now is a great time for us sci fi and fantasy fans to read some inspirational stories. The problem with much of today’s speculative fiction, however, is that most of it seems to be on the dark side of life. So as not to sound like a hypocrite, I’ll admit that I’m a writer of dark fiction myself. However, as a reader of science fiction and fantasy, I like to read a fair share of optimistic stories. Even when I write dark fiction I try to work some comic relief into it, something that I personally believe all fiction should have to some extent so as not to traumatise our reading experience. So, I’d like to complement, if you will, the list of post-apocalyp...

Credit: Pixabay.com Yesterday’s world-wide youth protest against climate change in no way occurred too soon. Our institutions needed to be wakened and made aware that the beauty spring brings around this time of year may not be around for too many more years if we don’t do something about the destruction to the environment. I was so impressed by the teens who took this stand that I shared a Washington Post article   about it on Facebook. But the news about the protest also got me to look back on what author Kim Stanley Robinson said about acting against climate change in his talk about his newest book, Red Moon , last month at the Avid Reader in Davis, California. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Robinson’s work, he’s an advocate for environmental solutions which much of his science fiction reflects. Several posts back I talked about the various kinds of punk science fiction which solarpunk and ecopunk are two them. Both deal with environmental issues. Yet, R...

Credit: Pixabay.com We’re already a little more than a month into the new year. Even though a new year is supposed to be a time of hope and improvement in our lives and society, many people would say the near future does not look as such especially during this time of increasing climate change, racial injustice, a ruler in our nation who can hardly be called a president in the true sense, and reoccurring massive violence. I mean, since Sandy Hook, if not before, there’s been a mass shooting almost as frequently as movies are changed in theatres! And it’s no joke. This year sadly began with a sniper randomly shooting in public in Davis CA, not much more than ten miles from where I live. Still, it doesn’t matter. Since in order to solve these problems we need to hope for the future, both near and distant, even in the face of despair. In fact, it’s because of those causes of a dark future is why we have to look toward hope. So if there’s anytime we should promote hope for a be...

Credit: Pixabay.com I was reading a good article the other day at Slate.com about the punk subgenres of science fiction. Much of what the article said about these subgenres was not good. But I still found it very informing and if you’re new to punk sci fi such as steampunk, diesel punk or atompunk, I suggest you take a look at it because it’s a good introduction to this category of science fiction subgenres. I did agree in part with what the article’s writer, Lee Konstantinou, was saying and so that the punk subgenres have been misused. He basically says that these subgenres work off of the template, or formula, that comes from cyberpunk, the first punk category in sci fi that started in the 1980s. The formula consists of the protagonist rebelling against the ruling system of power and its influence on society. Konstantinou says that such a formula constrains original storytelling. However, like the science fiction genre it branches from, a punk subgenre doesn’t necess...