Category Archives: science fiction

More on the Enlightenment and Its Critics

Posted on Saturday 4 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

An essay by Damon Linker at The Week. (I’ve seen Linker’s work on various website for years; he’s an interesting commentator, though one perhaps without any consistent philosophy; he seems to enjoy playing the contrarian role.) The Enlightenment’s legacy is … Continue reading →

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Rereading Robert Silverberg, 1

Posted on Monday 19 December 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

I am fortunate that, in my “retirement” (from my day job, that is; I still keep my hand in posting on Locus Online once a day, and maintaining sfadb.com), I have the luxury to sit in my armchair each weekday … Continue reading →

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Allen Steele, ARKWRIGHT

Posted on Monday 21 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve read three recent 2016 novels in the past couple weeks, and am reading them faster than I take the time to key in notes and post summaries on my blog. But I will! First up is the last one … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Trump; Magic; Scalia and science; Cruz; God of the gaps

Posted on Sunday 13 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Partly because I’ve had a cold, or a couple different colds, for much of the past month, I’m behind on links and comments. So relatively briefly, here’s what I’ve collected. In reverse order, from most recent date. \\ Slate: “How … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Politics, Religion, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Trump; Magic; Scalia and science; Cruz; God of the gaps

Rereading HOW TO READ A BOOK

Posted on Tuesday 1 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Is this book anywhere near as commonly known as, say, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE? I have the impression it was widely known at some point, and my 1972 revised edition is subtitled “the classic guide to intelligent reading” – the … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on Jo Walton’s WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO GREAT

Posted on Saturday 27 February 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Jo Walton’s WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK SO GREAT is a wonderful book, and I wish there were more like them. It’s not a book of reviews, so much as a book of reviews about *re*-reading books, and why she does … Continue reading →

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Syllabuses and Sfadb.com rankings

Posted on Monday 25 January 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

This op-ed item in Sunday’s New York Times, What a Million Syllabuses Can Teach Us, caught my eye initially because part of my long-range plans for sfadb.com involves continuing to add ‘citation’ and ‘anthology’ references to complement the awards data, … Continue reading →

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Review of Alastair Reynolds’ SLOW BULLETS

Posted on Saturday 14 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Alastair Reynolds’ short novel SLOW BULLETS – the latest in a series of short novels from Tachyon Publications, following among others Nancy Kress’s Yesterday’s Kin and Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Completely Fine, both awards winners – is a spectacular … Continue reading →

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The World’s Young: a review of Robert Charles Wilson’s THE AFFINITIES

Posted on Friday 13 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Charles Wilson’s THE AFFINITIES is ‘social’ science fiction in the most literal sense. (I seem to recall how Isaac Asimov made the distinction between hard SF, social SF, and social satire – the latter being Huxley, Orwell, and the … Continue reading →

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Rereading Early Heinlein, part 3: If This Goes On

Posted on Monday 9 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Heinlein’s earliest serial — that is, a long story requiring a split into parts across two or more issues of a magazine — was “If This Goes On–“, published in the February and March 1940 issues of Astounding magazine. He … Continue reading →

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