Category Archives: science fiction

Rereading Donald A. Wollheim’s THE UNIVERSE MAKERS

Posted on Friday 18 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Donald A. Wollheim’s The Universe Makers, published way back in 1971, is one of the earliest books that could be described as a history of SF, though Wollheim’s take is distinctly personal and even partisan. Wollheim was an occasional writer … Continue reading →

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Frank M. Robinson’s SCIENCE FICTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

Posted on Wednesday 16 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m beginning to explore and read or reread various histories of science fiction. Robinson’s is a coffee-table book, published in 1999, that had sequels from the same publisher about fantasy and horror, by different hands: Randy Broecker and Robert Weinberg, … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Scale of the Universe; Core SF novels and stories and media

Posted on Tuesday 15 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m in a gradual process of compiling links and references to my Provisional Conclusions, including a number of sites I’ve bookmarked in various places about the size of the universe. Today, David Brin has posted a set of links about … Continue reading →

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Rereading Isaac Asimov, part 2

Posted on Friday 11 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

So over the past four or five weeks, I’ve read (or re-read, in most cases, some 40 years or so since I first read most of these stories in the late-’60s/early-’70s) some 100 Isaac Asimov stories, including the complete contents … Continue reading →

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Puppygate and the Progressive Nature of Science Fiction

Posted on Tuesday 1 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Locus’ own Gary K. Wolfe pens an article for the Chicago Tribune about this year’s Hugo Awards/Puppygate kerfuffle: Hugo Awards: Rabid Puppies defeat reflects growing diversity in science fiction (if the site asks you to subscribe, try logging in with … Continue reading →

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Rereading Isaac Asimov, part 1

Posted on Friday 28 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

In the past three weeks I’ve read or reread (mostly reread, after decades) some 50 short stories by Isaac Asimov — not yet all of his most notable stories, by criteria of awards or number of reprints or critical discussions, … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Dated and Offensive SF; Puppygate summaries

Posted on Tuesday 25 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Will get back to posting about rereading Isaac Asimov shortly, but an initial comment I have is how embarrassing Asimov’s prose of the early 1940s was. I suppose it was the style of the era, and Asimov did grow out … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Reason; Morality; Wesleyan; Timeline; The Onion; Jeffrey Tayler

Posted on Friday 21 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Today, a collection of posts I’ve not read in detail, or do not have time to comment upon in detail, but wish to save for future reference. Science on Religon: Connor Wood: Reason™ is not going to save the world … Continue reading →

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Ken MacLeod on Science Fiction

Posted on Wednesday 12 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Terrific essay by Ken MacLeod, at a site called OpenDemocracy/Transformation, which is called Science fiction: taking science personally. I say it’s terrific because it expresses my own thoughts that science fiction is mainly a way of thinking about the world. … Continue reading →

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James Morrow, THE MADONNA AND THE STARSHIP

Posted on Monday 10 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

James Morrow’s short novel The Madonna and the Starship is one of a handful of short novels or long novellas released by San Francisco-based Tachyon Publications in the past couple years, others including two Nancy Kress titles that both won … Continue reading →

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