This is Sci-Fi is a sampling of science fiction news across the mediums. From movies to books, to real life, and any bits in between that I can think of to list. This is by no means a comprehensive list of what’s happening, but it should whet your appetite!
Sci-Fi Movies
Movie Suggestion for the Week:
Since The Toupee from Outer Space is getting sworn in today, I felt there was really only one movie that I could suggest for this week.
Idiocracy is swiftly becoming a documentary instead of the comedy it was meant to be. Released in 2006, it stars Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. It’s funny, but frightening, and will definitely stick in your mind once you’ve watched it.
Synopsis: Private Joe Bauers, the definition of “average American”, is selected by the Pentagon to be the guinea pig for a top-secret hibernation program. Forgotten, he awakes five centuries in the future. He discovers a society so incredibly dumbed-down that he’s easily the most intelligent person alive.
Opening Next Week (Jan 27th)
Synopsis: Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity’s final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began – The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.
Starring: Ruby Rose, Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter
Rating: R
Watch the Resident Evil: The Final Chapter trailer here.
Trailer to Watch:
The Discovery is due in theaters March 31st, 2017. It stars Rooney Mara & Jesse Plemons. It’s a romance, so the chances of me watching it are about 1 in 350,000, but I hope at least some of you watch it and like it!
Featured Sci-Fi Art
scifi by Ericoscarj on DeviantArt
This is absolutely gorgeous in its own way. I’d love to have this blown up and on my wall. One of those landscapes you can study for quite a while without feeling bored, I think.
Science Fiction Books
(Covers go to Goodreads)
New Releases
Martians Abroad Synopsis: Polly Newton has one single-minded dream, to be a starship pilot and travel the galaxy. Her mother, the director of the Mars Colony, derails Polly’s plans when she sends Polly and her genius twin brother, Charles, to Galileo Academy on Earth—the one planet Polly has no desire to visit. Ever.
Homesick and cut off from her desired future, Polly cannot seem to fit into the constraints of life on Earth, unlike Charles, who deftly maneuvers around people and sees through their behavior to their true motives. Strange, unexplained, dangerous coincidences centered on their high-profile classmates begin piling up. Charles may be right—there’s more going on than would appear, and the stakes are high. With the help of Charles, Polly is determined to find the truth, no matter the cost. – Goodreads
Carve the Mark Synopsis: On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not—their gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives, and reset the balance of power in this world?
Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.
Akos is from the peace-loving nation of Thuvhe, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Though protected by his unusual currentgift, once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost. When Akos is thrust into Cyra’s world, the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. They must decide to help each other to survive—or to destroy one another.-Goodreads
The year is 2020. It’s seventeen years since the Revolution overthrew the last king of the New British Empire, and the newly-reconstituted North American Commonwealth is developing rapidly, on course to defeat the French and bring democracy to a troubled world. But Miriam Burgeson, commissioner in charge of the shadowy Ministry of Intertemporal Research and Intelligence—the paratime espionage agency tasked with catalyzing the Commonwealth’s great leap forward–has a problem. For years, she’s warned everyone: “The Americans are coming.” Now their drones arrive in the middle of a succession crisis—the leader of the American Commonwealth is dying and the vultures are circling.
In another timeline, the U.S. has recruited Rita, Miriam’s estranged daughter, to spy across timelines and bring down any remaining world-walkers who might threaten national security. But her handlers are keeping information from her.
Two nuclear superpowers are set on a collision course. Two increasingly desperate paratime espionage agencies are fumbling around in the dark, trying to find a solution to the first contact problem that doesn’t result in a nuclear holocaust. And two women—a mother and her long-lost, adopted daughter—are about to find themselves on opposite sides of the confrontation.
New-To-You (and with a 3.75+ rating on Goodreads)
Goodreads: 3.83
Goodreads: 3.79
Goodreads: 4.13
Science Fiction on the Web
- Writing for Tor, Nisi Shawl continues the Expanded Course in the History of Black Science Fiction. This time covering The Goophered Grapevine by Charles W. Chestnutt.
- Check out this review of Ubo (the sci-fi horror novel from Steve Rasnic Tem) from The Grim Reader.
- Barnes and Noble have a fun list called 12 Memorable Times Science Fiction Books Sent in the Clones
- Deadline says James Cameron will be talking about the evolution of science fiction in a new documentary series.
- There’s a good article on Nature.com about Arthur C. Clarke.
- ScienceFiction.com clued me into the fact that X-Files is returning in 2018!
- Wired had a great piece on What Better Way for the Marines to Prepare for Future Wars than with Sci-Fi?
- Culturess has a fun article on the 20 Coolest Female Robots in Science Fiction. You gotta check it out!
- After reading this review of Robot Monster, I now must hunt it down immediately and watch it.