The SFF Chronicles Science Fiction & Fantasy Community
Space News: Meet the new neighbours, dwarfs, and ghosts
1. Meet the new neighbour
The big news this week is that Barnard's Star has a planet: Planet found circling neighbouring star
Barnard's Star is the second closest star system to ours, the nearest - Centauri - being a three-star system that was also recently discovered to have at least one planet in it.
What's especially exciting is that Barnard's Star is a red dwarf, which is the most...
Massive archaeology work for HS2 begins
The big new northern 150 mile rail extension from London to Birmingham has begun - with a mass exploration of archaeological sites along the route: HS2 begins archaeology work exploring over 10,000 years of British history
The government is keen to put a positive spin on this:
- 1,000 archaeologists
- 60+ sites
- 10,000 years of history...
Meat cultures gets US approval as food
Authorities in the US have approved a system for regulating the sale of meat cultures - ie, meat grown from cells for consumption, instead of from slaughtered animals: US paves way to get 'lab meat' on plates
This has long been a staple of sci-fi, and in theory offers a lot of benefits - land currently turned over for the grazing and feeding of herds might be turned over to other...
Defects you've found in books you've read
Well, there I was, on page 246 out of 404, in Poul Anderson's 1978 novel The Avatar. Suddenly, the next page seemed awfully familiar. I glanced at the page number.
Pages 247 through 278 are missing in my copy. Instead, pages 119 through 146 are repeated.
To assuage my frustration, I instead offer this topic.
Have you experienced other book defects that prevented reading?
The Influence of Viking Myth on A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin
WARNING: SPOILERS! This discussion presume you're up to date with the books AND the TV series:
I'm currently reading Viking Britain: A History by Thomas, and came across the following section: (p. 262-4)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
First the snows will come, driving hard from all points of the compass; biting winds, shrill and screeching, bringing the cold that cuts. Thrice the winter comes...
Space News: Asteroids revealed, NASA missions fail
1. Asteroids - they all look the same to me...
NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu is almost in position - and it's latest photo reveals that Bennu looks remarkably similar to the asteroid Ryugu, which the Japanese mission is currently in orbit around. Check the image above for a comparison to both.
According to Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy, basic physics has shaped both...
November 2018 -- 85 Word Story Challenge -- READ FIRST POST! REALLY! READ IT!!
RULES:
Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 85 words, not including the title
ONE entry per person
NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own
WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE...
November 2018 reading thread
I'm currently reading Viking Britain: A History by Thomas Williams (only £1.99 on Kindle). I've reached the section covering Alfred the Great that overlaps with Bernard Cornwell's Last Kingdom series, which is pushing me to watch Season 2 of the TV series, so I can then go onto the 2 books I think this will be based on: The Lords of the North and Sword Song.
In the meantime, I have a ton of ebooks I bought on offer last month, but I'm...
POLL -- 300 Word Writing Challenge -- No 31 (October 2018) -- READ FIRST POST!
It's time to vote for the best story in the thirty-first 300-Word Short Story Challenge!
The stories can be found [COLOR=rgb(102, 0...
Space News: Jupiter's waves, lord of the ring planets, and more!
1. Jupiter's giant waves
Do you see those ripples above? Those are gigantic waves roaring across Jupiter's outer atmosphere, detected by NASA's Juno mission: NASA's Juno mission detects Jupiter wave trains
Outlaw King (2018) - trailer
Netflix are about to release Outlaw King to cinemas this autumn - an epic film about the rise of Robert the Bruce, the first recorded king of a united Scotland.
Pitched as something of a sequel to Mel Gibson's Braveheart, Outlaw King stars Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce - and includes him doing a full-frontal nude scene, getting out from a bath.
Outlaw King debuted at the Toronto Film festival, to general critical acclaim...
Why is fantasy moving towards hereditary werewolves?
I've noticed in most recent fantasy and romance novels involving werewolves, the condition is hereditary. (There are still lots of people turned by a bite in horror.) Why is this? People have no problem with characters being turned into zombies by a bite (even though that has no mythological basis.)
To me, hereditary werewolves lose lot of the bet narrative possibilities. I've always liked the idea about going about your life and then Blam! The supernatural...
The Fifth Season (Broken Earth Trilogy) by N.K. Jemisin
The Fifth Season
In a remote future, the Earth's landmasses have been fused together into a supercontinent called the Stillness. The geological catastrophe which caused this event still haunts the planet, with frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions causing devastation across thousands of miles in titanic disasters known as Fifth Seasons. Many civilisations...
Uncompromising Honor: The Best Honor Harrington Book? (No Spoilers)
Uncompromising Honor: The Best Honor Harrington Book?
David Weber’s Uncompromising Honor is the best Honor Harrington book in twenty years. It is possibly the best Honor Harrington book of all. Personally, I would still favor the original four, Honor Harrington on Basilisk Station, For the Honor of the Queen, The Short Victorious War and Field of Dishonor (my personal favorite). But as I read all of those...
Is Science Fiction Too 'Adult' Now?
After reading a post from @Al Jackson over in the Andre Norton thread about how he, as a child, was reading more 'adult' science fiction like Galaxy Magazine made me think, has science fiction gotten too adult for its own good? Has it become too serious to make young readers become fans? Fantasy doesn't seem to have this problem, just science fiction. Thoughts?
Real Places that Should be in Fantasy & Sci-Fi Films, TV & Games
I doubt this will be anywhere as popular as the thread that inspired it, currently at 131 replies. There's a reason I haven't posted in it (at least to my knowledge). I think the real world is amazing enough! I wonder why some real places haven't been used in mainstream fiction. One friend often asks if I've been to Skyrim for real (it's probably why I'm happy not to play Skyrim/Zelda-esque games these days - I used to a lot before I started travelling).
It's...
Doctor Who (37) 11.01: The Woman Who Fell to Earth
'We don't get aliens in Sheffield.' In a South Yorkshire city, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan, and Graham O'Brien are about to have their lives changed for ever, as a mysterious woman, unable to remember her own name, falls from the night sky. Can they believe a word she says? And can she help solve the strange events taking place across the city?
---
New Doctor, new companions, new writer, new timeslot, new theme music, and easily the darkest episode of...
Heart Blade by Juliana Spink Mills
There is the old adage about not judging a book by the cover, and this is one of those novels where I did just that. I am not one for reading the blurb on the back, feeling that it sometimes can give away something of the story I am about to read. So I settled down to read Heart Blade expecting it to be something totally different to what it was, for some reason, but this was not a bad thing, because I probably enjoyed it more because of it.
In some ways the...
Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton
Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton
AD 2204. A derelict alien spacecraft has been found on a remote planet. A group of explorers are gathered together to investigate the wreck and the strange secrets it contains. For each of them, it has been a strange and stressful road that has led to this time and place. And, centuries in the future, they are revered as the “Five...
Changing tastes in fantasy reading
I've been reading through some old threads from when I first joined whilst putting off doing the housework.
I'm pretty shocked how much my tastes have changed over the years.
Some of the authors I mentioned are still very much part of my life, Feist, Donaldson, Brookes, King, Dennis Wheatley, Williams who I'll reread or buy.
Others have dropped of the radar,
Hobb, Keyes, Canavan, Barclay...
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