Dystopian fiction just became even harder to write today, as reality upped its game considerably with Amazon’s announcement of the Astro domestic robot… This 20lb, two-foot-tall domestic surveillance droid is designed to offer its owners “peace of mind” – ‘in exchange for you handing over every last scrap of you and your family’s privacy forever’, […]
Settle down people, because this month has been all about waiting out the countdown to the release of Aliens: Fireteam. I think it’s excellent, delivering exactly what it says on the tin. You’re one of a three-person team (preferably multiplayer for best experience) comprising character tropes from the Cameron film, the vibe of which it nails from the […]
Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers is my favourite SF story. Day by day, its main thesis – that we’ve all been replaced by emotionless simulacra who look, sound and think alike – becomes less of a sci-fi idea and more of a prediction. An example: a number of podcasts I’ve heard recently featured authors arguing about […]
Here’s the latest in what’s becoming something of a series of recommendation posts, offering my latest picks from internet space-radio specialists Soma FM’s Groove Salad and Deep Space One channels – always my preferred pick for ambience when I’m writing. It’s also the kind of stuff I imagine that Avion pilot Vonya of Ok’cuu from […]
I’ve been working my way through the much hyped and then equally maligned Cyberpunk 2077 on PC of late – it’s another of those sitting-at-a-time type open-world type games I like to pick up, play for a few hours and put down again, and I thought it was worth a few words. I’m also going […]
Having managed to get a fully functioning DOSBox (and Amiga and C64…) emulator running on an Android tablet I’ve been enjoying some of the highlights of gaming from the days of yore for the first time in years. Most notably, the mighty sci-fi strategy simulation Carrier Command – there’s a great little sci-fi concept in […]
The Hollywood auction house Julien’s Auctions is set to auction off a Holy Grail artifact from sci-fi cinema lore on 28 and 29 March. In amongst 800 lots from Batman, Die Hard, Edward Scissorhands, Independence Day, Predator, Scarface, the James Bond films and more, is the ‘Big Chap’ – a full-size prototype xenomorph costume from […]
Time travel is almost by definition off limits for the space-opera universe my books are set in… a shame, because it’s a narrative gift that keeps on giving. The rom-com Palm Springs is the latest example of why filmmakers keep coming back to the time loop, and here are a few more you won’t mind being […]