Sometimes having a great idea for a story can be both a blessing and a burden. The blessing is that a great idea immediately sparks interest and curiosity in the reader. The burden is that it sets an expectation that has to be fulfilled. You don’t have to do as much to get a reader to start reading a story that is based on an interesting idea. The challenge will be to get them to keep reading.
Continue reading “A Great Story Idea—A Blessing Or A Burden?”
(NOTE: This post contains spoilers)
When I first watched Equilibrium, featuring Christian Bale, I thought it was a good movie but I didn’t necessarily realise how significant the main theme is.
This was probably ten years ago at this point, and back then I was re-watching many sci-fi favourites like Gattaca and Minority Report to name just a few. A friend recommended that I watch Equilibrium because it fell nicely into my genre of interest. I loved the movie, and as a side note, the scene where Cleric John Preston first hears Beethoven’s 9th Symphony got me into Beethoven and classical music.
So, I really liked the movie but my first reaction was: We’ll never live in a totalitarian state that suppresses emotion.
Continue reading “The Wisdom of Equilibrium (2002)”
The power of science-fiction is to boggle the mind and this story definitely did that for me. I don’t think I’ll be spoiling anything by saying that The Last Astronaut is a first contact novel. However, it is quite unique so you can expect something different here. Without giving too much away let’s just say that how Wellington envisioned the ship and aliens was really interesting. Also, in terms of the science, this story was well researched but what stood out to me was the writing. It was excellent. At times it really grabbed me by the throat and forced me to pay attention.
Continue reading “Book Review: The Last Astronaut – David Wellington”Sometimes in author interviews, I’ll hear an author talk about a book that changed their life. Until recently I was always kind of surprised that many authors could name single titles (or possibly a series) that they deemed had changed their life. I wondered whether one book can have such a significant impact on you as to call it life-changing. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I had a few books like that. One of which is Anathem by Neal Stephenson.
Continue reading “A book that changed my life: Anathem by Neal Stephenson”One reason why fantasy and sci-fi is my favourite genre to read is because it connects me to a sense of wonder. These genres often explore expansive, unknown worlds, strange technologies or magic systems, and new ways to tell old stories.
Although the settings and ideas in sci-fi and fantasy might be too out there for some, the themes are often relevant and real: courage, corruption, the impact of technology on civilizations, and humanity’s place in the universe.
Continue reading “Science fiction should be an exploration—not a sermon”