5 posts tagged “sci-fi”

A Scanner Darkly (Gollancz)

Philip K. Dick

I've just finished the audiobook version of Phillip K Dick's A Scanner Darkly and I have to say this very much strikes me as the Trainspotting of 70s sci-fi. A sad, sometimes funny, sometimes horrifying tale about drugs and drug culture. It is not meant to be a moralistic tale, or even a warning, it strikes me more as a testament to people Dick had known and to his own experiences.

This is what can happen. This is the terrible waste of it all. These are the people it affects. It turns everyone into creatures with half a life. The users. The cops. The policy makers. There is a cost that nobody sees until it is too late and you've lost something.

That sense of sadness permeates the book. That sense of loss. Unlike Trainspotting which finishes much like the movie adapted from it with Renton finally figuring it out and getting on the path to a life, the characters of A Scanner Darkly don't get that salvation, which seems to reflect Dick's experience.

The reading by Paul Giamatti was excellent with distinctive characterisations and a suitable rythym.

I have yet to see the film (I know, I know) but I think I'll get around to bumping it up my Quickflix queue and see it soon while the book is still fresh in my mind.

EP107_ Eight Episodes

Running way behind on my Escape Pod listening but I just listened to Episode 107 - Eight Episodes by Robert Reed. I really enjoyed this thought provoking 2007 Hugo Nominee short story about alien invasion and I recommend you give it a go. The full audio  is available from this post but I do recommend  subscribing to Escape Pod.

2007 Hugo Nominee!

By Robert Reed.
Read by MarBelle (of Director’s Notes).
First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2006.

Eighteen months later, the fledging Web network declared bankruptcy, and a small consortium acquired its assets, including Invasion of a Small World. Eager to recoup their investment, the new owners offered all eight episodes as a quick-and-dirty DVD package. When sales proved somewhat better than predicted, a new version was cobbled together, helped along by a genuine ad budget. The strongest initial sales came from the tiny pool of determined fans—young and well educated, with little preference for nationality or gender. But the scientists in several fields, astronomy and paleontology included, were the ones who created a genuine buzz that eventually put Invasion into the public eye.

Rated PG. Contains some suggestive imagery, references to infidelity, and not very good television.

Referenced Sites:
World Science Fiction Society
Steve’s LiveJournal

From http://www.clarkeaward.com/news.html

Shortlist 2007 Announced

Jon Courtenay Grimwood, M. John Harrison, Lydia Millet, Jan Morris, Adam Roberts and Brian Stableford are the six authors shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award 2007.

The shortlist was announced on 20th January as part of an event held in Soho, London, to thank supporters and friends of the award.

The six shortlisted books are:
End of the World Blues: Jon Courtenay Grimwood – Gollancz
Nova Swing: M. John Harrison – Gollancz
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart: Lydia Millet – William Heinemann
Hav: Jan Morris – Faber & Faber
Gradisil: Adam Roberts – Gollancz
Streaking: Brian Stableford – P.S. Publishing

Tom Hunter, administrator for the Arthur C Clarke Award commented:

“This year’s shortlist stands as a snapshot of the best of the UK’s science fictional literature: it’s a list that makes clear our ongoing fascination with future possibilities and the power of the human imagination, and it echoes the rich heritage that the Arthur C Clarke Award has created since its inception in 1986."

A prize of £2007 will be awarded to the winner along with a commemorative engraved bookend.

I've discovered this on a couple of other Voxers blogs and as I'm always a sucker for a good sci-fi meme I just had to have a go. Do ityourself Fizzycowers.
 

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished, put an asterisk beside the ones you loved and put a '#' next to the ones you intend to read some time.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R.Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert  *
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein   *
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin *
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson*
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley #
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett *
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card #
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman #
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling *
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny #
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson **
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner #
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein #
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer **

Blade Runner (The Director's Cut)

I've been trying to pick up a copy of Blade Runner on eBay for ages. There is only one small hassle. Due to some odd issue surrounding the release of the movie in Region 4 or maybe just on DVD in general but it was only briefly released on Region 4. This means that copies of the disc when they do appear on eBay tend to go for a premium. I've been watching a copy on eBay this past week and even though it has a full day to run has hit $41.00 plus postage.

The frenzy hasn't even started yet and this disc has climbed to more than a new DVD is worth. OK, OK, OK I don't need a lesson in basic economics. I know all about supply and demand, and yeah supply is as light as razor blades in Oceania, so like Winston Smith I must satisfy myself with all the other baubles on eBay when all I really want is Sean Young to shave me with a new razor blade while Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer duke it out. OK the vague 1984 analogy has broken down completly but I still don't have Blade Runner!

A podcast I listened (Geekson) to recently devoted an episode to Blade Runner and of course THAT question came up.

Is Deckard a replicant?

Now one of the answers I heard in the negative pointed out the major arse kicking that Deckard was receiving from Roy Batty (Hauer), his point being that if you were designing the ultimate replicant hunter it would be superhuman. Therefore there is no way that Deckard was a replicant because he too vulnerable.

Now I have to disagree with this line of thinking. What ultimately keeps Deckard alive for so long is his belief in his own humanity. What ultimately saves him is Roy's humanity and his decision to be more than he is programmed to do, which is to kill. But in my opinion what makes Deckard effective as a Blade Runner is the fact that he firmly and absolutely believes he is human and he has a greater right to life than a replicant. He doesn't need to be superhuman, in fact if he was he'd quickly figure out he was a replicant and may come to sympathise with those he hunts. Tyrell made Deckard smart, committed, focused and completely sure he was human. Except I think he comes to suspect it by the end.

I tend to think that the film we see is the sum of Deckard's life. Everything he remembers from before are implanted memories. The film starts with a logical insertion story, he's retired from the force and being called back to active duty to catch these four replicants. He actually doesn't seem to have any real relationship with anyone on the force, he lives alone and seems as emotionless as those he hunts. He doesn't even react to the footage of his predecessor, Holden, being killed by Leon. In fact the only character who get an emotional response out of him are replicants, Racheal and Roy.

Despite Ridley Scott having come out and said, yes he is a replicant, I think the jury is probably still out and that's what makes this such a great film. Technically the story is resolved. Roy and his gang are dead. Deckard leaves with the girl. Gaff lets them go. The real question is left unresolved. Who is human?

I personally think its actually a better story if Deckard is human. An emotionally crippled cop/exterminator who is actually taught how to be human by the artificial beings searching for a way to be really human. That's real Sci-fi in my mind. It's the exploration of humanity through the situations and scenarios that are  possibilities. It lets us explore the limits of human experience before we've experienced it and asks some fundamental questions about what it means to be human in these situations. What is human? What are the limits? Why am I like I am? How would I react? Could I kill a replicant?

I'll keep you posted on that copy on eBay.