Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019)
Movie Watch
The untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's `Alien' series, which features Greek mythology, comic...
Tides (2021)
Movie
Tides (also known as The Colony) is a 2021 German-Swiss science fiction thriller film directed and...
Christo-Fiction: The Ruins of Athens and Jerusalem
Robin Mackay and Francois Laruelle
Book
Francois Laruelle's lifelong project of "nonphilosophy," or "nonstandard philosophy," thinks past...
Bird (1704 KP) created a post in Friends of Smashbomb
Feb 26, 2019
Jeremy (179 KP) rated Catee's Grace (The Vigilant #1) in Books
Apr 5, 2019
Métis In Space
Podcast
What happens when two Métis women, who happen to be sci-fi nerds, drink wine and deconstruct the...
Doctor Who - Season 8
7.4
Rate It
TV Season
The eighth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 2 January 1971...
Doctor Who - Season 18
6.9
Rate It
TV Season
The eighteenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 30 August...
Bad Medicine: v. 1
Bill Crabtree, Christopher J. Mitten, Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir
Book
"Science, forensics, paranormality, and the unexplained collide in this fast-paced, well-drawn, and...
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Explorations: First Contact (Explorations #2) in Books
Nov 13, 2019
This collection is more than just a selection of tales from up and coming science fiction writers; all the stories are set in the same universe and are in some way on the theme of first contact. The introduction sets this up, with a damaged alien ship discovered on the moon. It is able to transmit details of nearby inhabited star systems - and a terrible warning about a dangerous foe - before it shuts down. Mankind learns all it can from the message and the wreckage before setting out for the stars.
Each story then follows the fate of the mission to one of the star systems. This is the point where any similarity in stories ends as each writer brings their own style and ideas for their contribution (although there are some neat nods to the other stories now and again). The result is a satisfying mix of different ideas but all within a consistant whole.
That's not to say that every story hit the spot for me, but that's inevitable given the range of authors here, but every story was interesting to read. There are also the occasional one that felt a little rushed, the idea either too big for a short story, or too many ideas vying for the limited word count. But these are minor niggles and the standard of all the stories is very high.
Overall a really good collection showcasing the talents of current science fiction writers. If you like interesting ideas and gripping stories about aliens and space exploration you won't be disappointed.