science fiction news, views, and stories

Malcolm woke up early like normal to do his rounds. He always liked to keep things rather orderly, and continue to have a strong presence in the day to day operations of the ship, despite not really feeling needed as they maintained the status quo. He could already hear his first officer, Commander Alex Dryerson, in his mind, as he repeated the morning briefing almost exactly the same each day.

Taking out an old fashioned straight blade razor that his wife had given him before he left, he was reminded of why he was on this mission. It wasn’t about saving the whole world to him, but instead, just saving his wife, Samantha, and his eight year old daughter, Lili. He wanted to give them a better place to live. They were still back on Earth in one of the Savior Center domes in southern Alaska, both waiting for him to return home with good news.

He looked at himself in the mirror. He had gained a little bit of weight since leaving, something that he decided he would rectify. Malcolm had a very boring, and simple daily schedule that left huge blocks of time he could use for exercising, if he just chose to motivate himself and do so.

Scraping the small stubble from his face, he contemplated his day. He tried to stay positive, and thought about how close they must be getting to some planets by now. They had surveyed very few thus far, and each time had been unable to find the various elements they were looking for in any vast quantity.

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This is a re-post of a story I had up on the old version of this site. I have updated some elements with more content, but I wanted to make sure to re-post it because it is still highly relevant, and gives good insight into me.

So, I have been slowly working together a list of must watch science fiction movies for Mark, a sci-fi newbie.

I wanted to find movies that were not older than me, so nothing pre-1982. Another stipulation was that they had to be more than just sci-fi for sci-fi. I wanted to find movies that had elements of horror, comedy, action, or drama.

I also wanted to give him a good balance of movies, not just all space based science fiction, or movies with aliens in it.

So here is my quick list. Please feel free to add to it via the comments. I would love to see a list of the ultimate science fiction movies from the last twenty or so years. None of this 1960’s, 1970’s stuff we normally see in top ten, twenty, thirty science fiction movie lists.

ACTION

The Matrix - This movie blew me away. It is one of those movies that are both the meat and potatoes, with thought provoking scenes and plot elements, as well as dessert, with crazy off the wall action. If you are smart, you’ll avoid the sequels as well as the rest of the content that just ruins the experience.

Terminator 2 and 3 - It wasn’t until long after seeing the second movie in the franchise that I saw the first, and I think the second movie did much better. This movie deals with time travel, robots, and assassination. Both movies are leading up to a major event where robotic life decides humanity is bad, and these movies are trying to stop that event from occurring. They are both classic in that for many, these were the movies that made Arnold Schwarzenegger’s career. I am looking forward to seeing what they do with the fourth installment of the series, and hope it is better than the television series currently doing its first run.

Independence Day - Classic movie scenario: aliens come to earth, and they aren’t friendly. How does humanity deal with this problem? The first half of the movie is amazing, then it spirals downward after that. I choose to ignore the bad, and focus on the good, so this movie makes it in my list.

Equilibrium - Feelings are illegal, but one of the best police officers change sides and begins to connect with those that feel. This movie was amazing, much like the Matrix, but brings you on a very different emotional ride. Reminds me a lot of George Orwell’s 1984.

COMEDY

Galaxy Quest - What if you took every bit of silliness in science fiction, and made it into a movie starring Tim Allen? You get Galaxy Quest, a very funny movie that will make you laugh if you are a science fiction fan, but might be lost on you otherwise.

Men in Black - Another movie with Will Smith in the list, but this time, they do it right as highly classified secret agents in charge of policing alien activity on earth. Very funny, and very well done.

CEREBRAL

Gattaca - If you have ever thought about the difference between the rich and the poor in the world, Gattaca will get you thinking about that even more as they dive into the subject of the have’s and have-not’s in genetic purity. This is one of my favourite movies, and one that should be on every must watch list.

Dark City - A very dark movie about what makes us human. Is it our memories, or a deeper sense of self that can’t be changed? I have watched this movie dozens of times, and while it isn’t one of the best I have ever seen, it has a certain quality to it. You will either love it or hate it.

OLDER COMEDY

Back to the Future 1, 2 and 3 - One of the most fun movies I have ever watched, Back to the Future really opened up my imagination and got me excited about the idea of time travel. They go back in time, then to the future and then way back in the past. Each movie is a great story, and good fun.

SUPER HERO

X-Men 2 and 3 - The first X-Men movie wasn’t all that great. It set you up to understand that universe, but you could skip it and get right into the good stuff with the second and third X-Men movies. If you want super heroes, there hasn’t been anything better in the last decade.

DRAMA

Frank Herbert’s Dune - While many people might like the original Dune movie, I think Frank Herbert’s Dune is much more fun to watch, and since its more recent, the special effects are much better. The story includes action, drama, politics, assassination, and the underdog winning.

Children of Dune - Basically a second mini-series that connects with the first one from Frank Herbert. They bring in some great new actors, and the plot, action, and special effects are still great.

RECENT TREK (worth watching)

Star Trek: First Contact - I pretty much refuse to believe that any other Star Trek movie has been made in the last two decades.

HORROR

Aliens - So there is some scary stuff happening with human killing aliens, face grabbing aliens, and aliens popping out of people’s stomachs. You kill one, and their blood is acid. I swear a kid made these creatures and kept on saying to his father, the writer, “and it does this too!”.

Cube and Cube 2 - Some movies are just strange, this movie is the ultimate story of survivor. Put in a cube with a myriad of traps, the people inside must figure things out to escape. Strange, wild and interesting. If you want a bit of gore and horror with some science fiction overtones, check out these two movies.

Tagged as: action, aliens, comedy, cube, horror, time travel

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Sparks were flying all around as the emergency lights lit up the room in a deep maroon glow. People were rushing all about, some trying to fix the damage, while others were attending to the various people sprawled out on the long infirmary beds. The Captain had been injured, nothing critical, but enough to drive him from leading his ship, and that meant his injuries were fairly severe.

“Get me some more gauze over here!” The Chief Medical Officer was trying to maintain control over his entire staff, but the blaring sirens and flashing lights were distracting, and made everyone tense. Joan Belks had been on many Earth going vessels where medical emergencies, and reacting during high stress situations was fairly common, but most of her staff were fresh from basic training as this mission was never intended to be under these circumstances.

Groaning the Captain shuffled on the medical treatment bed before being pinned down lightly by one of the young but strong nurses.

With a strong, persistent ringing noise still in ear, and what felt like the weight of the ship upon his ribs, he shouted out to the Doctor, with coughs between each word, “what is the status of my ship?”

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I was going to try to write a novel in a single month as part of NaNoWriMo, but I was just too busy to make that happen, and as I fall further and further behind, I realized that writing a novel in a month isn’t my goal. My goal is to write a novel, and so that is what I am going to continue to do, despite the end of the NaNoWriMo event only two weeks away.

I think it might take me upwards of half a year to get the first draft written up, and part of what I wanted to do with this blog was to publish what I am working on.

I am writing the story in a linear fashion, so you’ll be able to read it as I write it. I might only post updates every week or two as I add more and more content, but I hope you’ll stick with me and enjoy the series of posts.

If you have any comments, criticisms, or if I have messed up in my use of English some where, please feel free to let me know.

I will be tracking all of the posts regarding my story on the History of Man: The Force of Temptation Index page. This will allow anyone who misses a release to find the previous release with ease.

If you have any questions about anything, again please don’t hesitate to ask.

Tagged as: book, nanowrimo, overview

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