“The Ship who sang” is an early novel for McCaffrey which was published in 1969. It depicts the story of a young female who is born with severe birth defects rendering her body useless, who is trained and then installed into a spaceship, with the ship essentially becoming her body. The story depicts the various…
This is a weirdly compelling low budget film which is kind of science fiction, kind of horror (a bit), kind of supernatural. This 2017 film starred and was directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Two brothers are living a hand to mouth existence after having escaped from a cult some years earlier. The younger…
This is a relatively early work for Heinlein, having first been published in 1957. More famous works such as “Stranger in a Strange Land” are still ahead of him. As such, this book, while quite good, is not great. The story concerns protagonist Dan Davis, an inventor who is cheated out of his life’s work,…
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. – Benjamin Franklin “The Giver” is a book full of questions. It sets up a situation that demands questions, and thought. The author expertly builds the situation slowly, so little by little more is revealed about the…
Written in 1972, this book tells the interesting story of an alien first contact. The aliens in question have long since gone, but they left behind ‘zones’, areas containing many alien artifacts as well as strange (and dangerous) phenomena. Initially the zones are open for anyone to go in, but after people get killed the…
“The Demolished Man” was written in 1953, and has the distinction of being the first winner of the Hugo Award. Bester has written a very interesting idea, and while it has not always aged well, there is still much of interest. The story is an inverted detective story, in that we know the identity of…
I’m normally quite a fan of Phillip K Dick’s work. However I am a little ambivalent about “The Man in the High Castle”. It depicts an alternative version of the sixties in America where Germany and Japan won the Second World War. Various characters are shown going about their lives in this environment. A thread…
I believe this is the kind of novel they call ‘young adult’. I am not a young adult, but I enjoyed it a lot, possibly because I am in the other category that might enjoy this – someone who was a teenager in the eighties. The story is this – in a run down future,…
First published in 1956, “The Shrinking Man” is a story that reflects its time. It’s a story about fear and powerlessness, undercurrents of Cold War era America. The title is the plot – a man begins to shrink. The cause is a mixture of chemicals and radiation, another nod to the fears of the time,…
I started this expecting a mindless action flick. I was pleasantly surprised. This is a sequel, and at the time of writing this review I have not seen the first movie. It stands alone comfortably – at no time did I find myself wondering what was happening. The preliminary rundown of the events leading up…
Eclectic Assemblage 