What I read last year.

Cover of Max Barry's book Lexicon

Last year would have to be my worst book-reading year for a long time. I reckon I would have to go back to well before I arrived in Wang, about 15 years ago, to a year when I read less. I only read five books last year. Pretty pathetic, really, even if I was tired […]

2014’s Science Fiction Movies.

Movie poster for Predestination

Many science fiction movies were released this year. Here’s what I thought of some of them. The Very Good.  1) Interstellar. A voyage of discovery. Written and directed by a master of science fiction, Christopher Nolan (Inception, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and starring Mathew McConaughey. The movie is about humanity’s search for a new […]

Price Survey of Top 100 Selling ebooks: December 2014

Even though I no longer buy books or ebooks from Amazon, I am still interested in their prices and potential impact on the publishing industry. So, I have decided to continue my periodic survey of the prices of the top 100 bestselling ebooks on Amazon. I checked the bestseller list at around 2 p.m. today, […]

2014’s Small Screen Science Fiction: the Good, the Bad and the Inconsistent.

scene from Real Humans

I watched a lot of science fiction on television this year. Much of what I watched were short series, which I appreciate because there is less padding. Some of the science fiction was very good, some inconsistent, and some pretty ordinary. Let’s start with the good.  The Good.    SBS2 screened some good science fiction this […]

Review of Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice.

After reading about all the awards Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice had accumulated, I just had to read it. It won the 2014 Nebula, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards for best science fiction novel. I was also intrigued by it being told from the viewpoint of an artificial intelligence android. The novel’s main character is […]

National Novel Writing Month – I finished.

National Novel Writing Month certificate of completion

My latest novel manuscript is off to a flying start thanks to National Novel Writing Month. I am 50,963 words in, about halfway through. I really enjoy the story I am writing, although my characters are not. The five of them are in a precarious situation with absolutely no idea what is happening. They have […]

National Novel Writing Month – Three Weeks In.

National Novel Writing Week logo

I have been too busy writing to blog lately. I am currently doing National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write 50,000 words for the month. As of a few moments ago, I have written 1826 words for the day, which betters the daily target of 1667 words. My best daily total is 2430 […]

National Novel Writing Month: The First Twelve Days.

National Novel Writing Week logo

This is my first blog post in over two weeks. I have been too busy writing fiction to blog. I am doing National Novel Writing Month and have written 18,544 words for a new novel over the past 12 days. The aim is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month, an average […]

National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Week logo

I have decided to do National Novel Writing Month once more. I successfully completed it in 2011 and 2012. The aim of NaNoWriMo is for a writer to write a 50,000-word novel in November. My main reason for doing NaNoWriMo again is to motivate myself. Apart from the actual month, I know from previous years […]

A Review of Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam

cover of Maddaddam

Maddaddam is the third book in a Margaret Atwood apocalyptic science fiction trilogy that began with Oryx and Crake, followed by a prequel, The Year of the Flood. Maddaddam is a sequel to both of the earlier books. The novels are set in a future that could be just around the corner. The Year of the Flood is set in a […]