Quote of the day: I am prejudiced against religion because I know the history of religion, and it is the history of human misery and of black crimes.—Isaac Asimov According to an article in Time Magazine, a new study suggests that using AI made doctors less skilled at spotting cancer. Huh. Why the hell were … Continue reading The Feeling of Power
Science Fiction
The Satanic Illusion
Quote of the day: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.—Bertrand Russell I’ve previously mentioned L. Sprague de Camp and his story “A Gun for Dinosaur” that was published back in the 1960s. It revolved around a safari … Continue reading The Satanic Illusion
Even the Queen
Quote of the day: Thank God she doesn't have to be confirmed by the Senate.—Herbert Hoover, on the birth of his granddaughter I’ve previously written about Connie Willis but I inadvertently selected a story of hers that I wasn’t able to link to. So I thought I should correct that. So I present “Even the … Continue reading Even the Queen
Have You Read These?
Once again I’m stealing from electoral-vote.com. On Saturday they had their usual Q&A along with their Reader Question of the Week which involved historical fiction. A lot of the Q’s and A’s are worth a read, if you have the time, so click here, but I want to concentrate on the some of the readers’ … Continue reading Have You Read These?
In Memoriam
If you’ve read more than a few of my blog posts, you’ve probably learned of my admiration for science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. When he died on April 6, 1992, I had not yet experienced any great personal loss due to death in my life. Yes, my grandparents, all four of them, had died, but … Continue reading In Memoriam
One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts
During Isaac Asimov’s final illness, the editor of his namesake magazine commissioned Connie Willis to write an editorial for the magazine in order to help take some of the pressure off the Good Doctor, who up till then had written an editorial for every issue. In the event, Asimov died before her editorial could be … Continue reading One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts
The Shape of Things That Came
Richard Deming (1915 - 1983) was primarily a writer of mystery stories, as well as writing for some of the early TV shows such as Dragnet and Mickey Spillane. In 1960, just 10 years after he began writing full time, he had 300 stories and 19 books to his credit, and yet he claimed, “If … Continue reading The Shape of Things That Came
“my second best bed” — Part 2
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born December 31, 1945) writes science fiction and fantasy stories under the name Connie Willis. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards—more major SF awards than any other writer. But who’s counting? (She probably is.) (Every other SF writer probably is as well.) She wrote some time travel … Continue reading “my second best bed” — Part 2
All the Troubles of the World
When I wrote about Isaac Asimov’s story “The Ugly Little Boy”, I mentioned that Asimov had never even acknowledged the existence of the short film that was made of it and that I therefore suspected that he didn’t hold a very high opinion of it. Well, I’ve been going through my collection of Isaac Asimov's Science … Continue reading All the Troubles of the World
Unto the Fourth Generation
It was difficult choosing a story by Asimov where he incorporated religion because he really didn’t do it very much, but I wanted to do a trilogy of the Big Three and contrast the way they approached religion in their stories. So even though “The Last Question” can only tangentially be considered to deal with … Continue reading Unto the Fourth Generation