Review: The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder.
July 30, 2010 by David Dickinson
Filed under Astro Culture, Astro News, Astro News & Commentary, Great Books of Science
The science fiction subgenre known as Steampunk has certainly matured in its brief 20+ year existence. True skill in the field has challenged writers to do the historical “foot work” while envisioning an alternate reality and time line that is complete and believable. Which brings us to this weeks’ review of The Strange Affair [...]
Book Review: This Crooked Way
July 23, 2010 by Sabrina Fobes
Filed under Astro News & Commentary, Great Science Fiction Novels
Morlock Ambrosius, the focal point of this story, is an old, odd, bent over man, who is simultaneously mysterious and transparent; pleasant and gruff; helpful and in the way. Whatever one might say about Morlock, he does weave an interesting story around himself.
The Crooked Way is, I think, a description of how Morlock’s goal in [...]
Review: The Dervish House by Ian McDonald.
June 18, 2010 by David Dickinson
Filed under Astro Culture, Astro News, Astro News & Commentary, Great Science Fiction Novels
One of our fondest stations during our military years was Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. Being at the cultural and temporal crossroads of Asia and Europe, Turkey stands between ancient and modern civilization. It seems that every conqueror and army has at one time or another marched across its jagged terrain. Heck, politics and war [...]
June 2010: Life in the Astro-Blogosphere.
June 1, 2010 by David Dickinson
Filed under Astro News, Astro News & Commentary
Summer is upon us, as most backyard astronomers begin to look forward to “crossing the hump” of the summer solstice. You won’t know it until fall, but the nighttime starts slooooowly creeping back into the northern hemisphere this month. What follows is a gathering of all things astronomical and what you can expect to [...]
Review: Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann.
March 26, 2010 by David Dickinson
Filed under Astro Culture, Astro News, Astro News & Commentary, Great Science Fiction Novels
An expanding genre in the realm modern Sci-Fi is the retro-science fiction novel. More appropriately classified as an alternate history work of fiction, this sub-sub genre has been christened with the sleeker term of Steampunk as of late. Hollywood movie goers have been exposed to Steampunk via such flicks as The League of Extraordinary [...]
Review: Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley.
February 26, 2010 by David Dickinson
Filed under Astro Culture, Astro News, Astro News & Commentary, Great Science Fiction Novels
Out in March from Pyr Books!
It was with great anticipation and excitement that we finally got to dig into our advanced reading copy of Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley, out March 23, 2010 courtesy of Pyr Books. Gardens picks up where last years’ first opus, The Quiet War, left off, and fans of [...]






