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Video Game Review: Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014)

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At the end of all of the Civilization games, one of the classic winning endings is not to conquer the rest of the world or overawe the other civilizations with alliances and treaties; rather, it is to build a ship and send it to the stars. What would happen when that ship reaches its destination?  In the Mid 1990’s, Sid Meier, creator of the Civilization franchise, explored that in Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, a turn-based strategy game with a transhumanist narrative, contacting and, in one of the win conditions, joining with Planet. It is probably the biggest budget videogame to ever explore transhumanism and science fiction, and one of the few to meld an external narrative into a strategy game. Now, Civilization: Beyond Earth treads into those waters again. Created by Firaxis, Beyond Earth takes the chassis of the Civilization V engine, with its one-unit-per-hex design, and transplants it onto an alien planet.

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The Disquieting Guest: On “As Above, As Below” (2014) and Theatrical Horror in 2014

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I didn’t get the chance to read as many books or watch as many films as I would like this year, and so any ruminations on my part about what might or might not constitute the best of the year should be taken with a Dead Sea’s worth of salt. My impression is that by and large, this has not been a stellar year for horror movies in the theatres. The box office returns tend to confirm that perception, which leads to Scott Mendelson’s gloomy appraisal of the situation here. But what needs to be factored in, regarding horror’s relatively poor showing in terms of numbers, is how few of this year’s films are actually any good. Compounding the problem is the fact that the two recent movies receiving the most glowing acclaim — Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook — have received criminally minimal distribution. Last I heard, The Babadook, which by all accounts is absolutely terrifying and would be leading my Best-Of list had I been able to see it, has only played in a single theatre in all of Canada. I hope to catch both of these films in 2015, but as I have yet to see them, I can’t say anything else about them in the context of this column other than express my anticipation. And here, have a trailer.

Announcements and Errata

Happy Holidays!

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Before the day ends, we want to say a very happy holidays to all of you. Thanks for listening and/or reading, voting for us during the Hugo Awards bonanza, supporting the World SF Tour, and for being awesome! If you don’t hear from us before 2015, have a great New Year. Next year, we’re all about women in sf/f. It’s going to be an amazing year! Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone. Keep your robots close and let your dragons fly free (or something corny like that)!

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Book Review: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlepig by Tad Williams

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On Christmas Eve, certain classes of people have to work, whether they like it or not.  Gas Station Attendants. Grocery store stockers. Clerks at electronics stores for those last minute purchases. And angels. Specifically, angels whose job it is to deal with the souls of the recently departed. Angels like Bobby Dollar.  What looks like a relatively routine death soon becomes trickier, as the recently departed soul seems ready to consign himself to Bobby’s opposite number. You see, the late Petar Vesić was a werewolf, and he thinks that the things he did, the horrors he committed, are not forgivable. While Bobby’s opposite number in the Demon hierarchy is willing to call things a day and a win for his team, Bobby is not so easily swayed. A bargain is struck with the soul of Peter to see to the matter of the recently departed’s son. A bargain that is going to have Bobby call upon the help of a certain werepig friend of his…

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Around the Podosphere #3: Podcasts of Note for 12/22/2014

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Here’s what we’ve been enjoying this week: On History: On Stuff You Missed in History Class, they talk about the “Great Henge,” which involved the British East India Company’s efforts to stop salt smuggling.  Yes.  SALT smuggling. On Books: The Sword & Laser crew discuss Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. The second episode of Midnight in Karachi features an interview with Patrick Ness. The amazing folks at The Writer and the Critic discuss Nicola Griffith’s Hild and Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven. On Writing: Dan Wells discusses translating fiction to the stage in the latest episode of Writing Excuses. What are you enjoying?

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Diversity in SF Film: Things to Come (1936)

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This is my third post on diversity in Science Fiction films. I started with Metropolis (1927), and then skipped two decades to The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Largely, my reason was that there weren’t any options for the 30s or 40s available on Netflix. Apparently, there aren’t very many SF films within that twenty year period.[1] I’ve decided to skip Frankenstein — although the novel is one of the first, if not the first, SF novels — because the classic film has more in common with horror than SF. I feel much the same about King Kong. Therefore, I settled on Things to Come (1936), which is based upon the H.G. Wells’ novel published in 1933 entitled The Shape of Things to Come. I know I’m risking a bit of confusion by going backward here, but I felt it was too important to skip. Also:  keep in mind that I don’t think I read the novel. At least, I don’t remember having read it.[2] So… Things to Come.

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