Book Review: Avengers of the Moon by Allen Steele
It takes a lot of moxie to decide you’re the one to take a character beloved from pulp magazines and anime and update it for a 21st century novel. Allen Steele has already proven that he has that moxie, having given us a novella on “The Death of Captain Future”, but that story wasn’t about Captain Future so much as about a fan of the pulps in which that hero first came to life. Twenty-odd years later, he’s at it again, but this time he’s gone all out to make Captain Future a hero for our times. Did he succeed? If by “succeed” one means creates a perfect pastiche of the hokey and wholesome tales of yore while subtly correcting for modern advances in scientific knowledge and attitudes about the Other, then he more than succeeds. Avengers of the Moon has all the feel of an early 20th century planetary romance, without any of the “mistakes” that let us smile behind our hands when reading the originals he draws on. It’s not set in the “distant future” year of 2015. There are no aliens living in caves on the moon or on the other planets in our solar system.* Weapons and gadgets and space travel are more plausible for modern readers (and cool as heck!). The nom-de-guerre of Captain Future remains but is treated as a childish embarrassment that others gently rib Curt Newton for adopting. Etc.
Book Review: Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper
When a set of post humans, the Next, long ago banished to the edge of their society’s solar system, start making aggressive moves down the gravity well, no one is safe from their maneuvers and machinations. Not Chrystal, living on the High Sweet Home with her four-part family, who is attacked by The Next. Not Nona, Chrystal’s friend, and descendant of the famous Ruby Martin of The Creative Fire, who would risk much to see to Chrystal’s safety. And not Charlie, Ranger on the ecologically devastated planet Lym. Post humanity clashes with humanity, and a solar system wide conflict is brewing, even as these three seek to find a way to survive the danger and find answers, for themselves, and each other. Edge of Dark is the first novel in the Glittering Edge duology by Brenda Cooper.
#SkiffyandFanty Episode 110 — Regarding SF and the Posthuman w/ Jennifer Pelland
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/TheSkiffyAndFantyShowseasonThree–Episode110–RegardingSfAndThe/Sandf–Episode110–RegardingSfAndThePosthumanWJenniferPelland.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSAuthor Jennifer Pelland joins Paul and Shaun for an in-depth discussion of SF and the posthuman. We discuss robots, A.I., gender and the Olympics, body modification, and a number of other related topics. We hope you enjoy the episode! (Don’t read past this point if you want to be surprised by our lists in the show.) Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Note #2: Shaun needs a new laptop and could really use your help. See here for details and perks for donations. Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 110 — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 59:26) Jennifer’s website Check out Jennifer”s book! You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
