Tag: Hard Sci-fi

At this point, Andy Weir doesn’t need an introduction. If you read sci-fi, you know who he is. The writer of The Martian is back out in space with his newest novel, Project Hail Mary. The book has already been picked up to be turned into a movie with Ryan Gosling as the protagonist. And while I was looking forward to it, right now, I’m not so much. There’s no way Hollywood can produce a movie as good as this book. The less you know about this novel, the better. The main character wakes up in a spaceship without any recollection of how he got there. To make matters worse, he discovers his two astronaut companions are dead. So, he’s all alone. In space. With no memory. It’s going to be a fun ride to remember it all.

Science-fiction and fantasy. Two genres often presented together. Although they couldn’t be more different from each other. And I’m the one to know that. I love one and dislike the other. I never hide it from anyone. And whenever there’s an opportunity, I like to point out that I enjoy keeping a harsh distinction between sci-fi and fantasy. But why do I find them so different? After all, what defines science fiction? Sci-fi, for short, is a wide genre of speculative fiction based on scientific or technological principles. The story can be set in our world or in a galaxy far far away. What makes it sci-fi is the existence of elements explained through laws of physics, even if they don’t exist today. For example, Interstellar. The movie is based around the idea of wormholes and travels between the space and time continuum. So far, that’s only a theory. There …

Time to take off with another sci-fi book. Today is time for Fearless by Allen Stroud, where space opera meets murder in zero-g gravity. Many thanks to Anne Cater, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to take part in this tour. Author: Allen Stroud Publisher: Flame Tree Press Pages: 368 Genre: Sci-fi, Mystery Publication: 8th September 2020 Synopsis: AD 2118. Humanity has colonised the Moon, Mars, Ceres and Europa. Captain Ellisa Shann commands Khidr, a search and rescue ship with a crew of twenty-five, tasked to assist the vast commercial freighters that supply the different solar system colonies. Shann has no legs and has taken to life in zero-g partly as a result. She is a talented tactician who has a tendency to take too much on her own shoulders. Now, while on a regular six-month patrol through the solar system, Khidr picks up a distress call from …