Even though I think the question Enrico Fermi asked his colleges that day in the lunch room while working on the Manhattan Project was a rhetorical one, the Fermi Paradox is one of my favorite topics of discussion and makes for great science fiction ideas. Here are some video that I have come across in recent weeks that do a good job of tackling these subjects.

a_call_to_dutyI recently purchased Heretics of Dune and God Emperor of Dune. I’ve owned these in paperback for a number of years but I decided to buy the digital version because, well, the more and more I use my ereaders the more I like them and they take up less space in my house. Also, I plan to make good on my promise to myself to start the series and read Dune, so these books will soon follow. I already own Dune Messiah and Children of Dune in digital format, so next will be Chapterhouse: Dune.

Also I purchased A Call to Duty by David Weber and Timothy Zahn, mostly because I noticed it dropped in price, plus I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Honorverse series of books by Weber so those will be on my reading list at some point in the future as well.

Anybody who has read this blog knows I love reading books that are going to be movies or at least being picked up to become a movie at some point in the future. These days there seems to be no shortage of books that have been rumored to be in production to become a movie or T.V. series, but so far nothing. If you are like me and are wondering what is happening with all these projects, well somebody at io9 was thinking the same thing and decided to write an update on what’s what with some of these projects. The more interesting projects to me are the ones surrounding the books for Red Mars, The Amber Chronicles, Altered Carbon, The Caves of Steel, The Mist, Alien, and the sequel to World War Z. There were some others that I didn’t know about, but all-in-all, a pretty interesting read. Check it out here.

I have a list of books that I want to read this year, but as always, I’m thinking my eyes are bigger then my book stomach. So, I have compiled a list of books that I shouldn’t have a problem reading and completing before the end of the year. And as always, anything beyond that is a bonus. Here’s my list in no particular order:

  1. Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
  2. The End of All Things by John Scalzi
  3. Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey
  4. Mars Life by Ben Bova
  5. Deadzone by Stephen King
  6. Dune by Frank Herbert

My thinking is pretty simple concerning this list. Scalzi, King and Bova are a few of my favorite authors. Dune because, well, I’ve been saying I am going to read it for a few years now and I never do. Well, not this year, and Relic because I read this book in high school, and to this day it is one of the best books I have ever read. Finally, Caliban’s War because I read the first book in the series, and now the series is on T.V. and if there’s one thing I love doing is reading the book before the T.V. series/Movie.

I’m not sure which order I will read these in, but Caliban’s War will probably be first and then Dune. After that, we’ll see what happens.

Happy New Year everybody.

It’s probably not a Dyson’s sphere, but Tabby’s Star is still weird.

childrenIt’s getting towards the end of the year again and I’m starting to think about what I would like to read next year. I haven’t come up with a definitive list, but I have been thinking.

The worst part about reading is that there are only so many hours in the day and so many books to read. Worse still is the fact that there are so many great books out there that I have already read and would love to read again. So that got me thinking. What I would really love to start doing is to mix things up and focus not only on new material that I want to read, but other books that I would love to read again.

For example, a few books that immediately jump to mind are Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln ChildMars and Return to Mars by Ben Bova and West of Eden by Harry Harrison. I read all these book when I was in high school. Relic especially was a book that really captured my attention. It was brand new, nobody had ever even heard of Lincoln Child or Douglas Preston, or Penergast for that matter. Today there are over fifteen books in the series that started with Relic, with more coming out all the time. Same thing with Ben Bova and Mars. Mars is part of his ever growing Grand Tour series that began even before the publication of Mars and is still going today.

These books make up the Something Remembered part of my list. They are books that immediately grabbed me as a young adult and books that I still think about today.

west_edenThen there are books that are Something New, just been published but end up in the back log of things to read. The End of All Things by John Scalzi is in this list. Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos are another that spring to mind.

And then there is Something Old. These are books that were publish more than ten years ago; books that I know about but, again, are back logged in the list of things to read. This list can be pretty big, but a few examples of these would be Dune by Frank Herbert (which has been on previous years lists), Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, Venus, by Ben Bova, or Forge of God by Greg Bear.

The problem with many of these books is that they make up a part of a larger series. And while I love series, I also like to mix it up when it come to my reading. It’s hard for me to start with Dune, for example, and then read the next five books in the series, one after the other. If they are really good, it’s no problem, I did that with the first three book in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War.

This, however, doesn’t even begin to touch books on my History or writing lists that I hope to read in the next year as well.

For all you Game of Throne fans and computer geeks, which I am one, I thought you would find this interesting, I sure did. This is a video about how the special effect are made and all the different layering that goes into them. No talking at all, but gives you a pretty good idea how things are done.

Source

caves_2Word has been swirling around for a few years now that Isaac Asimov‘s Foundation books are being made into a show for HBO‘s. Now comes word that Hollywood is looking to make another Asimov book, The Caves of Steel, into a movie. No word on who will star in the movie, but it does have a screen writer, Akiva Goldsman. Apparently this isn’t the first time this book has tried to make it’s way onto the big screen. Upon reading this news, I bought the ebook and will hopefully get around to reading it…soon…later this year…maybe. Read More

star-wars-trilogySo, I did some digging and it appears that there is a book coming out for the new Rogue One movie, but it won’t be out until mid December. Also, as the Lengends books go, Timothy Zahn is coming out with a new Thrawn book in April of 2017. Not really clear about what the specifics of this book are, but given how much of a fan I am of the Heir to the Empire trilogy, I’m more than thrilled to see more new material coming out. Also, there is a second Rogue One book being written by James Luceno, who has written a few books in the Legends world and has apparently jumped over to the official cannon universe of Star Wars.  There new titles can be found herehere and here.

wedges_gambleSince Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars I have been a little concerned about where this could lead with the franchise. This concerned turned into panicked when I learned that Disney was categorizing ALL the previous books in the Star Wars series as Legends – stories having nothing to do with the actual Star Wars Universe. My fear was that this would lead to eventually those books being removed from off of bookshelves completely. This frightened me because if it wasn’t for Timothy Zahn and the Heir to the Empire trilogy, Kevin Anderson‘s Jedi Academy trilogy, along with a few other authors outside the Star Wars universe, my high school years and early college years might have involved a lot more trouble-some behavior if I wasn’t at home reading or discussing the latest in the Star Wars universe with friends. Needless to say, this hasn’t happened. The books are still being sold in book stores and available for purchase on Amazon. Not to mention, the latest Star Wars movie was pretty good, and the next one, Rogue One, looks decent. So, having said that, maybe it’s time I ate my words and expressed my opinion that Disney, thus far, seems to be doing alright by the franchise. Which brings me to the next order of business: what I’m reading now. There is no book out for the new Rogue One movie, but there are a ton of X-Wing books in the Star Wars Legends cannon.  Among those is Wedges Gamble, the second is a series of books centered around the X-Wing pilots in Star Wars. I read the first book many years ago and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to read the second. And what better time than just before the movie comes out?

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