blog2

I could not let the 50 th anniversary of Doctor Who go by without writing a blog post about the greatest science fiction show of all time. I grew up watching the original series and I remember watching Partrick Troughton, who was the second doctor. I had nightmares about an episode where that Doctor was investigating a dark room full of giant toadstools. My mother must have forced me to eat mushrooms that day. I watched the original series right to its end. When I was staying in a residential college (Menzies College) at Latrobe University a group of us used to gather together to watch it. My favourite episodes usually involved the Daleks. Two of the more memorable stories were Death to the Daleks , where Jon Pertwee had to navigate a deadly maze to destroy an energy sapping beacon, and Genesis of the Daleks, where Tom Baker battled Davros, the evil creator of the Daleks. My enthusiasm for the show survived the wishy-washy Peter Davison years. I even watched the C...

Typos in books.  I am spotting more and more typos in books lately. In a post a while back I mentioned I had come across five typos in the novel The Dervish House by Ian McDonald, published by Gollancz.     In Jonathon Franzen’s novel Freedom, I spotted a typo where I think the editor might have wanted to change “than” to “then”, but instead included both then and than straight after each other in a sentence that did not make any sense. I have also noticed a couple of typos in a few other books I have read recently, but as they are not from major publishing houses - and therefore didn’t have access to lots of editorial assistance - one or two typos can be excused. I am no expert on punctuation and spelling. I only tend to notice a typo when a sentence does not make sense. In past years I rarely spotted typos in novels. Perhaps my choice of more complex novels in recent years has me concentrating more when I read, causing me to notice more typos. ...

Hi all, This is my annual best of the previous years science fiction and new year’s resolutions post. 2011’s Science Fiction Books. The best science fiction book I read last year was The Year of the Flood , by Margaret Atwood, a prequel to her equally as good Oryx and Crake . It’s not about global warming, the flood is a genetically engineered plague. I also enjoyed Stephen King’s Under the Dome – which did sag a bit in the middle - and Dave Kitson’s self-published ebook Turing Evolved , which had a great story, it just needed a good edit. Overall, I made very good choices for reading in 2011, except for the very much overrated Perdido Street Station , by China Mieville. Its story took way too long to develop into anything interesting. It should have been cut to half its 600 pages.  2011’s Science Fiction Movies. Apart from the excellent Rise of the Apes , was any other science fiction movie released in 2011? At least that’s the question I asked myself....

Hi all, I finished the first draft of a short story that I have been slowly plugging away on for a few weeks. My main character’s voice had evolved by the end of the story, so I immediately started rewriting it. The story is only 5100 words at the moment, which is small for me, hopefully it doesn’t get too much bigger. I wrote every day of the last week – spending more time writing than the previous week. Torchwood Torchwood: Miracle Day, finished on the weekend. I very much enjoyed it, although the episodes varied in quality. The first few episodes were all action as the characters fought for their lives. There was not a lot of character development or back story until midway through the series when we got an episode concentrating on Captain Jack Harkness’ past. I found the episodes that concentrated on Oswald Danes (Bill Pullman) the least enjoyable because they did not seem to be moving the plot forward. I also had a hard time liking Rex, the CIA agent. A...

Hi all, It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. I’ve been having a break from all things writing, giving the brain a rest from what has been a stressful year. I watched a lot of science fiction over the past week and a bit, including the last few episodes of the excellent British apocalyptic series Survivors . I also watched the last half dozen episodes of series three of Fringe – very good too, leaving the series in an very interesting position. The last couple of episodes of series four of Doctor Who were only so so. I suppose Doctor Who survived Peter Davidson, I hope it can survive Matt Smith. But then again, I think it has more to do with the absence of writer/producer Russell T Davies. Speaking of Russell T Davies, the new series of Torchwood , Miracle Day , is fantastic, full of suspense and wit. Two episodes in and we still don’t know why everyone has stopped dying. My bet is on aliens. The third episode of Falling Skies was only average. It looks...