Mastodawn

I've shared my sci-fi short story for the Australian Writers' Centre's February Furious Fiction. The brief included that the story's theme had to be "EIGHT". 🚀

Link to story on Tall And True: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/fiction/short-stories/the-sol-eight-expedition

#writers #writing #furiousfiction #scfi #shortstory

The Sol Eight Expedition

The captain noticed muttering among his crew. He shared their frustration. A faulty interstellar drive had slowed the ship's speed.

Tall And True

November Grau Feb 22

So I’ve come to the last episode of #TheOmegaFactor, “Illusions”. It’s a disappointment. That’s somewhat inevitable given that it’s a cliffhanger, made in the hope of a second series. A hope that was, of course, to be dashed by the agitations of Mary Whitehouse and co, who were unhappy about the amount of violence and disturbing paranormal content featured in the show, which came on before the watershed. So obviously there are no tying-ups of loose ends and the whole thing has an unresolved feel to it.

But what if you treat “Illusions” as if it were a mid-series episode? Well, it certainly has it strengths. The writers have brought in a whole new bunch of characters. This didn’t work well in “Powers of Darkness”, but the new faces in that episode were a gaggle of mimsy students. In this case, most of them are high-level spooks, plus a couple of Eastern Bloc scientist defectors everyone is attempting to seize, so things are a lot more grown-up.

This is also a great Martindale episode: he is finally called to account for his actions and we get to find out what makes him tick. John Carlisle’s performance doesn’t let us down. James Hazledine is a little bit overshadowed by it, as he doesn’t have much new to do: like his near-namesake Hazel Dean, he spends the whole time Searching, though the man he’s got to find himself is a missing boffin rather than a bed-warmer. Meanwhile, he’s messing things up big-style with his woman, as his suspicions about Anne drive a wedge between them. Some reviewers online don’t like the way Anne’s character is treated in these final episodes, since her immediate focus drifts from her research to her fraught love affair, but I disagree. Although you might not see her doing a lot of psychic-wrangling, her commitment to her career is stressed again and again in a way that was unusual for the time, and I think the denouement can be seen as very feminist.

And viewers who disapprove of the lady scientist getting her emotions all messed up can console themselves by contemplating the fate of anyone who tries to fuck with a lady spy. Spook supremo Mrs Arden (played by Shakespeare veteran Edith McArthur), is a beautiful, arch and sinister older woman with just a touch of ice; it’s not hard to imagine her as a bridge-playing aunt to Sapphire from Sapphire & Steel, though she’s less alien. You can just about picture her dominating a Britain in Bloom committee on a quiet night off. Which, of course, only makes her ruthless behaviour more distressing. And some of the stuff they get up to with their experimental subjects is very upsetting here, worse even than in the episode Child’s Play.

This introduction of a great new character only makes the termination of the series more annoying, of course. And overall, my sense of disappointment with this episode stems mainly from the lack of supernatural content or thrills in general. Call me old-fashioned, but even a cliff-hanger should have a bit more “oomph” in that department, and that cringeworthy Bacall and Bogart bit (which must surely have felt stale even in the 70s) is no substitute! Put YOUR lips together and blow, Hazeldine. Or better yet, secrete some ectoplasm. Come along now, I’m waiting.

#ScFi #Horror #Occult #70stv #CultTV

FreddyB Aviation Photography Feb 20

The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman was such a great series and if you rewatch the 6MDM it is a treasure trove of aviation. Shots of a B-1A, Edwards AFB, 3 bladed prop C-130's etc #bionic #6milliondollaman #avgeek #ScFi

"It looks good at NASA One."
"Roger. BCS Arm switch is on."
"Okay, Victor."
"Lining Rocket Arm switch is on."
B-52 Pilot: "Here comes the throttle. Circuit breakers in."

"We have separation."
"Roger."
"Inboard and outboards are on."
"I'm coming forward with the sidestick"
"Looks good."
"Ah, Roger."
"I've got a blow-out - damper three!"
"Get your pitch to zero."
"Pitch is out! I can't hold altitude!"
"Correction, Alpha Hold is off, turn selectors — Emergency!"
"Flight Com! I can't hold it! She's breaking up, she's break—"

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/articles/bionic-woman-lindsay-wagner-six-110023659.html

The Bionic Woman’s Lindsay Wagner and The Six Million Dollar Man’s Lee Majors Reunite at Fan Event

Iconic Bionics! Lindsay Wagner and Lee Majors staged a long-awaited reunion for the first time in years — and together they still look like at least $6...

Yahoo Entertainment

John Harden Feb 16

The latest on ORIGINAL COPY, my #scfi #film in pre-production
https://mailchi.mp/4a663b4f4769/a-world-premiere-in-hollywood-august-10152830?e=b17419cc45

November Grau Feb 14

So we have now reached the penultimate ep of #TheOmegaFactor, ‘Double Vision”, and the screws are being turned on Tom Crane good and hard. He’s begun to see his dead wife on the streets of Edinburgh, and nobody takes him seriously. Not his compromised boss Martindale, not his conflicted girlfriend and colleague Anne, and certainly not creepy visiting academic Vashrevsky, who just happens to be at the department sharing details of his work on hallucinogen-augmented trance states and possession.

Vashrevsky annoyingly believes that no modern African is fully emancipated from such beliefs, but as the episode wears on it becomes clear that whitey, in the form of Tom Crane, is considered equally prone to the call of the occult. At one point Tom bursts into a lab room where a TV is blaring out footage of a tribal ritual soundtracked by the words “To appease the God, sacrifices must be given”. It’s clear who the sacrifice is here, but just who’s the God? Is it just gaslighting of colossal proportions? This is, after all, one of the most paranoid of all the shows of a paranoid decade of television.

I won’t spoil it for you, but this was another episode that’s all about relationships, with no special effects or ghostly stuff at all. There is, however, plenty of atmosphere, as we sense the noose narrowing around poor Tom’s neck, and possibly the most quietly eerie disco scene I’ve ever watched. Tom is shot from above, bumbling around on a sunken dancefloor in an otherwise dark nightclub, chasing after a glimpse of his wife. He’s making progress until ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down” segues into Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”, an extremely well-chosen track, both for its lyrics and its quavery, swirly oddness (that singing-bowl vocal must have been so strange to the song’s early listeners). Needless to say, he doesn’t find her, and his patched sports coat certainly prevents him from pulling any other women.

When Anne mentions he’s been talking a lot in his sleep, we’re not surprised that she can’t tell him exactly what he’s been saying. Things have got seriously nebulous, and everyone around him is a suspect. Even the cupboards in Tom’s life have become dubious. His drawer in Anne’s room contains hypnotic medication he has no recollection of taking (yeah we’ve all been there), while her wardrobe features an unexplained wig (suddenly erupting wigs always ramp up the uncanny by a factor of a 1000), while his own late wife’s clothes are all missing from her old room. By the midpoint of the episode he’s floundering, and the viewer is shocked by the callous cruelty of Wardrobe, who dress him in a royal-blue towelling robe of appalling shortness just at the point when he most needs the reassurance of some dignified clothing (Anne, meanwhile, is swanning around in an elegant full-length dressing-gown. I suppose it’s a reversal of the usual gender stereotype, at least.)

But Tom is not going down without a fight! He’s soon back in his sports coat and dingy flares, pounding the mean streets to find his errant wife, dismaying day-for-night photography be damned. “I AM NOT HALLUCINATING!” he asserts, and as someone who’s said that a few times in exactly that tone and with exactly that level of success, I salute him.

#70stv #CultTV #ScFi #Horror #Occult #Ghosts

Yonhap Infomax News Dec 2

HMM Co. remains financially resilient amid a global shipping downturn, with strong liquidity, improved debt ratios, and alliance strategies helping offset industry headwinds.
#YonhapInfomax
#HMM #ShippingIndustry #FinancialStability #SCFI #DebtRatio
#Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=93419

'Shipping Industry Faces Looming Downturn—How Is HMM Positioned? Financial Stability Remains Solid'

HMM Co. remains financially resilient amid a global shipping downturn, with strong liquidity, improved debt ratios, and alliance strategies helping offset industry headwinds.

Yonhap Infomax

Josh Sutphin Dec 1

I first discovered THE FOREVER WAR several years ago, having no idea of its pedigree, and was utterly blown away.

https://www.sciencefictionclassics.com/why-the-forever-war-still-defines-military-science-fiction/

#scfi #bookstodon

Why "The Forever War" Still Defines Military Science Fiction

Joe Haldeman’s “The Forever War” remains a cornerstone of military science fiction, blending real physics with timeless questions about courage, duty, and the cost of progress across the stars.

Science Fiction Classics

Wulfy—Speaker to the machines Dec 1

New #transhuman body mod centre opens up at the mall.
75% off the first bod-job.
Assume tech has MOST bugs ironed out.
What's the mod you get (specials menu)

#cyberpunk #bodymod #scfi

22mm pistol finger (pew pew)

Boobs (+/-)

Headwire (Internet)

16.7%

Fun pinkbits

10%

Radio nipples

13.3%

Mediatronic forearm (Plays media, e-tats)

Eyecam with replay

13.3%

Full main muscles upgrade (Special price not available for this mod)

16.7%

Head skill slot

23.3%

GTFO you sleazy clanker. 100% biological you disgusting tin peddler.

6.7%

Poll ended at Dec 15 at 2:23am.

Stege 🐜Nov 23

#Scfi Hörspieltipp für diese Woche: die neueste Folge von "Das war morgen"

https://www.ardaudiothek.de/episode/urn:ard:episode:ee8acc96a043a7e5/

Podcast: Sternenvogel (1986)

nach Nelson Bond Vor den Hörspieltagen haben wir dazu aufgerufen uns zu schreiben, welches Stück aus der historischen Science-Fiction Reihe Sie sich für die Präsentation bei den Hörspieltagen wünschen. Die Wahl fiel auf „Sternenvogel“. In dem Hörspiel wird im Kosmos plötzlich ein riesiger Vogel gesichtet, der auf unser Sonnensystem zufliegt. Ein Wissenschaftler entwickelt eine gewagte Theorie: Er ist auf dem Weg zu seinem Gelege. Denn wie heißt es bei Hermann Hesse? "Der Vogel kämpft sich aus dem Ei / Das Ei ist die Welt". Mit: Hermann Treusch, Heinz Schimmelpfennig, Volker Spahr, Gustav Gromer u. v. a. | Regie: Andreas Weber-Schäfer | Technische Realisierung: Jochen Prandhoff, Brigitte Laugwitz | Bearbeitung: Hermann Motschach | Produktion: Süddeutscher Rundfunk 1986 | Erstausstrahlung: 14.01.1987 Das Hörspiel wurde am 8.11.2025 live bei den Hörspieltagen im ZKM in Karlsruhe aufgeführt. Dies ist die Aufzeichnung der Präsentation. Isabella Hermann, Oliver Martin und Aiki Mira unterhalten sich im Anschluss über das Hörspiel. Mareike Maage moderierte die Runde. Ab sofort sind die Science-Fiction Hörspiele der ARD hier zu finden: „Das Portal“ (https://1.ard.de/dasportal). Es erwarten euch: Raumschiffe, Roboter, künstliche Intelligenzen, Zeitreisende - Utopien und Visionen aller Art. Jeden zweiten Donnerstag entführen wir euch dort in weit entfernte Galaxien und futuristische Welten. In Klassikern und spannenden Neuproduktionen für alle Dimensionen.

ARD Audiothek

Andy is Frazzled (ze/they/she)Oct 9

I finished Of Monsters and Mainframes. It is small press and wound up being more queer than anticipated, so not off brand for me at all.

I LOVED it and think anyone who enjoys both SciFi and classic monsters should go read it.

Full review pending.

#books #reading #scfi #monsters