Odd Man Out

joes

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

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For a chain, Joe’s Crab Shack had lots of personality. It fit how Mickey saw the life he used to live. Now he had bigger problems, his co-workers.

“Hey, there he is,” shouted Nate waving him over to their table. “About time you got here.”

He sucked up his nerve and tried to look confident walking over to them. He’d always avoided these “team building” meetings before because they all had one thing in common; booze.

“Here.” Laurie handed him a beer as he sat down.

“Just a Coke,” he nodded to the waiter. He was starting a new life.

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Little (Synthetic) Girl Lost

brenda's bus

PHOTO PROMPT © Brenda Cox

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It was illegal for her to be in Shenzhen let alone to time shift into the past. Fortunately, she had enough power left to transmogrify into a western tourist and evade her pursuers. As she boarded the double-decker street bus, she did attract some male attention, but for predictable reasons.

He kept a home in the Bantian district where her transportation was heading. If Dr. Kao didn’t have the technology in 1998 to fix her, she’d have to spend the next thirty years pretending to age to reach her present. Could she warn her former self to avoid the accident?

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Book Review of “Hauser’s Memory” (1968)

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Photo credit: James Pyles

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I finished my re-read of Curt Siodmak’s classic novel Hauser’s Memory a few days ago but this is the first chance I’ve had to write about it. I know I originally read the book some decades ago but remembered very little. I also watched the 1970 made-for-TV movie starring David McCallum and Susan Strasberg, but remember just a little more.

This book wasn’t part of my local public library system so I had to buy a used hardback. The copyright says 1968 so I imagine it could be a first edition, especially since the page stock is so wonderfully thick. I really love old books.

What strikes me about this novel more than anything else is the writing. Normally, when I review a piece of science fiction, I’m assessing (among other things) the quality of the science fiction writing. In Siodmak’s case, his writing is that of a wonderful author and storyteller regardless of genre. Taking out the SciFi aspects, his knowledge of humanity is wonderful. I could read his descriptions of even the most mundane aspects of the lives of his characters and still be fascinated.

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Toxic Fandom and What is “real” Star Trek?

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After the controversial Star Trek Strange New Worlds musical episode and whatever latest mess actor Robert Beltran (who played Chakotay on “Star Trek: Voyager”) stepped in, the question once again comes up, “What is a true Star Trek fan?” We could just rephrase it as “What is real Star Trek?”

I’ll say right now that there’s no one right answer. However, fandom being what it is, every perspective in Star Trek fandom believes it has the one, only, and right answer to those questions.

For instance from Quora:

The five series; TOS, TNG, DS9. Voyager, Enterprise.. plus the first 10 movies.. are what I consider canon, because they are aligned with Gene Roddenberry’s vision of what Star Trek is supposed to be, which is the exploration and development of humanity and its borders, and the conflict that comes with it.

All those that violate this established canon, is not what I’d call “real Star Trek”.. and that includes all the Abrams films and ST Discovery. Now I’m not saying that they are not fine pieces or work.. I am just saying that it is not really Star Trek.

Then from reddit:

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A Few Centuries More or Less in the Man Cave from Hell

man cave

PHOTO PROMPT © Alicia Jamtaas

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“Oh now, it’s not all that bad,” said the Dark Prince.

I reacted in appropriate horror. “Are you kidding? It’s hideous. Could we just go with the traditional lake of fire with demons wielding pitchforks?” I knew I was whining, but what more could he do to me?

“This isn’t on me. I wasn’t the one who spent decades swilling booze, snorting coke, and who ended up committing suicide after bankrupting his family.”

He had me there. I was a louse. There were reasons but they didn’t matter.

“It’s not forever,” he said smiling. “Just until you redeem your soul.”

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DVD Review of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023)

ant q

DVD cover for the movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

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A few days ago, I checked out a DVD of the film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) at the public library (so it didn’t cost me a cent) and got around to watching it yesterday.

First of all, I miss the “Wombats” (Michael Peña as “Luis,” David Dastmalchian as “Kurt,” and Tip T.I. Harris as “Dave”). I understand there wasn’t a place in them given the story, and they weren’t as well utilized in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) as they were in the original Ant-Man (2015), but they’re great comedy relief.

Secondly, I miss Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie. I know the MCU blipped ahead five years so the actress (now age 15) would be too young, but she was a lot of fun. I also know that an older daughter for Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) means she can join him on his adventures, but at 26, Kathryn Newton, who replaced Emma Fuhrmann in the role after Avengers: Endgame (2019) might be a little bit too “old” (Fuhrmann is only 21 which is just about right).

Most of the movie seemed to be pretty much in the dark, which made it hard for me to tell what was going on half the time. For instance, in the opening sequence with Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the Traveler/Kang (Jonathan Majors), I couldn’t see their faces and had no idea what was going on until later in the film.

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Book Review of Joe Haldeman’s novel “Camouflage” (2004)

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Photo credit: James Pyles

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I just got done reading Joe Haldeman’s novel Camouflage. I used to read Haldeman a lot back in the day. I loved classics such as The Forever War and All My Sins Remembered. It was after reading his novel The Accidental Time Machine that I said I’d never read him again (more on that later).

But a friend suggested giving him another try, so I found “Camouflage” at my local public library.

It’s generally a good book and a very easy read. I shot through it in just a few days. In spite of the title, the protagonist is an alien being simply called “Changeling.” We find out early on that Changeling came to Earth from over 10,000 light-years away and evolved in a very different environment. Apparently life is rare in the galaxy and Earth is where it found life.

Its ship landed in the Pacific Ocean, specifically the Tonga Trench about a million years ago. The narrative made it seem that Changeling is a subset of the life form in the ship that separated itself to explore. For the vast majority of that million years, Changeling was various forms of sea life swimming around, primarily an Orca and a Great White Shark.

But by-the-by, Changeling started observing human beings on ships and became curious. It came on shore in California in 1931 and superficially imitated a human being.

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The Anthology “One-Way Ticket” is Selling Great!

one

Screenshot from Amazon.

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That’s right. The Starry Eyed Press science fiction anthology One-Way Ticket is selling great guns on the free kindle market just now.

one

Cover art for “One-Way Ticket”

Here’s what it’s all about:

Space, with its infinite possibilities, calls us to explore, but makes no promises of returning home for those brave or foolish enough to test its resolve.

Starry Eyed Press proudly presents One-Way Ticket, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror. Follow hopeful explorers, observe new settlers and terraforming efforts, meet sentient planets, witness lethal attacks, and discover alien species beyond your wildest imagination.

This one-way ticket takes you forward in time to a place where technology, infinite possibility and the vastness of the galaxy itself combine.

Embark upon this journey to new worlds, new possibilities and unforgettable adventures.

It’s also getting some great reviews but still needs more (hint, hint).

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Book Review of “Cowl” by Neal Asher

cowl

Photo © James Pyles

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I just finished reading Cowl (2004), a science fiction novel by Neal Asher. Of the seemingly endless supply of books he’s written, I chose “Cowl” because A) it is a stand alone novel where most of his works are bound to series and B) it was available through my local public library system.

Okay, the third reason is that it is specifically a time travel story, and I’m a sucker for time travel stories.

Most of the books of Asher’s I’ve read thus far (the reviews are elsewhere on my blog) are set off Earth, well outside the solar system, and so far in the future that anything that even vaguely refers to Earth is incredibly removed.

So it was odd to start out with the protagonist Polly, a teenage prostitute and drug addict in the 22nd century. Through an association with the sister of a soldier who had access to odd technology, she ends up in the crosshairs of a “U-gov” assassin named Tack. She sees the soldier Nandru killed by something called the Torbeast while Tack is trying to kill her.

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Steamflight

liz

PHOTO PROMPT © Liz Young

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“You really like it in that steampunk reality?” Josue Hunter stood in this secret museum admiring the flying machine with his best friend Wyatt Ellison.

“You sound so surprised, Josue. I got into time traveling for the adventure, so when history made this turn, you knew I’d jump for it.”

“And you knew I’d pass, giving up time travel. My universe became safe and mundane, well except for this.” He motioned toward alternate reality’s first steam driven aeroplane from the mid-19th century.

“You needed your history to be safe for your family. The time change gave you that, my friend.”

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