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We've all seen the predictions — both fictional and pseudoarcheological — that the world will end in 2012. But while some of science fiction's predictions for the year 2012 are apocalyptic, some are merely disastrous — and a few are downright upbeat. Let's see what triumphs and tribulations science fiction says we can look forward to in the coming year. More »
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In the February 1952 issue of Galaxy magazine, Robert Heinlein offered his verdict on the conclusion of the twentieth century. He would later revisit these predictions in the 1966 short story collection The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein and discuss the challenges of predicting the future. Here's what the author gathered, six decades ago: More »
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Science fiction is overrun with Martians, from monstrous invaders to shapeshifting superheroes to Santa-kidnapping buffoons. To make sense of over a century's worth of Martians, we present this grid ranking scifi Martians on their goodness and just how alien they are (click to expand). More »
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Even the great masters of science fiction paid tribute to the people who influenced them. Today, Letters of Note has a beautiful 1976 letter that Ray Bradbury wrote — by hand — to Robert Heinlein. More »
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Anyone who looks back on Robert Heinlein's ‘juvenile' novels, twelve books written for young adults between 1947 and 1958, as inspiration for his current work gets my attention. I loved every one of those novels, particularly Citizen of the Galaxy (1957) and Starman Jones (1953), but David Neyland says it was Time for the Stars (1956) that got him thinking about the 100 Year Starship Study. If you've been keeping up with Centauri Dreams, you know that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which handles cutting-edge research and development for the US military, is putting on a starship symposium this fall in Orlando, FL. More »
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The Register asked its readers to name the best science fiction books that haven't been turned into movies, and hundreds of nominations came in. Now the Register has whittled the list down to the 50 that got the most votes. More »
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Looking for an antidote to Star Trek's utopian but overbearing Federation? Like your science fiction with a bigger emphasis on personal liberties? Then check out our list of the greatest libertarian science fiction. More »
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Tax day is coming! No matter how you feel about the government and the things it does, you can't help but feel a twinge of pain as you send your painstaking calculations (and possibly a hefty check) to the IRS. More »
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Over at Shelfari, they're discussing "the worst books of the good authors" in science fiction. Including lone clunkers by Asimov, Heinlein and Niven. What are your least favorite books by your favorite authors? [Shelfari] More »
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Here are some gorgeous illustrations from the French science fiction compilation Club Du Livre D'Anticipation. Check out the works of Robert Heinlein and Philip K. Dick depicted by French artists like Moebius. More »
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It's election day, and all indications are that the GOP will sweep Congress. What's the worst that can happen under the Republicans? Science fiction has the answer, with a wealth of stories about right-wing policies taken to horrendous extremes. More »
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That's basically author Frederick Reiken's argument in this provocative post, about novels that approach time in unconventional ways. More »
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The best place in the United States to sit and feel the ghostly presence of early 20th century science fiction is probably Clifton's Cafeteria in Los Angeles, which was the epicentre of 1930s pulp scifi. More »
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Great science fiction and fantasy novels don't just expose us to other worlds and alternate timelines — they expand our minds and give us compass to steer by. Here are our favorite bits of advice and maxims from SF books. More »
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When will the Venusian colonists declare independence, according to Robert Heinlein's early stories? Now you can consult this handy future history chart, first published in the 1941 Astounding Science Fiction, and find out. Click to make huge. [Potrzebie] More »
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Some of us think of Starship Troopers as a brilliant satire, others consider it a bastardization of Robert Heinlein's novel. Scott Tobias of The Onion AV Club considers the 1997 film an apt metaphor for 21st-century nationalism and militarism. More »
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Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is a seminal libertarian text, and Heinlein inspired many people to become libertarians. But Heinlein's own views were more varied, and his work dabbles in many different political philosophies. [Mises.org] More »
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This week we take a break from examining alternate timelines and recap the real-life origins of the alternate history genre. Did you know such historical luminaries as Benjamin Disraeli, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and H.G. Wells were alternate history aficionados? More »
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Author Robert Heinlein took great pride in his military service, having graduated from Annapolis and served in the Navy. In a letter to fandom leader Forrest J. Ackerman, Heinlein condemns science fiction fans who didn't participate in WWII efforts. More »
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With 1967's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, we bid a fond adieu to Robert A. Heinlein's Hugo winners. And there's just no getting out of it: We're not that sorry to see him go. More »
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There's only one thing Hollywood loves than a movie based on a toy: remakes. Dozens of science-fiction classics are slated for do-overs. But instead of remaking films that were fine the first time, here are 20 books Hollywood should film. More »
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Is Stranger in a Stranger Land by Robert Heinlein the Catcher in the Rye for the science-fiction set? Yes, I think you could say that about the 1962 Hugo winner in one important sense. More »
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Whatever happened is fixed - or we rule our fates? Over 5 years, Lost has developed its philosophy of time-travel, influenced by works that came before. Here are 6 time-travel stories that are part of Lost's time travel pedigree. More »
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Starship Troopers is one of Robert Heinlein's most famous books, and one of the most famously controversial in SF. And the 1960 Hugo winner has its problems — but that's probably why it's a classic. More »
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The busier you get, the more stuff you forget, and navigating that mental clutter can be worse than steering through an asteroid field. Luckily, lots of intrepid galactic heroes have faced faulty memories, and created some handy techniques for remembering. More »
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People are complaining that Stargate Universe is becoming a soap opera, but don't worry — it's got a ways to go before it reaches the levels of science fiction/fantasy's most demented, silliest soap operas. More »
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Most of us would have no problem being seen in public reading a science-fiction novel... unless it had a cover so hideous, or so wrong, that you might get arrested. Here are the cheesiest and most disturbing science-fiction book covers. More »
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A single book can inspire a wide range of covers, and sometimes those covers can be works of art themselves. We look at some classic science fiction novels and the various covers they've worn throughout the years. More »
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The original Grand Master brings us the first Hugo-winning novel truly worthy of the award. Hot jets, kiddies! It's Double Star, by Robert Anson Heinlein, from 1956. More »
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Somebody wrote to the Wall Street Journal's book advice column to ask how you go about convincing your 13-year-old nephew to stop reading science fiction. Thank goodness the WSJ's in-house book nerd was smart enough to say: You don't. More »
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When you travel through time and space, you're bound to run into yourself occasionally. These meetings can be awkward, embarrassing, or lead to uncontrollable fainting, but there are some things your future self can teach you better than anyone else. More »
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Everywhere you look nowadays, there are young, fresh-faced vampires. But they're not the only heroes out there who stay eternally young. Some of our favorite science-fiction heroes are blessed (cursed?) with Alphaville's reward. Here are the 10 greatest forever-young heroes. More »
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At 220,000 words, Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land is one of the most famous doorstoppers in science-fiction history. (There's an edited version, which loses about 60,000 words.) Now a biologist has explained it could be much shorter. More »
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Looking for an antidote to Star Trek's utopian but overbearing Federation? Like your science fiction with a bigger emphasis on personal liberties? Then check out our list of the greatest libertarian science fiction... More »
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Stories of valiant spacefarers are making a comeback in science-fiction publishing, while space-war novels still have a healthy niche. Both space opera and military science fiction share similar icons, so why are they considered separate? More »
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Sex and science fiction have not always been the most obvious partners; combining the two has occasionally defeated even the genre's greatest luminaries. But here are ten authors who successfully brought sex into the future. More »
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Life Magazine sent a photographer to take pictures on the set of Destination Moon, the 1950 film that Robert Heinlein worked on. They include on-set clowning, like this lunar ballet, but also stunning props. More »
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A new anthology gives some hints at the cutting edge of storytelling about artificial intelligences. We Think Therefore We Are, just out from Daw, includes a number of brilliant concepts amidst mostly lukewarm writing. More »
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If you're freaking out with worry over whether tomorrow's U.S. election will be rigged, don't worry. It will be. American elections are always rigged to some extent, but the tampering is almost never enough to alter the final outcome. Still, Americans are pansies when it comes to rigging ballots — at least, compared to our greatest science fiction heroes, who have a long and proud history of tying democracy into knots you'd need a million nanoprobes to untwist. Hacking voting machines? Registering Yoda to vote? Bah. That's nothing. Here's how your heroes do it. More »
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Science fiction writers have fantastical powers. They can peer into the future, invent strange new gadgets and alien races, and make us lose hours between their pages. And some writers can even speak to us from beyond the grave, publishing new works months — and even years — after they’ve died. Here are just some of the works that made their way to the presses after their authors passed the real final frontier. More »
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