Writing Science Fiction That Sells
You built brilliant technology and nobody cares about your character. Science fiction craft that puts people first — with a subgenre comparison table and time travel rules.
Tag: Science Fiction (Page 24)
Book ReviewsMidworld
On a jungle planet swallowed by a single globe-spanning forest, Foster builds world-building among the best in SF and an ecological theme years ahead of the famous stories that share its premise. It holds at a seven mainly on pacing,…
Book ReviewsRiverworld
Built on one of SF's great high-concept premises: every human who ever lived resurrected along an endless river, with real figures like Burton and Twain interacting across the ages. Strong openers despite slow spots and a protagonist who never quite…
Book ReviewsRendezvous With Rama
A vividly realized alien artifact carries the whole book on pure wonder, with great pacing and, strikingly, no antagonist at all, just the adventure into the unknown. The founding Big Dumb Object novel, and a model of how mystery and…
Book ReviewsThe Ginger Star
The first of Brackett's Skaith trilogy, and one of my very favorite books, read well over a dozen times. Awesome storytelling, phenomenal characterization, world-building among the best in the genre, and genuinely great prose, with a perfect balance of action…
Book ReviewsThe Mote in God’s Eye
A masterful slow burn that builds empire, politics, and world before delivering one of the genre's finest first-contact stories: the chilling recognition that the alien Moties may not be good for humanity. I loved its patient structure so much I…
Artificial IntelligenceThe Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein's humane portrait of Mike, the supercomputer who wakes up and becomes a person, is one of SF's finest treatments of AI, set inside a lunar revolution built with rigorous intelligence. One of my favorites since the 1970s. The Loonie…
Book ReviewsLeviathan Wakes
Humanity has filled the solar system, and the first Expanse novel blends space opera, noir, and horror in a convincingly lived-in setting, alternating idealist Holden with hard-boiled Miller. Some thin secondary characters and structural strain, and it is entertainment instead…
Book ReviewsInfinity on Fire
The second book in Bonnie Dillabough's Dimensional Alliance, where the multiverse and its stakes come into full view. If the first book opened the door, this is where Jenny realizes how much is on the other side, and how much…
Book ReviewsFoundation
What if you could predict the future of an entire civilization with mathematics? Asimov's landmark is built on that one audacious idea, psychohistory, and the concept is genre-defining. The characters are thin and the dialogue is people explaining ideas to…
Book ReviewsThe Cluster Series: Cluster, Chaining the Lady, Kirlian Quest, Thousandstar, and Viscous Circle
A five-book saga built on the brilliant Kirlian-aura premise, extended into a full interstellar civilization. A reread favorite for fans of thinking-heavy SF, with a sagging middle and a couple of contrived conflicts. The technical density is the dividing line:…
Fiction WritingWriting Fiction Set in Virtual Worlds
Long before Silicon Valley discovered it, science fiction was living in the metaverse, Stephenson named it in 1992, Williams spent four novels there, Cline built a bestseller on it. Virtual worlds are one of the genre's deepest veins. Here is…