Tim Pratt recently won the 2007 Hugo Award for best short story with Impossible Dreams. The story’s main character, Pete, is a huge movie buff that stumbles across a new video store in his neighborhood. He doesn’t seem to understand how he missed the store before, but ventures in and finds an odd selection of movies which he though had been canceled, or made by different directors with different actors. What follows is an interesting commentary on movies which either were never made, were lost, or simply done differently. This is a truly awesome story with an excellently planned ending. It was a pleasure to read from start to finish. From the writing it either the author is a huge movie buff or his writing is so good that you’d never even suggest he wasn’t passionate about movies. Visit the link above and read the full story at Asimov’s Science Fiction.
Impossible Dreams by Tim Pratt
Related Post
Starship Troopers by Robert A. HeinleinStarship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The 1959 novel Starship Troopers is a military-based science fiction novel which won the Hugo Award for best novel in 1960. Robert A. Heinlein clearly draws from his previous military experience to describe the career of Juan “Johnny” Rico as he works his way up from a fresh recruit to 2nd Lieutenant in the Terran Federation military during the “Bug War”.
The story is told through a series of flashbacks narrated by Rico, intertwined between these are obvious commentaries on discipline, politics, and human behavior. Heinlein’s concepts, specifically mechanical armor, influenced science fiction in various realms ranging from other novels to games, and even spawned a Hollywood motion picture. I’ve seen the movie Starship Troopers (1997) before, and will watch it again soon, so keep an eye out for that review. (more…)
Isaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 3: Intruder by Robert ThurstonIsaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 3: Intruder by Robert Thurston
This review will most likely contain spoilers for any previous books in the series, read at your own risk.
Sometime after the end of Renegade, Derec has developed some problems using his chemfets to control Robot City. Derec, Ariel, Mandelbrot, Wolruf are on their way back to Robot City along with Adam & Eve (the changelings now referred to as Silversides). This book reminds me most of “Prodigy” from the Robot City series where we saw creative drives evolve in the robots. This volume is definitely more interesting than Renegade in my opinion. Amazingly, quite a bit of the main story plot is developed and we see some more information as to the purpose of the Silversides and their quest to define what is truly “human”.
The Lost King by Margaret WeisThe Lost King by Margaret Weis
I am always open to suggestions when it comes to discovering new authors. By new, I mean to me, not new to writing. For example, I discovered Isaac Asimov a few years after his death, when he had already written over 400 books. Recently, one of my friends suggested I read the Star of the Guardians series by Margaret Weis. He had read it a long time ago, but was rereading the series again. I figured if it was good enough for him to read twice, I should give it a try. Weis offers an eloquent introduction to the series by first clarifying the genre her books fall into. Many fantasy readers might recognize her name as a co-author of many of the Dragonlance books.
If Fantasy is a romance of our dreams, then Galactic Fantasy is a romance of our future
…
Galactic Fantasy is certainly not science-fiction. Sci-fi often deals with the romance of plastic and chrysteel; our love and worship of technology.
…
I believe that man will reach the stars. When he does, the ‘science’ of how our spaceship gets from place to place will ultimately be less important than how we, as people, act when we get there. Galactic Fantasy explores how we deal with our own fears, ambitions and passions as we soar among the heavens—not the technicalities of getting there.
It is my understanding that George Lucas did not intend to write hard science fiction, but rather Galacitc Fantasy in Weis’s terms. Another word that has been used to describe Star Wars is “Space Opera.” I think either of these would be suitable descriptions.
Why do I mention Star Wars? As the first few chapters unfolded, I noticed quite a few familiar themes. I detected obvious influences from Star Wars and Dune very early on. For example, the Guardians seemed to be very similar to Jedi. They are an elite group, loyal to protecting their leaders. Their weapon, for example, is the bloodsword. There is selective breeding for the “Blood Royal” kind of like in Dune, however it is combined with genetic research and with a slightly different goal. There are a few others that I won’t mention because I consider them to be spoilers. (more…)