An Interview with Author L.S. King
By Tamara Wilhite
S. King is the author of both the “Sword’s Edge” science fiction / fantasy series and the “Deuces Wild” space opera series. She’s also a martial artist and mother to four homeschooled children.
An Interview with Author Andrew Fox
By Tamara Wilhite
Science fiction and horror author Andrew Fox’s first novel was Fat White Vampire Blues. He’s continued to put out a steady stream of science fiction and fantasy that’s equally edgy and entertaining. For example, he recently released a short story collection titled Hazardous Imaginings: The Mondo Book of Politically Incorrect Science Fiction. And I had the opportunity to interview him.
New Halloween Fiction: Worst Afterlife Ever
By Tamara Wilhite
I thought I had a good survival plan.
It seemed like such a good idea. Head out of the deathtrap dense urban Philadelphia at the first word of zombies in New York. Head into the mountains around the Shenandoah Valley, but head to the depopulated Centralia area instead of someone’s over-priced AirBnB property.
There were shrines in the area that had basic tourist amenities like bathrooms, so I could fill up with water. There were abandoned buildings for shelter. Yet it had almost no one living there because of the evacuation. Because of the fire hazard, no one else would go there.
Book Review: The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom
By Tamara Wilhite
One of my earliest memories is of the massive science fiction laden bookcase in my childhood home. I read John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt, Ray Bradbury, Larry Niven and other classic sci-fi authors before I was in middle school. That’s understandable given that I’m named for a character in a Robert Heinlein novel. This means I’m unusually familiar with both the art and stories of Golden Age sci-fi. This is why I chose to read and review “The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom: Part 1”. Part 1 is devoted to the 1930s and came out in hardback in February, 2020.
How Can Dragons Create Fire and What Would We Learn From It?
By Tamara Wilhite
Dragons cannot just create fire. It has to come from somewhere. However, we will want to know how they create fire for various reasons.
An Interview with Author and Horror Podcaster Boo Rhodes
By Tamara Wilhite
Boo Rhodes is a horror author. (And yes, that’s her real name.) Boo Rhodes is also host of a horror podcast called “Scary Story Time”. I had the opportunity to interview her just as she was making major changes to her horror podcast.
Book Review: Enjoying Starborn & Godsons and Remembering Dr. Jerry E. Pournelle
By Robert Arrington
Just this past week, I finished Starborn & Godsons by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes, the third novel in a trilogy about Earth’s first interstellar colony, a planet called Avalon orbiting Tau Ceti.
Methods for Getting Around Facial Recognition Systems
By Tamara Wilhite
Facial recognition systems threaten our privacy. They can track where you go and add that information to the massive amount of information already saved about each of us. Big Brother is watching you and enabled by AI. And when it makes a mistake reading your face, you could end up with criminal charges far worse than when the toll tag system misreads your license plate. Here are several methods for fooling and interfering with facial recognition systems.
A Universe without FTL
By Tamara Wilhite
FTL stands for faster than light travel. This is one of the standard tropes of science fiction. It may involve warp drive that turns space travel into an analog for ancient sea voyages, or the trip may be instantaneous once you’re far enough from Earth’s surface. However, faster-than-light travel will require the discovery of new laws of physics that may not exist. This leaves us with the other options for traveling in a universe without FTL.
The Paranoid Squint of Tim Powers
By Frederick Gero Heimbach
Tim Powers is my literary hero. He creates secret histories in which historical events are “explained” through fictional embellishments which completely alter history’s meaning. Secret histories have been written by Alexandre Dumas, Gore Vidal, Umberto Eco, and they are especially associated with genre writers like Elizabeth Bear, Steve Berry, and above all, Tim Powers.
Powers’ approach is rigorous. He never allows his fiction to contradict any known historical fact (and he knows a lot). He does, however, allow his fictional additions to make full use of magical and science fictional elements.
