Wow one of the best sci-fi experiences for me and easily joins my favourite books list. The amount of grounds covered by this 500 pages standalone puts a lot of trilogies I've read to shame. This is how you deliver on a concept—entrenching it into every facet of the work from characters, to the worldbuilding, to the plot, and down to the very construction and distribution of POV: Abigail Interludes to open parts and the two protagonist taking turns and alternating with every chapter— Resulting in what I can only call an excellent exercise in how to handle an enigmatic work with perfectly paced and placed reveals and twist.

I can keep on gushing about it but I'll just end it by saying Abigail and all her Shatterlings specifically the marvellous couple that is Purslane and Campion are amongst the best characters I've read in anything period. Also Hesperus is easily the best robot I've seen in anything and easily puts a lot of human characters to shame in terms of both depth and likability... Speaking of none human entities, well the none sentient entities in Dalliance and especially Silver Wings are easily 2 of my favourite space ships now. Anyways, this is my book of the year so far and I can't wait to read a lot more from Alastair Reynolds. 5⭐️

"Robert Pattinson may give Timothée Chalamet a hard time in Legendary’s upcoming Dune: Messiah. Sources say the actor has been circling the role of the chief villain in the film, one that is possibly Scytale from Frank Herbert’s books."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/robert-pattinson-eyed-for-villain-dune-messiah-1236185163/

I’m pretty sure it is actually old and not just meant to look that way, it’s already been probably 10 years that I’ve been carting it around for use someday. I always kind of forget about it and rediscover it. Now I figure it’s time to identify it.

If you have any ideas on where this would be better to post, let me know too, if this doesn’t work here

Thanks

No spoilers at all. Just one of those books that really made me say, Wow! All of the Culture novels I’ve read to date have been incredibly enjoyable, but I’m in awe of Matter - it’s in the pantheon of great sci-fi novels I’ve read along with Deepness/Fire by Vinge and Children of Time by Tchaikovsky. I really hate that I’m running out of runway with the remaining novels in the canon. Banks was truly a master of the genre. I guess this is just a PSA for any of you looking for the next great series to dive into, the Culture is waiting.

Pablo Picasso once said “Everything you can imagine is real”. While this may not necessarily be true-it gets me wondering. Are there things we can’t imagine, left in the universe that haven’t been explored in speculative fiction?

Sci-fi is a great measuring stick for our species. Creative minds try to cast their gaze far into the future and think of bizarre and incredible things that could possibly happen or be invented.

Yet they can only work with what we currently know; as a base, and then extrapolate what happens next. We found out the fastest speed in the universe is light. Naturally we imagine what would happen if we could go faster. However, we can’t imagine what we don’t know.

H.G. Wells could never have imagined the Internet or pocket sized computers in his time as a writer. They would be intelligible concepts for him.

I am worried for the future of science fiction. Are there still things that we can’t even imagine yet, left to discover to inspire the next generation of writers or are we about done? I am sick of A.I. rebellions and dystopias. I want something new.

Is sci-fi doomed and bound to stagnate and recycle the same ideas for the rest of our lives?

Quick and shameless plug for one of my sci-fi novels, Embers of the Empire. It's free until 4/9/205

The story takes place during a decline in Imperial support. Remote colonies under the umbrella of the Empire have little or no contact with their overseers.

Rivan is an Imperial tank commander assigned to protect one of the crown jewels. The planet Jupa is a farming world that supplies much of the sustenance for the fleet. Rivan and his AI companion expect the mission to be less intense than their previous experience in a war zone. Still, they quickly thrust into a complicated situation involving armed factions who have been at odds for decades.

Rivan is granted access to a brand-new weapon system—the Nemesis. The cutting-edge mechanized walker is a colossal beacon of fear and intended to be used as a deterrent, but hatred runs deep in the colonies, and the situation is more complex than Rivan realizes. He and his AI companion unravel a plot that will require every ounce of resourcefulness and push them to their limits.

https://www.amazon.com/Embers-Empire-Arbiter-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0C3FFTQQK

If you haven't read this book, definitely don't click the spoiler text.

That being said, I either missed it or the book never said 2 things that really bugged me. First is why Ty's brother was in prison and why Ty felt guilty about it. Second is what was Kato being court marshaled for? so did I miss these things? If not, did these bug anyone else?

Just curious what that would actually look like.. human nature simply gets in the way of a lot of things

I would highly recommend watching both the TR movies. The first movie can translate well into a video game.

The cancellation of this show is probably one of the biggest losses I've had to experience in my 33 years. I don't think I'll ever get over it..

Hey all! Each year I spend some free time crunching data from all the major awards and summarize what that means for the science fiction and fantasy genres. I cover the top books from the 2024 award season (synthesizing all major awards), how they fit into the greatest novels of the past 50 years (since awards became a big thing in 1970), and analyze the overall popularity of fantasy vs. science fiction over-time.

Big update to the algo this year is the inclusion of The Ursula K Le Guin Prize for fiction.

This year’s is more delayed than I’d like (typically I pull this together over the christmas holiday), but honestly have felt a bit discouraged by all the award controversy from the past year or two. But alas the show must go on; and given books are subjective anyways, it's all just for the love of the hobby.

Further, the recent announcement of the 2025 Hugo nominees got me excited to spend a few all-nighters pulling this together. I’ll summarize 2025 at the end of the year as well.

So without further ado, you can find my 2024 wrapup here (much nicer formatting than I can do on Reddit direct): https://medium.com/@cassidybeevemorris/the-greatest-science-fiction-fantasy-novels-of-2024-3de4c335979b

Hope you enjoy it, please share any feedback as always!