I’ve finished reading Battle Angel Alita: Last Order – so it’s time to finally get into the back half of the manga.
Read moreBattle Angel Alita: Last Order (Second Half): Manga Review
Matter: Book Review
Matter is my first step into the world of The Culture. I’ve heard bits and pieces about it through a variety of other sources, from the absurd ship names, to the concept of Outside Context Problems, to the absurdly high tech level – but I’ve never actually read a novel in the universe. While Matter is not the first book in the series, it is a pretty good jumping on point to the series.
Read moreSpace Battleship Yamato 2199: Anime Review
After completing Super Robot Wars V a year or so ago, I decided I wanted to watch some of the anime series from that show, particularly before moving on to X (along with wanting to watch a couple of the shows from X as well to set up the story for comparison). That, combined with the fact that I’d been watching various anime series on weekends with my parents, and that my mother had watched the original first season of Space Battleship Yamato while growing up in Hawaii, lead me to bump the reboot of that series up on my list.
Read moreDoctor Who: Cat’s Cradle – Time’s Crucible Book Review
Virgin Books’ Doctor Who: New Adventures series was, back in the day, meant to provide fans of Doctor Who the thing they wanted after the show was put on indefinite hiatus after the serial Survival. Time’s Crucible is the 6th book in the series, part of a pair of thematically linked stories under the heading of “Cat’s Cradle”.
Read moreNegadon: The Monster From Mars – Film Review
There’s something to be said about a short film that gets in, does what it sets out to do, and gets out. Negadon: The Monster From Mars does exactly that.
Read moreRoyal Space Force – Wings of Honneamise: Anime Review
ID: Invaded – Anime Review
If I was going to describe ID: Invaded to someone in an elevator, it would be Inception crossed with Criminal Minds. It’s probably the closest I’ve come to a more standard procedural in a genre anime for quite some time, in a very imaginative way.
Read moreOdin: Starlight Mutiny – Anime Review
Anime, often, cribs from works of western science fiction – particularly films. Star Wars, Star Trek, the Starship Troopers novel, and Lensmen have all been borrowed from or in some cases adapted outright. However, there are some instances where the level of cribbing doesn’t quite pan out, and Odin: Starlight Mutiny is one of those.
Read moreBoba Fett – Death, Lies, and Treachery: Comic Review
Sadly, we are not done with the Hutts. Though this time they play second fiddle to Boba Fett.
Read moreLegend of the Galactic Heroes: Book 10 Review
It has all come down to this, as we have the final book in the Legend of the Galactic Heroes series.
Read moreBattle Angel Alita – Last Order (1st Half): Manga Review
Battle Angel Alita ended – sort of – on an interesting note. Due to health issues, the mangaka, Yukito Kishiro, somewhat rushed the manga’s conclusion, quickly moving the story into the floating city of Zalem, before blitzing through the city coping with the revelation that everyone in the city has computer brains – and Alita ultimately ending up in control of the city. The sequel, Last Order, starts there, before going into an oddly different direction.
Read moreThe Electric State: Book Review
The Electric State is very much a different book from Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood. Those books had a retrospective narrative – the point of view for those books was from the viewpoint of someone looking back on events with a sense of nostalgia. The Electric State, on the other hand, has a more conventional narrative, while still having significant themes of memory, but definitely without the warmth of nostalgia.
Read moreTales from the Loop & Things from the Flood: Book Review
A while back, on the internet, I stumbled across the work of artist Simon Stålenhag, in what was part of the Tales From The Loop project – though I did not know what it was at that time. So, when the art was collected into a series of books with a narrative behind them – along with a tabletop RPG, I figure it was time to properly check it out.
Read moreKnights of Sidonia Vol. 1-7: Manga Review
Tales from Jabba’s Palace: Book Review
This time I’ve got the second of the Star Wars short story collections with Tales from Jabba’s Palace.
Read moreAstra: Lost in Space – Anime Review
A while back, when I had started my fanzine with the intent of getting established science fiction fans, in particular, those who read fanzines (a demographic that is generally more likely to vote and nominate in the Hugos), to watch and nominate speculative fiction anime – I started with a list. I gave a list of anime series that had come out since the turn of the millennium which I thought literary speculative fiction fans would enjoy. Among them was Bodacious Space Pirates, a science fiction anime which I felt took the sense of adventure and wonder that was a fixture of ‘50s and ’60s YA Space Adventure science fiction, kept that, and dropped the obsolete political and social views that fill so many works of that period. Astra: Lost in Space is the next anime that tries this and pulls it off spectacularly.
Read moreLegend of the Galactic Heroes Part 9: Book Review
This month we have the penultimate volume of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
Read moreX-Wing: Rogue Squadron – Book Review
I’ve previously discussed the first installment of Michael A. Stackpole’s Rogue Squadron Comics earlier. Well, he’s not just limited to the medium of comics, this week we get to the first of his Rogue Squadron novels, but with a different lineup of the squadron.
Read moreDarksaber by Kevin J. Anderson: Book Review
After Callista was introduced in Children of the Jedi, unlike other characters who were love interests of Luke, she was not forgotten by other authors, with Kevin J. Anderson’s novel Darksaber.
Read moreLegends of the Force Part 32: Children of the Jedi
This month I’m returning to Star Wars novels with the first appearance of Callista, with the novel “Children of the Jedi” by Barbara Hambly
Read moreChildren of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly: Book Review
There were a couple more Star Wars Novels in 1995, with the first two Callista novels, starting with Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly.
Read moreBook Review: Boogiepop Omnibus 1
In time for the conclusion of the new Boogiepop anime series, I have a review of the first omnibus volume of the Boogiepop novels from Seven Seas.
Read moreBook Review: Legends of the Galactic Heroes – Book 8
This week I’ve got a vlog on the 8th book in the Legend of the Galactic Heroes series of novels.
Read moreFilm Review: Alita – Battle Angel
We have a new live-action manga adaptation in theaters. How did it turn out!