Science Fiction 101

    It's 100 years since the writer Richard Matheson was born. Author of novels such as I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, Bid Time Return and Hell House - and screenwriter for The Twilight Zone, Duel, Somewhere in Time and Kolchak: The Night Stalker - he is one of the most influential SFF writers of all time. We guarantee you will know some of his work, even without realising it! So we just had to do an episode about his work. But where to begin? Rather than attempt (and fail) to cover everything, we picked a handful of intriguing works to review, and add in a couple of personal favourites.  Discussed in this episode: Richard Matheson's short story "Little Girl Lost" from Amazing Stories , 1953 Matheson's  Twilight Zone  episode based on that short story Matheson's Twilight Zone episode " A World of Difference " Duel , a film written by Matheson from his short story, and directed by a young Steven Spielberg Matheson's time-travel novel Bid Ti...

  Triumph or disaster? Vintage or trainwreck? These are some of the questions we ask ourselves as we consider the year 1983 in science fiction film - prompted by a contemporary review which suggested it might have been particularly terrible. You see, on the one the one hand, there's WarGames. But on the other, there's Krull. And somewhere in between sits Brainstorm. As well as mulling over these cinematic masterpieces, we have a science fiction transport quiz courtesy of friend of the show Andy Parry, and our usual round-up of past, present and future SF. Discussed in this episode: Brainstorm The Dead Zone Krull Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone WarGames Yor:The Hunter from the Future The Hobbit   Childhood's End   Dragon Con's blood drive Phil will be presenting at Wolverhampton Literature Festival in February 2027 (schedule details still to be confirmed) The second issue of Small Planet magazine covers the prop...

  Colin and Phil consider the significance of dates in science fiction. ...1984, 1999, 2001... all years that carry heavy connotations for the SF connoisseur. And we've got plenty more. Which ones will you recognise? Also in this episode: Thanks to those who have bought us a coffee !   Why Orwell chose the year 1984 for his book  Nineteen Eighty-Four  En L'An 2000 , a famous set of French postcards  SF set in futures which are now past   Women in SF quiz Portland's Wildwood Art exhibit     Wil Wheaton at MoPOP   Space: 1999  in cinemas!   And remember, you can find the new episode via your podcast app or platform of choice (many of the platforms are listed at the bottom of this post). Or you can listen right here:             Podcast platforms carrying Science Fiction 101 include:   Amazon Music - Apple Podcasts/iTunes - Audible - Castbox - Deezer  - Fountain - Liste...

  In the midst of a long, hot summer, Colin and Phil turn their sci-fi attentions to the treatment of climate change in science fiction. Naturally, science fiction was there first: before human-caused climate change was recognised, science fiction had been considering what would happen if our planet became hotter. Or colder. To explore this topic, we discuss two films from earlier times - David Twohy's The Arrival (1996) and Val Guest's The Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961). We also have a Cli-Fi Quiz, and our usual round-up of past, present and future recommendations.  Among the other items mentioned in this episode: Isabel Kim's debut novel  Sublimation C.J. Cherryh's classic Hugo-winner  Downbelow Station The Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award goes to... Suzette Haden Elgin NPR's article on " cli-fi classics " And remember, you can find the new episode via your podcast app or platform of choice (many of the platforms are listed at the bottom of this ...