Science Fiction 101

Colin and Phil return, buoyed by the news that Science Fiction 101 has risen to number 6 in Feedspot 's league table of Best UK Sci-Fi Podcasts ! Our main discussion topic the contentious issue of the "canon" of science fiction, triggered by a blog post by Dr Shaun Duke. We also have a movie quiz, and the usual round-up of past/present/future SF. Here are links to the items we discuss: Shaun Duke's blog post on the SF canon, and why it doesn't exist Duke's follow-up post, including a draft SF canon from 1961 ! The full sci-fi movie quiz, from Triviawell Stephen King's Firestarter , basis of a new (and old) movie Short film based on Arthur C. Clarke's " The Nine Billion Names of God " The LA Times Ray Bradbury Prize-winning short story collection Spirits Abroad by Zen Cho A new Doctor Who ! The new Emeka Walter Dinjos Memorial Award honours writers with disabilities and writers who depict disability in SF.   We hope you enjoy the episode:    ...

After a short break, we're back with a brand new episode of the Science Fiction 101 podcast! This time we  look at 2001: A Space Odyssey , the classic 1968 film directed by Stanley Kubrick , and the novel written by Arthur C. Clarke . We also mention Clarke's Lost Worlds of 2001 , in which the author reveals some of the left-over bits of story development which got dropped from the film and the novel. And various film andTV properties possibly inspired by 2001, such as: Moon (2009), Contact (1997), Space: 1999 (1975-7). Then Colin springs a quiz on an unsuspecting Phil. A perfect match for the audio medium, it's a quiz based on images and colours! And Star Trek . Perhaps you'd like to try it yourself ? And we finish with our usual round-up of recommendations of past, present and future science fiction. Colin points us to Andre Norton's Witch World series. Phil recommends the 1985 Aurum Film Encyclopedia Vol 2: Science Fiction , edited by Phil Hardy. Other ...

We're up to episode four of the podcast, and Phil has vowed to stop counting beyond this point! Our theme this time is "ex-science fiction" - in other words things that have gone from fiction to fact. If you can identify Phil's mystery sound, post a comment down below. And if you have any questions or comments on this episode, do the same, and we'll answer you on the show.      Show Notes  The Locus Awards are listd here . The two non-fiction books Phil recommended from the shortlist are Bradbury Beyond Apollo by Jonathan R. Eller and The Visual History of Science Fiction Fandom from First Fandom. Destination Moon was the first "serious" attempt to show a Moon landing in a Hollywood movie. Colin is eagerly anticipating Andy Weir's new book . Phil is looking forward to the new adaptation of John Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos. Phil suggests you re-visit the works of the great L. Sprague de Camp . Colin, mea...

Time for another episode of Science Fiction 101 ... in which we reveal the source of the mystery sound (and offer a brand new one), talk about the latest SF news around Hugo and Nebula Awards, and wax lyrical on science fiction's obsession with space. We hope you enjoy the episode, and look forward to your comments - please comment below, or seek out our Facebook page and comment there.   Show Notes In this episode Phil and Colin discuss the following:   Hugo shortlist and Nebula shortlist Information sources we like: ISFDB Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Ansible File 770 i09 Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction The editor of the Dictionary of Science Fiction - Jess Sheidlower - was interviewed on the Because Language podcast. Read about the impossibility of the apparently miraculous EmDrive . Phil recommended reading Sylvain Neuvel's A History of What Comes Next ( Amazon US link; Amazon UK link), but recommended ...