Science Fiction 101

Time for another regular episode of the podcast, and this time we have more interview goodness from the Hugo- and Nebula - winning SF writer Robert J. Sawyer. We had so much fun talking to Rob about his new novel The Downloaded (see episode 40 ) that we decided to gather up our more general discussion into a separate segment. So here you will hear talk of Planet of the Apes , science fiction conferences, and much much more. We also have a mostly Star Trek quiz, but with a few Star Wars questions thrown in to trip Phil up. And the usual recommendations of past/present/future SF. Some of the items discussed in the episode:  Robert J. Sawyer's website, with its appropriate URL: sfwriter.com The Audible version of The Downloaded ( US - UK - Canada ) The print versions of The Downloaded ( Amazon US - Amazon UK - Amazon Canada ) Stalker (1979 film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky) based on the novel Roadside Picnic (1972) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. BBC Radio's Crowd Science...

Time for a new episode of the podcast. This time Colin and Phil meet the Hugo- and Nebula-winning author Robert J. Sawyer, to discuss his new novel The Downloaded . You may recall we reviewed the Audible Original full-cast audio version of The Downloaded a couple of episodes ago (you can find it here ). We were keen to find out how the book version differs from the audio version, so we invited Rob onto the show to discuss. And what a discussion it is!  Also in this episode, we have listener responses to our " to be a fan " episode, and our usual ramble through the past, present and future of SF. Here are links to items mentioned in today's show: Robert J. Sawyer's website, with its appropriate URL: sfwriter.com The Audible version of The Downloaded , available now ( US - UK - Canada ) The print versions of The Downloaded , due out May 7th ( Amazon US - Amazon UK - Amazon Canada ) The Last Man On Earth (1924), surely one of the first SF movies ever made " T...

We finally made it! Science Fiction 101 starts here. You'll be able to find us on all the major podcast platforms, so please search for us and subscribe. You can also play episode 1 directly from this page - see below. And if you're manually-inclined when it comes to such things, you can even plug our RSS feed into your podcatcher of choice (it's https://anchor.fm/s/4f17b2f0/podcast/rss)  In this debut episode, your friendly hosts Phil Nichols and Colin Kuskie first attempt to define "science fiction". If you want to know more about this thorny subject, check out Wikipedia 's attempt to do the very same thing . Or, for a more in-depth discussion, check out what the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has to say on the subject . As for the "I know it when I see it" view, that's an allusion to the US Supreme Court position on pornography ! Next, Phil and Colin talk about their recommendations of science fiction ...