September 20, 2017
When I saw a trailer on YouTube for a YouTube Red movie called The Thinning, I was intrigued. Earth has few resources left, and in order to help stem the bleeding, as it were, the UN decreed that nations across the globe must cut their population by 5% each year. Everyone does it differently, but in the US, the decision was…
August 8, 2017
It is 1983, and I am thirteen and hunting for dragons, on a winter Boulder, Colorado day with crystalline skies so clear that I know it is below freezing outside. But I brave the elements anyways, for I want dragons, and I have five dollars and some change earned from household chores. I take the RTD bus 204 downtown, and…
July 25, 2017
Death’s End (2016) Written by: Cixin Liu Translated by: Ken Liu Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 608 (Hardcover) Series: Remembrance of Earth’s Past Book 3 Publisher: Tor Why I Picked It: I had already read The Three-Body Problem (#1) and was halfway through The Dark Forest (#2) when I was given the opportunity to review Death’s End. I am notorious for…
April 19, 2017
Editor’s Note: Today we bring you not something a little different than our usual Sound Off for film review; today, we bring you an academic critical essay, and the title says it all. Yes, there will be spoilers. Enjoy! “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?…
March 14, 2017
This Month on Changing the Map Last year’s announcement that Hulu was remaking Margaret Atwood’s chilling tale of religious fundamentalism and female oppression couldn’t have been more timely. Her imagining of a takeover of the government and its impact on one powerless woman affected readers deeply when it was first published in 1986. Worryingly, elements of Atwood’s fantastical story are…
August 23, 2016
Welcome to Chain Reaction! Introducing a monthly column that will showcase three titles that have a common thread, theme, or plot device. I’ll take one known quantity and introduce two more along the same lines — something that made me think of another title, and then another. They might be recent; they might have been around for awhile; they might…
August 18, 2016
The Aeronaut’s Windlass (2015) Written by: Jim Butcher Genre: Steampunk Pages: 768 (Kindle) Series: Book One of The Cinder Spires Publisher: Roc Why I Chose It: As part of a Speculative Chic dare to review this year’s Hugo Nominees. And because my editor told me there were talking cats in this book. TALKING CATS! Premise: Since time immemorial, the Spires…