Written by: Thea von Harbou
Directed by: Fritz Lang
Starring: Brigette Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Movie Marathon: Artificial Intelligence
In Short: In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city’s mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Recommended: Yep Yep.
MARIA: Having conceived Babel, yet unable to build it themselves, they had thousands to build it for them. But those who toiled knew nothing of the dreams of those …

1965
Published by Ace (among many others)
Available in Hardcover, Paperback, Audio, Kindle editions, and pretty much everything else
In the Stacks: Obsession
In Short: Paul Atreides moves to a new planet and becomes the Emperor of the galaxy.
Recommended: Oh so very much Hell yes!
He who controls the spice controls the universe.
So, if you’ve never read Frank Herbert’s amazing epic Dune or seen either of the film adaptations (David Lynch’s 1984 version or the much better Sci-Fi Channel miniseries from 2000) then you have missed an amazing and very influential work of science fiction.
Set …

“Hugo-winning” may sound like a big deal. But is it really?
by Rachel Hyland
On September 2, at the 70th World Science Fiction Convention held in Chicago, Illinois (Chicon 7), the 2012 Hugo Awards were given out in eighteen categories. From Best Novel to Best Fan Artist and from Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) to Best Semi-Pro Fanzine, the recipients of those Hugos have now earned the right to identify themselves forever by perhaps the most sought-after adjective in the genre world—or at least, that is specific to the genre world.
Because to …

In an attempt to be fair and balanced and thoroughly, completely above reproach in properly researching my side of this debate, I have just come off two hours of mind-numbing, eye-rolling, fist-clenching torture. Yes, folks, I just watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, for what was the fifth hellish time. You would think I would’ve learnt better by now, but no, I keep trying again, desperately attempting to grasp whatever it is that makes others so rapturously fatuous about this dull, dreary tale of apes, interfering alien rocks and a dulcet-toned …

“Are you not entertained?”
– Maximus Decimus Meridius

Apparently, my esteemed colleague’s answer to that is, no, she was not. I pose the question, “So what?” Like Commodus, I will put it to the masses: Are we discussing whether 2001: A Space Odyssey was entertaining, or whether it was good?
I posit that those are not really the same thing. Are there movies you will watch over and over, but deep down, you know are really bad? Of course there are. We all have those. If I had to pick my “desert island” …

Foundation, Book 1
1951
Published by Spectra (reprint edition), among others
Available in Hardback, Paperback, Audio, and Kindle
In Short: Whoever called this a “novel of ideas” was spot-on.
Recommended: Of course.
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
Confession time: I was an Asimov virgin until I read this book. I’m not sure how that happened. As I told my editor, I was probably too busy watching college basketball and reading things like Norma Johnston’s teen girl-friendly Keeping Days to get around to his work during my formative years, and then… life happened, I guess.
No …

Published by Broadway
1990
Available in Trade Paperback
In Short: An excellent and wide-ranging collection of stories by the master.
Recommended: Of course.
Isaac Asimov. What do we really know about him? Can we really trust him to be the brilliant and iconic sci-fi writer that he pretends to be? Or is the truth much more sinister?
Price of gas has gone up nearly tenfold since many of his stories came out in the 1950s! The number of people in prison has gone up by 9 times! And you don’t want to know how much college …

Galactic Empire, Book 3 (according to internal chronology)
1950
Published by Doubleday
Available in Paperback and Kindle editions
In Short: A man from the past-Earth must save future-Earth from internal and external enemies. Oh, did I mention he’s old, overweight and doesn’t speak the language?
Recommended: Yes.
“To the rest of the Galaxy, if they are aware of us at all, Earth is but a pebble in the sky. To us it is home, and all the home we know. Yet we are no different from you of the outer worlds, merely more unfortunate. …

The Caves of Steel (1954), The Naked Sun (1956), The Robots of Dawn (1983), Robots and Empire (1985)
Published by Doubleday, and then pretty much everyone else over the years
Available in Paperback and Kindle editions, along with assorted Omnibus collections
In Short: Four whodunnit novels that show the evolution of Earth’s people from underground ants to space settlers.
Recommended: Yes.
In the Stacks: Isaac Asimov
I first picked up I, Robot because the Will Smith movie was coming out, spurring me on to think, “Asimov was a pretty okay writer, I should read the …

Upon the death of science fiction pioneer Ray Bradbury earlier this month, a mere sampling of the paeans of praise sung to his name…
by Rachel Hyland
“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?”
He laughed. “That’s against the law!”
“Oh. Of course.”
– Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
Headline: Following Ray Bradbury’s Death, Thousands Of People Buy Kindle Version Of Book About Demise Of Paper Books
– The Onion, June 6, 2012 (rather missing the point, of course)
On June 5, 2012, at age 91, science fiction pioneer Ray Bradbury died. Author of seminal dystopian classic …