National Today
Why We Love National Science Fiction Day
- It reminds us of the possibilities the imagination can spark Without science fiction, the imagination of what’s possible in the future just wouldn’t be the same. Certainly, what’s predicted in sci-fi doesn’t always come true. After all, if The Jetsons had been accurate, we’d all have robot maids and flying cars by now. But even if they aren’t accurate, science fiction stories spark the imaginations of people, helping inspire them to create inventions in the future.
- You can let your inner-nerd climb to the forefront Everyone wants to be well-liked and seem cool to friends and family. But there are times where you have to let your inner-nerd take control, and National Science Fiction Day is the perfect time to allow yourself to be a nerd. Investigate UFO sightings. Get into an online debate about all the plot holes in Lost. Whatever you enjoy about the sci-fi genre that’s nerdy, National Science Fiction Day allows you to embrace it fully!
- It’s a great excuse to stream your favorite science fiction movie or TV show There are so many great sci-fi movies and TV shows available, and everyone has a favorite. So National Science Fiction Day is the perfect excuse to pick the movie that appeals to you the most, find it online, and stream it. And don’t feel guilty that you’ve watched it enough times to be able to recite every line in the movie along with the actors. It’s your favorite sci-fi movie for a reason, right?
I just finished “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons. Excellent, I highly recommend it. I went on a science fiction military subgenre spree this summer reading “The Forever War,” by Joe Haldeman, “The Light Brigade” by Kamron Hurley and “The Old Man’s War” (along with the other three books in the series) by John Scalzi. All were really good, I’ll read “The Light Brigade” again. I also read “Roadside Picnic” by Arkady and Boris Sturgatsky that I liked so much I’ve linked to a free copy to read at the Internet Archive. – Dr. Tar
The subject ties in nicely with the thread about Liz and Bennie getting awards for a totally made up event, it wasn’t science but it sure was fiction.
Many years ago I got introduced to SF reading Ray Bradbury’s A Sound Of Thunder in Playboy Magazine. They had a short story fiction section, and the story, a futuristic company that takes high-paying clients back to the dinosaur era to shoot a T-Rex but someone steps off the path, steps on a butterfly, and changes history, was rivoting.
Hyperion is a great book, read it way back when. Vernor Vinge is another very good SF writer and has won several Hugo awards. Iain M Banks is a Hugo Award winner that I greatly admire. Unfortunately both have passed away. I’ve also been reading Neal Stephenson lately.
I started reading science fiction back in the sixties with the ABC’s – Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke.
Coof.
The diseases and poisons they forced on us were deliberately deadly soience.
The threat and vaxxx were fiction.
It was never about a virus.
I read all the “Old Man’s War” books by John Scalzi in 2024. Pretty darned good. David Weber is another of my favorites.
Here’s some hilarious Sci-Fi:
https://unfccc.int/news/new-un-climate-change-report-shows-national-climate-plans-fall-miles-short-of-what-s-needed
I love Hyperion – read the series many times. Maybe soon I’ll pick it up when the dust clears.
Another great science fiction book collection is Larry Niven’s Known Space. In the Star Trek cartoon series, they combined Niven’s and Roddenberry’s Universes…. The writers claim it was a big mistake, but interesting for me nonetheless.
The Forever War has one part where a heterosexual couple must keep their love affair secret because virtually everyone else is a dyke or a faggot.
Man I’m having a hard enough time dealing with reality.
How perfect that the FBI gave their version of the New Year’s events today. Pure science fiction.
^^^^
So was the Green Beret in the Tesla dead before he got there? Self inflicted gun shot to the noggin. How do they know?
Anathem by Neil Stevenson is perhaps the last great story he told before the wokeness killed his brain. Fantastic read.
“Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein
“The Mote in God’s Eye” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
“At the Mountains of Madness” by H.P. Lovecraft (possibly more horror or fantasy, but whatever)
I also used to love “Childhood’s End” by Arthur C. Clarke, but then I found out that Clarke was actually a pederast effectively shielded by the Sri Lankan government, so that one’s off the list.
Dr. Tar, if you like military SF, try the “Galaxy’s Edge” books by Cole and Anspach; you won’t be able to put them down. I’ve read the Hyperion series and I enjoyed it. I don’t pay any attention to the modern Hugo or Nebula stuff because it’s mostly woke, or amounts to nothing more than “Harlequin Romances in Space.”