Sci Fi

There’s an interesting story in Starfleet Academy, but it’s not a story billionaires would want to tell.

You’re a psychic cop hijacking the minds of supervillains to solve crimes. But mind control… it’s a two way street.

Oyebanji’s Braking Day is a refreshing take on the generation starship story that avoids many of the tropes of the genre. The novel follows trainee engineer Ravi MacLeod as he discovers that the truth about the 132 year journey to Tau Ceti is not what he has been told. Although the book has a few flaws, Oyebanji’s writing is enjoyable and makes for a quick read.

Starfleet Dance Party Got myself a cameo in “Star Trek – The Webcomic”. Author and artist Mike Farinas offered a chance for an appearance in the comic as some random Trek walk-on part, I liked it and shared it and sent in a head-shot and eventually showed up as a doomed security officer in the current episode. I assume I’m doomed, since I’m a redshirt, but haven’t actually DIED yet, so… there may yet be hope :) ...

Space Battleship Yamato The movie starts, like all good space operas, in the silence of space. Blaster fire reflects off the eye of a lone pilot; the camera pulls back and we see she is part of a squadron; the camera pulls back more and we see an invasion of alien battleships against an Earth backdrop. Earth ships fire against the invaders, but their weapons are useless. The admiral sends a cruiser to attract enemy fire as he takes his flagship to safety. ...

Well, given the state of PvP as aptly described by The Friendly Necromancer, where endless reshuffles and easy access by everyone to the most powerful healing spell in the entire game combine to make duels extremely lengthy affairs, I’m not sure how Wizard 101’s Season 1 Arena will work out, but they’re going to be having a go at it. Without the superior gear available as rewards from World of Warcraft’s arena battles, I’m not sure how many people will really want to do hours long duels (even the 2v2 I was doing with my balance wizard + random partners tended to last ages), but for good or ill, the promised arena battles and pvp ladders are coming today. The standings are by level and by overall success, and come with badges and rewards you can’t get any other way, so if you think you have a meaner killer instinct than your everyday, common, pig-zapping wizard, why not visit Diego in Unicorn Way and sign up? ...

I scurried my way to visit a housing turtle as soon as I finished patching Wizard 101. I wanted to get started decorating my house as soon as I could, but which? I’d been thinking about buying one of the Wizard City castles, but when I tried to decorate it one last time on the Test server, I found the outside difficult to work with. I talked it over with Kasul, and he convinced me to go with a Marleybone home. ...

Anticipating the new Trek movie out next month, I picked up the prequel comics that set up the movie. Trek’s good, right? Lots of real SF writers have written for the various Treks. I know that ST is based on stuff that may not be possible in reality, like faster than light travel and teleportation, but I’ll give them that much. Sadly, the writers for Star Trek Countdown don’t just use common SF tropes to tell their story, but ignore BASIC science. It is disgusting. ...

I am SO EXCITED today! Last week, KingsIsle, developers of the wonderful MMO, Wizard 101, asked if I would be interested in participating in a little contest to help promote their new player housing. Players will be able to buy homes based on themes from each of the five worlds in game – Wizard City, Krokotopia, Marleybone, Moo Shu and Dragonspyre. The vendors for these homes are going to be industrious builder turtles, who will exchange piles of gold for the keys to your new home. The names of these turtles will be determined by the players, and the readers of West Karana who also play Wizard 101 will be naming the turtle for Marleybone, which is my personal favorite world. ...

Rumor has it that The Middleman, probably the best SF/comedy on TV this season, is in danger! Not of cancellation, but of being restricted to just one season. Creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach writes on The Middleblog that despite stellar network support, ratings haven’t been great, and they have decided to end The Middleman at episode 12, and to go out with a bang. If you don’’t watch The Middleman, you should. And if you DO watch, but via torrent or something, well, watch it on TV (I do, now), or watch it online – ABC Family streams each show after it airs, and people watching via the web in that way definitely support the show. ...