The Origins of Post-Apocalyptic Island America
When the continental United States becomes uninhabitable, the last survivors of America have to move to an island, in Anna North’s bleak, beautiful America Pacifica. Here’s an exclusive excerpt, in which some street performers reenact the end of our world. America Pacifica, out today, is the debut novel from Iowa Writers Workshop graduate (and Jezebel…
Badass Women of the Pulp Era
The pulps of the world were full of tough men. The iconic pulp characters — the Shadow, Doc Savage, Tarzan — are all men, and the common perception of the pulps is that they were written by male writers, about male characters, for male readers. However, the pulps were more progressive than mainstream fiction (and…
In which a great work is finally completed: Isaac Asimov’s Forward the Foundation
Though not without its flaws, Forward the Foundation is a fascinating book, in which both author Isaac Asimov and his hero scientist Hari Seldon strive to finish the works that would define them after they were gone. It is the seventh and final day of Foundation Week at Blogging the Hugos, and time to talk…
In Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov delves into psychohistory’s sorta psycho history
In the prequel Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov takes us back to see how psychohistory, the science that saved humanity, was born — and it’s kind of a crazy ride. Knife fights, mustaches, and high-level math await! Here we are on day six of Foundation Week, a very special Blogging the Hugos event. Today we…
Home again, home again, in so many ways: Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Earth
Having determined the fate of the galaxy, our intrepid space travelers move on to the next task at hand — finding the long-lost planet where humanity was born. It’s a strange trip into yesteryear, in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Earth. Blogging the Hugos presents day five of Foundation Week, in which we dive into Foundation…
Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov: The end is the beginning is the end
Three decades after his Foundation stories became classics, Isaac Asimov returned to that universe. In Hugo winner Foundation’s Edge, he covers old ground and new, and shows how a whole galaxy can work in harmony, in more than one sense. It is day four of Foundation Week for Blogging the Hugos, and time to discuss…