Torn Branches: A Science Fiction Review

Not intending to make this habit, but if you have any spare coin then here's a great project to get behind. Lev is an eminently reliable chap, and the game looks like great fun. I'll be putting my money where my mouth is on this one.

It is now seven months since I started blogging about science fiction, so I thought I would jot down some of the things I have learnt in that time. Firstly, I blog because I enjoy it. When I started penning my thoughts on sci-fi, I wasn't sure how long I would keep it up. I've been an avid sci-fi reader my whole life, but like a lot of genre readers, I was too shy to express myself publicly on the topic. Blogging is very public, and sometimes it's hard to put yourself out there. Seven months later, however, and I am blogging more often and confidently than I ever imagined. Readership is something I didn't take much notice of at first. It's not that I wasn't chuffed when I hit milestones such as my first 1000 pageviews, because I was. As I wrote more, however, and became more confident I wanted to make sure that my thoughts were more widely received. Most of the growth in my readership has come through the various online communities I am a member of such as s

"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes" Ghost in the Shell Episode 10 A government database is hacked and the source is tracked to a health centre for children with Cyberbrain Closed Shell Syndrome. Togusa is sent to the facility under cover as a medical assistant to investigate. The Children all suffer from what we might call high functioning autism. They are so engrossed by the networks that their cyberbrain's allow them to access, that they never want to leave. A group of children refer to an individual they name 'The Chief', but will not divulge anything else. Togusa hacks the facilities computer server but is caught in the act. At the same time, someone starts hacking into Section 9. Kusanagi and Batou storm the facility, only to find Togusa unconscious. It is revealed to the viewer that The Chief is a young boy called Aoi. He tells the other children that he has been found and so will be leaving. He a

If you're feeling generous there are a few Canterbury lads who could do with a few extra pingas for their sci-fi project.  Here is the blurb from their Pledge me Page  where they aim to raise NZD $6000. "A small shuttle drifts alone through deep dark space. Its captain and only passenger, Tsione, has lost all control of the ship’s systems and if she can’t get them back up and running soon her ship, and she along with it, will quickly drift beyond the reaches of help. Tsione has done everything to save herself and her beloved ship, but after discovering a young girl on board… Is she the reason for all these problems? Or is she the key to solving them?"

Overview Murder on Muritai by Genesis Cottrell is ostensibly a sci-fi murder mystery novel set on Muritai Island, a fictional island off the coast of NZ. I say ostensibly because apart from a significant portion of the characters being alien, the book could easily have been written with non-sci-fi themes, and so should be enjoyable to all. Murder on Muritai follows a budding private eye, Curtis McCoy, on his first case – the death of a ‘Ryxian’ man in a fiery car crash. McCoy is employed by the man’s widow, who believes his death to be the result of foul play. Book cover by Genesis Cotterell As this book is the first in an expected trilogy, a lot of pages are devoted to world-building. The aliens are known as Ryxin, and are refugees who fled to earth after their own planet was destroyed. They live openly among the human population, first settling in Ireland at the start of the 20th century, but having since emigrated across the globe. Culturally, a lot of their customs are

The hunt for aliens I’ve recently started contributing to the SETI@Home project by connecting my home PC to the BOINC network. The SETI@Home project looks for intelligent alien life by searching for radio signals from outer space. The Arecibo Observatory collects the data, then puts it into millions of small data bundles which are then analysed by a distributed network of home personal computers around the world. This is the stuff of Sci-fi legends, scouring the galaxy for our Milky Way brethren. There is one problem, though. The search, by all accounts, has been slow and unfruitful. SETI@home estimates that the project has analysed around 2% of the night sky observable from Earth after 17 years. To be fair, space is a big place and computers are getting more powerful by the day. The SETI@home project lead estimates that based on the Drake equation we should expect to find signals from intelligent alien life by at least 2030. The Drake equation The Drake equation is a probabi

Alejandro Jodorowsky's sci-fi classic The Incal

"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it" Episode 10 A former U.S imperial naval officer, Marco, has killed several women in Japan in the past months. The CIA requests Section 9's support to bring him to justice. Suspicious of the C.I.A's true motives, Section 9 hacks the American agent's computer to reveal that Marco was part of a secret operation in South America aimed at breaking the enemies morale by using terror tactics, such as skinning civilians alive. Batou then reveals that before joining Section 9 he was a ranger in the Japan Defense Force, and encountered Marco's work first hand. Under persuasion from Major Kusanagi, the CIA agent reveals that they intentionally asked for Section 9's help as they knew that Batou would likely kill Marco, thereby removing the last piece of evidence that the terror squads ever existed. While Batou does track down Marco, he arrests him despite wanting to kill him. What I liked This

The end of Humanity by Prof. Nick Bostrom

"A copy of a thing that never even existed?" Episode 9 Major Kusanagi enters a web chat room discussing the laughing Man. The chat room is a kind of online discussion panel, exchanging ideas on who the Laughing Man really is, what his motives are, and if he even existed in the first place.  One of the participants reveals that he had hacked the security feed on the day of the attempted assassination of the police commissioner. Kusanagi confronts him about what he saw and gives him a pointed warning to butt-out.  Kusanagi then explains her own theory to the group, that apart from the first and last Laughing Man event, all the other hackings and attacks have been committed by copycats. Just as Kusanagi finishes explaining her theory, she is pulled out of the chatroom by an external force and briefly witnesses the Laughing Man in what looks like a library.  What I liked Even though there was no action, I really enjoyed this episode. It feels like the ser

So the title of the new Blade Runner sequel has been announced - Blade Runner 2049.  If it really is set in the year 2049, and Harrison Ford's character is Deckard, then we can finally rule out the Blade Runner director's cut ambiguity about whether Deckard is a replicant or not. There is no way that a replicant would still be alive by the year 2049. Warner Brothers Then again, the movie could be a reboot rather than a sequel (please god no), in which case all bets are off. If the film bombs, I vote to rename it Blade Runner: Tears of Disappointment in the Rain.

I'm definitely going to watch this one. Playing at Paramount in Wellington at 4pm if you care to join me. 

As a result of my characters backstory , I am currently running a flat. The short and skinny of it is that my character needed a morph quickly that would aid his escape. A Flat was the best choice at the time as it would enable me to go unnoticed in certain circles. This meant that I would have to give up a lot of aptitude and skill power, which was fine as a compromise solution at the time. And let’s face it, with the prospect of constant re-sleeving, you are always going to face trade-offs in a game like Eclipse Phase. However, with my Fireteam about to head off-world, I would like to be as close to full power as possible. Who knows what the GM will throw at us, maybe even a gate jump? I’m currently applying the small size trait as my character is a child and I would like to run with this concept further. So I am going to re-sleeve into a Neotenic morph. From Chuck’s Eclipse Phase Wiki : Neotenics are transhumans modified to retain a child-like form. They are smaller, more agile,