Title says it all, folks. This episode of the incidental series Le Linkage, where I post links to some of the more interesting stuff I found clogging the Intertubes, is all about reading. Mostly this consists of science fiction and fantasy, with a little comedy to boot. Hopefully there’s something for all.
As a side note before I begin: some of this stuff reminds both The Wife and I about a Far Side cartoon we both saw a few years back. A man is walking to his kid’s bedroom with a book under his arm and a smile on his face. A little kid laying in bed, covering up to his (or her?) nose, yelling “Daddy, please! Not another bed time story!” The caption on the cartoon: “Bedtime at the Stephen King household.”
Alright, now back to your regularly scheduled Le Linkage:
######[hmtad name=”120×600 Skyscraper Within Articles” align=”floatleft”]SciFi.com Drive In (DEAD LINK): I love old sci-fi movies. They’re fun to watch, think about, and when necessary, make fun of a-la
Mystery Science Theater. For those of us who enjoy old science fiction, SciFi.com (the online presence of the SciFi Chanel) has an array of old movies (including
Metropolis and
Le Voyage Dans la Lune, serials, and other miscellaneous films available for streaming in the drive-in section of their site. While there, make sure to check out their
book reviews and their massive stock of
Battlestar Galactica content.
######Is That a Photoshop?! Yes, actually, it’s a fake. A frigg’n good one. She’s not real.
######If You Could Live Anywhere, how about Abakalin? If this artist’s rendition of a
topopolis is anything near accurate, sign me up! Of course, there’s that whole matter of construction and it taking more materials than there are on Earth… or most of the Solar System for that matter.
######The Last Question: If you love science fiction chances are you love Issac Asimov. What better way to appreciate the man’s genius than to read his tale about what he expects the last question to be. Can you guess it? And can you guess the answer? (For you evil Doug Adams minions, no, it’s not 42.)
######Super-Toys Last All Summer Long: This story will seem fairly familiar to any of you who’ve seen the movie
A.I., since it is the inspiration for the film. This short story was written by Brian Aldiss and was first published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1969. It tells a tale of of humanity in an age of intelligent machines and of the aching loneliness endemic in an overpopulated future.
######I, Cthulhu: If you know the name Neil Gaiman, you’re probably aware that he’s to blame for the great-but-gory
Sandman comics. What you may not know is that he’s a spectacular author in his own right. In this short story, Gaiman shows us the lighter side of The Old Ones, starting with Cthulhu. (If you’re not familiar with the H.P. Lovecraft “Cthulhu mythos” you may not get all the humor presented here. Still, it’s a good read.) After this, check out some of
his other short stories.
######Final Fantasy Short Stories: I’ve talked about this before, but seeing as I’m reading a lot of short stories these days, I thought it fitting to bring up again. There were three short stories published a while back which cover the backstory of the movie
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, specifically the two years between the movie and the game
Final Fantasy VII. The stories aren’t fan fics, but were published by Square-Enix. These are well written and worth a read:
The Maiden Who Travels the Planet,
Denzel’s Story, and
Tifa’s Story.
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