Rambling Readers

Paul

#NowWatching The Terminator (1984) 🎬 After an early start and getting my jobs done its time to settle back and relax with some end of the world action. 🤣 Its been a few years since I watched this and I forgot Lance Henriksen was even in it. Let'se see how it holds up. #movies #action #adventure #scifi

Michael Whelan

THE ULTIMATE ENEMY (1979)
Acrylic and Gouache on Illustration Board - 28" x 18"

Sometimes the simplest statements have the strongest force. The image is ostensibly a representation of the struggle to preserve life against the onslaught of the Berserker war machines described by Fred Saberhagen. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #fredsaberhagen

A monstrously large robot looms on the horizon while a simple plant sprouts defiantly from barren, rocky soil in the near foreground. The arms of the robot lurch forward with fingers tensed to grip, implying a sense of forward motion, marching toward the plant. While it's body resembles a stocky biped, it's head is an asymmetrical jumble, which on close examination looks like futuristic buildings set off-center right upon its shoulders. Stiff antennae protrude upward from head and shoulders. Red and orange eye-like lights are set akimbo, an uneven diagonal that adds to the sense of uneasiness about the mechanical monstrosity.

SaintClinton

William Shatner celebrates 94th birthday with nonprofit gala in Las Vegas
#Shatner #StarTrek #scifi #TJHooker #geek #nerd #blerd #trek #scifitv
https://news3lv.com/news/local/william-shatner-celebrates-94th-birthday-with-nonprofit-in-las-vegas-one-drop-foundation-world-water-day

Neve Maslakovic

#writephant #selfpromo The three of my books that are with a publisher (47North) have audiobook versions.

The amazing Mary Robinette Kowal, narrator extraordinaire, did the audiobooks for The Far Time Incident and its sequel!
https://www.amazon.com/The-Far-Time-Incident/dp/B00BQHPGH8

And my standalone, Regarding Ducks and Universes, is narrated by wonderful Alexander Cendese!

https://www.amazon.com/Regarding-Ducks-and-Universes/dp/B00AE120FI/

#books #fiction #bookstodon #sff #sciencefiction #scifi #timetravel
#audiobooks

Mx. Luna Corbden

Recent SFWA newsletter – Very mad at Meta AI for stealing our stuff. Currently just suggesting actions for individual authors to take, but seems like they might be working on something bigger.

"As an organization, SFWA will continue to fight for our principles. Writers must be paid, credited, and protected, following expected norms."

Class action suit? Sign me up.

#SFWA #SF #SciFi #WritersCoffeeClub

Lydia Conwell :mastodon:

I'm re-reading 1984 and it feels very relevant to now. Orwell's #book isn't really #scifi, it's really a book about oppression and propaganda.

I'll do a blog on it I think. There are things to say about it.

There are socialists who say Orwell wasn't really a socialist, and they are probably right, but what Orwell gets so very right is how censorship works. By removing references to better things, people have no means to criticise current things. You can't say the current government is bad if you have no proof things were ever better.

As Orwell says: Who controls the past controls the future.

#propaganda #censorship

Aimee Cozza Illustration

Just uploaded this free story on Itch because I can't help myself when it comes to robots

Based on the Reddit post about a Roomba "accidentally" seeing outside

https://aimeecozza.itch.io/roomba-accidentally-saw-outside

#Robots #Writing #Scifi #Bookstodon

A black and white lineart drawing of a roomba on a wooden floor. It is detecting all kinds of colors. Text over top reads "Roomba Accidentally Saw Outside by Aimee Cozza"

Michael Whelan

PARADISE (1989)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 28" x 38"

Though it is a very different novel, Mike Resnick's PARADISE recalls for me some of the themes in Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. 1/4

#sciencefiction #scifi #sff #scifiart #illustration #mikeresnick

Michael Whelan

THE INTEGRAL TREES (1984)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 28" x 38"

Being suspended in space, floating unencumbered yet in control of one's flight, is as close to pure freedom as I can imagine. 1/4

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #illustration #larryniven

A woman with short blonde hair floats weightless in front of clumps of cloud shaped vegetation dotted with flowers. The figure looks very Peter Pan-esque posed with one knee raised wearing green capri-style pants and a vest with no shirt beneath. A harpoon rests across her shoulders with a rope line dangling loose. She holds a coil of it with her toes. An enormous tree trunk with a chrome engine firing off the side arcs past, diminishing back into the blue sky where it intersects clump. A diagonal line of light serves as a tilted horizon of sorts but there is no land, just sky occupied by clouds and clumps.

Michael Whelan

QUESTION AND ANSWER (1977)
Acrylic on Masonite

I love painting aliens, as anyone who knows me and my work can attest. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #poulanderson

A man stands with a shovel in hand as he regards a cairn set with a makeshift cross made of wood and twine. Around him is a mixed group of humans and bipedal aliens. The humans drop their heads dejectedly. The alien bodies resemble that of a kangaroo while the head, ears, and stripes are reminiscent of a lynx. The scene is set against a pearlescent pink and lavender sky with a huge craggy moon hanging low and another smaller moon floating high above.

Jon PENNYCOOK

I just watched Night of the Comet for the first time in over 3 decades. Nothing quite like America being taken over by zombies whilst drinking Nigerian Export Guinness on a Friday night.

https://amzn.to/3DIIehD

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Night-of-the-Comet-Blu-ray/349472/

#scifi

Michael Whelan

BROTHER ASSASSIN (1978)
Acrylic on Illustration Board - 30" x 20"

I am often kidded about my general dislike for yellow... 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #fredsaberhagen #berserkersaga

Wearing brown robes with hood drawn up, a robot with an oddly asymmetrical face stares squarely at the viewer as it grips a clock in its clawed grasp. The face is black with gold numbers, but the glass is broken. The hands are stopped at 3:53. A metal grate covers the robot's left eye and half the mouth. That side of the face resembles the steely mask of Doctor Doom, while the other side is an abstraction of lights and circuitry over silver metal. A blue light, cloudy like a planet, is placed where the other eye socket should be. Four bright green dots border form the points of a rectangle around it. Below the cheek—bearing no resemblance to a human feature—a pink sphere with light polka dots floats in blue-black field constrained by an oval bevel. The right side of its mouth is tall instead of wide contrasting the left with the bottom of the metal grate recessed and tinted red. A curving antenna sweeps down off the side of its forehead following the contour of the bell-shaped hood. The curve resembles the microphone attachment on a headset, although stubby and cut short wide at the cheek. The immediate backdrop is brown and desert-like, while the sky above dominates in oppressive yellow tones. Set just behind the figure's shoulder hangs the craggy surface of a moon set against an abstract starfield, darker than the wash of sky but still tinted yellow.

Neve Maslakovic

#writephant #selfpromo Newsletter promo featuring optimistic and cozy sci-fi and fantasy! ☕🧦 📚

https://books.bookfunnel.com/hopefulscifiandfantasy/kzlvx9tcmt

#books #fiction#bookstodon #sff #sciencefiction #scifi #fantasy

Michael Whelan

SWORDS OF MARS (1979)
Acrylic - 20" x 25"

This was one of my favorite books in the series, but probably the least successful of the covers. My selection of yellow as a dominant color may be part of the reason for my dissatisfaction with the painting, as it's my least favorite color. 1/3

#sciencefiction #scifi #scifiart #sff #illustration #edgarriceburroughs #johncarter