Temporal Boom by J M Voss wins 2024 Aurealis Best Science Fiction novel award

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Temporal Boom by J M Voss wins 2024 Aurealis Best Science Fiction novel award

7 May 2025

Melbourne based sci-fi and speculative fiction author J M Voss was named winner of the 2024 Aurealis Best Science Fiction novel award, on Sunday 4 May 2025, with her novel Temporal Boom. The novel’s premise is intriguing to say the least:

Thirty years ago, the world ended. Not everyone, however, got the memo…

The nation formerly known as Australia struggles on, its red lands stalked by eleven beings of strange and anomalous power. Known as the Portents, their very existence defies all science. A trail of brutal and inexplicable deaths follow those who encounter them.

Quinn Kelly got too close to a Portent once and survived, although not unchanged. When Quinn begins to display an affinity for Time, there are many who would stop at nothing to use her for their own ends.

Quinn, however, would much rather use her preternatural powers to start a punk band — and there is no man, woman, nor overzealous cyborg detective on Earth who can stop her…

The Aurealis Awards, which recognise original Australian speculative fiction published in the previous calendar year, is also celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of their founding in 1995. Thirty years, that’s quite an achievement.

Han Solo shoots first: original 1977 Star Wars print to screen in London

17 April 2025

The British Film Institute (BFI) has kept a copy of the 1977 print of Star Wars in their archive, which will screen as part of Film on Film festival, in the British capital, taking place from Thursday 12 June until Sunday 15 June 2025. I have the feeling tickets will sell quickly.

After making changes to the original edition, Star Wars creator George Lucas dismissed the concerns of fans in 2004, berating them for liking “half a completed film”.

Numerous alterations were made to A New Hope, and the other two titles in the original trilogy series, but the most contentious saw Greedo, a bounty hunter, firing his weapon first at Han Solo during their confrontation at the Mos Eisley Cantina. Viewers of the 1977 print will recall it was Solo who shot first. The edit went on to spawn the Alderaan shot first meme.

Unification, a short Star Trek film, in memory of Leonard Nimoy

20 November 2024

To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the 1994 release of Star Trek Generations, comes Unification, which kind of picks ups after the conclusion of Generations.

But it’s also a whirlwind jaunt through The Original Series (TOS) universe. There’s a cameo by Gary Lockwood, of 2001: A Space Odyssey, who featured in Where No Man Has Gone Before, the third episode of the first TV series of Star Trek, made in 1966. Robin Curtis, who portrayed Saavik in 1984’s The Search for Spock, also appears.

If, like me, you were wondering how it all came together, Trekmovie has a great explainer about Unification’s production:

The characters from Star Trek history were brought to life through live-action performances, including Sam Witwer as young James T. Kirk and Lawrence Selleck as Spock. According to OTOY, they were filmed in costume, performing as Kirk and Spock on set, aided by “both physical and digital prosthetics resulting in period-accurate portrayals matching the appearance of the characters as they originally appeared in TV and film at the time.” William Shatner and Susan Bay Nimoy, widow of the late Leonard Nimoy, served as executive producers on the production.

Might this be Star Trek Seven, in TOS universe?

Star Bores: A Few Cope, as fourth Star Wars trilogy announced

11 November 2024

For years I was excited by the prospect of a Star Wars sequel trilogy. This, long before what became episodes seven through nine, were even announced. I used to burn the midnight oil reading fan-written Star Wars EU plots and stories, that were published on various Star Wars forums and wikis.

But all three films, when they were eventually released, were underwhelming. The Last Jedi, the only one I remotely liked, seemed to be hated by just about everyone else. But I think the Disney produced sequel trilogy, made after series creator George Lucas had sold Disney the franchise, was hamstrung by the expectations of EU storylines, some of which were decades old by that stage.

Of course, the EU stories were not canon, or official, and differed considerably — to say the least — from Lucas’ vision of a third trilogy. Nonetheless, they prominently featured many of the Star Wars characters we knew and loved, as they struggled to build the New Republic. When the first sequel trilogy film, The Force Awakens (the very title was a portent of things to come…) arrived, we all expected to see the old gang back together again. Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbecca, R2D2, C3PO, plus other hangers-on, who’d joined in as the original trilogy progressed.

Instead we had a confusing array of new characters, Han Solo wearing the same bloody clothes from twenty-years earlier, and director J.J. Abrams, borrowing heavily from Episode Four, A New Hope. I thought to myself: I have a bad feeling about this. Abrams that is, having seen him in action in the re-booted Star Trek films. I knew it was over there the moment Star Trek villain Khan (re)entered the frame in Star Trek into Darkness.

Now a fourth trilogy is apparently in the works. Where this story goes, or who exactly is involved, remains to be seen at this stage. Naturally the Star Wars name will get people along to the cinema to see whatever eventuates, but I wonder what interest this new trilogy will have to early Star Wars fans.

Despite the cameo appearances by the likes of Luke, Leia, Han Solo, et el, episodes seven to nine, did not feel like Star Wars stories. They were a galaxy removed from the earlier instalments, and the magic of the Lucas made films, present even in the prequel trilogy, was nowhere to be found.

But we can live in hope. Dare I say: new hope. After all, Disney has access to some great writing talent, perhaps something amazing is on the way. Until then, may the fourth trilogy be with you…

Gravitational waves may reveal presence of warp drive starships

13 September 2024

Gravitational waves have been helping scientists and astronomers answer some of the big questions of the universe. But gravitational waves may be able to do something else: detect the presence of vessels with Star Trek like warp drive engines, as they move through the cosmos.

One problem with the warp drive space-time is that it doesn’t naturally give gravitational waves unless it starts or stops. Our idea was to study what would happen when a warp drive stopped, particularly in the case of something going wrong. Suppose the warp drive containment field collapsed (a staple storyline in sci-fi); presumably there would be an explosive release of both the exotic matter and gravitational waves. This is something we can, and did, simulate using numerical relativity.

I imagine a cloaking device wouldn’t be much help, if a vessel was trying to move about unnoticed. The gravitational waves generated by the ship’s warp drive would pretty much render it visible.

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That time Douglas Adams unofficially signed copies of his books in Sydney, Australia

22 July 2024

If you enjoyed the novels of late British author Douglas Adams, you may enjoy this in-depth article about his later life, by Jimmy Maher.

Adams, it seems, did not restrict his particular brand of humour to the written word. A regular customer at a coffee shop I used to go to, told me about an encounter (of a sort) with Adams, in Sydney, Australia, sometime in the late 1990’s. My friend at the coffee shop once worked at a large bookshop in Sydney’s CBD.

He told of the day that Adams — who was presumably in Australia promoting his latest work — arrived at the shop unannounced, and made his way to the sci-fi section. Apparently, his most recent book, plus a selection of others, were on display in a promotional cardboard gondola, similar to what you see on this webpage.

Adams, without saying a word to anyone, pulled a pen from his pocket, and proceeded to sign random copies of his books. Before turning to leave, he scrawled his name across the top of the gondola, and walked out of the shop, again, without saying a word to anyone.

My friend told me how a huddle of bewildered bookshop staff quickly gathered at the gondola, trying to make sense of what had just happened. “Was that him?” was a phrase uttered numerous times apparently. Signed copies of Adams’ novels must have been a windfall for those who bought them…

Seventy-five of the best sci-fi books, but I only ever read one

16 July 2024

I might be a fan of science-fiction stories, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, Star Wars, and the like, but of the seventy-five titles listed by Esquire magazine, on their best sci-fi books of all time, I’ve only read one. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. That’s it.

1984, by George Orwell? No. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley? Ditto. Dune, by Frank Herbert. Same. And I’m pretty sure none of these were required reading at school either. The list of non-reads, of course, goes on. I have seen the film adaptations of a few of them though.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, which ranks at number nine on the Esquire list, is definitely a novel I’d like to read, and is on my TBR list. One day I’ll be able to say I’ve read two of them.

Alien: Romulus, the Alien story continues. Great poster though

7 June 2024

Movie poster for Alien: Romulus. The poster has a red background and depicts an alien creature attached to a person's face.

Best I keep this brief, especially after complaining about film franchises continually rebooting and retelling the same story. Alien: Romulus (isn’t Romulus a planet in the Star Trek universe? Yeah, I thought so), is a story about some people on a spaceship, whose lives are threatened by a sinister alien stowaway. Reminds me a lot of a film called Alien, but that must be a coincidence, right?

Anyway, here’s the teaser/trailer for Alien: Romulus.

You’d have thought better lit spaceships would have been designed after Alien, but no. Like, wouldn’t it be a good idea to eliminate as many dark nooks and crannies as possible, so you know, sinister aliens can’t hide in them, and terrorise the crew?

Well-lit spaceships are also kind of practical, sinister aliens notwithstanding. Wouldn’t the crew want to be able to walk around the vessel, without tripping over, because they can’t see where they’re going? But what’s the point of utile design, if it means the same film can’t be remade time and again?

While there’s a stack of films whose trailers were better than the film itself, we just might find the poster for Alien: Romulus trumps both trailer and the feature itself. Alien: Romulus opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 15 August 2024. Needless to say, I’ll be camping outside the cinema the night before so I can be among the first to see it on opening day.

The Acolyte, a new addition to the ever expanding Star Wars universe

28 March 2024

The great thing about the Star Wars universe is the way it can move up down left right forwards and backwards. Like any good fiction franchise, the potential to create new stories, new universes within a universe even, are virtually limitless. This even though I’m way behind on anything Star Wars beyond most of the movies (mainly the Skywalker Saga films) released to date.

But since Disney bought the Star Wars franchise from creator George Lucas, it has been in overdrive expanding exponentially. The Acolyte is the latest offering from this exponentially expanding universe, and is set about one hundred years before events of The Phantom Menace, in what is referred to as the High Republic era.

The trailer looks impressive, and the new show begins streaming on Tuesday 4 June 2024.

Lando Calrissian story now to be told as a film, not a TV series

16 September 2023

The Star Wars origin stories keep a coming. Lando Calrissian, one timer owner of the Millennium Falcon, apparent scoundrel, administrator of Cloud City, and later a general in the Rebel Alliance, is set to feature in his own big screen production.

A Calrissian backstory has been on the cards for some time, but was originally to be the subject of a TV series. Last Thursday however, news broke that series producers, Disney+, had decided to opt for a movie instead. Donald Glover, who portrayed a younger Calrissian in the 2016 Star Wars film Solo: A Star Wars Story, will reprise his role in the proposed feature length origin story, which at this stage appears to be simply titled Lando.

But if producers feel a Calrissian origin story is necessary, let’s hope they get it right. Solo, starring Alden Ehrenreich in the titular role, was underwhelming. To say the least. Han Solo is a character who works best as a happy-go-lucky, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants enigma, of a, well, scoundrel, one of whom we knew little about, a point reiterated by Ben Sherlock, writing for Game Rant, in 2021:

Han’s introduction in the shadiest corner booth of Mos Eisley Cantina in the original 1977 Star Wars movie already tells us everything we need to know about the character. He’s an intergalactic pirate and smuggler who’s only interested in money; his best friend (and, seemingly, only acquaintance in the galaxy) is a Wookiee named Chewbacca; and he’s the captain of the Millennium Falcon, the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.

There’s a sea of characters in the Star Wars universe, many of whom are more deserving of origin stories. Take Wuher, owner of the infamous Mos Eisley Cantina, where we of course first met Solo. Wuher’s no ordinary guy working a bar though. His is a story that needs exploring, as I’ve said before.

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