The Wry Writer

Celebration SF Genres

There is one thing you can be sure of, modern science fiction gives us plenty of choice to choose from when it comes to sub-genre. Of course, it all depends on who you speak to about what may, or may not, make it onto the list but, for arguments sake, here are a few of what makes it onto my list: Alien Invasion A. I. (Artificial Intelligence | Nano Tech | Virtual) Colonisation (also: Terraforming) Dystopian First Contact Galactic Empire Generational Ships Military SF Near Future Parallel Universes Post Apocalypse Robots & Androids (see also AI above) Space Exploration Space Opera Time Travel Utopian Of these, I think I dislike time travel the most, while on the flip side, one of my favourites is military SF. But what is it about one that I dislike, and what is it about the other, that I like? Well, I thought you would never ask. Time travel, by its very nature is, for me at least, problematic from the get go. But let’s make it clear, for...

5 Well-Executed Murder-Mysteries

by Alexandra

Everybody who reads murder-mysteries probably has their favourite books as well as their favourite go-to authors. Well, today I want to share with you 5 of my top favourites. THE ART OF DETECTION by Laurie R. King The last book in the Kate Martinelli series, this one was a fun read because King has Kate and her partner, Al Hawkin, on the trail of a killer who may have trained with the greatest detective of them all, Sherlock, yes … Sherlock Holmes! “Kate Martinelli has seen her share of peculiar things as a San Francisco cop, but never anything quite like this: an ornate Victorian sitting room straight out of a Sherlock Holmes story–complete with violin, tobacco-filled Persian slipper, and gunshots in the wallpaper that spell out the initials of the late queen. Philip Gilbert was a true Holmes fanatic, from his antiquated décor to his vintage wardrobe. And no mere fan of fiction’s great detective, but a leading expert with a collection of priceless memorabilia that some would kill for. And perhaps someone...

TV Binge #1

by Alexandra

Last weekend we found ourselves in our local Walmart looking for lightbulbs, and while there, I thought to check out the DVD section. In hope, as you do. And was delighted to find a clutch of Oscar-nominated DVDs at bargain prices. We ended up buying Dunkirk, Lady Bird, Murder on the Orient Express and 3 Billboards, plus the second season of Da Vinci’s Demons, because, why not, we’d already watched season 1 a couple of years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed the Florentine romp. This meant binge watching season 2 and watching Da Vinci strut his stuff. Ably aided by the same cast of characters from the first season. Only this time, we took a rather curious undocumented journey to the New World, and Machu Picchu, in search of the fabled Book of Leaves. And who’s to say whether or not Da Vinci ever found his merry way either across nearly all of South America, through the Amazon jungle, to Peru … or whether or not his tiny ship made it around the Cape and...

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