Emily Wilson

2 weeks ago | newscientist.com | Emily Wilson

RingworldLarry Niven (Gollancz)Ringworld by Larry Niven was published in 1970 to huge acclaim, winning both Hugo and Nebula awards; it’s been in print ever since. It came out when humans had just landed on the moon and it looked like we might be on our way to the stars. The title alone evokes a particular golden age of science fiction, when (mostly male) writers wrestled with big physics and big ideas, imagining far-off futures where humans had galactic-scale adventures.

2 weeks ago | voiceofoc.org | Emily Wilson

Placentia's Historic Water Tower, constructed in 1935, on March 9, 2022. Credit: CAROLINE LINTON, Voice of OC Land in an already approved housing development in Placentia is slated to see the minimum units per acre reduced from 65 to 15 in a city grappling to meet the state-mandated housing goals. But it raised concerns from some planning commissioners that it could set a precedent for other developers in town.

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Emily Wilson

Some Body Like MeLucy Lapinska (Gollancz Out 17 April (UK))While the world grapples with the rights of regular humans versus artificial intelligence companies that want to mine both their data and their creative output, sci-fi is contending with rather different aspects of the future of AI. In fact, three books published over the past year have focused on the individual rights of AIs themselves in visions of near or near-ish futures where robots are common. Last year, by Sierra…

1 month ago | fivebooks.com | Emily Wilson |JOHN SMITH |JOhn Smith |Sophus Helle |John Milton

“It’s a very easy read, and a completely different world from The Iliad. Whereas The Iliad depicts a militaristic and war-wrecked world, The Odyssey is like a fairytale and it’s fascinatingly complex. It’s told in flashbacks, it has time that’s extended and time that’s compressed, and it’s told from different viewpoints.” Read more...

1 month ago | newscientist.com | Emily Wilson

Dissolution(Nicholas Binge (Harper Collins (UK, 27 March); Penguin Random House (US, 25 March))Time travel is, of course, a staple of science fiction. The means of travelling through time may differ – from a 1960s police box to a set of ancient standing stones – but time shifting generally leads to all kinds of problems with “timelines” and important things being erased from or added to them. Our heroes can also get stuck in loops, doomed to repeat themselves endlessly for our pleasure unless…