Category Archives: Robert Appleton
Salvage This
So the other day I was watching Danny Boyle’s SF disaster movie ‘Sunshine’ for the umpteenth time—not because it’s great, though it does have great moments—and I realised why I have such a love/hate relationship with this film (and others like it). It starts off brilliantly. The multicultural crew of the Icarus II is en […]
Can’t Stop the Serenity 2013
This month, seven authors from Contact-Infinite Futures joined Dark Horse Comics, Felicia Day, Think Geek, Joss Whedon and many others in sponsoring Can’t Stop the Serenity 2013. In support of charity fundraiser screenings of Serenity, we’ve donated some of our favorite titles in a special ebook collection to be awarded in raffles, drawings or door […]
Borderline – Free SF Novella on Kindle
Because there’s nothing like a blast of SF adrenaline to get an author’s creative juices flowing. I pretty much ground to a halt last year, toiling away on a hugely complicated steampunk project that sapped my stamina to nought. So I decided to take a month off to write something just for fun—a stripped-down, hell-for-leather getaway chase across an […]
Sci-Fi Quiz: Movie Couples
From budding teen romances to epic love sagas that cross light-years and even alien species, the pairing of science fiction movie couples has kept us enthralled, nauseous, captivated, and eye-rollingly amused for decades now. Some take centre stage, while others bubble away in the background. The best are for the ages; the worst can suck even the most promising premise into […]
Catching Fire – The Odds in its Favor
Director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine) is currently shooting the sequel to one of 2012’s most anticipated, most scrutinised, and ultimately most applauded blockbuster releases—The Hunger Games, based on the worldwide bestseller by Suzanne Collins. Lawrence stepped into the science fiction franchise on the heels of Gary Ross, the veteran writer-director of film one, […]
2012 Year in Review
The authors and hosts of Contact-Infinite Futures all have SF or SFR books from Carina Press. So, I thought I’d use my last post of the year to list our books published in 2012. I’m honored to be among this interesting, intelligent, fun and creative group of authors. – J.L. Hilton Cathy Pegau Caught in […]
Back to Verne
A century and a half later, Jules Verne’s enthusiasm for adventure remains infectious. I suspect it always will. From daring hot air balloon escapades to dazzling submarine odysseys, his speculative stories are some of the purest I’ve ever read in terms of science, curiosity, and imagination. His didactic approach to any subject he tackles fascinates […]
Is that a sci-fi novel in your pocket…?
When Ella Drake discussed genre hopping authors who switch between writing science fiction and fantasy or romance and mystery, the hop from writing adult fiction (rated X, XXX, or TV-MA) to writing young adult (YA) novels came up in the comments. I think we can all agree that a hop from writing alien BDSM to […]
On Artificial Intelligence
You could say it all started with Frankenstein. Man creates lifeform using science. Lifeform yearns to be like man. Realises it can never be. Seeks to punish man. Man becomes trapped by his own creation. It’s one of the staple themes of science fiction, and one of the most popular: the revenge of technology on […]
Movie Review: Looper
Genre: Science Fiction, Action/Thriller, Time Travel Director: Rian Johnson Stars: Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels, Piper Perabo In the latter half of the 21st Century, time travel is invented but is instantly made illegal. The only practitioners are criminal syndicates who send their victims back through time to be assassinated, where no record of […]
