Sci-fi

My Top 5 Fantasy and Science Fiction TV Series

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 25 Comments
Church Tower from HBO series Westworld (source: Heavy.com)

I’ve long been a fan of fantasy and sci-fi TV shows, and although I don’t have time to watch as many as I would like (I guess I’m reading too many books!) if a good one comes along I’m liable to get addicted. For example, I recently finished watching the first season of Westworld and had to force myself not devote all my waking hours bingeing on it. The experience had me trying to remember which other fantasy and science fiction shows had a similar effect. After some thinking, I’ve narrowed it down to the five I like most: Continue reading →

Why I’m Staying Right Here on Earth

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 15 Comments
Photo by Kevin Gill (CC BY-SA 2.0)

For years science fiction has been making us consider what it might be like to travel through space, visit other planets and colonise them. But with the Mars One mission and Virgin Galactic space tourism, the question has become more personal. People can apply to join a one-way mission to Mars, agreeing to leave everything behind in the hope of becoming one of the first human colonists on another planet. Continue reading →

5 Awesome Fantasy and Science Fiction Audiobooks

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 8 Comments
Photo by Jeff Golden (CC BY-SA 2.0)

I’m a big fan of audiobooks. I’ve previously told the story of how I fell in love with them on this blog. I still read hard copy books, but I like the flexibility audiobooks allow me to do other things while “reading” and how the story really comes to life when narrated by a great voice actor. I have an Audible subscription and I listen to between 1 and 2 audiobooks a  month, which may not sound like a lot, but when each one can last for between 8 and 30 hours (most being around the 10-18hr mark) it equates to a lot of time spent listening.

Amidst all of this listening, I find particular books stand out. Continue reading →

Reading Classic Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 5 Comments
Photo by Celeste RC (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

As a teenager, hearing the word “classic” coupled with the word “book” was enough to make me suspicious. “Classics” were the books I got forced to read in school. They were the books everyone told me I simply must read, the books I thought would surely be great… until I found myself struggling through an archaic tome that was neither interesting nor inspiring. Even more daunting was the fact that this canon of old, famous and important books was seemingly endless. I felt like I might be in the grave before I finished them all. Continue reading →

My Top 25 Science Fiction Movies

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 19 Comments
Photo by Bill Lile (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

In my last post I listed my picks for the best 25 fantasy films of all time… but in the process of whittling it down to those favourites, I kept remembering wonderful science fiction films that I wanted to add to the list. I resisted the temptation because it was a fantasy film list, but now I’d like to give those films their own space to shine. So here are my favourite 25 sci-fi films: Continue reading →

Science Fiction and the Joy of Discovering Something New

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 2 Comments
M82 Galaxy remixed from the Hubble Legacy Archive. Photo by Adam Evans (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved reading fantasy novels. I can read and enjoy books outside of the genre, but it’s always been much harder for me to love a book – to become completely engrossed – if it’s not fantasy (that said, I recently read The Help, and it turned out to be one of the exceptions to the rule). Sure, I’ve dabbled in a few other genres, but fantasy is where my heart has always been.

Up until a couple of years ago, however, the spread of other genres I’d sampled had a glaring omission. Continue reading →