The SCarab SciFi Page

Like most people interested in the sciences, I'm rather interested in science fiction. Several TV shows have really sparked my interest, pretty much starting with the science fact show COSMOS. Since then, Star Trek: the Next Generation and Babylon 5 have been the only (non-animated) ones I've truly fallen in love with. Dr. Who, the X-Files, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Max Headroom, etc. have all really held my interest for a while also, but they weren't as consistently good in my eyes.

In other media, the movies have provided a huge assortment of really entertaining Sci-Fi. Most recently, The Matrix proved to be a truly excellent work of science fiction. The Star Wars trilogy, the Terminator movies, the Indiana Jones trilogy, Alien & Aliens, have all been really fun rides. Other ones I liked for various reasons: Total Recall, The 5th Element, Brazil, City of Lost Children, Dune, ET, ... There really are too many to list, and they are certainly fun rides.

But much of what I love in science fiction can't really be expressed well on screen: I love significant symmetry and foreshadowing, and that's hard to do except in the novel (or even novel series). Some favorites: Snow Crash, Lucifer's Hammer, Second Foundation, Prelude to Foundation, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Dune, Armor. But it's not just the allowances for length and plot, I also really like studying the language the authors choose to use. That's why I can spend weeks on a single book (aside from the fact that I usually only have an hour or two free at a stretch). To get a flavor for the language and still finish a story in a reasonably short time, I often look around for compilations of short stories. If I really like a story, I know to look for more of that author's stuff.

To help me remember what I've read and what authors I've liked, I've started ranking the short stories that I've been reading lately. This is as good a place and format as any to put it all together. Maybe it'll be useful. Click here to go to the Sci Fi reviews page. I've also started to keep track of the novels as I read them. So, go ahead, go to my Sci Fi Novel Reviews page.

I've also tried my hand at writing some short stories, and have begun a couple longer things. Click here to go to my Sci Fi stories page.

In order to provide a bit more useful content on this page, I decided to make a page for my rough Babylon 5 reviews. Enjoy!

And of course, I've compiled some links to my favorite science fiction things, most notably Babylon 5. So click here to go to my SciFi links page.