Tag Archives: Science Fiction
SF&F Books with Lawyers as Main Characters!
According to Claude AI, there are a few speculative fiction novels–very few (ed.)–that put lawyer characters at the forefront. It’s a relatively niche subgenre compared to other professions portrayed in science fiction and fantasy. Here’s Claude AI’s list: Science Fiction: Fantasy:
AI Fiction Curated by ChatGPT
I asked ChatGPT to recommend some fiction about artificial intelligence. Here’s what it had to say. Novels with major themes related to AI cover a wide range of topics, from the ethical and social implications of AI to futuristic visions of advanced technology. Here are some notable books in this genre:
In space, everyone can hear you laugh
For the opening book of 2024, the Beamers opened an oldie but a goodie, The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz. For most of us, it was a re-opening of a book that we encountered among our first sf books, one denoted as a classic of the genre. And one still being reprinted 70 …
Getting bogged down in Area X
Never afraid to tackle a tough book or topic, the Beamers launched off into the weird wilderness of Area X, the setting for Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, which starts with the novel, Annihilation. Loosely adapted into a movie, Annihilation has won a Nebula Award for science fiction and a Shirley Jackson Award (2014) for …
Through the wall with the red-headed league
The Beamers, having a fondness for classic science fiction, are not always as familiar with the Big Three (Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein) as we might wish to be. So, to rectify another missing piece of our reading history, we went after a late novel in the career of the “Dean” of science fiction, Robert Heinlein, looking …
Down, down to a sunless yet brightly lit sea
Mid-year in our reading, the Beamers traveled back to the very beginnings of science fiction as a genre, meeting up (or so we hoped) with one of its putative ‘fathers’, Jules Verne, the redoubtable writer of classic adventures who always added some scientific rationale to his “extraordinary voyages”. Our selection, Journey to the Center of …
Better by the cluster?
With the heat of Summer bearing down on us in mid-April, the Beamers sought escape by fleeing to a twisty cluster of 3,000 worlds, not at all alike, courtesy of the fabled world-building sf genius, Jack Vance. Given only a link by the shadowy figure of the Connatic, the erstwhile ruler of the Alastor Cluster, …
Jack Vance’s Alastor: Virtual Discussion
The Beamers will conduct a virtual discussion of Jack Vance‘s Alastor. Please join us on April 14, 2023 at 7 pm New York time. Jack Vance’s science fiction runs the gamut from stories written for pulps in the 1940s to multi-volume tales set in the space age. While Vance’s stories have a wide variety of …
Three sirens in a fountain
[Beamer Roberto cordially filled in when our usual note-taker was off on a business trip.] Not everyone read the book. Kathy had read one chapter and decided to go no further. Drew read a wikipedia page on the book (I think). Frances thought the writing was fine but satirical takes are not her cup of tea. …
Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan: Virtual Discussion
The Beamers will conduct a virtual discussion of Kurt Vonnegut‘s The Sirens of Titan. Please join us on March 10 at 7 pm New York time. The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a …
Beamer Books 