Crime movies are often deeply linked to the settings in which they take place. The prohibition era of speakeasies and bootleggers gave us The Untouchables. The glittering casinos of Las Vegas gave us Ocean’s Eleven. The gritty streets of Los Angeles have given us everything from Training Day to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. In…
For Isaac Asimov’s detective, Elijah Baley, it’s been two long years since he’s set forth on an interstellar adventure, and though he once shuddered at the thought of hyperspace travel, he’s now itching to once again do some planet hopping. However, for Asimov enthusiasts, the wait was a great deal more labored. There is a…
The Big Sheep by Robert Kroese is a delicate balance of sci-fi, mystery, and humor. “That's a really big sheep,” said Erasmus Keane, his observational powers functioning as flawlessly as ever. The woman in the lab coat nodded curtly. “He's a Lincoln Longwool,” she said. “Largest breed of sheep in the world.” She had introduced…
We Homo sapiens have gotten pretty used to being the only humanoid species on Earth. So, what would happen if we somehow ran across a cousin species—perhaps a somewhat better design? What if that species also happened to be dark-skinned? It doesn’t take much brainpower to write that scenario; we’ve got 5,000 years of experience…
A few months after solving an ambassador’s murder and receiving accolades from across the known universe (where fifty other inhabited planets exist), Elijah Baley is summoned from New York to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. for a top secret case. It was hard enough for the agoraphobic, aviophobic, and a host of other…
Elijah (“Lije”) Baley is a New York City homicide detective, three thousand years in the future. His world is an overpopulated Earth, with eight billion people living in massive, layered complexes—caves of steel—enclosed by mammoth domes. Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York have grown to the point where they are almost touching. Humans no longer…
After just a few months, the Precogs of the TV series Minority Report seem to have come full circle—back into the milk bath—and gained almost nothing for having made the trip. As of Oct 9, 2015, Fox has shortened the order for Season One episodes from 13 to 10, which is a clear sign the…
What the Fly Saw by Frankie Y. Bailey is the second mystery featuring Detective Hannah McCabe set in the near-future of Albany in 2020 (available March 3, 2015). Albany, New York, January 2020 The morning after a blizzard that shut down the city, funeral director Kevin Novak is found dead in the basement of his…
If not space, the stratosphere at least. A company founded by people with a “background in aerospace engineering and satellites” is now offering to release your beloved's ashes from 20 miles above the earth with a weather balloon, also to film it for your later memories. Here's Mesoloft's promo video: According to the Huffington Post:…
Overlord by David L. Golemon is the final sci-fi thriller in the Event Group trilogy where armageddon is upon the entire world (available July 15, 2014). The plans of a million years are finally ready for what has always been coming—Armageddon. Finally, the first move is set in motion and the assassinations begin, eliminating…
