On Basilisk Station by David Weber

 

On Basilisk Station is an epic science fiction opera taking place in deep space. It is the first of the Honor Harrington books. The Kingdom of Manticore is much like Great Britain. Our main character is Honor Harrington a new captain who is assigned to Basilisk Station which is in the backend of nowhere and is where people are sent when they want to get rid of them. But when the president of Manticore’s enemies, The People Republic of Haven, attacks it is up to Honor to protect Manticore from oncoming invasion. My one complaint of this book is that Weber spends way too much time explaining how the technology works. It has a tendency to pull me out of the story while I’m reading. I’ve seen Star Trek and Star Wars. I understand light speed, people. Anyway, if you enjoy epic science fiction I would suggest this book.

The Edge of Tomorrow: Live, Die, Repeat (2014)

 

The human race is losing a battle against aliens that have the ability to time travel. They can learn from each death each defeat and make sure that it does not happen again.

Major Bill Cage is a public affairs officer who has no combat experience. He objects to being sent to “cover” the front lines and is thus demoted to private. Cage dies in battle but is covered in the alien’s blood that allows him to hijack the alien’s ability. He then seeks out Rita Vrataski who he learns once had a similar power. Together they set out to destroy the Omega that controls the alien hosts.

Sarek by A.C. Crispin

This book is about one of my favorite characters in the Star Trek universe. Sarek, Spock’s father. Taking place when Amanda, Spock’s mother, is dying the book gives you some insight into his inner turmoil and grief as he loses his wife. Of course just when he should be home with his wife, duty calls Sarek away. Can Spock forgive his father for “leaving” his mother when she needed him? Can they reconcile long enough to face together the threat to the Federation? One line that stuck out to me in the book was when Spock comments how surprised he was to see the similarity between the Vulcans and the Romulans. I know it’s canon that Romulans and Vulcans share a common ancestor. What I found hilarious when reading this line was that the Romulan Commander in Balance of Terror is Mark Lenard, who would go on to play Sarek in later Star Trek media. 

 

Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

 

I have been trying to think of what to actually do with this blog. I started it because Google seemed an easier platform than others. I then started a wordpress blog because I noticed that only those with Google accounts could comment. I then started using it as a means to force myself to watch some of the movies that I have on my shelves. I have now decided to branch out of my fantasy blog and do a blog on Science Fiction

Quatermass and the Pit or Five Million Years to Earth is technically a sequel to The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2 and is based on an earlier BBC television serial. You do not need to have seen any of the earlier media to understand the plot of this movie.

The movie begins when they start to build a new London Underground near a place called at Hobbs End, a place with a long history of mysterious happenings. While digging they find a five million year old ape man and a very mysterious object. At first the Object is suspected to be an unexploded bomb, but when mysterious things start to happen as they try to get into the Object, Quatermass begins to think that something else is at work. This is a great slow burn Sci-Fi horror.