What’s the Best Star Trek?

As you may know, I’m a big fan of Star Trek, and I’m currently attempting to go through all of the series and movies. I’m also thinking about getting back into playing Star Trek Online, which I played once about 5 years ago for one night. But I’m not talking about the game, I’m talking about the TV series.

There’s always a debate about what the best series is. Well, in an attempt to be controversial (or not), here is my ranking:

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation – This has always been my favourite.
2. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Great storytelling.
3. Star Trek: The Original Series – Just a lot of fun, even though the acting isn’t always the best.
4. Star Trek: Enterprise – So much promise for a great series, but it had a few problems. I still enjoyed it a lot.
5. Star Trek: Voyager – Good idea, but I felt it had the weakest episodes. I still enjoyed it, though.

I’m really wondering where Star Trek: Discovery will fit in.

So, what do you think? How would you rank the series?

Top 5 Must Read Fantasy and Sci-Fi Series

There are so many fantasy and science fiction series out there, I don’t know how I can read all of the ones I want to read. So, I just make a list of the top ones, and make sure I focus on them.

Here is my top 5 must read fantasy series list, in video form:

And my top 5 must read sci-fi series, also in video form:

What do you think of my lists? Any surprises?

What I’d like to know is what are your top 5 series, not just for fantasy and sci-fi. Let me know in the comments section.

Dark or Light?

Google has recently been offering you the ability to choose between the Light and Dark side of the Force. A couple weeks ago, you could go to Google and search “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” and you’d see something pretty special.

Now, you can choose between Light and Dark Side. I haven’t actually tried it out yet, but that’s not the point of this post. I have a simple question for you:

Which would you choose, the Light or Dark side of the Force? Why?

Accidental Genre Change

Have you ever planned a book or several books, and everything is going smoothly, and everything is falling into place, and then something happens that takes you by complete surprise? That just happened to me.

You see, the entire Ariadne series of books I plan to write are science fiction. Everything is advanced with high technology. At the moment, I have six books ranging from rough outlines to ideas. I’ve known what’s going to happen for a long time, and I’ve always thought this is sci-fi. But you know what? I came to a realisation the other day. The genre may actually change!

I never really thought about the genre changing, but it appears it may do just that. The genre? Well, without giving away too much, it’ll still be science fiction, but with a somewhat steampunkish feeling. Sort of. But this remains to be seen. It may turn out completely different than that.

Which makes me wonder, have you ever read a series that seemed to change genre? Let me know in the comments.

New Star Trek TV Series Announced, but…

It’s all over Facebook right now. New Star Trek TV series coming in 2017! I was definitely happy about that.  The key word is “was.” I then read the news about it. You can read it here.

Well, the good news is Star Trek is returning to TV. I’m wondering what it’ll be about. Hopefully in the main timeline, and not the Abrams timeline.  I’m just not a big fan of this particular reboot.

The bad news is that after showing the premier episode on CBS, it will then only be available in the United States through CBS All Access. That’s right, you have to pay for a subscription to watch it, and only available to Americans.

&@*#&*$#@*%$

Sigh.

Well, hopefully it’ll be available on regular TV after a little while, if this is a success. That’s just irritating, though.

Space Exploration Novels

I’m a big fan of space exploration, whether it’s the solar system or outside the solar system. The idea of discovering new things is very attractive to me.

I always enjoyed watching Star Trek, and have enjoyed reading discovery-related novels like Ringworld and the Hyperion Cantos where we could see many different worlds. It was very interesting.  Even the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson is filled with exploration.

I’d like to know about science fiction novels that focus on space exploration and discovering new worlds. If you know any, please leave a comment. Let’s make a good list of them.

The Martian

The first trailer for the movie The Martian is now out.  Here it is.

It’s based on a novel by the same name, a novel I really want to read. I absolutely loved Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars. And now this movie comes along. I want to see it so very much. The novel by Andy Weir is highly rated on Goodreads, and is a Goodreads Choice 2014 winner. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

So, Matt Damon is the main character in this movie. Batman vs. Superman is also coming, starring Ben Affleck. These childhood friends have a couple potential blockbuster movies. Who’s going to win? In my mind, The Martian is what I want to see the most.

Realism in Speculative Fiction

As a reader of speculative fiction, I get to discover what life is like in worlds that aren’t yet possible or can never be possible.  Science fiction and fantasy are two of the main genres of speculative fiction, and while they’re both looking at life that’s different than what we know, they are very different from each other.

When looking at realism in speculative fiction, you have to think about what is possible and what is impossible.  For what is possible, you’re likely looking at future technology and science that we haven’t quite figured out yet.  For what is impossible, you’d be looking at magic and wildly alien life that we can’t imagine would ever exist.

In science fiction, it’s easier to rely on realism, especially if you have a solid knowledge or background in science.  Or maybe you’re just really good at winging it.  But for people like me, realism in science fiction is quite important.  I feel like it could be real.  I want silence in a vacuum, I want accurately described motion in a spacecraft, I want well-described conditions on planets.  Books that screw around with the science and make it rather unrealistic turn me off.  I read a book that got artificial gravity generation all wrong with a spinning space station.  Unfortunately, the gravity was toward the centre of the station, rather than away from centre.  It was backwards.

In fantasy, realism is less of a concern, especially when magic is a major factor.  However, there are a lot fantasy novels that rely on realism, and in this case, it’s the realism of battle, tactics, politics, and human nature.  There are some great books out there that do this, and as a result, they tend to be quite gritty and dark.  This pulls me into the story so strongly, I feel like I am really there, can smell the air, feel the wind, and see the trees, sand, or sea.  I love that level of realism.

How do you feel about realism in speculative fiction?

The Leviathan – Short Film May Become Full Length

A recent viral short film, The Leviathan, has added Neill Blomkamp (director of District 9) and Simon Kinberg (producer of the latest X-men movie) to be producers.  That’s good news, as this fascinating science fiction short film could become a full-length feature film.  I’m really interested in seeing this become a full movie, as the short film was an impressive teaser.  Watch it below.

Anyone else want to see this become a full-length movie?

Which Science Fiction Series Should I Read?

Moving on to my final question about what I should read, it’s now science fiction.  This is the list of sci-fi series that I have, so don’t choose these ones!

• Commonwealth Universe (Commonwealth Saga and Void), by Peter F. Hamilton
• Dragonriders of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
• Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
• The Ender Saga, by Orson Scott Card
• The Grand Tour, by Ben Bova
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
• Humanity’s Fire, by Michael Cobley
• Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
• In Her Name, by Michael R. Hicks
• Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The Night’s Dawn Trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton
• Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
• Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds
• Ringworld, by Larry Niven
• The Shadow Saga, by Orson Scott Card
• Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

I have some or all of the books in these series.  But I’d like to know what you think I should read.  What other series would you recommend to me? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.