Since Syzygy turned just turned five, let’s keep celebrating eco-apocalypse science fiction with another story anniversary: Horizon: Forbidden West, (HFW) which came out a year ago this month. Why has it taken me so long to review this video game? Living overseas with an old American Playstation, I had to wait months for a copy … More Video Game Review: “Horizon: Forbidden West”
Severe drought in the northern hemisphere is exposing a lot of things: corpses, dinosaur tracks, “hunger stones” inscribed with famine warnings, WWII submarines…and the socioeconomic disparity of water use as wealthy individuals and interests flout resource restrictions. French authorities exempted golf courses from national water bans, allowing them to irrigate the greens. Officials from the French … More Liquid Assets: Wealthy Water Wasters Flout Drought
As 75 million Americans swelter under heat alerts on this hottest weekend of 2022, some might be cooling off in pools, sprinklers, or fire hydrants. But for 40 million people in the western part of the country, the latest heat wave threatens their already-dwindling water supply. Lake Mead is on the verge of becoming a … More The Other Recession: North American Lakes Going Dry
*NO SPOILERS* Back in 2019, I wrote a science fiction mystery novel set in near-future Baltimore. Fusing cyberpunk with classic noir, I fancied myself quite literary for weaving in allusions to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. But I ultimately shelved the project because beneath the flooded streets and flickering neon, the story lacked … More Movie Review: Reminiscence
January 1, 2022: we woke to find a mildly venomous spider scuttling around the living room floor. Not the most auspicious omen for New Year’s Day, even in Australia! We were hoping for a break following the unexpected trials of 2021. The year didn’t start off badly. After months of suitcase living in 2020, we … More New Year’s Review: Wrapping Up 2021 & Spinning Stories in 2022
I recently came down with a touch of that pernicious malady sweeping the globe. Not COVID-19, thank goodness, but Lockdown Languor. It’s not the social distancing that bothers me: for a disciplined moonlight novelist with a deeply introverted partner, the normal pattern is to avoid people and stay home. The problem is that we don’t … More Book Review: “The Ear, The Eye and the Arm” by Nancy Farmer
Wild Type 