Postcards from a lonely planet
01/07/2009. It’s hard to believe that its forty years ago this month that Neil Armstrong made the first steps onto the Moon. Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin made the second steps. Michael Collins in orbit, a bystander and only watched. Pretty much what we all did for the first most significant trip off-planet. Nothing like its Science Fiction equivalents but a step into a future we SF fans recognised so well even if it was nothing like early imaginings. No lunar life. No atmosphere. Just rock. Arthur C. Clarke’s prediction that there were seas of dust in ‘A Fall Of Moondust’ was also proved unfounded. Although I doubt if Science Fiction raised any expectation by that time as more was discovered about our solitary satellite.

Quality over quantity
01/06/2009. One of the books I read many moons ago had a serious impact on my writing. If you ever peeked inside the book aptly called ‘The Book Of The Book’ by Idris Shah you would probably also get realise it was of little words and could be read in less than twenty minutes in a library. Indeed, many people at my school actually did that although whether it sunk in is debatable. Its message, however, will last you a lifetime.

Going digital
01/05/2009. Or Is there no place for hardcopy magazines any more? Discovering that the magazine 'Starlog' has gone out of business after thirty years in the business, says Geoff, not to mention several genre mags also getting the chop in the UK, should give anyone pause for thought.

The long ironic arm of coincidence
01/04/2009. I'm a great believer in synergy. Mostly cos I see patterns line up so much in my own life and in other events. Things like only having to think I haven't seen a familiar face in town and up they pop within a couple weeks is a common occurrence, especially when I'm not looking for them.

Infrastructure: Look for the bare necessities...
02/03/2009. One thing the cold weather in Great Britain this February has shown is how dependent we are on infra-structure and the co-operation of various people to ensure personal welfare and even survival in this country. At the same time, it also showed how unprepared for an instant countrywide blizzard we are.

There's no accounting for taste, especially when having them defined in boxes
01/02/2009. I am lousy at picking favourites. Don't confuse this with preferences as that's more down to personal taste than favouritism. I mean I prefer Science Fiction but it would be a lot tougher to choose just one favourite author or film out of so many I like. Yet displaying such a list would surely indicate that is all you read which is obviously far from the multiple bookcases in my case.

The worse case of parallel evolution
01/01/2009. Humans, says Uncle Geoff in his first editorial of the new year, are the worse case of parallel evolution with a limb at each corner and a head at the top instead of up its..

The ruckus about Pluto
01/12/2008. Mark recently got into a discussion with an older science fiction fan about Pluto. He had brought it up jokingly saying the ninth planet was now supposedly no longer a planet.

Nostalgia is always something that appears better than we thought it was
01/12/2008. Something I give some thought to occasionally is how the past can seem better than the present. Granted there is a habit of remembering only the good things not the bad from our childhood. As youngsters, when we're experiencing things the first time around we have nothing to compare it to so its no wonder we feel golden-eyed about it.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you
01/11/2008. As you might have noticed in the past couple months of reviews, Uncle Geoff has been looking at the second 'Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers' film and, more recently, the first season of 'The Invaders' 1960s TV series - anyone else having problems getting their DVD player playing this?

There is always a way to find money to spend
01/10/2008. If anything, Geoff thinks that we in the Science Fiction community have a greater awareness than we are credited with. Not that he necessarily wants to be gloomy, more from the point of view of some positive aspects that puts us in a better light.

Humans beware!
01/09/2008. A species' survival really depends on two things. The speed of propagation and making a niche in the ecology. Sometimes they can both work together, especially if you can evict or even eat your competitors. Saying that, creatures that prey on you aren't that big a problem cos its possible for a species to evade and propagate wildly to out-live the deadliest carnivore.