Sci-Fi Month 2020

ARTWORK by Tithi Luadthong from 123RF.com. QUOTE from Seven Devils by Elizabeth May & Laura Lam.

Even though 2020 seems to be dragging on forever, we are getting closer to the end of the year and November brings Sci-Fi Month, hosted by Lisa and Imyril.

As the name suggests, Sci-Fi Month is all about celebrating all things sci-fi, whether that’s books, films, TV show, games or podcasts. It’s the chance to focus on the sci-fi stuff you’ve been putting on the backburner, whether it’s speculative fiction, epic space operas, time travel adventures or parallel worlds.

There’s a couple of readathons happening during the month if that’s your kind of thing. Jorie Loves a Story is hosting a readathon of Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott while Imyril is hosting a readathon of Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle.

While there’s the readathons and some challenges still to be announced, there’s no requirements or goals to take part in Sci-Fi Month, the main point is to consume some sci-fi, a little or a lot, and have some fun. See imyril’s blog for more information and to sign up to Sci-Fi Month and follow @SciFiMonth on Twitter and use the hashtag #SciFiMonth to take part in all the chats or when sharing your posts.

While I like sci-fi books, I don’t currently have a lot of them on their TBR, in fact I only have two: Brilliance by Marcus Sakey and Gemina Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I’ll try and read them both in November but Gemina will be the priority as that chonky book has been on my shelf for far too long.

I also plan to watch and review a lot of sci-fi films next month. I’ve had a look through what sci-fi films I’ve got in my Netflix and Prime watchlists and pulled together a selection of what it’d like to watch. There’s a whole load of different types of sci-fi, superpowers, aliens, and AI, and from different countries too. Here’s some of the films I’ll hopefully be watching next month – any thoughts or recommendations based on this list would, as always, be much appreciated:

What are some of your favourite sci-fi media? I’m always looking for sci-fi book and film recommendations. My favourite kind of sci-fi (or sometimes it’s science-fact) is when people are really competent at their jobs e.g. The Martian, Apollo 13 and Hidden Figures.

7 comments

I Origins is really interesting, Upgrade is fantastic (but can be brutal at times), Psychokinesis is a lot of fun (and I’m always partial to Korean films). Unfortunately Mute and The Titan were well below par for me although Mute is more worth watching than The Titan.
One of the best books I’ve read this year (and for a long time) has been This is How you Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, well worth diving into this short book. Anything Philip K Dick is always an interesting read and I particularly enjoyed Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time and Dogs of War. Although not entirely Sci-fi but The Power by Naomi Alderman is superb.
The Abyss, Ghost in the Shell (anime), Ex Machina, Arrival are all excellent films.

You should try The Calculating Stars if you’re looking for Hidden Figures vibes fiction. Just finished the second book and they are great, with lots of detail on what they are doing.

I’m planning on watching Project Power, Whatever Happened to Monday, and Time Trap too. Have you seen The Vast of Night, Blade Runner 2049, Hardcore Henry, Dark City, Alphaville, or THX 1138?

I’m also seconding The Calculating Stars. Have you read The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey?