A Happy 2018 from SciFiEmpire.net, your website for all Sci-Fi news

A Happy 2018 from SciFiEmpire.net

I want to wish every reader of SciFiEmpire.net a Happy 2018. I think it will be easier this year. Last year we had just lost Carrie Fisher and her mother and the election of Donald Trump was weighing on the minds of a lot of people. Yet, since then things have changed considerably.

Looking back on 2017

And so 2017 has also come and gone. As I am growing older it feels like the years are passing by more quickly. Well, what a year 2017 has been. Donald Trump was in the news more often than not, usually in a negative way. But he managed to contain the damage mostly to himself and his administration. We sadly did lose a number celebrities such John hurt, Richard hatch, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Roger Moore and Robert Hardy and many more. Sadly, that is the nature of life – death cannot be helped. Yet we must not look back and see only doom and gloom.

In Sci-fi terms I can only conclude 2017 has been a fantastic year. Blade Runner 2049 was everything I hope it would be. I even liked Star Wars The Last Jedi, though I will admit some choices made by director Rian Johnson were wrong. Logan was also a fantastic movie as was Jumanji. Yet, there were also too many mediocre movies: Ghost In The shell, Valerian and Alien: Covenant were too forgettable. On the far end of the spectrum were Transformers 5, The Dark Tower and The Mummy. They were train wrecks beyond redemption. In the case of Transformers 5 I left the theatre early for the first time in my life. When it came to gaming the results were also mixed: Mass Effect Andromeda failed while Assassin’s Creed Origins and Star Wars Battlefront 2 were decent.

So what can be expect from 2018?

The coming year is looking to be another good year in Sci-fi terms, yet without the same number of tent pole movies. I am OK with that, we can’t have a Blade Runner film every year or else it would not be special. Already in January there is a lot to. First,  the day after next (3rd) the eleventh and final season of The X-Files will premiere starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Later on The Magicians will start its third season on the 10th. For book lovers there is plenty more to enjoy. Dark State, the sequel to Empire Games, by Charles Stross has an expected release date set for the 11th while Alastair Reynolds will debut his novel Elysium Fire on the 25th. The latter is a sequel to Aurora Rising (previously known as “The Prefect”) and is the first novel set in the Revelation Space universe since 2007. You can expect a review of all of these in January.

Regular posts

For 2018 I will try and maintain my regular schedule of 3 post per week. I find this pace allows me to write the in-depth articles I want to write without overcommitting myself. Meanwhile I will also maintain my busy ‘professional’ writing schedule. During 2017 I postponed some of writing dates for work, but now that I am settled in I can continue. For 2018 I have two major works in the pipeline. The first is a space opera inspired by Dan Simmons and Alastair Reynolds. I intend to post regular updates on the progress of this novel here on SciFiEmpire. The second book is actually on Mathematics. It is a collection of primer texts on the Math’s needed to succeed as a Software Engineer. It is an elementary introductory texts to topics such as Linear Algebra, Calculus and Combinatory. The topics are dry, but I will only be discussing the basics.

Meanwhile you can purchase one of my current books from Amazon. Linux, Programming and Hacking for Beginners currently sells for $ 2.99. My first Sci-fi novel “A Day In The Future” is on sale for $ 0.99 while my second novel “Roland” retails for $ 1.99. All are Kindle editions.

I will also try and post some off-beat articles once in a while just to keep things interesting. If you don’t want to miss anything from SciFiEmpire.net then like and subscribe from one of the following feeds: FaceBook, Google+, Twitter and Ello. You can also subscribe through email. Just fill in your email address in the box marked ‘Subscribe to SciFiEmpire via Email’ in the left column of this page!

So I am sure it will be A Happy 2018!