Hard Sci-Fi - Futures Less Travelled

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Hard Sci-Fi

A collection of 13 posts

Taking on the Boloverse: World Breakers

Taking on the Boloverse: World Breakers

I’ve been blogging on-and-off [http://futureslesstravelled.com/introducing-rebooting-the-boloverse/] about the Bolo series of military sci-fi novels for about a year now. However, in a startling development, a new ‘Bolo-esque’ anthology of giant tank stories has just been published by Baen Books [https://www.baen.com/]. Here, I talk about

Taking on the Boloverse: The Triumphant - Book 3

Taking on the Boloverse: The Triumphant - Book 3

A fortnight ago, as part of my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ [http://futureslesstravelled.com/introducing-rebooting-the-boloverse/]project, I blogged about The Unconquerable [http://futureslesstravelled.com/taking-on-the-boloverse-the-unconquerable-bolos-book-2/] , the second in a series of [https://www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/2047] military sci-fi books set in the Bolo shared universe [https:

Taking on the Boloverse: The Unconquerable - Bolos Book 2

Taking on the Boloverse: The Unconquerable - Bolos Book 2

A few months ago, I began my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ [http://futureslesstravelled.com/introducing-rebooting-the-boloverse/]project and blogged aboutHonor of the Regiment [http://futureslesstravelled.com/taking-on-the-boloverse-honor-of-the-regiment-bolos-book-1/] , the first in a series of [https://www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/2047] military sci-fi books set in the Bolo shared universe

Taking on the Boloverse: Honor of the Regiment - Bolos Book 1

Taking on the Boloverse: Honor of the Regiment - Bolos Book 1

Last month, I introduced you to my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ [http://futureslesstravelled.com/introducing-rebooting-the-boloverse/]project and blogged aboutThe Compleat Bolo [http://futureslesstravelled.com/taking-on-the-boloverse-the-compleat-bolo-part-i/] , an anthology of Bolo stories written by Keith Laumer. This week, I’m going to talk about Honor of the Regiment [https://bolo.fandom.com/

Taking on the Boloverse: Does a sentient tank need a crystalline brain?

Big Boys Don't Cry

Taking on the Boloverse: Does a sentient tank need a crystalline brain?

Last week, I asked Tom Kratman [https://tomkratman.com]: aregiant tanks outdated? [http://futureslesstravelled.com/?p=1488]This week, Tom and I talk about his giant tank novella Big Boys Don’t Cry [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Boys-Dont-Cry-Kratman-ebook/dp/B00IKT7HQI]. And I ask: does a sentient tank REALLY need

Taking on the Boloverse: Are giant tanks outdated?

Taking on the Boloverse: Are giant tanks outdated?

Last week, I blogged [http://futureslesstravelled.com/?p=1481] about Keith Laumer’s The Compleat Bolo. [https://bolo.fandom.com/wiki/The_Compleat_Bolo]This week’s blogpost is a discussion between Tom Kratman [https://tomkratman.com] and I on the topic of whether giant tanks are a viable future

Taking on the Boloverse: The Compleat Bolo - Part 1

Taking on the Boloverse: The Compleat Bolo - Part 1

Last week, I introduced you to my ‘Taking on the Boloverse’ project. My aim, to blog my research for a novel based on Tom Kratman [https://tomkratman.com]‘s Hugo-nominated [https://www.tor.com/2015/04/04/2015-hugo-award-nominees/] novella Big Boys Don’t Cry [https://www.amazon.com/Big-Boys-Dont-Cry-Kratman-ebook/dp/

Introducing 'Taking on the Boloverse'!

Big Boys Don't Cry

Introducing 'Taking on the Boloverse'!

Ifyou’ve ever fancied a mash-up courtroom drama where the defendant is a giant tank, I may have EXACTLY the book for you… Everyone likes HUMUNGOUS mecha, right? And legal-suspense thrillers? Well, perhaps not everyone. I’m a huge fan of John Grisham thrillers [https://www.jgrisham.com], but may

Aliens, hamsters in tutus, and the nightmare scenario for particle physics

Aliens, hamsters in tutus, and the nightmare scenario for particle physics

Could aliens be blocking the progress of human science? Well, that’s a science fiction plot, but it has some truth behind it… [http://www.futureslesstravelled.com/aliens-hamsters-tutus-nightmare-scenario-particle-physics/threebodyproblemfilm/] Front cover art for the bookThree Body Problemwritten byLiu Cixin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Cixin]. The book cover art

Was there life on Venus...?

Was there life on Venus...?

In Edgar Rice Burroughs science-fantasy novel Pirates of Venus [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300211h.html], the herocrash lands on Venus ( Amtor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtor]) when his rocket ship is thrown off course. He discovers a verdant world of giant vegetation and unmapped oceans, wreathed in thick

Celebrating the National Dog Days of Summer - Links: 27/08

Arthur C Clarke Award

Celebrating the National Dog Days of Summer - Links: 27/08

Big news this week: An Earth-like planet was spotted [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/24/earth-like-planet-found-orbiting-our-suns-nearest-star-raises-hopes-for-life-proxima-b?CMP=share_btn_tw] in our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, raising hopes of glowing aliens [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/planet-proxima-centauri-life-glowing-corals-radiation-space-science/] . Sci-fi author Stephen Baxter speculated on the prospect on

Detecting a Death Star and other gravitational wave ideas

Gravitational waves

Detecting a Death Star and other gravitational wave ideas

If you follow the news, you’ll know that last Thursday (11/02) scientists detected for the first timegravitational waves [http://physics.aps.org/articles/v9/17]– tremors in the fabric of space and time. The discovery confirmed the theories of Albert Einstein, who predicted their existence 100 years ago.

New Wars, New Technology

New Wars, New Technology

Event China is ‘not frightened to fight a war with the US’, according to the Guardian today [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/28/china-not-frightened-fight-war-south-china-sea-uss-lassen] . The comments – in a state-run Chinese newspaper – came twenty-four hours after the US deployed a warship into a contested region of the South China