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2013 In Science Fiction
The year 2013 was marked in science fiction by the following events. Events * November, 23: 50th anniversary of the Doctor Who franchise. It was highlighted by the release of The Day of the Doctor special episode, Doctor Who 50 years trailer, and fan celebrations worldwide. Deaths * May 26 – Jack Vance, American writer (b. 1916 in science fiction) * June 8 – John Boyd, American writer (b. 1919) * June 9 – Iain M. Banks, Scottish writer (b. 1954) * June 23 – Richard Matheson, American writer (b. 1926) * July 10 – Gokulananda Mahapatra, Indian writer (b. 1922) * September 2 – Frederik Pohl, American writer (b. 1919) Literature *'' Earth Afire'' by Orson Scott Card *''Abaddon's Gate'' by James S.A. Corey *'' Nichts von euch auf Erden'' by Reinhard Jirgl *'' The Long War'' by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter Films *'' After Earth'' *''Coherence'' *'' The Colony'' *'' The Congress'' *'' Dark Skies'' *''Elysium'' *''Ender's Game'' * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both his novel ''Ender's Game'' (1985) and its sequel ''Speaker for the Dead'' (1986). A feature film adaptation of ''Ender's Game'', which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series ''The Tales of Alvin Maker'' (1987–2003). Card's works were influenced by classic literature, popular fantasy, and science fiction; he often uses tropes from genre fiction. His background as a screenwriter has helped Card make his works accessible. Card's early fiction is original but contains graphic violence. His fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elysium (film)
''Elysium'' is a 2013 American dystopian science fiction action film written, produced, and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was Blomkamp's second directorial effort. The film stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster alongside Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner. The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth and a luxurious artificial world (Stanford torus design, one of the proposed NASA designs) called Elysium. The film itself offers deliberate social commentary that explores political and sociological themes such as immigration, overpopulation, transhumanism, health care, worker exploitation, the justice system, and social class issues. The film was released on , 2013, by Sony Pictures Releasing through the TriStar Pictures label, in both conventional and IMAX Digital theaters. It received positive reviews, but critics considered it to be disappointing after Blomkamp's first film, ''District 9''. It grossed $286 million and was released on DVD an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Skies (2013 Film)
''Dark Skies'' is a 2013 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Scott Stewart, produced by Jason Blum under his Blumhouse Productions banner, and starring Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo and J. K. Simmons. ''Dark Skies'' was released in the United States on February 22, 2013, by Dimension Films. The film grossed $27.8 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising the performances, direction and atmosphere, but criticized its screenplay, muddled plot and characters. Plot The Barrett family—mother Lacy, father Daniel, older son Jesse, and younger son Sammy—reside on a quiet suburban street in an unnamed American city. Daniel is currently unemployed, placing the burden of supporting the family on Lacy, who works as a real estate agent. Their two sons enjoy a happy relationship and communicate with each other from their beds via walkie-talkie. A number of strange occurrences befall the family. During the night, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Congress (2013 Film)
''The Congress'' is a 2013 live-action/animated science-fiction drama film written and directed by Ari Folman, based on Stanisław Lem's 1971 Polish science-fiction novel '' The Futurological Congress''. The film premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2013. Independent film distributor Drafthouse Films announced, along with Films We Like In Toronto, their co-acquisition of the North American rights to the film and a US theatrical and VOD/digital release planned for 2014. Plot Robin Wright plays a fictionalized version of herself as an aging actress with a reputation for being fickle and unreliable, so much so that nobody is willing to offer her roles. Her son, Aaron, suffers from Usher syndrome that is slowly destroying his sight and hearing. With the help of Dr. Barker (Paul Giamatti), Robin is barely able to stave off the worst effects of her son's decline, although his condition is sliding into its terminal stage. Robin's longtime agent Al (Harvey Keitel) takes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Colony (2013 Film)
''The Colony'' is a 2013 Canadian science fiction action film directed by Jeff Renfroe, starring Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers, and Bill Paxton. It had a limited release on 26 April 2013 in Canada, and was released on 20 September 2013 in the United States. Plot By 2045, humans have built climate modification towers to control the warming climate due to climate change. The machines break down when one day it begins to snow and does not stop. The remaining humans live in underground bunkers to escape the extreme cold. Their challenges are controlling disease and producing sufficient food. Two soldiers, Briggs (Laurence Fishburne) and Mason (Bill Paxton) are the leaders of one such bunker, Colony 7. Briggs, Sam (Kevin Zegers) and Graydon (Atticus Dean Mitchell) travel to nearby Colony 5 after receiving a distress signal. Briggs leaves Sam's lover Kai (Charlotte Sullivan) in charge of the colony while he is gone, much to Mason's chagrin. Upon arrival, they find Colony 5 covere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coherence (film)
''Coherence'' is a 2013 American surreal science fiction psychological thriller film directed by James Ward Byrkit in his directorial debut. The film had its world debut on September 19, 2013, at Fantastic Fest and stars Emily Foxler as a woman who must deal with strange occurrences following the close passing of a comet. Plot On the night of Miller's Comet's passing, eight friends in Northern California reunite for a dinner party at the home of spouses Mike and Lee. One of the guests, Emily, hesitates over whether to accompany her boyfriend Kevin on an extended business trip to Vietnam. To the party-goers' dismay, their friend Amir has brought Laurie along with him. Laurie is Kevin's ex-girlfriend, who flirts inappropriately and wants Kevin back. During dinner, the conversation becomes strained by the animosity between Emily's close friend Beth and Laurie, compounded when Laurie antagonizes Emily by bringing up a ballet role she lost by waiting too long to decide. As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
After Earth
''After Earth'' is a 2013 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who co-wrote it with Gary Whitta. The film was loosely based on an original story idea by Will Smith about a father-and-son trip in the wilderness before it was eventually reworked into a sci-fi setting, taking place 1,000 years in the future where humans evacuated Earth to another planet due to a massive environmental catastrophe. It is the second film after '' The Pursuit of Happyness'' that stars real-life father and son Will and Jaden Smith; Will Smith also produced via his company Overbrook Entertainment, and the distribution was by Columbia Pictures. The film was co-produced by John Rusk, who was also the first assistant director on this film as well as on many of Shyamalan's other films. The film follows father and son, Cypher and Kitai Raige, who find themselves crash-landing on the abandoned Earth. When Cypher gets injured from the crash, Kitai must travel across the wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Baxter (author)
Stephen Baxter (born 13 November 1957) is an English hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering. Writing style Strongly influenced by SF pioneer H. G. Wells, Baxter has been Vice-President of the international H. G. Wells Society since 2006. His fiction falls into three main categories of original work plus a fourth category, extending other authors' writing; each has a different basis, style, and tone. Baxter's "Future History" mode is based on research into hard science. It encompasses the Xeelee Sequence, which consists of nine novels (including the ''Destiny's Children'' trilogy and Vengeance/Redemption duology that is set in alternate timeline), plus three volumes collecting the 52 short pieces (short stories and novellas) in the series, all of which fit into a single timeline stretching from the Big Bang singularity of the past to his ''Timelike Infinity'' singularity of the future. These stories begin in the present day and end when th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first novel, ''The Carpet People'', was published in 1971. The first ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Colour of Magic'', was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Shepherd's Crown'', was published in August 2015, five months after his death. With more than 85 million books sold worldwide in 37 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for ''The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'', the first ''Discworld'' book marketed for children. He received the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Long War (novel)
''The Long War'' is a science fiction novel by British writers Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. It is a sequel to their parallel-Earth novel ''The Long Earth''. This book is the second in a five-book series. Plot summary A generation after the events of The Long Earth, mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua and Lobsang once pioneered, now fleets of airships link the stepwise Americas with trade and culture. Mankind is shaping the Long Earth—but in turn the Long Earth is shaping mankind. A new "America", called Valhalla, is emerging more than a million steps from Datum Earth, with core American values restated in the plentiful environment of the Long Earth, using "combing", slang for hunting-gathering to support their economy —and Valhalla is growing restless under the control of the Datum government. Meanwhile, the Long Earth is suffused by the song of the trolls, graceful hive-mind humanoids. But the trolls are beginning to reac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reinhard Jirgl
Reinhard Jirgl (born 16 January 1953 in East-Berlin) is a German writer. Biography Jirgl was born in Berlin-Friedrichshain. He became a skilled worker for electromechanics. Then he completed a degree in electronics at Humboldt University, Berlin. He made first attempts at prose during his studies in the early 1970s. From 1975 he worked as an engineer at the Academy of Sciences. He gave up his profession in 1978 to devote more time to writing. He worked as a lighting and service technician at the Volksbühne in Berlin. After submitting his first novel ''Mutter Vater Roman'' to a Berlin publishing house in 1985, he was accused of a "non-Marxist conception of history". The publication of the novel was refused. Until 1989, none of his manuscripts were published. Since 2009 he has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature. and he is member of the PEN Centre Germany. In 2010 he was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize by the German Academy for Language and Literature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
