Retro Hugos & March Scide Splitters

Scide Splitters Mar 2016 Image 1bHugo and Retro Hugo nominations close tonight, so if you have been procrastinating your vote, time is running out.  If you need a reminder list of some fantastic short stories eligible for the Retro Hugos, check out this list.

March has another Scide Splitters (in case you are wondering how that works, I am on a four week schedule at Amazing Stories).  This time I look at Ben Bova’s The Starcrossed.  The story is loosely based on Bova’s real experience as technical advisor for The Starlost, a 1973 television show that demonstrated nearly all the pitfalls that can sink a promising SF television series.

 

Where Is William Tenn When We Need Him

Scide Splitters Mar 2016 Image 1William Tenn was perhaps science fiction’s best short form political satirist.  And although he is no longer with us, his stories can still be instructive today as we try to maintain our sanity during this political season.  Scide Splitters takes a look at “Brooklyn Project,” Tenn’s outstanding political satire highlighting the folly of disregarding civil liberties for the sake of security.