Today, I am recommending four essential works by Tom Purdom, a Philadelphia-based science fiction writer and music critic who enjoyed a remarkable late-career run of more than thirty stories in Asimov’s. Fossil Games (1999): Left obsolete by each new generation of genetic enhancements, our hero joins thousands of other under-enhanced humans fleeing the Solar System aboard a hollowed-out asteroid.  Their voyage turns into a struggle over whether to settle a new world or push on. Bank Run (2005): On a frontier colony world, a banker finds himself hunted by genetically altered mercenaries in the pay of a debt-ridden landowner who wants to seize his bank.  He fights for his freedom with his wits and some white-knuckle financial maneuvering. The Mists of Time (2007): Two unseen time travelers with clashing views watch a tiny Royal Navy schooner pursue a slave ship off the coast of Africa in the 1840s.  A moving tribute to the Navy's campaign against the slave trade. Romance on Four Worlds: A Casanova Quartet (2015): Four stories follow Joseph Louis Baske, a 21st-century Casanova whose love affairs draw him into intrigue on the Moon, Mercury, Phobos, and in the Kuiper Belt. Check out the quoted thread for the recommended works of Theodore Sturgeon, Alfred Bester, Bob Shaw, Clifford D. Simak, Algis Budrys, A.E. van Vogt, C.L. Moore, Cordwainer Smith, C.M. Kornbluth, D.G. Compton, Thomas M. Disch, Alice Bradley Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.), John Brunner, Judith Merril, Hal Clement, James Blish, Jack Williamson, Katherine MacLean, Fred Saberhagen, Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett, Edgar Pangborn, R.A. Lafferty, William Tenn, Kate Wilhelm, Avram Davidson, James H. Schmitz, Eric Frank Russell, Brian W. Aldiss, Carol Emshwiller, Wilson Tucker, Chad Oliver, Zenna Henderson, Pauline Ashwell, Frederik Pohl, Henry Kuttner, Barrington J. Bayley, James P. Hogan, C.J. Cherryh, Margaret St. Clair, Keith Laumer, Charles L. Harness, Howard Waldrop, Rosel George Brown, Gordon R. Dickson, Robert Sheckley, Fredric Brown, Kit Reed, Joanna Russ, H. Beam Piper, Daniel F. Galouye, Sydney J. Van Scyoc, Tom Godwin, Andre Norton, Harry Harrison, Vonda McIntyre, John Christopher, John Wyndham, Michael Bishop, Doris Piserchia, Bob Buckley, George Alec Effinger, Olaf Stapledon, John Varley, Miriam Allen deFord, Raymond F. Jones, Suzette Haden Elgin, Richard Cowper, Bruce Sterling, Josephine Saxton, Mack Reynolds, Phyllis Gotlieb, E.E. “Doc” Smith, Sterling E. Lanier, L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, George Turner, Octavia E. Butler, Philip José Farmer, Somtow Sucharitkul, Charles Sheffield, Sonya Dorman, Clark Ashton Smith, Norman Spinrad, Naomi Mitchison, Suzy Mckee Charnas, Barry N. Malzberg, Paul Preuss, Lloyd Biggle Jr., George S. Schuyler, Damon Knight, Nancy Kress, E.C. Tubb, John Sladek, Joan D. Vinge, Ward Moore, Marta Randall, Robert L. Forward, Ian Watson, Brian Stableford, Keith Roberts, David R. Bunch, Michael G. Coney, Frank M. Robinson, Christopher Priest, Vernor Vinge, Lee Hoffman, Wilmar H. Shiras, Lucius Shepard, David I. Masson, Mildred Clingerman, Leigh Kennedy, Ernest Hogan, Jack Womack, Kenneth Bulmer, Mark Clifton, Kage Baker, Murray Leinster, Evelyn E. Smith, Kris Neville, Edmond Hamilton, James White, Wyman Guin, Emil Petaja, John Boyd, Christopher Anvil, Alan E. Nourse, T.J. Bass, Colin Kapp, Edmund Cooper, Rog Phillips, Mark S. Geston, James E. Gunn, Walter Tevis, Maureen F. McHugh, John Crowley, George O. Smith, Cherry Wilder, F.L. Wallace, G.C. Edmondson, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Pamela Sargent, Robert F. Young, Fred Hoyle, Eleanor Arnason,  Bertram A. Chandler, Charles Eric Maine, Tanith Lee, Kathleen Ann Goonan, J.T. McIntosh, and Philip Wylie.

Even though I've already watched the first three seasons, thinking of doing a Babylon 5 rewatch, alternating seasons with Deep Space 9.

Today, I am recommending four essential works by novelist, screenwriter and social critic Philip Wylie. Gladiator (1930): The seminal proto-superhero tragedy, and likely the inspiration for Superman.  A biology professor injects his wife with a strength-enhancing serum, and their son grows up an alienated demigod searching for some worthwhile use for his powers in a world that has none to offer him. When Worlds Collide (1933, with Edwin Balmer): The gold standard of cosmic catastrophe.  When two rogue planets are found to be on a collision course with Earth, s a small band of scientists races to build a rocket ark, and decide who gets aboard. The Disappearance (1951): Reality splits.  Every woman vanishes from the world of men, while every man vanishes from the world of women.  Wylie uses the parallel worlds to critique mid-century gender roles and social institutions. Tomorrow (1954): A Cold War wake-up call contrasting twin Midwestern cities, prepared Green Prairie and complacent River City, and what civil defense means when nuclear war finally arrives. Check out the quoted thread for the recommended works of Theodore Sturgeon, Alfred Bester, Bob Shaw, Clifford D. Simak, Algis Budrys, A.E. van Vogt, C.L. Moore, Cordwainer Smith, C.M. Kornbluth, D.G. Compton, Thomas M. Disch, Alice Bradley Sheldon (James Tiptree, Jr.), John Brunner, Judith Merril, Hal Clement, James Blish, Jack Williamson, Katherine MacLean, Fred Saberhagen, Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett, Edgar Pangborn, R.A. Lafferty, William Tenn, Kate Wilhelm, Avram Davidson, James H. Schmitz, Eric Frank Russell, Brian W. Aldiss, Carol Emshwiller, Wilson Tucker, Chad Oliver, Zenna Henderson, Pauline Ashwell, Frederik Pohl, Henry Kuttner, Barrington J. Bayley, James P. Hogan, C.J. Cherryh, Margaret St. Clair, Keith Laumer, Charles L. Harness, Howard Waldrop, Rosel George Brown, Gordon R. Dickson, Robert Sheckley, Fredric Brown, Kit Reed, Joanna Russ, H. Beam Piper, Daniel F. Galouye, Sydney J. Van Scyoc, Tom Godwin, Andre Norton, Harry Harrison, Vonda McIntyre, John Christopher, John Wyndham, Michael Bishop, Doris Piserchia, Bob Buckley, George Alec Effinger, Olaf Stapledon, John Varley, Miriam Allen deFord, Raymond F. Jones, Suzette Haden Elgin, Richard Cowper, Bruce Sterling, Josephine Saxton, Mack Reynolds, Phyllis Gotlieb, E.E. “Doc” Smith, Sterling E. Lanier, L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, George Turner, Octavia E. Butler, Philip José Farmer, Somtow Sucharitkul, Charles Sheffield, Sonya Dorman, Clark Ashton Smith, Norman Spinrad, Naomi Mitchison, Suzy Mckee Charnas, Barry N. Malzberg, Paul Preuss, Lloyd Biggle Jr., George S. Schuyler, Damon Knight, Nancy Kress, E.C. Tubb, John Sladek, Joan D. Vinge, Ward Moore, Marta Randall, Robert L. Forward, Ian Watson, Brian Stabelford, Keith Roberts, David R. Bunch, Michael G. Coney, Frank M. Robinson, Christopher Priest, Vernor Vinge, Lee Hoffman, Wilmar H. Shiras, Lucius Shepard, David I. Masson, Mildred Clingerman, Leigh Kennedy, Ernest Hogan, Jack Womack, Kenneth Bulmer, Mark Clifton, Kage Baker, Murray Leinster, Evelyn E. Smith, Kris Neville, Edmond Hamilton, James White, Wyman Guin, Emil Petaja, John Boyd, Christopher Anvil, Alan E. Nourse, T.J. Bass, Colin Kapp, Edmund Cooper, Rog Phillips, Mark S. Geston, James E. Gunn, Walter Tevis, Maureen F. McHugh, John Crowley, George O. Smith, Cherry Wilder, F.L. Wallace, G.C. Edmondson, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Pamela Sargent, Robert F. Young, Fred Hoyle, Eleanor Arnason,  Bertram A. Chandler, Charles Eric Maine, Tanith Lee, Kathleen Ann Goonan, and J.T. McIntosh.

Second Mission: The Delivery (Part 1.5) - "Dunsel" #Amalgaverse Over Robespierre's protests, Jack orders everyone to fall back to the bay.  You're abandoning ship. Once there, you're, about to board the puddle jumper, when you hear something from out in the corridor.  You throw a look to the open airlock. The ship’s battered utility robot peeks in, ducks out, then quickly clanks into the bay and stands there, making his presence known. “Hey, Dunsel!”says Milo, lighting up for the first time.  “Want to come with us?” “Out of the question,”snaps Robespierre.  “That rust bucket must weigh upwards of 60 kilograms!  An unacceptable risk.” “There is no need to mass shame,”says Data, coming to the little droid’s defense.  Then, he swings a look to Jack. What’s the call? A) Leave him behind.  Factor the cold equations: the extra weight makes the flight back all that much more difficult and dangerous. B) All aboard!  Give the little guy a lift and save him from going down with the ship Choose! TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS so that you don't miss a step on this mission! See below for our Previously On recap - or check out the glorious Amalagaverse website: amalgaverse.link/index.html by @ugorur

Second Mission: The Delivery (Part 1.4) - "Dramatis Personae" #Amalgaverse Jack eases off the throttle and noses the jumper into the debris field, following Data’s plotted course one fragment at a time.  It’s careful, painstaking flying, and by the time they clear the field without a scratch, the cruiser has drifted noticeably closer to the event horizon. You board the cruiser and find four passengers waiting. The first is your charge, the heavy-set Harven Zax, adorned in the finest Naxulari silks, who greets you with a boisterous: “Hail and well met, sirs!  I had begun composing my eulogy, and I assure you, it would have been magnificent.”  Then gesturing grandly to the airlock: “Let us board your ramshackle rattletrap and away!” The second is Harven’s hard-eyed bodyguard, Lucinda Shockley, six foot four and well-armed.  She says nothing, merely watches. Third is Harven’s protégé, Milo, a meek but warm young man who keeps to the edges. Fourth is the Federation official Oswin Robespierre, clutching a sealed diplomatic pouch, who makes it clear he’s furious it took the Enterprise this long to arrive and demands you save the ship. What do you do? A) Buy time.  Have the Enterprise tractor the cruiser to slow its fall while Data works at dropping the shroud, then beam the passengers to safety and fly the jumper back.  But the clock is ticking, and the tractor beam drags the Enterprise closer to the black hole. B) Pack the jumper. Load everyone aboard and fly back to the Enterprise.  It’s quick, but a fully loaded jumper fighting the black hole’s gravitational pull is no sure thing. Choose! TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS so that you don't miss a step on this mission! See below for our Previously On recap - or check out the glorious Amalagaverse website: amalgaverse.link/index.html by @ugorur