robotriot

I have been reading a couple of modern hard-sci-fi novels lately (which is pretty much the only thing I read anyway, in book form at least) which I think had new ideas I’d really like to see in sci-fi movies. Sunshine was a step in the right direction, although there’s of course a lot to criticize with that film, mainly the inclusion of a “monster”-character, which I found totally unnecessary. In my opinion, Blindsight by Peter Watts (you can even read it online for free) should definitely be made into a movie. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I found it to be one of the most fascinating modern sci-fi novels I’ve ever read, mainly because I thought the actual reason for the alien attack was a very interesting and radical thought concerning our own evolution. There are things I disliked as well of course, especially the Vampire-race, which didn’t sound believable at all for me and kind of ruined the relatively plausible technology of the rest of the book.

Other authors that I think should get a movie treatment (yes I know, usually movies derived from books suck. But I just want more sci-fi movie material!) are Alastair Reynolds (Revelation Space series) and Charles Stross (Singularity.) I don’t think their books should necessarily be adapted 1:1 for the screen. But their works contain futuristic ideas, technologies and extrapolations from our current society that are both conceivable and frightening. Nothing like that has been shown on the big screen yet to my knowledge. Of course, it might just as well be that this sort of sci-fi is not suited for the theater because not enough people would care for or understand it. But one can still hope.

I’ve just finished reading my last book, so I’m in need of new sci-fi material. If you have any recommendations, send them my way please.