June 2018

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The short story “This is the Ice Age” by Claude Lalumière was published for the first time in 2006.

A group of kids try to survive in Montreal after a new ice age has destroyed civilization. Daniel and Mark are two brothers who are very different but they remain united while trying to survive the cold that suddenly struck the world. Daniel has his beliefs about the catastrophe and other things and other people listen to him and start following him in a sort of new religion.

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

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The novel “The Collapsing Empire” by John Scalzi was published for the first time in 2017. It’s the first book in the Interdependency series. It won the Locus Award as the best novel of the year.

The Interdependency exists thanks to the Flow, outside the normal space-time, which allows relatively quickly interstellar trips by accessing “shoals” that exist only in some places. On End, a scientist has been working for decades on the study of the Flow and according to his predictions the connections between the various planets and habitats will start collapsing in the near future. He decides to send his son Marce Claremont to the capital to show the situation to the Emperor (Emperox).

When Emperox Attavius ​​VI dies, his daughter Cardenia is his heir because in the meantime her brother died in an accident. The succession is far from peaceful due to some terrorist attacks against Cardenia, who ascended to the throne as Grayland II. The intrigues of the Nohamapetan family, interested in expanding their economic power, make the situation even more complex.

Pandoravirus Quercus (Image courtesy IGS- CNRS/AMU. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Communications” describes a research on Pandoraviruses, giant viruses that raised perplexity among scientists since the discovery of the first species, announced in 2013. A team of researchers discovered three new species belonging to the same family and proposed an explanation for their amount of genes, really huge for viruses, claiming that they create them on their own.

Other Persons - Altre persone by Claude Lalumière

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The short story “Maxim Fujiyama and other persons” by Claude Lalumière was published for the first time in 2014.

Maxim Fujiyama tries to survive as he can, rummaging here and there in the Vancouver area where he lives looking for food and anything that might be useful to him. Other people went to live in the building where he has settled but Maxim only counts on himself. Sometimes he meets other people and can’t help but wonder what it means to be a person.