September 2018

Chanur's Homecoming by C.J. Cherryh (Italian edition)

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The novel “Chanur’s Homecoming” by C.J. Cherryh was published for the first time in 1986. It’s the fourth novel of the Chanur series and follows “The Kif Strike Back”.

Pyanfar Chanur must juggle a number of more or less serious threats that come from various sources. The whole Compact has been shaken by clashes between various species and between factions within some of them, and the Meetpoint Station is at the center of some of the toughes conflicts. Among the hani there are also contrasts with the Ehrran clan opposing the Chanur clan.

More than ever, understanding who are the allies and who are the enemies makes the difference but there are many unknowns, beginning with the news about the humans’ actions as their role is still far from clear even if Pyanfar Chanur has their representative Tully aboard her spaceship. The right choices will make the difference for her, for her planet and for the whole Compact.

Dickinsonia fossil (Image courtesy ANU. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Science” describes an analysis of fossils that belong to the genus Dickinsonia, perhaps the most iconic of the so-called Ediacara biota, the organisms that lived during the Ediacaran period. A team of researchers conducted a highly sophisticated examination of fossils dating back some 558 million years ago, discovering traces of cholesterol, a steroid typical of animals. The conclusion is that the organisms of the genus Dickinsonia must be animals and this could be the proof that closes decades of discussions about their nature.

George R. R. Martin in 2017

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George Raymond Martin, this is his birth name, was born on September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. Years later he added the name Richard after chosing it as his confirmation name.

Ever since he was a child, George R. R. Martin showed his desire to write stories and in those years he read a lot of science fiction, fantasy and horror from previous years, becoming fan of Marvel comics. Through the readers letters published in the comics, he came into contact with the fandom and various fanzines, where he published a number of stories.

After years spent working mainly on television, also with various projects that were not successful, George R. R. Martin got tired, also for the limits imposed by budget and the rigid length of television episodes. In the early 1990s he started writing a fantasy saga that was originally a trilogy but was later expanded to better develop the story: in 1996 he published “A Game of Thrones”, the first novel of the saga that enormously increased the author’s fame.

Ediacara fossils found in Namibia (Photo courtesy Simon A.F. Darroch. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution” describes a research on the communities formed by the so-called Ediacara biota, the beings that lived during the Ediacaran period. Paleontologist Simon A.F. Darroch of the Vanderbilt University and two colleagues applied a method of analysis developed for modern ecology to organisms of that period including some discovered in Namibia concluding that there was already an ecological complexity in some communities 570 million years ago.

Central Station by Lavie Tidhar

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The novel “Central Station” by Lavie Tidhar was published for the first time in 2016 fixing-up a number of short stories published in previous years. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Speculative Fiction, and the Israeli Geffen Award for Best Science Fiction novel.

Central Station is a space base that, in Tel Aviv, connects the Earth to the rest of the universe, where humanity spread over the centuries. The population of the area has increased so much that it’s become a sort of city within the city and is a crossroad of people coming and going inluding humans, cyborgs, robot priests, artificial intelligences and more connected to the aliens known only as the Others in a digital consciousness called the Conversation.

Boris Chong returns to Earth from Mars and discovers that a lot has changed and not for the better due to a chaotic growth. His ex-lover adopted a child with out of normal skills and some developments for his Earth relatives aren’t all positive. As if there weren’t enough problems, a data-vampire arrived from Mars too.