2020

Beast of Fang Rock by Andy Frankham-Allen

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The novel “Beast of Fang Rock” by Andy Frankham-Allen was published for the first time in 2015.

The island of Fang Rock has been the center of legends for many years due to alleged sightings of a monstrous creature and the mysterious deaths of a group of people in the lighthouse in 1902. In 1955, the lighthouse was closed, but after being renovated is ready to be put back into service. A group of students arrived on the island to celebrate the event, but are faced with a ghost and a shooting star.

Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart suspects alien activity behind the strange sightings reported on Fang Rock Island and intends to investigate. Anne Travers receives a letter left to the family’s law firm from Archibald Goff, an ancestor of hers who visited Fang Rock nearly a century and a half earlier, yet the letter is addressed to Anne, mentioned by name.

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (Italian edition)

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The novel “The Sirens of Titan” by Kurt Vonnegut was published for the first time in 1959.

Winston Niles Rumfoord was traveling in space when he was sucked into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, a kind of space-time distortion. The consequence is that Rumfoord and his dog Kazak, who was traveling with him, periodically materialize in various places. During a time when he materialized on Earth, Rumfoord talks to Malachi Constant, the richest man in the USA, and tells him a series of events destined to take place in the future.

Unk is a Martian soldier, a broken from an officer rank whose memory has been erased. The treatment is not complete and Unk still has some fragments of his past. Together with his fellow soldiers, he’s preparing for the launch of the entire Martian fleet with the aim of invading the Earth.

TikTok's website home page

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The USA government has announced that the social networks TikTok and WeChat will be banned in the USA starting from September 20. It’s another step of President Donald Trump’s administration in the clash with Chinese social media, accused of spying on American citizens. In particular, TikTok’s situation is complicated because in recent days the news of a partnership with Oracle arrived, however, it didn’t satisfy the White House, which demands the social network’s sale to an American company. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce accused the USA of bullying. Behind this clash there’s the problem of controlling user activity, the reason why some American social networks are banned in China.

A Cure for Cancer by Michael Moorcock

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The novel “A Cure for Cancer” by Michael Moorcock was published for the first time in 1971 after various parts were published in different magazines. It’s the second novel in the Jerry Cornelius series and follows “The Final Programme”.

A mirror image of Jerry Cornelius is looking for a device that was stolen from him. It’s capable of manipulating space-time with its cycles and therefore reality reality itself. He intends to use it for a very personal purpose but finding it in the chaotic Europe is difficult even for him.

Norman Spinrad in 2006

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Norman Richard Spinrad was born on September 15, 1940 in New York, USA. Norman Spinrad earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the City College of New York in 1961. Subsequently, he did various jobs living in various cities, also in Europe. He accumulated experience in the media field working for radio programs and, after starting writing, occasionally as a screenwriter writing for example an episode of the original “Star Trek” series.

In the literary field, Norman Spinrad made his debut in 1963, but until 1966 he was only a part-time writer. Even when he went full-time, he wasn’t particularly prolific. Since his first novel, “The Solarians” (1966), one can see his tendency not to go for half measures in the development of themes that can be difficult such as sexuality.
In the course of his career, Norman Spinrad has never won the greatest awards in the field of science fiction, probably also due to the controversies that accompanied his works. He’s undoubtedly an author who develops difficult themes in an extreme way. It’s the reason why he’s at the center of controversy but it’s also his main merit.