2020

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Italian edition)

0

The novel “Children of Ruin” by Adrian Tchaikovsky was published for the first time in 2019. It’s the sequel to “Children of Time”.

An expedition reaches a star system with the aim of terraforming a planet that has an interesting potential to develop. However, the scientists discover that a biosphere already exists on the planet, so terraforming should begin with its elimination. As a result, it’s decided to terraform the neighboring planet, where it’s possible to create a favorable habitat for modified octopodes. The life forms on the planet they discarded are more complex than humans imagined.

Millennia later, from a distant system comes another expedition of humans who formed an alliance with sentient Portia spiders, attracted by radio signals. Instead of finding a human colony, the new expedition ends up in the midst of a war, and it’s difficult to understand its causes. Contact is difficult, with the consequence that understanding which factions are fighting and avoiding being destroyed by one of them requires the skill of both species.

Oksoko avarsan fossils

0

An article published in the journal “Royal Society Open Science” reports the identification of a new species of parrot-like feathered dinosaur that lived in modern Mongolia about 68 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period. A team of researchers named it Oksoko avarsan after examining various specimens in various states of incompleteness. Some of the specimens had been confiscated by the Mongolian authorities after they were found in the possession of smugglers. These dinosaurs were classified within the oviraptorid (Oviraptoridae) family, but were toothless and had two fingers instead of the typical three of their closest relatives.

Transcendental by James Gunn

1

The novel “Transcendental” by James Gunn was published for the first time in 2014. It’s the first book in the Transcendental trilogy.

Riley is a veteran of a war fought by humanity after the contact with an interstellar civilization altered the balance among the species that compose it. He joins a pilgrimage aboard the starship Geoffrey that aims to seek transcendence, an idea that attracts sentient individuals of all species and perhaps may be real somewhere in the cosmos.

From the beginning, the journey is marked by acts of violence with murders and sabotage. Riley must try to figure out who, on the starship Geoffrey, could become his ally and who could represent a danger. The ship’s captain is an old acquaintance of his, but Riley doesn’t know if he can trust him. Riley himself has his own secrets.

David Brin in 2005

1

Glen David Brin was born on October 6, 1950 in Glendale, California, USA. David Brin’s career as a science fiction writer began while he was still studying for his doctorate with the publication of his first novel “Sundiver” in 1980. It became the first novel of what has become known as the Uplift novels and introduces a fictional universe full of sentient species where the practice of uplifting of non-sentient species is normal.

Considered a hard science fiction author because technological and scientific themes are crucial in his works, David Brin has also kept pace with real technologies by embracing the Internet. His online presence has become more visible with the emergence of social networks, which he uses to write about science fiction, real technological and scientific research, and even politics.

1

The episode “A Certain Doom” was supposed to be the season finale of “The Walking Dead” 10th season. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it became a special episode broadcast on October 4, 2020.