January 2023

The skeleton and a drawing of the Honghesaurus longicaudalis specimen

An article published in the journal “Scientific Reports” describes the identification of a new species of marine reptile with an exceptionally long tail that lived about 244 million years ago, in the Middle Triassic period, in today’s China. A team of researchers named it Honghesaurus longicaudalis after examining a complete skeleton discovered in the Guanling Formation in China’s Yunnan province. This reptile is part of the now-extinct group of pachypleurosaurs and was quite large among them, with a long trunk and tail that probably gave it swimming maneuverability and efficiency.

The Brave Free Men by Jack Vance

The novel “The Brave Free Men” by Jack Vance was published for the first time in 1972 serialized in “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” and in 1973 as a book. It’s the second book in the Durdane trilogy and follows “The Anome”.

Gastel Etzwane gained huge power and intends to use it to eliminate the threat of the Roguskhoi, humanoids who are hitting the Shant harder and harder with their attacks. Together with a very few trusted people, he tries to set up a unified army but unifying the efforts of the many cantons of the Shant is a very complex undertaking.

The people of the Shant spent generations under the rule of the Anome, and even Roguskhoi attacks elicit limited responses. Creating an army and new weapons takes time and adequate organization, and Gastel Etzwane discovers that various cantons hide serious injustices.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

The novel “Earth Abides” by George R. Stewart was published for the first time in 1949. It won the International Fantasy Award.

Isherwood “Ish” Williams is working on his graduate thesis in the mountains when he gets bitten by a rattlesnake. He manages to get rid of most of the poison but spends days unwell, even from what appears to be an illness unrelated to the poisoning. When he gets strong enough again, he travels to the nearest town and finds it deserted, only the first evidence of a mass death caused by an unknown disease.

Ish seeks out other survivors, who are few in number and not always friendly, sometimes in a severely altered state of mind. After touring the now almost completely depopulated USA, he returns to California and decides to settle in the area. He finds a woman, Emma, and the two of them decide to live together. Over time, they find a few other survivors with whom to form a small community but what can be the future of humanity?