Sci-fi | Another Roadside Attraction

Category Archives: Sci-fi

Musings on science fiction.

The importance of setting

Posted on October 16, 2026 | Leave a comment

At first sight, Snowpiercer makes little sense. Some time in the near future, mankind has hit upon a solution to global warming which involves shooting a substance called CW-7 into the upper atmosphere so as to reduce the intensity of sunlight reaching the surface. Unfortunately this goes horribly wrong and the outside temperature plummets to minus 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

But thankfully Joseph Wilford, CEO of Wilford Industries, has built Snowpiercer, a train 1,001 cars long that circles the globe every 133 days on a track 318,000 km long. It is powered by a Perpetual Motion Engine, no less, which means that it can never stop. Indeed at one point slowing by a mere 12 percent results in severe blackouts as the batteries drain. Continue reading →

Roadside Picnic

Posted on February 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

I have been a fan of science fiction almost as long as I can remember, starting with the short stories of Isaac Asimov which I used to read by torchlight under the bedclothes. Since then my tastes have grown broader, but I find myself returning to science fiction over and over again.

A few years ago, a couple of friends and I formed a book club, meeting in a local pub every six weeks or so to discuss life, the universe, and the latest science fiction book we’ve read. We take it in turns to choose a book, which has broadened our reading experience considerably. I, for example, would never have put myself through Russell Hoban’s wonderful Riddley Walker (which is written in a made-up language) unless James had suggested it.

You can find our reading group’s blog at Roadside Picnic. The blog title does superficially resemble the title of this one, but is in fact a reference to the book Roadside Picnic which was written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and inspired the Russian movie Stalker.