2015 in Review

The Meta-Foundation

Keeping with tradition, this blog post is an end of the year look back at 2015. I'm going to let Google Analytics be my guide as I recap the most popular topics that appeared in this blog during the past year.

Not only is Isaac Asimov one of my favorite science fiction writers, but I've learned through the years that including the word "Asimov" in a blog post or a tweet is sure to get attention. 'Nuff said... now let the page views roll in.

Guardian Alien

December
I did a series of 4 blog posts about the Syfy adaptation of Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End. One of the most puzzling parts of the show was the stuttering romance between Ricky and Ellie. In Clarke's novel, "Ricky" was "Rikki", the Secretary General of the United Nations. It actually made sense that if an alien visitor to Earth were to work with just one representative of Humanity they would contact the head of the U.N., but in Hollywood nothing need make sense. Hence, Ricky the farmer.

Georgina Haig

Exactly why did Syfy give Daisy Betts, Mike Vogel and Georgina Haig so much screen time in their version of Childhood's End? I mean, besides the fact that they look so beautiful that no editor could cut out the useless plot threads that knit together their twisted, paranormal ménage à trois.

When it came time for me to make a fantasy book cover for Syfy's Childhood's End, I had to make a book blurb labeling it as "science fiction romance" (see the image, above). To me, that's a joke, but for a television network trying to attract a certain high-$pending demographic, it is just good bu$iness. Poor Clarke is spinning in his grave. The #1 most visited page of 2015: SyFy's Overmind.

Thamber: A Lost World

November
I'm happy to find that both Clarke (see above) and Vance can also attract readers! Jack Vance: A Lost World is the most visited blog post for November 2015. If we can have an imaginary lost continent on Earth (Atlantis) then why not have lost planets. How can you lose an entire planet? I'm glad you asked...

October

source

In October, I fulfilled a long-standing dream and blogged about beaver pelts. Of course, that was in a science fiction context. I rather jokingly described Asimov's short story "Reason" as being in the solarpunk sub-genre of science fiction. As usual, mere mention of Asimov made for a popular tweet containing the image shown to the right.

Space Gods

I've been compiling a history of science fiction in Deep Time, so many of my blog posts from this past year deal with science fiction stories that were written in previous Realities. In the Ekcolir Reality, most writers of science fiction were women. I have not yet transformed Asimov into a woman, but Joseph Millard was among those who failed to receive a Y chromosome in the Ekcolir Reality.

the Mule

In "The Space Gods", the entire universe must be saved from destruction. In that story, an alien "god" who created our universe is bored with 3-dimenional life forms and is coming close to shutting down our universe.

Telepathy is a big part of the Exode Saga, so it is no surprise that the #1 most visited blog post in October 2105 is Mind Control.

September

Ekcolir and the Grendels

In September, Gohrlay invited me to think about a 20,000-year-long plan that culminated in the creation of the science fiction genre. The image shown to the right was popular on Twitter.

(alternate)Reality TV

My most popular blog post of September was about The X-Files. I presented my fantasy for how to reboot the X-Files as a new science fiction television series. The image shown to the left is just a joke, part of making fun of television shows that present viewers with endlessly incompetent alien invaders.

August

Aquarius Trilogy

The "Aquarius Trilogy" is a story from Deep Time. In a past Reality, Kirth Gersen worked with Drusilla to investigate Zodiac Control, a secretive organization that along with the Institute worked to guide the course of human civilization in the galaxy.

July

The wonders of Time Travel.

The double-whammy: Asimov and Star Trek. The image shown to the left was popular on Twitter and it helped make popular a July blog post that really had nothing to do with either Asimov of Star Trek. That was actually a blog post about how I've written myself into the Exode Trilogy.

June

Reality Chains

I finally created a blog post called Reality Chains and it was my most-visited post in June. Many different Realities were brought into existence during the Time Travel Era of our universe. Sadly, time travel is no long possible, but a detailed record of past Realities apparently exists within the Sedronic Domain. I am trying to provide Earthlings with an account of Deep Time in the Exode Trilogy.

May
A popular tweet in the month of May included the "extinction curve" that shows the dismal fate of human-like species in the universe.

flying robot sex goddess

10 Years!
I have not gone to a movie theater since 2005. My most-visited blog post from May concerned what my local news paper listed as the 2nd best movie of 2015: Ex Machina. I constantly compare pop culture science fiction to science fiction novels that I've read and almost always I prefer written science fiction over movies and television shows.

timely tweet

Really, most of what is is labelled as "science fiction" in Hollywood is really "anti-science fiction". I'm not going to pay for an annoying experience in a theater just to get dark tales from Hollywood. (SIHA)

source

April
My most-visited blog post for April was my nonreview of Ex Machina. I described the film as an anti-science Gothic horror flick.

March
My most-visited blog post in March was a look back at Carl Sagan's science fiction novel Contact.

the needed sequel

That post was also a celebration of "Pi Day", so I mentioned several other examples of mathematical nerdiness in fiction which allowed me to get around to what was at that time my own writing obsession: Star Dance.

February

The Y-Files

A popular tweet from February included the image shown to the left. The Y-Files was my most-visited blog post in February.

The first bit of fan-fiction that I ever wrote was set in the X-Files fictional universe and I routinely blog about my fantasies for how it might be possible to reboot The X-Files as a true science fiction television series.

The Doctor Who Created Our Universe

January
My most-visited blog post in January got off to a good start by mentioning both Isaac Asimov and Jack Vance in the first sentence. The title of that post is "Obsession" and it concerns my science fiction writing obsession. This past year, I developed the Exode Trilogy as a type of recursive science fiction in which space aliens found it necessary to create the science fiction genre during the 20th century. During the past 12 months I have had to investigate the origins of science fiction in Deep Time, particularly in the Ekcolir Reality.

Related Reading. (first half 2015)

2016
I feel like it is about time to abandon my study of the science fiction genre in the Ekcolir Reality. I do have some unfinished business from 2015, my fan-fiction sequel to Trullion. What will become my next science fiction obsession in 2016? Nicotine was big in 2015 and I'm thinking it might be time to explore the science fiction of caffeine.

100,000 visits

Next: a blogging milestone.
Related Reading: 2016 year in review - Time warp: 2014

UFO hot-spots in 2016