... it is pretty much impossible to ignore the fact that the country was at war for more than 20 years, and when looking at books set in Vietnam, it is just as difficult to escape the impact of the war on most literary endeavors. There are many fine novels written about Vietnam, but this selection attempts to present a range of views, giving you a wide perspective on the country and its history before you make your journey. 'Matterhorn' by Karl Marlantes Written in 1977, but only published in 2010 after more than thirty years of rejections, this novel is being described ... of the war which is rarely revealed. Here we see the 'glory' of the cause giving way to displacement of civilians, the hunger of villagers and the inevitable breakdown of families and relationships that are a result of sustained conflict. 'Dragon House' by John Shors And now to modern day Vietnam, where two Americans try to deal with their own past by setting up a center to look after Vietnamese street children. On arrival the duo are confronted with the corruption and chaos of Ho Chi Minh City, and as readers we are treated to all the sounds and smells that ...
Tags: books set in vietnam | novels vietnam | fiction vietnam | fiction set in vietnam | books about vietnam |

... is that they are completely divorced from our real world -- they are all fantasy solutions. (This, by the way, is why so much of contemporary science fiction is now called speculative fiction.) Since they are fantasy, there is no hard constraint on what the author can bring into the story, so there is a powerful tendency for the story ... them consistent limits, then explore what you can and can't do within those limits. Take some time at this because you will discover that within any limitation you set, there will always surprises. One example of not setting consistent limits is Star Trek teleporter and holodeck technologies -- these got famously silly as the franchise evolved. The second ...
Tags: first contact | first contact stories | aliens | science fiction | Technofiction | hard science fiction |

... , indeed. He wakes up in the body of a different man, on a Chicago-bound commuter train, and eight minutes later experiences a bomb blast which blows him and the train to bits. He then repeats this experience, over and over. He discovers his mission is to figure out who set the bomb, and why the Sam Hill he is here in this different body! Before this weirdness began he had been a helicopter pilot flying a combat mission in Afghanistan. His condition is steadily revealed as he keeps going back into this scenario to try to solve the mystery. In ... not just blow up this train, but blow up Chicago as well, and somehow the authorities find out that this train bomb is just a prelude....Wow! That's asking a lot. Asking even more: This is being done by just one person! He's going to build, deposit, and set off both devices. MacGyver on steroids! All of the above seems to be unfolded just to give some urgency to this story. o Somehow... out of this devastating carnage of a train wreck. The top-secret military people locate a passenger brain that is still alive enough that they can ...
Tags: source code | technofiction review | train bomb | dirty bomb | Duncan Jones | Jake Gyllenhaal |

... set design, wild visual effects and fast-paced direction by Dante make this one another winner. The fourth and final story, which many consider to be the best in the film, is directed by George Miller and is a rehash of "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". It stars wonderful John Lithgow (who won a Best Supporting Actor award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy ... our bewildered anti-hero. Bill manages to escape again into a nearby lake where he hides among the weeds, but yet again he is transported to another time -- now the swamps of Vietnam circa 1969, where he is pursued as a Vietnamese man by an army of US soldiers through the steaming water. In the end, Bill winds up back in WWII Germany ...
Tags: twilight zone movie | steven spielberg | john landis | TV series | gremlin airplane | joe dante |