Life Death Sci-fi

Hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg talk about The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke.  Sri Lanka, Taprobane is the setting for this story and the real-life home of the author. Questions about whether the myths and illusions that fill the early history of the setting are told by a far distant narrator, Starglider perhaps, similar to the construction of the space elevator. HBO's Raised b...

Hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg hail The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. This is the third try for this episode. First, try Eric Didn't press record, second Chris didn't save, and this is the third try. This podcast starts out with how will this podcast start. We might be caught in a time loop. We talk about how this story is the "hero's journey" in the apocalypse. Lauren Oya Ol...

Hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg talk about World War Z by Max Brooks. Is the movie better than the book or just different and just as good? This is a hard read during the time of the pandemic, especially the early chapters. Dog lovers will enjoy the dog heroes of this story. Survival: what tools would you bring to the zombie apocalypse?   Image: "World War Z" by Rodrigo Paoletti is license...

Lifedeathscifi hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg discuss Ray Bradbury's sci-fi classic, Fahrenheit 451. Did the war in this story blow up the city at the end of the book? Our hosts consider war, education, the 1%, chaos, villains, and heroes. There is a "Wake up Moment" and Halloween costumes. Pondering about: Are we too reliant on devices? Can we ever find the truth? Online?   Image:"Fahren...

Hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg relate to The Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. A 70-year-old story with relevance today. What was the earliest "last person on earth" story? Ish drives across the country looking for survivors and finds more than one kind of survivor. This review was recorded during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, and our hosts talk about fear, death, and survival.   Image:"Ea...

Hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg wonder about The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster. Our hosts get right into it with all of the sci-fi connections this story has and it was written in 1909! The Starship Enterprise has visited more than one planet that has problems because they forgot who built the machine that protects them; the same is true in The Machine Stops. E.M. Forster creates a frighte...

Hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg talk about the sci-fi classic, Ringworld by Larry Niven. We are awed by the scope of this setting and the diversity of the cast of characters. Luck, free will, and destiny are surprise guests in this space opera. Think big, solar system big, it’s a galaxy-sized story.  This episode includes a surprise discussion around the lessons of eugenics connects to The...

In this episode, we explore the first book of Jeff Vanderveer's Southern Reach Trilogy. Is it a story of first contact? Horror? A love story? Perhaps a fairy tale? What mysteries does the lighthouse represent? What are "Hyperobjects? And why doesn't anyone have a name? 

A lot of podcast production talk; music, scripts, and editing. Then some pandemic catch-up time it just felt like it had to happen. Finally, we get to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, some of the best bits were about "Who IS Captain Nemo? A villain or a hero? Can you be both? Catch all of this and more in episode 4. The Nautilus submarine is the best tech ever!

Hosts Eric Bueschlen and Chris Herzberg argue about this "first contact" satire on religion and politics. We try to answer the questions: Is this story a classic? Does the misogyny of the era disqualify a story from becoming a classic?