Author Archives: Claire L. Evans

Man of Earth

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Claire L. Evans

Although “Golden Age” science fiction has always seemed corn-fed as hell to me–space cowboys and army men, pioneering colonists and alien baddies usually tinged with Soviet undertones–I’m discovering, more and more, that it’s partially an immigrant’s literature. Isaac Asimov was a … Continue reading →

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Ben Bova: The OMNI Interview

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Claire L. Evans

I recently had the great fortune of interviewing three of the surviving editors of the late, great OMNI magazine, a publication which, for 17 years, blew minds with its gonzo blend of science fiction and science. From 1978 to 1998 … Continue reading →

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Ubik

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Claire L. Evans

I am Ubik. Before the universe was, I am. I made the suns. I made the worlds. I created the lives and the places they inhabit; I move them here, I put them there. They go as I say, they do … Continue reading →

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Merry Christmas from the Outer Limits

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Claire L. Evans

As a holiday treat, here’s a small gallery of painterly Christmas-themed covers from the great Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, all from the mid-50s and early 1960s, arguably the golden age of science fiction illustration. These were done by Ed Emschwiller, … Continue reading →

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We Can Build You

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Claire L. Evans

The scene is a basement repair shop, 1982. Work benches, tools, and a prone robotic simulacra of Abraham Lincoln, being turned on for the first time. In the presence of its makers, the Lincoln is slowly emerging from objecthood into the … Continue reading →

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Science Fiction’s Speculative Pharmacopeia

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Claire L. Evans

Last week, I published an article on Motherboard rounding up some of my favorite fake drugs from the coffers of science fiction. The list isn’t exhaustive; rather, it tackles a representative spread of uppers, downers, psychedelics, and unclassifiables. The tradition … Continue reading →

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The Jewels of Aptor

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Claire L. Evans

The Jewels of Aptor is Samuel Delany’s first book, written when he was just 19 and published a year later. His wife, the poet Marilyn Hacker (with whom he went on to edit the speculative fiction anthology/journal Quark) was an assistant editor … Continue reading →

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Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Claire L. Evans

Ray Bradbury always seemed out of synch with the contemporary science fiction milieu: he wrote on a typewriter until the end, was sentimental, loved circuses, dreams, toys, fantasies, myths, loathed technology to the point of never driving a car, and … Continue reading →

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The Drowned World

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Claire L. Evans

Epochs drifted. Giant waves, infinitely slow and enveloping, broke and fell across the sunless beaches of the time-sea, washing him helplessly in its shallows. He drifted from one pool to another, in the limbos of eternity, a thousand images of … Continue reading →

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Ray Bradbury’s Birthday, William Gibson, and Being Science-Fictional in Los Angeles

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Claire L. Evans

Los Angeles is arguably the science fiction capital of America. Blade Runner’s iconic sino-Futuristic downtown notwithstanding, there’s a strong historical lineage for science fiction in the Southland: the fan culture which took root here mid-century, the early conventions, the legacy … Continue reading →

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