Leon Stevens's Blog, page 2
September 21, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XIX)
By the time the 90s had come into being, my science fiction tastes had been cemented in my psyche. I read books by Orson Scott Card, Kim Stanley Robinson, Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Spider Robinson and Ben Bova to name a few.
There were some great (and not so great) sci-fi TV during the 80s. V, Max Headroom, and Quantum Leap were a few, and we can’t forget ALF, can we?
Some notable movies were: Outland (with Sean Connery), Escape from New York, Blade Runner, ET, War Games, The Fly, Predator, and of course, you can’t forget The Terminator.
Some not so notable but at the time I thought were: Battle Beyond the Stars and Scanners.
One film that I think gets forgotten is Enemy Mine staring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr.. Two combatants in an interstellar war crash on a distant planet and have to out their differences aside to survive.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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September 20, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XVIII)
Arnold Rimmer and David Lister are low-level technicians on the mining ship Red Dwarf. In the opening scene (I think) we see them cleaning junk out of the chicken soup dispenser nozzles. David and Arnold share a room and are the prototypical odd couple. David is a slop and constantly teases and derides Arnold for being a ‘smeghead’. Arnold is hell bent on rising through the ranks but constantly fails the officers exam.
Dave gets put into stasis—with no pay—for smuggling a cat on board. While he is in, a radioactive leak in the engine kills the entire crew and the computer program ‘Holly’ has to keep him in stasis until it is safe.
That will be in 3 million years. Now the fun begins.
When David emerges from stasis, his only companions are a hologram of Arnold Rimmer, a life-form evolved from his pregnant cat, and the computer Holly.
Hilarity: Commence.
Call it Hitchhikers 2.0, the next generation of science fiction comedy. I discovered this show when I was in university and it was a weekly gathering at the only friend that had a TV and cable (this was the late 80s, you know) to watch it.
The casting was brilliant, with the characters feeding of each other constantly, thanks to the British comedy writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, and it ran for 12 seasons (6 episodes each except for one of 3)
To state the obvious, you’ve either heard about it or you haven’t, and now you have.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 19, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XVII)
I knew Carl Sagan (not personally) from his work on the plaques and records sent into deep space on the Pioneer and Voyager probes. These attachments contained detailed information of the human race so that aliens could find us and use us for food or cheap labour.
Thanks, Carl.
His book Contact, tells about a scientist working at SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) who detects a signal that turns out to be from…wait for it: extraterrestrial intelligence.
No spoilers here, though. It is a very good book. and eventually it was made into a very good movie.
With his PBS series of the same name, Carl Sagan was the first scientist to achieve “rockstar” status, propelling astronomy into mainstream culture, long before Bill Nye and Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
Although truth be told, Marie Curie did have a sort lived radio show called “RadioActive” where she would take calls about science and chemistry.
Oh, she’s also a LEGO.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 18, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XVI)
What’s the most quoted worst movie line? It might just be:
“I’ve come to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubble gum.”
But if you are looking for it in Ray Faraday Nelson’s short story, “Eight O’Clock in the Morning,” you won’t find it. You will however, find it in John Carpenter’s 1988 sci-fi flick, “They Live.”
Rowdy Roddy Piper (of westling fame) plays a down and out guy looking for work in Los Angeles. While working construction and living in a homeless camp, he encounters a group who believe the rich and powerful are being controlled by an unknown entity.
He finds a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see their true image and the subliminal messages in all forms of media.
The film was a minor hit but grew a cult following.
Brilliantly, someone used the current political situation and created this:
The movie also features what I think is the longest fist fight scene in movie history, clocking in at six minutes when it was only supposed to last for 20 seconds.
Was it ridiculous? You bet. Did it add to the sroty? Hell, no. It gets longer every time you watch it.
Good movie, though.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 17, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XV)
The crew of the mining ship Nostromo (the name taken from a Joseph Conrad character) is woken from deep sleep to investigate an automated distress beacon.
So they go down to the surface and…well to paraphrase the scene:
Morty: What are- What are these things?
Rick: Do I look like I know? Last thing I remember, I was, ugh, in a cave looking at some wet eggs, and– Oh, that probably did it.
Morty: I told you not to look at that egg! I-it was too wet.
You know the rest.
The special effects were good, from the spaceships to the alien designed by the artist H.R. Giger.
Giger’s style was like nothing I had ever seen before and I don’t think there has been anything like it since.
The sequel featured comedian Paul Riser channeling his inner antagonist rather effectively, and Bill Paxton delivering the iconic line: “It’s game over, man!”
It also cemented Sigourney Weaver as the the top female badass.
And that franchise went downhill from there.
Alien 3 (1992)Alien: Resurrection (1997)Alien vs. Predator (2004)Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)Prometheus (2012)Alien: Covenant (2017)Alien: Romulus (2024)There is a new streaming series on … I want to say FX, but it might be Paramount, neither of which I have so, I won’t pass judgement.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 16, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XIV)
As a not yet teenager, there were some things that scared the bejesus out of me:
Killer bees: Why did I go watch the movie “The Swarm” by myself? Wait. Why did my parents let me?Bigfoot: Some big creepy ape man in the woods? C’mon.That creature in “Space: 1999” that sucked in people and spit out a smoking dried up corpseThen there were the radioactive cockroaches and giant scorpions in the hit movie “Damnation Alley.” Okay, maybe it wasn’t a hit, but the Landmasters were pretty cool:
I loved when the tri-wheel assembly flipped when the Landmaster went over rough terrain.
“Damnation Alley” was my first exposure to the post-apocalyptic genre and it would be decades later when I would finally be able to spell post-apocalyptic on the first try.
Then the 80s happened and along with it came the movie rental place where you could rent a VHS movie, and if your parents said that they wouldn’t buy a VHS player because watching movies at home was a “passing fad”, you could also rent a machine that came in a silver case that looked like it contained top-secret documents.
This allowed me to dive into this genre with movies like: Logan’s Run, Mad Max, Andromeda Strain, Planet of the Apes, Zardoz, and Soylent Green.
I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the first post-apocalyptic book I read, A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr., which is about an order of monks who are tasked with keeping scientific knowledge alive after a nuclear war.
So, when I began to write, the genre was an influence.
And why not have some fun as well…
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 15, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XIII)
Hari: This. This should be the book.
Isaac: What do you mean?
Hari: Just talking.
Isaac: Just talking? About what?
Hari: About nothing.
Isaac: You want me to write a book about nothing?
Hari: Everyone is writing about something, so you write about nothing.
Okay, so maybe something happens. There wouldn’t be a whole series if there were no events, but there are no epic space battles or invasions. There are a lot of galactic politicians arguing about if they should believe Hari Seldon’s mathematical predictions about the future, though.
The first three books were written in the 50s (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation) then thirty years later, another two (Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth) completed the story. Two prequels (Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation) came next in 1988 and 1993, the final one being published after Asimov’s death.
Of all the books the first five are my favorite. The last two I could have done without. You know how your favorite show tries to squeeze one or two new seasons, but they are not as good but you watch them anyway because you’ve come this far?
For people of a certain age, I’ll say that the last two books was where Asimov “jumped the shark” and you’ll know what I mean.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 14, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XII)
I didn’t have a TV between 1985 and 1990. Being in college and being more focused on music, movies, drinking, and partying, I missed a lot of stuff I wasn’t aware of, so it wasn’t until Season 4 that I got into this next generation of Star Trek.
I watched a lot of the first seasons out of order and much of the next was a crap shoot whether I’d be home to watch it. It wasn’t until later that I had a VHS and could record the episodes.
Coming out in 1987, each season had better production, the storylines continued to develop the crews personalities effectively, as well as introducing us to some memorable reoccurring characters.
With the exception of Patrick Stewart who I recognized from his appearance in the movies Dune and Excalibur, the rest of the cast was unknown to me which always makes a new show more believable.
Stewart delivered several knockout performances during the series, proving his range of talent, even within a sometimes not too serious series.
Jonathan Frakes on the other hand always came off as a bit stiff, and Wil Wheaton was the often despised by fans as the wunderkind Wesley Crusher (kudos to Wil for embracing that hatred in his many appearances on The Big Bang Theory).
Brent Spiner portrayed the android Data, who has no emotions, and his evil brother, Lore who does. In several episodes, he does gain the ability to feel which enabled the character to grow.
Micheal Dorn (Worf), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troy), and Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) rounded out the main cast, with each character growing and developing throughout the series.
John De Lancie, of Days of Our Lives, was stellar in his portrayal of the omnipotent Q, a character who made a multitude of appearances, much to the ire of Captain Picard. The rocky relationship between the two continued all the way to the most recent spinoff, Picard, and ended with this [spoiler] poignant scene:
There would be four movies between 1994-2002 with this cast.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 13, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part XI)
Humourous? Yes. Laugh out loud funny? I’ve never read a book that made me do that, unless you consider Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side, but then never when I was alone. My sister and I would read them together and we would be laughing until our sides hurt and have tears in our eyes.
Good times.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is book one of the four book trilogy. That’s your first taste of the humour of Douglas Adams.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979)The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)Life, the Universe and Everything (1982)So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984)I started reading this in 1985, so I was lucky to be able to read them one after the other. The first book is definitely the best with each successive one being slightly less original but the series was entertaining none the less.
The story begins with Arthur Dent laying in front of a bulldozer which was going to demolish his house then moves on when his friend Ford Prefect (who he doesn’t know is an alien until then) helps him escape the Earth’s demise—ironically being destroyed to make way for an intergalactic freeway.
Much of the humour is Monty Python-esque, being odd and bizarre. A good example is Vogon poetry (the Vogon’s being an alien race from the planet Vogsphere) which is described as the third worst* poetry in the universe, to which I will not subject you to.
I also won’t spoil what they finally discover is the answer to the “Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”**
Not the first sci-fi book that incorporates humour—Asimov and Vonnegut often used elements of humour—but this one is relentless in its inclusion.
A must read series for science fiction fans.
-Leon
*Behind the poetry of the Azgoths of Kria and that of Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings.
**It’s not what you might think.
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 12, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part X)
When did you first see Star Trek?
I don’t know when I saw my first episode, but it was probably during the late 70s. With only two channels to choose from—three if you count the one that was 50% snow:
—there was limited access to the good stuff.
But I do remember watching the show and being fascinated by the Enterprise, the phasers, the transporter and the Klingons who made a quick evolutionary leap from no head ridges to head ridges in the first movie.
With no new Star Trek shows forthcoming (I never saw the animated series), it was a waiting game for that first motion picture. And it didn’t disappoint and several more followed.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture — Good. Cool effects for the day but used a bit too much. The story was interesting and VEGR was a unexpected twist.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. — What’s Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island doing there? I think this was one of the first times I saw an actor I knew playing another character, and boy was he a badass. This movie also had the second best death scene in the franchise.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock — We were all pissed of that Spock was killed, but the name of the next movie promised redemption. We also got the death of the Enterprise.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home — Campy, but some of the humour in it made it bearable. “How do we know he didn’t invent the stuff?” and “Were are your nuclear wessels?” Still, not the worst of the bunch.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — The worst of the bunch. A mediocre story that even a feather-dancing Uhura couldn’t save.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country — I thought that this one was a perfect way to wrap up the movie franchise. The pursuit of peace was topical and they still managed to inject humour into the situations.
We would have to wait four years for some the original cast to reunite.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
