All posts tagged: author

Project Hail Mary author apologizes to Star Trek boss after brutally insulting modern spin-offs

Project Hail Mary author apologizes to Star Trek boss after brutally insulting modern spin-offs

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Project Hail Mary author Andy Weir has apologized to Star Trek boss Alex Kurtzman in an open letter after he slammed the franchise’s modern series in a recent podcast appearance. The 53-year-old novelist, who shot to fame when his book The Martian was adapted to a movie by Ridley Scott with Matt Damon in 2015, faced criticism after saying the current roster of Star Trek spin-offs “are s***.” In an open letter addressed to Kurtzman, shared Monday on Facebook, Weir wrote: “I’m posting to apologize about stuff I said on the Critical Drinker’s podcast. “I feel like my quotes were taken out of context as salacious sound bytes [sic]. I hope you saw the other parts where I said how much I like you as a person and what a nice guy you are. Also how I like [Strange New Worlds] …

Lázár by Nelio Biedermann review – a Hungarian epic from a 22-year-old author | Fiction

Lázár by Nelio Biedermann review – a Hungarian epic from a 22-year-old author | Fiction

Published by Sam Flores

This gothic-inflected saga has received much attention in Europe for its quirky and confident take on 20th-century Hungarian history. It is sobering to reflect that its author not only has no personal memory of the end of communist rule in eastern Europe, but that he wasn’t even alive when the twin towers fell. Born in 2003, Nelio Biedermann is among the first wave of gen Z writers of fiction and Lázár is his debut novel. The opening pages introduce us to a world straight out of gothic fable. In an isolated manor house by a forbiddingly dark forest, a strange-looking baby is born. This unearthly child, Lajos, is fated to carry forward the family name of the Lázárs, a noble dynasty with an alarming tendency to go mad, die violently, or both. Meanwhile, in another wing of the house lurks the baron’s older brother, Imre, who is barred from the baronetcy by reason of insanity. In fact, Lajos von Lázár’s parentage isn’t quite what it appears. We soon learn that he is the product of an illicit liaison between …

Project Hail Mary and The Martian author says he had Star Trek show rejected by Paramount

Project Hail Mary and The Martian author says he had Star Trek show rejected by Paramount

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Project Hail Mary author Andy Weir has revealed that his idea for a new Star Trek series was rejected by Paramount. The 53-year-old novelist, who shot to fame when his book The Martian was adapted to a movie by Ridley Scott with Matt Damon in 2015, had some disparaging comments for the current roster of Star Trek spin-off series. “Those shows are s***,” Weir said. “But they didn’t accept my pitch so, you know, f*** ‘em.” Weir told the Critical Drinker podcast during Wednesday’s episode that he subscribed to the theory that “all modern science fiction TV shows and movies have been heavily influenced by the original Star Trek — except for the current batch of Star Trek shows.” The writer went on to say that he grew up on the original series, adding: “I’m Gen X, so my sci-fi was …

‘Project Hail Mary’ Author Andy Weir Takes a Shot at ‘Star Trek’

‘Project Hail Mary’ Author Andy Weir Takes a Shot at ‘Star Trek’

Published by Daniella Wilson

The author of Project Hail Mary is firing a photon torpedo at Paramount+’s Star Trek efforts. Bestselling writer Andy Weir criticized modern Trek shows while on the Critical Drinker podcast last week, and even revealed he pitched a Trek show that was shot down by Paramount. The topic began with the podcast’s host, Matthew Marsden, saying how refreshing the box office hit Project Hail Mary has been, especially for audiences who grew up on Star Trek and now suffer from “a lack of” such sci-fi efforts nowadays. “Yeah, I saw a … I forgot who it was — I wish I could remember who it was who said it, some analyst — he said something like: ‘All modern science fiction TV shows and movies have been heavily influenced by the original Star Trek — except for the current batch of Star Trek shows,’” Weir said. Marsden replied, “Yes!” and they both laughed. At first, Weir left that comment open to interpretation, but then added, “I’m Gen X, so my sci-fi was like original series Star Trek …

New Scientist Book Club: Author of Red Mars calls ‘bullshit’ on emigrating to the planet

New Scientist Book Club: Author of Red Mars calls ‘bullshit’ on emigrating to the planet

Published by skeptic

A view from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSS​S I’m happy to think of people reading Red Mars in 2026. Its story begins around this year, but I wrote the book between 1989 and 1991, so naturally one aspect of reading it now is to note all the discrepancies between what the book thought this decade would be like and what it’s really like. That always happens to science fiction novels: as time passes, the story shifts from being about the future to being about a past set of ideas about the future. This is a valuable window onto what that past felt like to those alive in that time, something not easy to recapture. When we read old science fiction, we catch glimpses of what people back then thought might come to pass, which was an important part of their reality. The old text then becomes not so much a matter of inaccurate prediction as it is quite accurate portrayals of that moment’s sense of potentiality, expressing its hopes and fears about what seems to …

Debut author wins prestigious award for infiltrating British far right groups

Debut author wins prestigious award for infiltrating British far right groups

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Debut author Harry Shukman has been awarded the prestigious Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award for his compelling account of infiltrating British far-right groups. Shukman’s acclaimed book, Year Of The Rat, was lauded by judging chairwoman Johanna Thomas-Corr as “investigative journalism with the nerve of a thriller and the wit of a great piece of reportage.” A former news reporter, Shukman now serves as a researcher for the anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate. The book’s creation involved significant personal risk, with Shukman immersing himself in extremist circles. He spent time canvassing with Britain First and befriended Holocaust deniers, neo-Nazis, and a Silicon Valley-backed race-science organisation. Year Of The Rat meticulously reveals how these groups operate and normalise extreme ideologies. Ms Thomas-Corr further praised the work, stating: “By going undercover among Britain’s far-right networks, Harry Shukman reveals a world that …

The view from Professor Dominic Tierney, author of The Right Way to Lose a War – Spotlight

The view from Professor Dominic Tierney, author of The Right Way to Lose a War – Spotlight

Published by Sam Flores

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again Spotlight © France 24 Issued on: 21/03/2026 – 20:23 14:58 min From the show Reading time 1 min Dominic Tierney, the author of The Right Way to Lose a war, published in 2015, looking at US conflicts from Korea, to Vietnam, Iraq, to Afghanistan and the lessons taken from them. Dominic is professor of political science at Swarthmore College and a senior fellow at the foreign policy reserach institute. By: Video by: Source link

The Salt Path author published earlier book under alias, despite debut claims | Books

The Salt Path author published earlier book under alias, despite debut claims | Books

Published by Sam Flores

Author Raynor Winn published a book under a pseudonym six years before her 2018 memoir The Salt Path, despite repeatedly describing the later work as her debut, it has emerged. Winn received widespread acclaim for The Salt Path, including a £10,000 prize for debut writers. According to Winn’s lawyer, the author released the book, How Not to Dal Dy Dir, in 2012 under the alias Izzy Wyn-Thomas. It was published by a company that she and her husband owned and was sold as part of a prize draw to win their home in north Wales. The claims were made in a new BBC Sounds podcast, Secrets of the Salt Path. “It’s the first thing I’ve written since I was a teenager leaving school – the first thing,” she said of The Salt Path in a 2020 interview with Waterstones. In the same interview, her husband, Moth, was asked if he knew of his wife’s writing abilities. He replied: “No, not at all. Not that she could write. Surprised me.” And speaking to BBC Radio Cornwall …

The Salt Path writer secretly published earlier book despite claims she was a debut author

The Salt Path writer secretly published earlier book despite claims she was a debut author

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Despite multiple claims that The Salt Path was her first book, Raynor Winn had written another title under a pseudonym six years earlier. Winn found herself embroiled in controversy last year when an investigation by The Observer claimed that parts of her bestselling memoir The Salt Path, which told the story of how she and her husband, Moth, walked the South West Coast Pat after a string of private tragedies, were fabricated. In response, Winn called the article “grotesquely unfair” and “highly misleading”, adding that it “seeks to systematically pick apart my life”. The author’s lawyers, however, have recently admitted that one facet of her story was not true. In press interviews publicising 2018’s The Salt Path, Winn had repeatedly claimed that it was her first book. In a new BBC Sounds podcast Secrets of the Salt Path, however, Winn’s lawyers …

Brian Doherty dead: Libertarian author falls to his death in Bay Area

Brian Doherty dead: Libertarian author falls to his death in Bay Area

Published by Sam Flores

An acclaimed author and historian of the libertarian movement fell to his death last week, his employer confirmed. The body of Brian Doherty, 57, senior editor of the libertarian magazine Reason, was found Thursday “after a fall” in the Battery Yates park portion of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the publication wrote. The National Parks Service’s law enforcement agency confirmed it responded to an incident at Battery Yates on Thursday “involving a male visitor who reportedly fell from the cliffside into the water.” “The individual was recovered and pronounced dead,” said Scott Carr, parks service spokesperson, in an email. “We do not have any further information to share at this time.” The Golden Gate Bridge is seen from the Fort Baker Marina in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco. Doherty was found in the Battery Yates park portion of the recreation area. (Los Angeles Times) Doherty was the author of several books, with Reason saying his most notable work was the 2007 study “Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the …