Cover for The Expanse #8 Revealed: Tiamat's Wrath

The cover and title for the eighth (and penultimate) book in The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey has been released. Tiamat's Wrath will be released in December 2018. The television adaptation of the Expanse series is up to Season 3 and currently airing on SyFy, covering the events that appear in Book 2 (Caliban's War) and Book 3 (Abaddon's Gate). These are some of my favorite books. I'm hoping that the entire 9-book series eventually gets adapted for the screen!

THE EXPANSE: Season 3 Debuts Today on SyFy!

The third season of The Expanse begins airing on SyFy today at 10pm EDT. This season should cover the events in the second and third books in The Expanse series written by James S.A Corey: Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate. These are some of my favorite books of all time. The 8th book in the 9-book series is called Tiamat's Wrath and should be published in December 2018.

Until then, enjoy The Expanse!

BOOK REVIEW: Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7) by James S.A. Corey

Persepolis Rising is the seventh book in The Expanse series written by James S.A. Corey. The series has been adapted into a high-quality television series that airs on SyFy, but unlike other well-known speculative fiction adaptations (like Game of Thrones and American Gods) I think that in the case of The Expanse the book version is better than the filmed version. This is probably because the books are written in such a fast-paced, action-packed, visually stimulating way that reading them is basically like riding a rollercoaster or watching a Hollywood blockbuster. So perhaps there is not as much "value added" to adapting The Expanse to television when the words on the page have already (over)stimulated the reader's imagination; However I applaud SyFy for doing so and I am a big fan of the show.

If you have not read these books yet it is hard to know what I can say to convince you to do so without revealing spoilers. The first point I would make is that these books are the very best that the space-opera genre has to offer. The books are set in a future where humanity has made significant inroads into colonizing our solar system, with self-sustaining settlements on various solar objects (Mars, the Moon, Ganymede, multiple asteroids). The second point I would make is that the primary characters that the series are centered around are nuanced, interesting and diverse.

One animating plot development for the series as a whole involves the arrival/discovery of an alien substance called the "protomolecule" which has a destabilizing impact on the fragile power balance between the largest political forces in the solar system: Mars, Earth and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA).

In Persepolis Rising, the story has skipped ahead 3 decades from the shocking (and thrilling) plot developments in the prior book Babylon's Ashes. Obviously, this time jump has a profound effect on the main characters but there are even more surprising developments in Persepolis Rising which basically re-orders the powers that be in the solar system even after 30 years in which the political calculus had been changing slowly and inexorably in a certain direction.

These jolting plot developments make sense, because the authors of the Expanse series (James S.A. Corey is a pseudonym for Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) have stated that it will be 9 books long, consisting of three sets of trilogies, which would make this 7th book the first book in the final trilogy. Thus it is not surprising that there a lot of things are put in motion in Persepolis Rising which will presumably need to be resolved in future books. (However, there are definitely a lot of satisfying resolutions of sub-plots in Persepolis Rising as well.) Even more important is that we start to get some information about the protomolecule itself (and the creatures who created it) which does give support for the idea that we are hurtling towards the conclusion of the entire 9-book story arc.

Overall, Persepolis Rising is one of the best entries in The Expanse series. It is tautly plotted, incredibly thrilling and emotionally resonant. I knew it would probably be one of my favorite reads of the year so that even though I pre-ordered it for arrival on its day of release, I waited until the holiday season to read the book and ended up devouring it in one day (it was absolutely impossible to put down)! And maybe that's the most convincing thing I can say to encourage you to start reading this incredible series of books. You will NOT be disappointed.

Title: Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7).
Author: James S.A. Corey.
Paperback: 548 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: December 5, 2017.
Date Read: December 25, 2017.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★  (5.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A+/A (4.167/4.0).


PLOT: A+.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A.

THE EXPANSE (S1E09-E10): "Critical Mass";"Leviathan Wakes"

Season 1 of The Expanse ends with a double feature of the last two episodes entitled "Critical Mass" (Episode 9) and "Leviathan Wakes" (Episode 10). The Season 1 finale aired on February 2, 2016. The Season 2 premiere will air on February 1, 2017.

S1E09: Critical Mass.

The title of episode 9 refers to the situation one needs to detonate a nuclear weapon. In "Critical Mass," the number of various elements of the story are starting to come together in order to reach a critical mass that will presumably explode in the final episode of Season 1.

Some of the elements which start to be revealed include:

• What happened to Julie Mao and how a billionaire's daughter ended up dying in alone in a hotel room on Eros infected by what appears to be an alien entity called the "protomolecule."
• Fred Johnson of Tycho Station reveals who was responsible for the creation of the ships which destroyed the Martian flagship Donnager (in Earth-based shipyards).
• That Eros is becoming a scientific test site for the human incubation and experimentation with the protomolecule.
• Crisjen Avarasala discovers that her boss, UN Undersecretary Errinwright, had her friend, the former Ambassador to Mars, killed in order to hide his connection to the mystery ships that killed the Canterbury and the Donnager

S1E10: Leviathan Wakes.

The title of episode 10 has the same name as the title of the first book in the Expanse series written by James S.A. Corey. Much of this episode takes place on Eros, as the Amos, Naomi and Alex make their way through the tunnels (using information only an OPA terrorist should have access to) to reach the Rocinante at the docks. The other main story in this episode is Holden and Miller trying to get to the docks but they have to do so by making way through an entire mercenary army who are attempting to enforce a genocidal lockdown.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The look on Holden's face when he realizes that he and Miller have been exposed to fatal doses of high-energy radiation as he says "We're dead."
• The chemistry between Holden and Nagata becomes palpable in the final scene they have in the episode (and season) as he realizes that since she did in fact wait for him to get back maybe there is some kind of (romantic?) connection there after all.
• The deadpan way Amos "cleans up the mess" after he prevents Sematimba from forcing Naomi to give him access to the controls of the Roci so that he can escape Eros (and leave Miller and Holden behind) is absolutely chilling.

LOWLIGHTS

• Why does Holden waste all his ammunition by shooting at Kenzo to scare him off and leave him to die on Eros instead of actually shooting and killing him himself? They have already made it clear that Holden is a wuss when actually pulling a trigger to kill someone but this scene literally doesn't make any sense in the context of the life-and-death situation finds himself in.

GRADE: 9/10. ("Critical Mass").
GRADE: 9/10. ("Leviathan Wakes").

WATCH: New Trailer for Season 2 of The Expanse

Season 2 of SyFy's The Expanse, based on the bestselling space opera series of the same name written by James S.A. Corey returns with new episodes available February 1, 2017! The third trailer for the second season is out now. These are some of my favorite books and I have previously blogged about most of the episodes of Season 1 and intend to do so again for the upcoming season (although I will try to do so in a more timely fashion!)

THE EXPANSE (S1E08): "Salvage"

The eighth episode of season 1 of The Expanse was titled "Salvage" and aired for the first time on January 26, 2016.  Here (finally!) is my review of this episode. I rewatched "Salvage" again the weekend after Thanksgiving

S1E08: Salvage.

The title of the episode most likely stems from the fact that the crew of the Rocinante finds a deserted ship, the Anubis, attached to a barren rock at the remote coordinates Fred Johnson sent them to on a rescue mission. On boarding the craft, which looks identical to the powerful and stealthy space ships which destroyed both the Canterbury in episode 1 ("Dulcinea")  and the Donnager in episode 4 ("CQB"), the crew discovers that it is abandoned and deserted. However, when they turn the power on, a strange blue glowing organism (which looks alien to my eyes but which no one on the show describes as such) appears to start growing (and glowing) more energetically. They hurriedly leave the ship and over the objections of the spy/hostage/stowaway Kenzo they fire a missile at the Anubis, turning it to fiery slag as they head towards Eros. 

Eros is where Miller is going, having been fired in episode 7, he is continuing with his obsession with finding out what happened to Julie Mao, albeit now as a private citizen with a lot of friends in law enforcement due to his status as an ex-cop himself. He runs into Sematimba, an Eros cop, who bails him out after Miller beats up a guy to get information on where Julie's ship, the Anubis 1A is docking and where the registered owner, "Lionel Polanski" is holed up. Of course, that's the same name of the person that Holden and crew are looking for and they both arrive at a flophouse where a bunch of very heavily armed thugs attempts to put bullets through every member of the crew. (Earlier in the episode we had seen that Errinwright on Earth confirmed to Avasarala that his attempt to assassinate Holden was going to take place on Eros, which he referred to as the murder capital of the Solar System.) Holden and his crew are saved by Amos' quick instincts and Miller's entry into the battle at a crucial moment. Finally, Miller and Holden,the two protagonists of the two key threads of the story meet, and of course immediately clash. The entire crew (plus Miller) go up to Polanski's room and there they find Julie, clearly dead for days, with very strange (clearly) alien growths coming out most of her orifices.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The fight sequence at the Blue Falcon Hotel is really well done, as the tension rises higher and higher as the audience knows that a "hit" is going to happen and so we view every passer-by with suspicion (which appears to be what Amos does as standard operating procedure). The eventual gun battle is bloody but exciting.
• The dialogue between Holden and Naomi as they navigate through the eerily empty (but clearly dangerous) environment of the Anubis is a fun signal of future development in their relationship because it shows they have clearly moved from blatant hostility to grudging respect and perhaps even camaraderie.

LOWLIGHTS

• Avarasala only appears in one scene this episode but she infuses it with great emotion as she discovers that her friend, the former Ambassador to Mars (whom she betrayed in order to get useful intelligence for Earth about Martian intelligence) has been found dead, listed as a suicide.

GRADE: 8/10.

THE EXPANSE (S1E07): "Windmills"

The seventh episode of Season 1 of The Expanse is called "Windmills." It first aired on January 19, 2016. I saw it on my DVR a few days later.  Here (finally!) is my reviews of this episodes.

S1E07: Windmills.

The title of the episode is clearly another reference to Don Quixote ("tilting at windmills") and one of the primary sequences in the episode involves finding out more about James Holden's homelife (directly from one of his eight(!) parents, including his birth mother, played by Frances Fisher). Avarasala goes to the farming collective in Montana where Holden was raised to see if she can suss out whether Holden is the intentional source of the political instabilities which appear to be inexorably pushing Mars and Earth towards a war in space. She decides that he is not, but when she informs her boss Errinwright of this, he tells her that he has already approved a black ops team to assassinate Holden as soon as he reaches Eros. 

Back on the Rocinante the crew discovers a stowaway (who happens to be the spy who is giving Errinwright his information about the whereabouts and future destination of Holden and company) and there are several tense moments as Holden and the crew have to decide whether they are the kind of people who toss people out into the vacuum "just to be safe." Happily, they are not, and the spy repays their trust by helping them figure out how to get out a jam when they are able to (barely) avoid being boarded by a Martian Congressional Republic Navy (MCRN) ship and expose Rocinante's status as a former MCRN vessel.

Meanwhile on Ceres, Miller makes his move, deciding to cash in his chips (literally) as he takes what may be years of ill-gotten gains and bribes as a morally flexible law enforcement official to buy a ticket to Eros. A buddy tells his that even though there's no sign of Julie Mao's ship, a shuttle from the ship that ran into her ship, the Anubis is currently at Eros, so Miller takes the plunge.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The sequence on the Rocinante when the MCRN is approaching and they have to figure out the key words ("Donkey balls!") was amusing and thrilling simultaneously
• There are actual windmills out on Holden's homestead in Montana and they are quite visually compelling

LOWLIGHTS

• The farewell scene with Miller and his ex(partner? girlfriend?) didn't work as well as it should have. They never seemed to have much chemistry, so even though she saved his life this season it's not that surprising he rebuffs her request to go with him to Eros.

GRADE: 8/10.

THE EXPANSE (S1E05): "Back to the Butcher"

I previously reviewed the first four episodes and am planning on blogging every episode of the show this season. The Expanse is a television adaptation of the science-fiction space opera books written by James S.A. Corey, one of my favorite authors.

The fifth episode of Season 1 of the Syfy's The Expanse's is called "Back to the Butcher." 

S1E05: Back to the Butcher.

The episode again starts soon after the previous one ended, with Havelock in a hospital room, which is quite surprising since we saw him get a meter-long spike through his chest. His survival is not explained and we see a confrontation between Holden and Havelock's girlfriend, the Belter hooker Gia, in his hotel room.

Back on the Martian ship MCRN Tachi we see that Lopez is dead and that Amos has a horrible fracture with a piece of his bone sticking out of his leg. They appear to magically fix Amos's leg and even though no one in the Solar System should know where they are somehow they receive a message from Fred Johnson of Tycho Station. In a series of flashbacks, the episode depicts events from 12 years before in Colonel Fred Johnson's career when he was a United Nations Marine and ended up responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilian Belters after a tense standoff over resources on Anderson Station. For this Johnson is known as "The Butcher of Anderson Station," (This explains the title of the episode; a significantly different version of the events of Anderson Station was told in a novella written by The Expanse author Corey that was released between the publication of the first two books, Leviathan Wakes and Abaddon's Gate.)  

Back on the Tachi, the crew is very impressed with how clean, sleek and powerful the ship is. However, Alex and Amos learn how famous Holden is throughout the system by tapping into a video feed from Ganymede which depicts news reports of the rioting on Ceres Station and shows images of Holden with the now-famous battle-cry "Remember the Cant!" In fact, that is exactly the phrase which the guy who put the spear through Havelock said in another viral video.

Meanwhile back on Ceres, Miller continues to track down Julie Mao instead of trying to find the person who attempted to kill his partner. In fact, he gets tempted by OPA bigwig Anderson Dawes who has the guy who did it in an OPA safe house, whose location he will give to Miller if he agrees to an exchange of information in the future, because he also wants to know Julie Mao's location, since "she was one of ours."

Back on the Tachi Naomi confidently follows Col. Johnson's instructions on how to change their ship's transponders and the entire crew sighs with relief when MCRN Tachi becomes Rocinante. For book readers this is an important moment because we know that the Rocinante becomes the space ship that our crew of four principals uses for the next five books.

Overall this episode was much more low key than previous episodes (but in a good way, since for once the crew was not in mortal danger).

HIGHLIGHTS

• The interior design of the Rocinante is incredibly impressive!
• The decision to include the back story of Fred Johnson was a nice one, since he will become an integral part of the story moving forward
• The set dressing and all the little details on Ceres Station (which we see as Miller tries to trace the whereabouts of Julie Mao) are really amazing
• The look on Holden's face when he finally gets to have a cup of real coffee!

LOWLIGHTS

• No Chrisjen Avasarala :(
• The lack of explanation of how Havelock survived
• I think they could have done a more nuanced job in depicting the events which led to Johnson getting his name as the Butcher of Anderson Station.

GRADE: 8/10.

THE EXPANSE (S1E01-E04): "Dulcinea";"The Big Empty";"Remember The Cant";"CQB"

The Expanse is a new show on SyFy based on the series of space opera books written by James S.A. Corey. They have rapidly become some of my favorite books, and happily, since 2011, the authors have released a new volume in the series annually, with the sixth book Babylon's Ashes set to come out in June 2016.

So I have been very excited about the news of the adaptation of the books for television, which I have been following relatively closely. The first episode in the show is titled "Dulcinea" and has been available online at SyFy.com and other outlets since November 23rd. The official broadcast premiere of the show was Monday December 14.

Here is my review of the first four episodes of The Expanse, with episode 5 "Back to the Butcher" scheduled to air at 10pm PST on SyFy tonight.

S1E01: Dulcinea.

The primary take-away I have from the very first episode of The Expanse was wow! But the wow was the exclamation of glee at my first look at Steven Strait's taut muscled body playing the lead character James Holden. The setting of the story is tripartite: On Earth we see Chrisjen Avasarala (well-played by Shohreh Agdashloo) torturing a very tall skinny guy who we are told is a Belter; On the Canterbury we see Holden having an improper sexual relationship with the ship's navigator and unsuccessfully avoid being named the new Executive Officer of the old space trawler; On Ceres we see Detective Joe Miller (played laconically by Thomas Jane) pick up the case of a missing heiress named Julie Mao. Overall, the episode looks amazing and ends with a bang (literally) as the Canterbury is blown to bits by nuclear missiles launched by a mysterious spaceship while Holden and the rest of our main cast members Naomi Nagata (Domonique Tipper), Amos Burton (Wes Chatham), Shed Harvey (Paolo Costanzo) and Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar) watch mouths agape from the interior of a small shuttle.

GRADE: 8/10.

S1E02: The Big Empty.

The episode starts seconds after the last one ended, with the crew reacting to the news that dozens of their friends, lovers and colleagues have just been obliterated by the Canterbury’s destruction. Holden immediately wants Alex to follow the mystery ship that fired the missile but he is thwarted by Naomi turning the engines off (and is seemingly undaunted by the very large gun Amos points at his head). The surviving crew of the Cant has bigger problems though because they are pummeled by the massive amount of debris and space rubble their former ship has been converted into.  Back on Ceres, Miller is learning that his missing heiress was a lot more complex than just a spoiled little rich kid with daddy issues. This is a very taut episode where we learn much more about the main characters as they go to extraordinary measures to get themselves rescued before they run out of air. Holden is a hothead but is also very brave. Naomi is extremely resourceful, scary smart and an engineering wizard. Amos does anything Naomi says but is also brave. Shed and Alex are both goofy, but Shed saves Alex’s life by sharing his air with him. This episode ends with the crew being “rescued” by the one ship they would have least liked to see: the Donnager, the massive and mighty flagship of the Mars Congressional Republic Nacy (MCRN). However, before they are boarded Holden creates some insurance by recording and broadcasting a message with his suspicions that a Mars ship was responsible for luring him and his crew to the Scopuli and probably destroyed the Canterbury.

GRADE: 8/10.

S1E03: Remember The Cant.

The episode opens with multiple shots of screens depicting Holden’s face with the audio coming from his recorded message that was broadcast essentially accusing Mars of destroying the Canterbury. The surviving crewmembers are put into holding cells on board the Donnager by some very militaristic looking MCRN Marines. Everyone, that is, except Alex, who we find out spent twenty years in the Martian Navy and is therefore treated differently than his fellow crewmembers. This episode is where we learn even more about the crewmembers and discover how much they don’t know about each other. Curiously we are only shown Naomi’s and Holden’s interrogations and we see that the Martians (especially the Donnager’s Captain Yao) believe that Naomi is an OPA terrorist and are wondering why (and how) the rest of the crew are going along with her plans when none of the rest of them (Shed, Amos, and Holden) are Belters. We also learn that Holden was given a dishonorable discharge from the Earth military for attempting to strike a superior officer for asking him to fire on a ship smuggling Belters. Back on Ceres we follow Miller’s partner Dmitri Havelock (Jay Hernandez) as he links up with a hooker, not for sex, but to learn Belter hand signals. By the end of the episode it becomes clear to Holden’s crew on the Donnager and Avarasala on Earth that Mars actually did not kill the Cant and it might have something to do with those mysteriously nonresponsive ships that are approaching Mars’ largest warship without hesitation. However, the Belters on Ceres are starting to riot as conditions are getting worse since the ice the Canterbury was hauling would have provided much needed water for the station and the chant “Remember the Cant” becomes a rallying cry for enraged (and violent Belters), one of whom shoots what looks like a meter long stake through the unfortunate Havelock at the very end of the episode. Yipes!

GRADE: 9/10.

S1E04: CQB.

This episode features one of the most graphic scenes in the elimination of (what we thought) was a major character ever seen on television. I don’t want to spoil what happens, but suffice it to say, Shed picked the short straw. And what is so amazing is that this scene happens very early into the episode and just leads to another near-death experience for our Canterbury crew. Naomi, Amos and Alex are left in an enclosed space with limited air while the mysterious ships from the previous episode engage in a close quarter battle (hence the eponymous episode title) with the Donnager. “What kind of ship would take on a CQB with the Donnager?” asks Alex, unbelievingly. We don’t actually find out because we never see the ships that attack the huge Martian warship but we do know they get boarded by soldiers wearing quite advanced tech. Holden was in the command center (on Star Trek it would have been called the bridge) of the ship with Captain Yao when she realizes he (and his crew) are the reason her ship is being attacked and sends him away with Lopez (Greg Byrk) the guy who was previously interrogating Holden and Naomi. Before that happens we are introduced to Fred Johnson (Chad Coleman) on a huge generation ship being commissioned by the Mormon Church called the Nauvoo. The Mormons are nervous about Johnson’s OPA ties but he threatens them with the collapse of the entire project and they give in to him. Back at the Donnager the MCRN Donnager is getting its butt kicked and Holden (with Lopez in tow) barely manages to find Amos, Alex and Naomi in time before they run out of air. They all fight their way through a hail of bullets to what looks like a speedy ship in the docking bay of the huge Martian ship and literally blast their way out of the ship and get away only seconds before the entire ship self-destructs (“The Captain has initiated Condition Zero” Lopez tells Holden tersely). Meanwhile back at Ceres, Miller has tracked down Julie Mao’s last hookup but the guy whom he thought it was is in the morgue but he is carrying a lot of tech which spoofs the identifying software. The episode ends with Havelock (the guy who was impaled by a spike in the previous episode!) waking up groggily as someone tries to rifle through his pockets. Whaaaaat?

GRADE 10/10.

WOO HOO! The Expanse Renewed For 13-Episode Season 2 To Air in 2017

Excellent news! Syfy announced today that they have renewed The Expanse with a 13-episode order for Season 2, that will begin airing in 2017. The Expanse is based on the best-selling series of science fiction space opera books written by James S.A. Corey. The first four episodes of the 10-episode first season have aired so far, and are available for free online. The next new episode ("Back to the Butcher") will air on Tuesday January 5 at 10pm PST.

The Expanse First FOUR Episodes Available Free At SyFy.Com!

I am crazy busy this week with grades being submitted and a quick trip to the East Coast but I must pause for a minute to let you know that The Expanse, the SyFy television show adapted from my favorite space opera series written by James S.A. Corey premiered on Monday and Tuesday. But there's even better news! The first FOUR episodes (of the 10-episode first season based on the events in the first book Leviathan Wakes) are available for free at SyFy.com! Go watch them and let me know what you think via Twitter @maprofessah.

New Poster For SyFy's The Expanse!

The Expanse is expected to be my favorite television show of the 2015-16 season when it debuts on SyFy on back-to-back nights December 14-15 (just three days before Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens debuts!)

The series is based on the books of the same name written by James S.A. Corey. As the premiere date approaches buzz for the show increases, and a new poster for the show is available excusively on io9.com.

Get excited!

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Cast Picture and New Trailer from SyFy's The Expanse

As ComicCon is happening this week SyFy is using this occasion to ramp up promotion for the new television show called The Expanse based on the series of books by author James S.A. Corey debuting on the cable network this December. At the top of this post is a picture of the cast representing the crew of the Rocinante: (from left to right) Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata, Wes Chatham as Amos Burton, Steven Strait as James Holden,  and Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal.

In addition to this cast photo, the show also revealed a kick-ass new trailer hosted exclusively at Entertainment Weekly.

UPDATE: The Expanse Is Premiering On SyFy In December 2015!

I found other rabid fans of James S.A. Corey's books at Reddit and from there discovered that there's a second version of the trailer for the upcoming SyFy television adaptation and someone has grabbed  a bunch of screen captures from it.

Check it out! There are signs that SyFy has already approved Season 2 of the series even before the show has premiered. If true, this would be great news, although I'm a bit worried about the December premiere for the show. The big question for me will be whether The Expanse will premiere from the other big Science fiction show coming you this year, Jonathan Nolan's Westworld starring Sir Anthony Hopkins among others. Either SyFy is just trying to stick to their promised (and probably contractual 2015 premiere date and trying to take as long as possible to get it right, or they are not completely sure abut the show and have picked a time when most people are not paying attention to launch My Next Favorite Television Show.

The Expanse cast has Shohreh Agdashloo, Steven Strait, Thomas Jane and Chad Coleman in key roles.

The Trailer For SyFy's The Expanse (#GameOfThronesInSpace) Is Out Now!

So psyched to see that the first trailer for SyFy's The Expanse television show is out now!

SyFy Announces Key Cast Members For "The Expanse" TV Series

You may remember that my favorite science fiction series ("The Expanse") is being adapted into a television series to air on SyFy in 2015. Season 1 of the show will be based on Book 1 of the series, titled Leviathan Wakes. The show appears to be coming together, because casting news has been coming out for months. The Expanse takes place roughly 200 years in the future and the first book is based around the adventures of the crew of The Rocinante (James Holden, Alex Kamal, Naomi Nagata and Amos) as they travel around the solar system, especially Mars, The Moon, Earth and various habitats in the Asteroid Belt. Two pivotal characters are Detective Miller, a detective whose investigation into the disappearance of the daughter of the head of a huge corporation catalyzes the plot, and Chrisjen Avasarala, an apparently minor official in the administrative body that serves as the world government of Earth who wields incredible amounts of power and is probably my overall favorite character in the series so far.

Here is what we know so far about the cast:

Holden: Steven StraitMiller: Thomas JaneAmos: Wes ChathamAlex: Cas AnvarNaomi: Dominique TipperAvasarala: Shohreh Aghdashloo

There are other characters that have been announced, like the important role of Fred Johnson who heads the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA) and will be played by Chad Coleman (Tyreese from The Walking Dead). There are intense politics between the inner planets (Mars, Earth and the Moon) and the Outer Planets (usually known as The Belters) with associated cultural dynamics between people who have grown accustomed to living in space or in limited gravity (Space stations, asteroids, or the Moon) and Earth, which has a huge population and resources but increasingly limited ability to enforce its will on what it perceives as its colonies. However, Mars is almost as (militarily) powerful as Earth and is trying to enforce its will on the rest of the solar system regardless of what Earth may want. The Belters believe they are different from anyone who lives "trapped in the gravity well of a planet" and should be treated as such, the OPA is a group that is trying to advocate for Belters, often using violent means to get their point across.

And then things get really weird when an alien probe (called a "protomolecule") arrives that apparently turns any form of life into zombies. I can't wait to see how SyFy adapts the series, hopefully it will become their "Game of Thrones in Space."

Asimov's Foundation Being Adapted For HBO By Christopher Nolan's Brother Jonathan

Isaac Asimov is one of the main reasons why I am a fan of science fiction to this day as well as being an avid reader of genre fiction in general. In the popular media Asimov was known for his popular promotion of science and technology but he was also the author of the landmark, best-selling series Foundation. He was the author of dozens of books and an influence on many authors who came after him.

Jonathan Nolan is best known to me as the (younger) brother of Christopher Nolan, my favorite film director. However, Jonathan has been listed as a co-author on several of Christopher's hit films such Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar. He is probably most well-known for co-creating (with his wife Lisa Joy Nolan) the hit television show Person of Interest on CBS.

I found out today from reading Aidan Moher's wonderful blog that Jonathan is adapting Asimov's Foundation series for HBO. This is incredibly exciting news to me (perhaps even more exciting than the news that my current favorite sci-fi series, James S.A. Corey's The Expanse, is being adapted for SyFy).

Apparently, Jonathan has another project for HBO coming out soon also. He co-wrote the pilot for Westworld, a big-budget sci-fi series (about artificial intelligence) to appear on HBO in 2015 starring heavyweights like Sir Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright and Thandie Newton. Westworld is based on material written by Michael Chrichton, who adapted his own short story in a 1973 film of the same name that he wrote and directed (which bombed).

The Wrap summarized how the Jonathan Nolan Foundation deal happened.

The “Foundation” series was originally comprised of three books — “Foundation,” “Foundation and Empire” and “Second Foundation.” The trilogy won a Hugo Award for “Best All-Time” series in 1966, 15 years before Asimov began adding to the series with sequels “Foundation's Edge” and “Foundation and Earth,” as well as prequels “Prelude to Foundation” and “Forward the Foundation.” 

Sony Pictures acquired “Foundation” in a multi-studio auction back in 2009 and attached Roland Emmerich to direct and produce. Two years later, the studio hired Dante Harper (“Akira”) to adapt the books. When the project failed to materialize, HBO spent big bucks to acquire the property when it became available earlier this summer.

There's no information about how soon Foundation would be ready to go to air but I doubt it would happen in the Obama administration. I imagine it will depend on the script Nolan can produce and it might also depend on the critical and commercial response to Westworld in 2015.

Still, this is very exciting news for geeks like myself who are huge fans of Asimov and the Foundation!

My Favorite Sci-Fi Books "The Expanse" Will Become a SyFy TV Series!

Amazing news this week about a future television show! My favorite science fiction series is The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. He is the author responsible for the books Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War and Abaddon's Gate. The fourth book in the series, called Cibola Burn, comes out
this June.

The books are hard-core space opera thrillers with aliens, battles between vehicles in space, humans living in varying gravities throughout the solar system. One review of the first book said "As close as you'll get to a Hollywood blockbuster in book form" so it is interesting that word comes this week that SyFy has announced that it is ordering a  full10-episode first season (not just a pilot) of a television adaptation of The Expanse.

Entertainment Weekly reports:

Syfy has given a direct-to-series order to an exciting-sounding new project based on an acclaimed sci-fi book series. The cable network has ordered 10 episodes of The Expanse, from Academy Award-nominated screenwriting duo Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) and Alcon Television Group. The project has been described by industry insiders as “Game of Thrones in space” — not so much because of the specifics of the plot, but because it tells a dramatic sprawling grown-up story within a popular fantasy genre that’s based on a respected series of novels.  

The logline: “A thriller set two hundred years in the future, The Expanse follows the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.”

The Expanse is based on a series of books by James S.A. Corey. The most well-known title is probably the first in the series, Leviathan Wakes, which has been praised for reinventing and updating the old-school Star Wars/Firefly-style space opera. Syfy won a bidding war with another content producer to acquire the project. 

Syfy president Dave Howe promised, “The Expanse is epic in scale and scope and promises to be Syfy’s most ambitious series to date. Bringing this coveted book franchise to television with our partners at Alcon and the Sean Daniel Company is a giant win for Syfy, reinforcing our overall strategy to produce bold, provocative and compelling sci-fi fantasy stories. The Expanse joins a killer line-up of high-concept, high quality series, along with recently announced original projects Ascension, 12 Monkeys, the renewal of Helix, and the soon to premiere Dominion.

There's still a lot that needs to go write to make a show that will be as significant as Game of Thrones is for HBO out of The Expanse. The source material is excellent, so if they found people to make an excellent show of Battlestar Galactica, hopefully they can do as good a job here. 

To me it's personally exciting because soon more people will know about these fantastic books, and perhaps space-opera science fiction will get more respect as a cultural product.