Goodness but we’ve been remiss in updating when and where we will be showing up. I have published what we have. I’ve only listed the shows we will likely be in. There will be others, but I don’t confirmation on some of the more unusual ones.

I’m sad to say that one of our staple conventions, OryCon, won’t be held this year. But I hope the convention committee comes back from this break refreshed and ready to tackle more lovely fun!

We’ve talked about the changes brought about by the C19 pandemic. We now have a much better view of what the rest of this year will hold for us at TANSTAAFL Press.

First, we have release updates. The sequel to The Faerie of Central Park, by Bruce Graw, The Gremlin of Morningside Heights, is on its way to the printers as I type this. We expect to have print books in hand by end of July. And, if that isn’t sweet enough, the sequel to Gremlin, The Djinn of the Upper East Side is in our hands and is going through edits. We are hoping to have this available before the end of the year.

Thomas Gondolfi has finished Courting Witchcraft, the sequel to Of Demons and Coal. It is in edit and beta reader’s hands at the moment. This should be available circa mid-August.

And now conventions! (and there was much rejoicing) I won’t lie and say everything is back to normal. Because of this, our convention schedule is rather weird. Here it is, in all it’s glory.

GenCon – Indianapolis, IN – 9/16 – 9/21
Lilac City Comic Con – Spokane, WA – 10/2 – 10/3
Grit City Comic Con – Tacoma, WA – 10/9
Spocon – Spokane, WA – 10/29 – 10/31
OryCon – Portland, WA – 11/14 – 11/14 (unconfirmed)

We feel fairly confident we will be in OryCon but less likely the three below. We have also inquired to RustyCon (Bellvue, WA), Gateway (Los Angeles, CA), and Emerald City Comic Con (Seattle, WA).

Hope we see you there!

It is with optimism and a sense of childlike wonder that TANSTAAFL Press flings open the door of 2021! With vaccinations on the horizon, it is looking like conventions will start up again sometime in the summer or fall. TANSTAAFL Press intends to be there to greet our long distanced friends, fans, and family! We miss you! And while we do miss you as customers, we care for you more as people and how you feed us with your enthusiasm! It is sometimes the only thing that pushes us through the tough days.

And, for those who are interested in our books, we have not been idle. Bruce Graw has The Gremlin of Morningside Heights, the sequel to Faerie of Central Park, almost complete. Thomas Gondolfi is well into the second book of the “Monarchy of America” steampunk series. We intend to have both of these at GenCon this year.

Welcome back to my count up list of SciFi movies. I left off with some massive ties at #18. I’ve realized my rounding to a single decimal space is problematic and causing many ties. SOooooo, I’m going to make some minor tweaks to the numbers to put one over the other in the ties.

# 28 – Young Frankenstein – Rating 7.8

What can I say about this classic laughfest? It is a riot. “Walk this way.” “What nice knockers.” “You made a yummy sound.” “Be careful of the taffeta, darling.” The entire movie is a comedy gem!

#29 – 2001 & 2010 – Rating 7.8

I probably will be abused for this but I preferred 2010 to the original Stanley Kubrick film. The original seemed too psychedelic and pointless. The second one actually went somewhere while keeping the cannons of the first movie.  Standing ovation.

#30 – Omega Man – Rating 7.8

An old movie that most reading this have not seen. It is the movie that “I am Legend” is remade from. If you watch this movie, remember its timeframe. Yes, the special effects aren’t great, but the inner turmoil of the man is much clearer in this movie than its remake.

#31 – I am Legend – Rating 7.8

OK, the difference between them is small. I loved both movies.

#32 – 28 Days Later – Rating 7.8

Looks like I’ve lumped a bucketload of zombie movies (and I HATE zombie movies) in among the better movies I have. In fact the other one on my list isn’t that far down. I don’t know why this one seems better than others, but it felt more real to me.

#33 – Outland – Rating 7.8

Sean Connery as a cop in space. What more do you need to say? The setting was incredible and I loved how he used it to his advantage.  Wonderful watch.

#34 – Super 8 – Rating 7.8

I’m normally not a kid movie kind of person. They are always doing stupid stuff and somehow saving the day from their own idiocy. This one felt different as they didn’t spawn the problem but they helped solve it with empathy.

#35 – Robocop – Rating 7.7

Badass cyberpunk from the word go. Police departments being purchased like commodities. <cough> Not at all like us buying jail space from private contractors, is it? Ok, the acting is cartoonish but really speaks to me on an instinctual level.

#36 – I, Robot – Rating 7.6

Asimov translated to modern era. I had problems with some of the science and the drama wasn’t quite there. The movie really wasn’t sure if it wanted to be a comedy or a drama. If they had taken out Will Smith (don’t get me wrong, I like him) but put in a more serious actor in his place then I think it would have been a better movie.

#37 – Apollo 13 – Rating 7.6

OK, the ONLY place this movie falls down is that you know the ending before you even see the movie. Every other category is spot on! Honestly, I didn’t know my history well enough to know the ending, so when I watched this for the first time I was glued to my seat.

#38 – Ready Player One – Rating 7.5

This movie gets and exceptional rating even after I read the book (which was fabulous)! It brought the visuals that the book lacked. It brought humanization (even in VR) to the main character that the book lacked. OK, the movie took some serious liberties with the book, but kept its essence.

#39 – Warm Bodies – Rating 7.5

Wow, a romantic comedy zombie movie. Who’da thunk it?  Loved it. While it falls down as horror, it certainly holds up everywhere else.

#40 – The Truman Show – Rating 7.5

I will say, despite Jim Carrey, I wasn’t expecting much of this movie when I saw it the first time. But it sucked me in like a vacuum cleaner on high. Couldn’t turn away. A single person as the focus of a 24/7 show just is brilliant. Reality TV at its finest.

#41 – Ender’s Game – Rating 7.5

A journeyman’s attempt at capturing the book.

#42 – John Wick – Rating 7.5

Loved the dark action scenes. Humor fell flat.

#43 – Altered States – Rating 7.5

A psychedelic attempt to find the meaning of life, and no, it’s not 42.

#44 – District 9 – Rating 7.5

Wanted to love this one more. I think the humor in it fell a bit flat.

#45 – Pixels – Rating 7.5

Again, loved the concept. Felt the execution didn’t quite make it.

#46 – War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise version) – Rating 7.5

#47 – Ex Machina – Rating 7.4

This movie tried to do too much and the horror portion of it fell flat.

#48 – Minority Report – Rating 7.4

Enjoy it as a fast action romp. Ignore anything that resembles science. Interesting twist on time travel.

#49 – Ghostbusters – Rating 7.3

Laugh your ass off with this mindless comedy!

#50 – Escape from New York (first movie only) – Rating 7.3

“Aren’t you dead?” First movie is this rating. The others all fell WAY down the board and.. frankly OFF the board.

#51 – Oblivion – Rating 7.3

Too many inconsistencies to make this a truly great movie.

#52 – Star Wars – Rating 7.2

Finally we reach one of the iconic movie franchises in the history of film making. If I rated ONLY the first movie (episode IV), it would be up around a 9, maybe even as high as a perfect 10 for its era. If I rated the first three movies (Episodes IV-VI) It would be maybe 8.5ish. But as a franchise it probably doesn’t even deserve 7.2. Consistency is a problem, as is reusing plots and plot devices. I stopped caring what happened to any of the characters.

#53 – Andromeda Strain – Rating 7.2

Bet you didn’t know there were three versions of this movie. The book is by far better than any of the three movies and they all had their good and bad points. Each of them hovered near this rating. Each different, not just a complete rehash.

#54 – Jericho – Rating 7.0

I am a sucker for post-apocalyptic fiction/movies that are done right. I found this series really close. If they had left out the g’damned government conspiracy/spy crap it would have zoomed up the charts. Which reminds me, if you are a reader and like post-nuclear war stuff, try Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. You have to deal with the outdatedness of it, but it really works well.

#55 – Death Race and Death Race 2000 – Rating 7.0

I think I liked DR2000 a bit more for its camp value. Acting sucked, but I loved the dark humor.

#56 – Judge Dredd – Rating 7.0

#57 – Flash Gordon – Rating 7.0

Campfest!

#58 – Heavy Metal– Rating 7.0

#59 – The Last Starfighter– Rating 7.0

Everyone as a kid dreamed of this.

#60 – The Matrix– Rating 7.0

#61 – Total Recall– Rating 7.0

Still haven’t gotten to Star Trek or Dr. Who and we are down to #61. How disappointing, but I’ll describe details in a later version.

I don’t know why, but recently I Googled “Best Science Fiction Movies.” I really wondered if I’d missed something. There are many folks out there who give us their views. I guess it is my turn.

This will be a multi-part post. This one will contain choices from 1 to 11.

Instead of counting toward the best, I’m going to change up and give you my favorite movies from the best down… at some point, I’ll just trail off. Note that I’ve lumped franchises together, so if I say, Terminator, for example, I mean all of the terminator movies unless I give some specific exceptions.

Rating system: I rate all movies on Science, Action, Humor, Horror, Drama, Twists, and Consistency. I average all of the pieces that are primarily being filmed and average them. All of my ratings will be on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the best.

Drumroll… My favorite science fiction movie of all time is (4-way tie for first place):

#1 A Man from Earth – Rating 9

This movie, which you probably have never even heard of, did so poorly at the box office that I never even heard of it until I stumbled upon it on Netflix (I don’t believe it is there any longer)
It has no special effects at all. It has no action. It isn’t set in the future. The entire movie two sets, and contains nothing more than people talking.
This is the epitome of a thinking person’s science fiction.

#1 Gattaca – Rating 9

This one’s rating surprised me. I rewatch movies often and pick movies other than this. But when I honestly filled in my numbers for each of the categories, I realized how much this film meant to me. It is an uncomfortable watch, like Schindler’s List. It may be awesome, but it doesn’t mean you want to batter yourself with that discomfort often.
The prejudice that could come, and is already coming, from our DNA is incredible. Prophetic Scifi at its best.

#1 The Sixth Sense – Rating 9

Anyone who knows me will know I don’t understand the horror genre. I do understand suspense, and this movie has it in bucketloads. I’m also a sucker for a twist ending.
While Bruce Willis isn’t known for his exceptional acting range, he stretched here and came away with a winner. That isn’t to take away from his costars. Everyone made this movie work.

#1 Wall-E – Rating 9

What can I say that you almost certainly don’t already know? The humor in this movie is top-notch. There were enough twists to make my heart sing, and it made me feel hope, even out of despair. My top feel-good film.

Coming in at #5 – (I sound like Casey Kasem “And here is a beauty that stayed at #5 for ten long weeks on our charts…”)

#5 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Rating 8.8

Wow, another surprise rating and for a movie that isn’t pure science fiction/fantasy by any stakes. It does blur the lines.
Scott Pilgrim is a fun romp that pokes fun at video games, dating, sexual preference, vegans, and more. During the whole time, it is wrapped in this joyful wrapper of youth.
Oh, don’t expect stellar acting, in fact, that would negate most of its charm, but the film is so fun that you can’t help but enjoy it.

There is a five-way tie for #6.

#6 Battle Los Angeles – Rating 8.5

While I’ve never served in our armed forces, I do know a number of people who have. This movie spoke to me like real combat. It also felt like what an alien invasion, if it didn’t completely overwhelm us from technology that is too advanced, would feel like.
Gritty. More action than you can pack into a claymore mine, and high stakes that didn’t feel like they were utterly overwhelming. And, as it was aliens, there were a number of tasty twists in there to keep me hooked for the whole movie. Might have gotten more if it wasn’t too sappy around the father and kid.

#6 Cloverfield – Rating 8.5

Like its counterpart above, this is an alien invasion that overwhelms our ability to respond. As a kaiju movie, I like the “Blair Witch Project” filming of the entire escape of the civilians. Action galore and wrapped up the horror of those unknowns.

#6 Jurassic Park – Rating 8.5

The entire franchise is a rollercoaster ride of action. I mean, you know you are going to get dinosaurs eating people, but why are the people so stupid (read that word as GREEDY) THIS time? The special effects are incredible. The science is there to back it up. And one of the best pieces is the consistency from movie to movie – not just in actors but in not tramping on the traditions previously created.

#6 The Thirteenth Floor – Rating 8.5

Another movie many people haven’t seen. This movie lives and dies on its twists and turns, so I can’t reveal too much without giving it away. Needless to say, once you see it, you will immediately compare it to a movie I have ranked down in the 50s or 60s. This one is a vastly superior breed. Get it. You won’t be disappointed.

#6 Next – Rating 8.5

I’m probably going to catch a great deal of heat on this one. I mean Nicholas Cage?  Really? But the movie itself is a masterpiece. What would a man’s life be like if he could see two minutes in the future, or more under certain circumstances? He would have to stay under the radar screen or be put into a government cell with doctors poking him with sharp needles – forever.

That concludes my top eleven choices. I’ll post later on more great movies and how I rank them. I’ve already thrown in a couple you probably never heard of, so who knows when I’ll throw more weirdness into the mix.