In Chapter Fourteen of Prisoner of Azkaban we have the following passage: Neville was in total disgrace. Professor McGonagall was so furious with him she had banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, given him a detention, and forbidden anyone to give him the password into the tower. Poor Nev...

Do the battlestars in the TOS or reimaged series have a secondary CIC/bridge? I lnow in Star Trek the larger ships have one, like the Auxiliary Control room (TOS) or the Battle Bridge (TNG). Is it because the batllestars have better protection in the reimaged version, the bridge was on the top pa...

In The Queens of Innis Lear and Lady Hotspur, most of the people of Innis Lear put a great deal of faith in the prophecies of the stars. However, their actual track record is less clear. For instance, the stars predicted that Dalat would die on the 16th birthday of her first daughter. However, th...

As I understand, although there is some science/technology used in Inception (e.g. the PASIV), it isn't explained very in-depth and it also isn't a central focus in the story. Some online have also said that the concept/science doesn't hold up. Would it still be considered science fiction? (Many ...

I vaguely remember it being written by a female Australian author and I believe it was published in the later 1990s or so. It was a trade paperback. It starts with a young woman working in her family’s inn/tavern and then she gets swept up with a prince who later gets imprisoned and she frees at ...

As I understand, although there is some science/technology used in Inception (e.g. the PASIV), it isn't explained very in-depth and it also isn't a central focus in the story. Some online have also said that the concept/science doesn't hold up. Would it still be considered science fiction? (Many ...

My instinct is that there is a fantasy trope of the hero/protagonist exploring a (seemingly) unending series of rooms. I feel like I have encountered this trope in multiple books, but the only one I can think of off the top of my head is GoT (Daenerys in the House of the Undying). Can someone g...

Dracula is referred to as either Drac or Dracula throughout the 3 films. However, Dracula is his surname. We know this from quite a few instances, especially in Hotel Transylvania 2, and Mavis makes it pretty clear in the first film. Mavis: Oh! Hi, humans. Everything okay? My name is Mavis Dracu...

there was this anime I recall watching around the 2012-2014time on animax (India). I don't have a good recollection but here are fragments of the scenes I remember. Scientist guy (maybe a government employee) is main character Cyborgish humans which people can hire (or something ) A scene where ...

First of all, it is scientifically doubted whether an ancient matriarchate existed at all, but we invoke poetical license here. Second, I mainly expect feminists to write on the theme, but it could as well be tackled from the other side of the political spectrum. Third, I know tons of F/SF fallin...

This came out in the past 10 years, collected in one of the years best anthology. Man stole a jewel from his Gf (turned out to be her refrigerated ovary). She then set him up in a doublecross. Any ideas? Thanks much.

I read this short story a long time ago. It may have been written in the 60s or earlier. An alien is visiting earth incognito but has an accident of some kind, has amnesia, and doesn't know he is an alien. He gets a factory job but suddenly remembers who he is and now has to figure out how to get...

I watched Dark Star last night, not having seen it since 1984. (Weirdly, it triggered a nightmare about the much scarier The Thing. My subconscious apparently just recognizes John Carpenter's signature style.) However, a short scene I thought I remembered seemed to be missing. Early in the fi...

It seems wasteful, though in-character, for the Inquisition to execute every heretic they find. Do they ever give them a chance to repent? Do they ever let heretics get away with just a lecture? It stands to reason that quite a few heretics just don't realize the things they're saying/doing ar...

Today I was talking about Spore (the video game) and how there are aliens called the Grox who are powerful and taking over the galaxy. During that I was reminded of another dangerous galactic empire that was mysterious in some story called the Sleem. If I recall correctly they were not contacted ...

In the cold open of the third episode of season 5 of Rick & Morty, they are "attacked" by some kind of acid rain that destroys everything organic. A little later "Diesel Weasel" shows up and explains the situation: My acid rain will destroy all things green and natural or my name isn't Diesel We...

This book was a series, and the cover always had one of the characters on it, covered in glowing tattoos/markings. I specifically remember one of the covers being a girls' back covered in glowing hot pink markings. There was a time in one of the books, where they were hiding in a tunnel and one o...