Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 46m

Absolutely loved Out of The Unknown!
www.bbc.com/culture/arti...

'The first time sci-fi was presented as serious drama': The forgotten 1960s show that was the original Black Mirror

Sixty years ago, anthology series Out of the Unknown premiered on the BBC. It served up serious, one-off sci-fi dramas exploring our relationship with technology, among other things.

www.bbc.com

Reposted by Keith Stevenson

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 3h

Feels like this will be a useful meme for the next few years

Peacemaker looks at a mural embedding Hitler into American symbols

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2000 AD Comics @2000ad.bsky.social · 15h

In Orbit THIS Wednesday!

Judge Dredd Megazine is 35 years old! @molcher.bsky.social and @cuntersthompson.bsky.social kick off the celebrations! www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7cz...

How does a comic last 35 years? – In Orbit Every Wednesday

YouTube video by 2000 AD

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Keith Stevenson

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12h

Teens who won a lawsuit requiring Hawaiʻi to eliminate carbon emissions from the state’s transportation system in the next 20 years rightly call out sustainable aviation fuel as bullshit.

Teens Who Sued Hawai‘i Say Climate Plan For Aviation Doesn’t Fly

Interisland flights are Hawaiʻi’s biggest transportation carbon producer, making up more than half of all emissions related to civilian travel in the state.

www.civilbeat.org

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Reposted by Keith Stevenson

Ellen Datlow @datlow.bsky.social · 1d

The formerly titled The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy is finally available as an ebook from Open Road. We had to change the title for legal reasons but here it is.
openroadmedia.com/.../the-big-...
Here's to a new life for one of my favorite, mixed-genre anthologies.

cover for The Big Book of SF&F (aka The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)

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Harry Turtledove @hntdove.bsky.social · 21h

Westworld--first prototype

Agatha Chocolats @agathachocolats.bsky.social · 21h

In six words or fewer, write a story about this photo.
#sixwordstory #WritingCommunity #Halloween

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Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 21h

Get Traitor's Gathering (a Lenticular Series prequel story) and over 60 other SF, Paranormal and Fantasy books free in the Woo-Hoo Halloween Giveaway 📚🪐 - storyoriginapp.com/to/rEXJZQ2

Cover of Traitor's Gathering a Lenticular Prequel Story by Keith Stevenson

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 1d

Even PBS can't be bothered to note that something is a little ODD about giving such an honor to a billionaire-funded social media troll who spent his days tricking dim teens into believing sexism and racism was acceptable

not even a passing, vague reference to him being "controversial"

PBS News @pbsnews.org · 1d

President Donald Trump will honor influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Tuesday with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the White House can bestow on a civilian. https://to.pbs.org/3J8JYDA

WATCH LIVE: Trump awards Charlie Kirk posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Donald Trump will honor influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Tuesday with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the White House can bestow on a civilian.

www.pbs.org

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Reposted by Keith Stevenson

Benjamin Pope @benjaminpope.bsky.social · 1d

Thrilled to have two years' of work out, in a pair of papers led by @gradientrider.bsky.social and @maxecharles.bsky.social.

We've built a data-driven calibration of the James Webb Interferometer to near its fundamental limits for high-res imaging - explainer at @aunz.theconversation.com!

How we sharpened the James Webb telescope’s vision from a million kilometres away

The only Australian hardware on board the legendary telescope is starting to fulfil its duties.

theconversation.com

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Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 1d

Four albums that made me. And I still listen to.

Album cover: Sparkle in The Rain by Simple Minds.

Album cover: The Golden Age of Wireless by Thomas Dolby.

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Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 2d

Read the first 4 chapters... 📚🪐
www.keithstevenson.com/books/end-ti...

A universe filled with the strange blooms of Teel-Attar radiation and the words, "Read the first 4 chapters".

The cover to The End Times of Markusz Zielinski - a star field slowly being eaten by blooms of Teel-Attar radiation with the tagline, "A dying universe. The last planet. A brilliant mathematician." And the title The End Times of Markusz Zielinski and the author Keith Stevenson.

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Oeming @oeming.bsky.social · 3d

ALIENATED #1 by #HugoAward Nominated <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3osmiubkohpqdtd3uvhvepdo" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@takisoma.bsky.social <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gcdqlbabyvjhub6wcf5lvbo2" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@johnbroglia.bsky.social Covers by me From <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:opwbjxedknro7jco7icmpruk" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@comixology.bsky.social #digital #comics #aliens #ufo #Uap #80s @amazon Order here https://amzn.to/4i48jWH

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 5d

One of the cartoons in my new book 'Physics for Cats' which is out now in the UK, USA, Canada, France and Germany. Order from your local bookshops or online: www.tomgauld.com/

Two beetles on a stick.
One beetle says to the other "Do you ever get the feeling we are being observed by another lifeform"
Zoom out to reveal that they are in a glass case with two scientists studying them.
One scientist says to the other "Do you ever get the feeling we are being observed by another lifeform"
Zoom out into space. Abouard a spaceship, two aliens watch the scientists on a screen.
One alien says to the other "Do you ever get the feeling we are being observed by another lifeform"
The aliens turn to look out at the reader.

Text below the cartoon reads:
From 'Physics for Cats' by Tom Gauld. Preorder it at www.tomgauld.

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Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 3d

This feels very apropos for my latest book. 📚🪐

Cover for The End Times of Markusz Zielinski.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 3d

My cartoon for this week’s @newscientist.com

A comic strip in six panels. The panels inerlock like a jigsaw with knobs and sockets. Two stick figures walk right to left through all the panels.

Panel 1: Person 1 says "I hear you're working on a new theory."
Panel 2 & 3: Person 2 says: "Yes, I'm calling it the jigsaw model. I think it could change our whole View of reality."
Panel 4: Person 1 says "When Will you publish?:
Panel 5: Person 2 says "But a couple of things are still bothering me." (this piece/panel is a bit squint)
Panel 6: This piece is rotated ninety degees and fits to the others very badly. Person 2 is saying "Soon. I feel like I'm really close"
A second look at the whole comic shows that the last two panels read in the wrong order because the jigsaw has been put together incorrectly.

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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING NEWS
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPeacePrize to Maria Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.

#NobelPrize

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Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 5d

I'm very much looking forward to seeing this
Predator: Badlands – Exclusive Look at Elle Fanning Bringing Alien Vibes to New Arena | Den of Geek share.google/nJFxoNF0dnqS...

Predator: Badlands – Exclusive Look at Elle Fanning Bringing Alien Vibes to New Arena

Exclusive: Director Dan Trachtenberg and stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi spill Yautja secrets and chat the Alien crossover in Predator: Badlands.

share.google

Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 5d

A big thank you to fellow author Jason Nahrung for a brilliant review. #EndTimesMZ
📚🪐
Original review at jasonnahrung.com/2025/10/01/r...

The End Times of Markusz Zielinski, by Keith Stevenson – a race to the end
Novel

Title: The End Times of Markusz Zielinski

Author: Keith Stevenson

Publisher: self-published @ https://www.keithstevenson.com/books/end-times/

In which the Australian writer and publisher turns from the enjoyable space opera of his Lenticular books to harder science fiction, portraying the mad scramble to save a last outpost of life from a collapsing universe. Once again, Stevenson provides a living culture, enough details of the factions and entities to make the world believable without bogging down in details. Indeed, there’s not much room for minutiae, as the story unfolds apace, the conflict driven by a political agenda of greed, ego and self-interest. The titular Markusz, a mathematician who may just be able to save what’s left if given the chance, has the clever foil of a ‘ghost’ of his dead wife as well as a strong supporting cast to contextualise the science clearly enough to allow the reader to follow along. And then there’s the question of the strange haven deep within the planet itself, and the mysterious connection to the force devouring the universe. It’s a blast.

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Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 6d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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Keith Stevenson @keithstevenson.com · 6d

Just a couple of beach bums.

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Duncan Jones @manmademoon.bsky.social · 6d

A kind and thoughtful video essay about MOON from Ken. Sharing it for those who might be interested, and because it occurred to me that more people have watched this wonderful essay than probably got to see the film when it was at the cinema! 😅

youtu.be/QnSUJErY-1c?...