Robert Heinlein

*Nim's Island: Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin team up for this sturdy family adventure adapted from Wendy Orr's novel. Breslin stars as the title character, a fearless young girl left alone on an island after her scientist dad (Gerard Butler) vanishes....

REWRITING a famous story from a different character's point of view has become common enough that the results constitute a genre of their own. John Gardner saw "Beowulf" through the monster's eyes in "Grendel"; Jean Rhys' "Wide Sargasso Sea" excavated the...

June 15, 2008 Maybe the time for revenge really has come: "American Nerd: The Story of My People," by Benjamin Nugent, is one of the season's most talked-about cultural studies. A New York-based music journalist and the author of " Elliott Smith and the...

Arthur C. Clarke, who peered into the heavens with a homemade telescope as a boy and grew up to become a visionary titan of science-fiction writing and collaborated with director Stanley Kubrick on the landmark film "2001: A Space Odyssey," has died. He...

Arthur C. Clarke, who peered into the heavens with a homemade telescope as a boy and grew up to become a visionary titan of science-fiction writing and collaborated with director Stanley Kubrick on the landmark film "2001: A Space Odyssey," has died. He...

Jon Burstein watches anything on television and spends too much time looking for stupid viral videos, according to his wife. He enjoys watching " Frontline", "The Office", "Cheaters" and those half-hour Time-Life music collection advertisements. He has...

Although George Takei is an actor, he really does have a connection with outer space. The "Star Trek" and "Heroes" actor has had an asteroid named in his honor, report news sources. The asteroid, situated between Mars and Jupiter, was previously named...

JAZZ ASCAP Salutes Alan and Marilyn Bergman (305), 7:30-9 p.m. Oct. 30, Northwestern University School of Law, Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago Ave.; $10. The veteran lyricists -- who have penned words for tunes such as "The Windmills of Your Mind"...

THE science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein was born in Missouri, and his fiction was mostly set in the future and on distant planets. But there's no question that Heinlein — born 100 years ago this week — was one of Southern California's...

Rod Serling would be proud. The writer-producer pioneered fantasy-themed television anthologies with "The Twilight Zone," so he'd likely support "Masters of Science Fiction," a four-part ABC series airing Saturdays starting Aug. 4. With noted physicist...

In retrospect, I guess it was too much to expect Harry Potter to not only defeat evil Lord Voldemort, but also make the world safe for reading, too. I'm referring to the recent reports dispelling the myth of "the Harry Potter effect," the widely accepted...

ABC is cleaning out its programming closet, giving summertime runs to a pair of projects that were initially scheduled to run last season. The game show "Set for Life," which way back when was slated to air in the fall, will finally premiere on Friday,...