This trend is just another manifestation of the lazy genre-mixing that Joss Whedon made popular.

@astrogea: King Leia?

@maliciastarling: but... the zombie one sold, so let's make many many more!

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures. I was unemployed at the time.

Oh god that bloody awful Enterprise theme, it sounded like a beer commercial for tampons.

I loved the way the actually described three different Cold War weapons - the plants, the plague and the lights in the sky

1981 version FTW. Scared the 9-year-old me to death. Even the credit sequence was terrifying.

What Zynga should do is not be dicks, but that ain't a winner

@Rainbucket: Same as The Big Issue in the UK. It has some pretty good alt.culture listings in it.

@DRaGZ: You're right, I was just agreeing with the "logical explanation" of an alien civilization. Makes sense to me!

@snodipous: now now, don't be a sourpunk

I got confused for a second cos Charlie Stross won a 2010 Hugo for a novella called 'Palimpsest'

Occam's Razor and all that

@Gothamite88: LL 918! I had that set!

@Daveinva: It's like the first Halo game, when the Covenant release the Flood

I saw this on the TV a long time ago. It was rubbish - dude on motorbike shows up at the end, and has this weapon that just kills the demon. The End. Also, the Nazi-killing sequences were off-camera apart from the "what's down this hole ARRRGH" scene.

Good stuff! I must tell my friend Blotto about it.

@AbeVigodasSon: Your first sentence summed up reaction to that comment perfectly.

@Yournamehere!: My favourite writer too, and Vermillion Sands is an excellent place to start.

Thanks for a great summary, Annalee. I love these books. Excession especially, with most of the main characters being gigantic ships - and the cliques and gangs and secret clubs they create.