Some bookish links:
- Have you read Vernor Vinge‘s True Names? If you haven’t then “for shame”. According to the Wikipedia entry “It was one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to stories in the cyberpunk genre. Because of this, it is often referenced as a seminal work of the genre.” That’s in 1981. The quote from Wired was “Many Net veterans cite True Names as a seminal influence that shaped their ideas about Net policy. It became a cult classic among hackers and presaged everything from Internet interactive games to Neuromancer.” Hell, there’s even an edition that reprints the story along with essays about how the story affected science and science fiction. PW refers to the “…testimonials by pioneers in virtual reality, cryptography and artificial intelligence”, which should give you some idea about the relative importance of the story. Anyway, if you haven’t read it, and you don’t want to spring for that edition, there is a solution. You can read it online.
- Speaking of Vinge, did you read the transcript of the online session he did with Stross and Peter Watts? I’ll suffer typos gladly to read what those guys have to say. Some of the questions make me cringe, though.
- I know it’s old news at this point, but if you haven’t gone to see Jeff Vandermeer‘s movie version of Shriek, you should go do it now.
- The secret code is cracked, and it turns out that Adobe is broadcasting The Crying Of Lot 49. That’s pretty cool. Really damn cool, actually. I wonder if they had permission, though, given that it’s still a copyrighted work. (Not that I care–I download things from the internet!).
- Did you see where Strange Horizons reviewed all four parts of Crowley‘s brilliant Aegypt sequence? While I love my Small Beer Press edition of the fourth book, I have the others in trade paper and I’d really love to see a nice slipcased supa-swank edition. Something like the (hopefully forthcoming in my lifetime) edition of Little Big that I’m waiting for.
- He had me at Ford, Lanagan, and Sterling, but the rest of the list ain’t bad either.
- I would like a book-length version of The Dream-Quest Of Pooh Corner. Sarah and I could read it together.
- Any day now: podcasts from Tor.
- For those who take the “interest in writer’s process porn” way too far, check out comic writer and novelist Antony Johnston talking about how he makes Getting Things Done work for a writer rather than the more traditional job types for that kind of process.
- The Agony Column (oft-mentioned here) has an MP3 interview with Small Beer people, which is cited on BoingBoing with a lot of relevant links. Check out that MP3, if only to hear Gavin Grant’s dulcet tones and hearty accent.
- Those softcore goth pr0n girls have an interview with comics (and Invader Zim) creator Jhonen Vasquez. I loves me some I Feel Sick, and I have a special place for Zim in my heart, so I’ll risk going over there to read it.
- Free Jeff Ford story!! In two parts
- If you like Hammett, or you like Walter Jon Williams, or like me you greatly admire the works of both, you should read this short post where WJW talks about the Maltese Falcon. I had never previously thought about how the book or movie would have felt when first experienced without preconceptions–it was already well in the background by the time I came along, and it’s worth the read just for Walter’s reflections on that point.
- No, really, who is K. J. Parker a pseudonym for? I just don’t buy the Tom Holt story. Although I think it would be interesting if it really was his wife. Am I wrong? Shouldn’t I be able to find this out with Google in this day and age?
