I often use the same example Cory uses here in discussing security issues at work: 99% effective means 10,000 failures over a million instances. Which in turn means that if you’re trying to detect a 1-in-a-million event, then you will get it 9999 false positives for every real event you detect–and at that rate, you will never find the actual… Read more →
Tag: authors
Bookish Bits: A Miscellany
Check out PodCastle, a new podcast of readings from in the F/SF genre. They got my attention with their first reading, of Peter Beagle‘s Come Lady Death. There are several more stories there now, as well. More details on Anathem, the new Neal Stephenson. Looks to be another monster of a book. And, I’m thinking, we’re going to be seeing… Read more →
Bookish Bits: Pseudonyms
OK, I’m comfortable with the idea of pseudonyms for authors. Sure, when I was a kid and first ran into the concept (I think it was when someone told me that the Eric G. Iverson guy whose stories I liked in the digests had novels under another name) I was a little shocked, but I’m used to it now. Some… Read more →
Bookish Bits: Vance Integral
That’s Jack Vance over there. I’m a fan. I’m enough of a fan that I wanted to sign up for the Vance Integral Edition when they were taking subscriptions. It played into my two compulsions: collecting all the good writing, and collecting fine or rare editions of the good writing. At that time I didn’t have the money sitting around.… Read more →
SF Writers Say Smart Things: Hal Duncan
“It has to be Guinness–dark, black and rich. It’s a scientifically proven fact, you know, that Guinness is forty-five percent fortitude.” —Hal Duncan Read more →
Jargon and Communication
Speaking of Scotsmen, let me say that as a general rule I am quite a fan of Hal Duncan’s blog–especially those gigantic blog entries where he intellectually swashbuckles his way through certain philosophical issues with verve and panache, using academic jargon like Mrs. Parker used wit. In particular, I have been intending for a while now to write an appreciation… Read more →
Sic transit gloria mundi
I was a bit too enervated to worry about blogging, or reading blogs, last night, so I woke this morning to find the entire Internet plastered with the news that Madeleine L’Engle had died. (See link list below). I know exactly when I read my first L’Engle book: it was A Wrinkle In Time, in the enrichment program in Grade… Read more →
Thursday Night Bookish Links
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… Read more →
A pick me up
I’m back in Boston for week three of “Don’t-see-my-family-April”, and today work got me incredibly down. However, as it is (or, as midnight just clicked over, was) International Pixel-Stained Peasant Day, I have lots of free fun stuff to read and cheer me tonight. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you need to first see this, then read… Read more →
A Tuesday bookish miscellany
If you’ve read either his debut novel Elantris, or his sophomore effort Mistborn, you will definitely be interested in Brandon Sanderson’s website, since it includes detailed annotations for both books, along with a blog and lots of other stuff including info and exceprts from forthcoming works. Here’s a link to a recent essay on why authors would prefer you to… Read more →
Some bookery
Yes, I am being a lazy poster during the intra-holiday week. You can’t complain about the cost, though, can you? M. John Harrison, one of the authors I hold in particularly high esteem, has a lovely piece up at his site about his writing process. Here’s a little taste: I don’t have any writing pattern. I hate being professional. I… Read more →
Something to look forward to in 2007
I was quite pleased to see this: July 2007 Territory by Emma Bull (new hardcover) On PNH’s list of stuff he (and Teresa) have edited. I’ve been patiently waiting for Emma’s next book since 1997 (or 1994, if you want to get picky about the possessive). It was harder to be patient after I heard her read from (what must… Read more →
SF Authors (and editors) saying more smart things…
We’ll grab a couple of them today: Will Shetterly talking about Mormon underwear: Here’s one way to tell a faith from a racket: If it makes you think you’re better than everyone else, it’s a racket, not a faith. I kind of love that. It’s the answer to all the “One True Religion” and “Chose People of X” things that… Read more →
A bookish Sunday Miscellany
I’m not sure why, but for some reason book reviews written by authors whose work I like tend to carry more weight with me than reviews by almost anyone else. This is why I pay special attention to things like Paul Witcover‘s reviews at Realms of Fantasy and Sci Fi Weekly, or Norman Spinrad‘s review/essays in Asimov’s, etc. I was… Read more →
Book Notes: Agony Column
OK, time to do some initial clean up on my “To Blog” folder. The first thing on the menu is a set of pointers to Agony Column content, to thin out the “Books” subfolder. I’ve mentioned before that Rick Kleffel might be the reviewer who most constantly lines up with my eclecticism, and looking at my “To Blog” folder I… Read more →
