It’s been a while since I closed the various “book stuff” tabs, so let’s take a run through those, shall we? I came to this by the Lord Dunsany connection, but I don’t think you need to be on that page at all to enjoy H. E. Gowers’ HASCHISCH HALLUCINATIONS, posted over at the blog of master-designer-and-artist-of-the-eldritch John Coulthart. I’ve… Read more →
Tag: science fiction
Meme-ery and Kibbitzing
A few years back, I posted some comments about a “great books in genre” list. One of the comments had to do with the lack of female writers on the list, and I tossed out 20 examples of great genre books by women. Sandra MacDonald has taken that kind of effort to a whole new level, creating a periodic table… Read more →
Don’t teach it Daisy Bell
Did you see the story about the researchers who are growing computer brains out of organic material? And not just that, but massively parallel computers. Oh, and just for fun, they’ve also ditched that whole binary concept, skipped over trinary, and moved the whole thing on to quaternary logic. If you’re not lucky enough to have access to journalsYet another… Read more →
Home Sweet Blasted Clean Void
What you’re looking at there is something called The Local Cavity–although in this case “local” takes on a meaning somewhat larger than in typical conversation. It’s essentially a 300-light-year in diameter hole in space. Maybe ‘hole’ is stretching it a bit, since it’s not so much that it’s empty, as that it’s WAY less full than the average across the… Read more →
I am so glad I’m out of the dating scene…
And now for something outside my usual range… As I talk to more and more single people who are roughly my age, it becomes apparent to me that the Internet dating scene has become both gigantic and socially acceptable in the time I’ve been off the market–whatever stigma there once was to dating services has apparently completely vanished in the… Read more →
The Unholy Tab Closing
OK, my open tab situation has got to the point where I was forced to research new Firefox plugins. I might talk about that soon, since that old “favourite plugins” post is waaaay out of date, and due for an updating. Right now, though, I want to run through a bunch of these things, attaching short, and hopefully pithy, comments… Read more →
Professor Membrane’s Modern Medicine Sideshow…
And the professor is back to lead us through the second in our series of posts looking at real, actual, modern science stories that illustrate the “we’re living in science fiction” notion. Last time we focused primarily on medicine, and specifically on different kinds of regeneration. We’re still working our way through modern mad medical science–I have a giant archive… Read more →
A Singular Discussion
Having just mentioned that I prefer transcript to video, let me cite another case where I would make an exception. Here’s a quote from an IM chat I was having with a Boston pal last week: (9:15:32 AM) Chris: Friday 7pm The Singularity: An Appraisal Alastair Reynolds Karl Schroeder Charles Stross Vernor Vinge Arguably the idea of the Singularity —… Read more →
Vaguely book-related
You know the drill: links with pithy comments. Let’s start off this list with Jo Walton costing me a pile of money. I’ve mentioned before enjoying her Tor.com reviews, and finding significant alignment between her tastes and mine… so when she reviews a series of spy novels that I somehow have never even heard of, and makes them sound very… Read more →
Aside
What does it say about me that when I followed a link to the website for the upcoming Naked Girls Reading Science Fiction show, I was frustrated that the site had lots of information about (and pictures of) the “girls” who would be reading, but no information about what science fiction they would be reading?
The return, and regeneration, of Professor Membrane
I am dragging the Professor out of the archives to headline a series of link posts I’m going to be doing about medical “we live in science fiction now” stories (and maybe some medical “mad science”) pieces as well. I’ve been gathering these stories for quite some time–each one alone is a bit shocking or amazing, but when you start… Read more →
Another Fine Free Thing
While I’m posting about lovely things what you can get from the InterTubes for free, I should also point out that the most recent issue of Clarkesworld Magazine is out and that it contains something of particular interest to me. See, as you probably know, I’m a fan of Peter Watts’ writing. And before the whole thing with the US… Read more →
No Fear Of The Dreaded Two-Day-er
It’s weird–or maybe not so weird, really–but reading certain news items my reactions are almost entirely filtered through my years of training as a science fiction reader. Sometimes I read the story and suddenly see all kinds of comparisons between some real world event and things I’ve read–either direct connections, or analogies. Sometimes I read something and can’t help but… Read more →
Missed Opportunity: Quantum To Cosmos
If I had been moving back to the KW area at the end of September, rather than the end of November, I certainly would have been hitting some of the events at the Quantum To Cosmos conference. I hope some of my pals in the area are planning to check it out. I’ll be able to stream the lectures, and… Read more →
Parasitic Homes
Now here’s an SF idea from the post-cyberpunk era–something out of Sterling, Stephensonalthough his would be built from nanofabricated diamond or something., or the Metatropolis guys: parasitic homes. There’s lots more images and details over at Inhabit.com, but the basic idea is that the ongoing rise of urban density (presumably driven by increased fuel prices and the hollowing of the… Read more →
