(1) Sir Terry Pratchett’s estate has announced the endowment of the Sir Terry Pratchett Memorial Scholarship at the University of South Australia.
The $100,000 scholarship recipient will also have the opportunity to conduct their research both at University of South Australia. and at Trinity College Dublin, in Ireland for up to a full year in the course of their two-year’s study.
The collaborative scholarship builds on a growing relationship between two very different universities in two hemispheres, who share links both through research and their strong associations with Sir Terry Pratchett and is underpinned by an MOU between Trinity College Dublin’s Trinity Long Room Hub and University of South Australia’s Hawke Research Institute.
Pratchett was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by University of South Australia in 2014.
(2) Pat Cadigan celebrates the return of her hair in “And Then, Suddenly: The Silver Fox! Or OMG! I Have Hair!” Complete with photo gallery.
About a month and a half after my last round of chemo, my hair began to grow back. Not slowly, but at a natural rate, as if I had deliberately shaved it off. By August, when I was preparing to go to the world science fiction convention in Spokane, Washington, I had what could have been a pixie-cut that was just slightly too short. Ellen Datlow told me she thought it looked cute and I could probably get away without any head-coverings. I will always love her for that, truly.
There’s nothing more reassuring to someone recovering from chemo than to be told she looks cute with her short hair. I mean, really. It goes a long way toward recovery–not just a physical recovery but the psychological recovering of yourself from cancer patient to Who You Are. (Yeah, you may be both but it’s important to be Who You Are first, cancer patient second.)
Still, I left the head scarves on. I wasn’t quite ready to expose my itty-bitty head with its itty-bitty hair.
A month later, however, my hair was an inch longer and it was a different story.
(3) Larry Correia came back with great stories from Salt Lake Comic Con.
I had a Green Beret’s wife come by to pick up signed copies of everything. Her husband is a huge fan, and was currently deployed to an undisclosed location doing badass stuff to bad people. He recorded a video for her to play for me, and gave me a unit hat. That was neat, but even cooler, while I was signing her stack of books, somebody else standing in line had heard her story, and paid for all of her books while she wasn’t looking. Just to say thanks for her husband’s service, and then he walked away, anonymous. I didn’t even know until I got done signing, and Steve Diamond leaned over and said, yep, these are all already taken care of. She teared up. Because fans are awesome people like that.
No matter how busy I was, if I am ever in danger of pride, all I had to do was look at Butcher or Brooks’ signing lines, that literally stretched across ten aisles, to be put in my place. Holy crap. I’m a pretty successful author, but Jim does what I do, with another zero on the end of everything.
Speaking of Jim, several of us writers put together a game night. We played Fiasco, which is a perfect, silly, stand-alone RPG for one-off events. Think of it like a Cohen brothers movie, where everything is odd and goes sideways. Ours was like the movie Fargo. Poor Jim ended up as the only decent human being in the cast (a Mexican Catholic priest and champion of SOCIAL JUSTICE I kid you not, thank you so much Fiasco’s random complication tables). But don’t worry, after Jim was horribly injured when Steve and Allen blew up the meth supplies hidden in the basement of his church, Peter and I burned down the local Walmart to avenge him. Yes. It was that sort of game.
(4) Everything Wrong With Interstellar, Featuring Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson —
(5) RedWombat’s verse, which some have dubbed The Jellicle Troll, started life as a comment on File 770.
The Naming of Trolls is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just some sort of blog-a-day game;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a troll may have MORE THAN ONE NAME.
First of all, there’s the name that employers use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey–
All of them everyday real wallet names.
But I tell you, a troll needs a name that’s not famous,
A handle peculiar, but easily shed,
Else how can he keep his trolling anonymous,
Or threaten his critics or wish them all dead?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a couple, too,
Such as Drizzt69, Quaxo, or Nazi-lol,
Such as Edgelord150, or HatesSJW-
Names that sometimes belong to more than one troll.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweet,
And IP muddlers and sock-puppets galore:
That the troll may continue to whargle and bleat–
Without any pause in his trollicksome chore.
But above and beyond there’s still one thing left over,
And that is the thing that you probably have guessed;
The thing human research has long since discovered–
(IF THE TROLL HIMSELF KNOWS, he will never confess.)
When you notice a troll in profound verbiation,
I’ll tell you his reason for courting suspension:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of attention:
Paid to his tedious
Shallow uninteresting
singular Self.
(6) Lo and behold! David J. Peterson’s book about conlangery, mentioned here yesterday, is today’s Big Idea at Whatever.
With The Art of Language Invention, my purpose was twofold. The first was to give the uninitiated a window into the world of conlanging: to see what it’s all about, to see the work that goes into creating a language, and, maybe, to see if it’s for them. The second, though, was to build a bridge between the original conlanging community and the conlangers to come.
(7) The minutes of the 2015 WSFS Business Meeting [PDF file], a 134-page epic by secretary Linda Deneroff, has been posted on the Sasquan website.
(8) Kate Paulk has a goal.
Inept message fiction makes puppies sad. Sad Puppies 4 wants to make puppies happy by returning the Hugo to its roots as a readers choice award – all readers, not just the small cadre who favor style over substance. Those who wouldn’t know substance if it bit them on the butt are of course in opposition to this goal.
(9) GUFF voting is closed. Now the administrators say they are doing a vote count before announcing a winner. Who should be Jukka Halme, as he is running unopposed.
(10) The story of “The Little Blue Man Hoax” at The Museum of Hoaxes.
The police began to search for what, or who, was causing these sightings. Their search ended when three young men — Jerry Sprague, Don Weiss, and LeRoy Schultz — came forward and confessed. The young men explained how all the reports of flying saucers in the news had given them an idea for a prank. They created a costume consisting of long underwear, gloves, combat boots, a sheet with holes cut out for the eyes, and a football helmet to which they attached blinking lights. They then spray-painted the costume glow-in-the-dark blue (inspired by a song popular on the radio at the time, “Little Blue Man” by Betty Johnson). Sprague wore the costume, noting that “it was my underwear and I was the only one it would fit.”
The trio staked out rural roads at night. Sprague would hide in a ditch, and when a motorist approached, he would leap out and run along the road to attract their attention before making a quick getaway by jumping into the trunk of the car driven by Weiss and Schultz. They did this on at least eight or ten nights, over a period of weeks.
The police let the pranksters off with a warning not to do it again.
(11) John Simm told the Guardian he can’t wait to move on from Doctor Who.
The actor John Simm has admitted that he is fed up with the attention he gets from Doctor Who fans.
The star of The Village and Life On Mars played the Master in five episodes of the BBC1 sci-fi programme.
He told the Radio Times: “I do get a lot of Doctor Who. God almighty, I’ll be so happy when that’s gone from my life. They’re lovely, I’m sure, but I won’t miss it.”
He added: “It’s great to be into something, but for goodness’ sake, really? I’m not the Master, I’m not that evil Time Lord who rules the galaxy, I’m just in Tesco with my kids. Leave me alone!”
(12) The Official A Game of Thrones Coloring Book (A Song of Ice and Fire) —
In a world where weddings are red, fire is green, and debts are paid in gold, countless images leap off the page thanks to the eye-popping intricacy of the vivid settings and details. Now, for the first time, fans of this blockbuster saga can fill in the blanks and marvel as this meticulously imagined universe comes to life, one sword, sigil, and castle at a time. With dozens of stunning original black-and-white illustrations from world-renowned illustrators Yvonne Gilbert, John Howe, Tomislav Tomi?, Adam Stower, and Levi Pinfold, this unique collector’s item expands the reach of an international phenomenon with flying colors.
(13) I scientifically lifted this news from the October issue of Ansible.
With an eye on the coming film, the Royal Mail will issue no fewer than eighteen Star Wars stamps on 20 October. (BBC, 12 September)
(14) Camestros Felapton has weaponized one of File 770’s running gags…
[Thanks to JJ, Kevin Standlee, David Doering, Camestros Felapton, John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Z .]
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Chris,
I spent most of my life living in the largest city in the United States. I started taking the subway, alone, on a daily basis when I was 11, in the depths of the city’s financial crisis.
In the quarter century I lived in Washington Heights, I never asked my neighbors their immigration status, because it was entirely irrelevant to anything I did. (We talked about the weather, about birds, about news and cats and such.) Nobody asked mine, because a light-skinned woman with my accent is assumed to be a citizen.
And I was never in a situation that I thought would be improved by my having a gun. Not on the subway at night, not walking home alone in the cold, not after a cashier was murdered in the store downstairs. (Yes, that bothered me. But I never thought my situation would be improved by owning a gun.)
Wow, way too many books I haven’t even read made it through to these final rounds. I went from knowing a solid majority of the books in the first round to knowing a scant four of seven. I’m obviously taking notes and extending my TBR list. 🙂
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
The only category I can honestly vote for, and I’m going with the probable bracket winner. Just to make things a little more interesting, I’m also going to add a write-in. From the earlier rounds:
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge
Because honestly, I just loved this book. Yes, I thought his previous two books were better, but they don’t qualify for the bracket. And this one has the library that gets up and dances for the Pratchett fans. How can you not love that? 😀
I’ll wave around my ‘I was brought up in South East London’ credentials if I have to, but since I’d probably have to explain what that means and also tack on a rant at the end about why the stereotype is stupid and wrong, I think it would be better to leave it to the USAmerican’s to tackle explaining ‘hey, you have literally no idea what anyone else’s experiences are, so maybe stop assuming your life is so Different and Special that no-one could possibly have had similar experiences and disagree’. 😉 Much simpler. Less likely to require 5000 words. 😀
@Chris Nelson: I hope to God you meant “respectable.”
Glad you liked it. And yeah, inspiration is just a starting point.
As it happens, that story drifted so far away that I’m tempted to try again and see what I get this time…
@HelenS
Ditto.
@kyra
That’s an awesome CoC Story!
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
LOOK, DAVE, I CAN SEE YOU’RE REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS BRACKET. I HONESTLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO SIT DOWN CALMLY, TAKE A STRESS PILL, AND THINK THINGS OVER.
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anathem, Neal Stephenson
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
With Capclave coming up, I wanted to read some Alastair Reynolds since he’s this year’s Pro GOH. I got Slow Bullets as an ebook for Kindle, since it’s new and short and sounded interesting. Having just finished it, I can say without hesitation that it is an ebook for Kindle by Alastair Reynolds.
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
LOOK, DAVE, I CAN SEE YOU’RE REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS BRACKET. I HONESTLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO SIT DOWN CALMLY, TAKE A STRESS PILL, AND THINK THINGS OVER.
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anathem, Neal Stephenson
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
1. Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
3. The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
2. Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
brackets!
1: Anathem.
2: Abstain
3: Leviathan in first, followed by D.I.
Surely Australia should be post-apocalyptic wasteland? Or are you considering that a subset of science fiction?
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
LOOK, DAVE, I CAN SEE YOU’RE REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS BRACKET. I HONESTLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO SIT DOWN CALMLY, TAKE A STRESS PILL, AND THINK THINGS OVER.
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anathem, Neal Stephenson
The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler
TIE
Please a gross of forehead cloths, soonest.
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
1. Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
3. The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
2. Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
@Chris Nelson
The generally accepted term if you’re not a Republican seeking the GOP presidential nomination is undocumented immigrants. Latino Americans, and that includes those who are citizens, consider “illegals” deeply offensive.
Now, that’s funny.
I live in Massachusetts, and grew up in a newer neighborhood, where most of the houses were built post-1900.
Mostly larger than 1000 square feet–families were bigger when they were built–but small lots. Well, actually, I grew up in a house that was the middle one of three houses built on what had originally been two house lots–and even the original two lots would be considered tiny anywhere outside the urban parts of the northeast.
The first three or four generations of families that lived in those houses had “moved on”, in various senses of the term.
My grandparents–my mother’s parents–were immigrants from Sicily, in the early 1900s. Which is to say, in the view of Real Americans of the day, they were little, dark people coming from a known criminal culture, who practiced a suspect religion (Roman Catholicism) considered by many to be incompatible with being a patriotic American citizen.
It was nearly impossible to be an “illegal” immigrant when my grandparents came over. But in 1924, the Respectable People fixed that; they passed the Immigration Act of 1924, which created the system of quotas and most of the rest of the immigration system we live with now, though some of it was only embryonic at the time. The quotas in that initial law were set to the proportions of the different nationalities in the US population in 1870.
What had happened between 1870 and 1924 was that the flow of immigrants shifted from northern and western Europe to southern and eastern Europe.
Which is to say, the Immigration Act of 1924 was written to keep more people like my grandparents from getting into the country. Which nationalities are targeted for exclusion has changed over the last century, but the same principle is still at work. That principle is, more or less explicitly, “let’s keep out the icky people we currently thing are Not Like Us, even though our grandparents were once considered People Not Like Us.”
My parents would have considered it unspeakably rude to ask or speculate about anyone’s immigration status.
Now I live in the town in MA that has the lowest per capita income in the state, historically a large population of Italian- and French-Canadian-immigrants or descendants thereof, with a more recent influx of Latinos and Vietnamese. I still don’t find immigration status to be a meaningful factor in who does or doesn’t make a good neighbor.
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anathem, Neal Stephenson
The Lost Steersman, Rosemary KirsteinWhimper
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Fledgling, Octavia E. ButlerWhine.
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
1. Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
2. The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
3. Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
<retires to cool dark room to sulk. With forehead cloths.>
Yes, my bad. (It’s the tail-end of a long, long week.)
They volunteered the information when we were having a voter drive. There’s a local bond package that benefits everyone and we wanted it to pass. We also had to work out a issue with a dead tree that fell on both properties during a storm this spring and only two of the household spoke any English. My spouse knows some Spanish, but her brother is more fluent. My languages are limited to computers.
Unfortunately I have. Fortunately I’ve never had to pull the trigger except on a water moccasin and some wild dogs harassing livestock. Nearly shot a burglar, but he dropped the wrench and waited with me for the police. Also the drunk that crashed into my car while it was in the driveway, decided that fighting me wasn’t worth it. That’s not counting the military and security work.
I’ve had people try to kill me with an ax and a blunt object (out of frustration that it wasn’t the gun he thought it was when he first tried to shoot me with it, although my witty banter may not have helped*), I was (lightly) assaulted this spring and I had someone stalk me on my way home this summer, plus other stuff, and I don’t particularly think an actual gun would have helped because I am oddly reluctant to shoot people. It’s a character flaw I feel badly about because most of the fiction I read assures me killing is no more significant than plucking flowers.
* “That’s not a real gun, you moron.”
Doctor Science, that’s a lovely image of Kyra’s dice. I have only one minor quibble… they don’t look EVIL enough….
Bracket:
Anathem
Ancillary Justice
Girl With All The Gifts
You have me beat on number of viewings!
Seeing it on a big screen with excellent sound is the way to go. The feel of the looming obelisk, the ‘dance’ of the earth, the shuttle and the space station, then docking to the beauty of “The Blue Danube”, etc. It really was groundbreaking cinema at the time and still, imho, holds up fairly well today.
What some don’t realize is that we hadn’t landed on the moon yet, there were no space shuttles or space station, no Voyager probes had been launched so no pics of the planets, no Hubble telescope to make views of the cosmos a common thing, views of the earth floating in outer space hadn’t happened yet. They didn’t have CGI for effects. This film’s cinematography was a big deal!!!!
The novel didn’t come out until after the film release, iirc. I certainly didn’t read it until months later.
I, too, was not impressed with 2010.
ARGGH, Kyra! I knew you were going to match up my two remaining books!
(goes in search of forehead cloths)
(lies down)
(looks at brackets again–still unchanged)
(wails and gnashes teeth)
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
(whimpers)
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
LOOK, DAVE, I CAN SEE YOU’RE REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS BRACKET. I HONESTLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO SIT DOWN CALMLY, TAKE A STRESS PILL, AND THINK THINGS OVER.
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler
Need a gross or two of unscented forehead cloths. Tie.
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
On ‘illegal immigrant’:
I think in the future, when people look back to now and do that thing we do when we are mystified by the immorality of the past and how people could have done terrible things and yet think they were good people, the thing that are descendants will look back on is how we dehumanized immigrants and refugees.
🙂
I saw high, low and in the middle. ;^]
Liked it every time. Guess there’s no accounting for taste, huh?
I don’t think 2010 is a bad movie on its own terms. It’s just so much more … conventional than its predecessor, and was never going to fill its shoes. But, having said that, it’s also a lot more accessible in many ways.
One of the things that struck me when I read a couple of L. Neil Smith books was how despite everyone in the Libertopia being armed to the teeth, they all seemed to live in fear.
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
LOOK, DAVE, I CAN SEE YOU’RE REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS BRACKET. I HONESTLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO SIT DOWN CALMLY, TAKE A STRESS PILL, AND THINK THINGS OVER.
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
This is probably a lost cause, but I gotta vote my pref!
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
(1) Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
(3) The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
(2) Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
I worked for some years in some very rough areas with SE postcodes – mainly happy memories 🙂
@Chris I think your misunderstanding
Many of us have been in similar dangerous situations as you’ve described. We just don’t think having a gun would improve the situation. It’s a different way of thinking.
As for your earlier response to me all you’ve done is again explain how our education and social systems and if you want border crossing are failing. Poor people doing crime is much easier to see than rich people doing crime. Poor people doing crime are more likely to go to jail leaving spouse & kids to make it on less which leads to the next generation doing crime. So for me each time you describe “how bad the neighborhood was” I see how we as Americans have failed.
We are a first world country yet in many ways to the outside world we look like a third world country that has tech and money. All these gang/drug wars – those shouldn’t be happening. In first world countries our population should have the education to get good jobs which pay well and health care so a medical emergency won’t bankrupt a family. That’s what third world countries work on doing to become first world.
I worked in downtown L.A., which is not at all free of people who are mentally ill and (probably) homeless, and rarely felt in danger. I took the subway the two stops from Union Station to Pershing Square, and before turnstiles, we got the homeless people using the trains for shelter. I didn’t generally feel threatened – although some of them were definitely odd. Sometimes I walked one or the other way, because the subway was down, across the plaza, through Civic Center, and along Hill.
I walked to and from my train station almost every day – it’s about three-quarters of a mile, shortest route, mostly straight down a fairly busy street. I was doing it in the dark in winter, and the biggest danger was, and is, drivers – they don’t always look for pedestrians when going around corners.
At one point, in the Bay Area, I was working a 4-day 40-hour week, 5:30 pm to 4am. No buses coming home, so I walked – through a deserted industrial park. Again, the biggest hazard was traffic.
Random guys carrying guns because they feel threatened by the rest of the universe? They scare me. Because I don’t know what they’re going to do.
I think this has gone on pretty much forever. I grew up in a midwestern city that started out with Yankees taking over from the French fur trappers, then went through the waves of immigration throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Germans were okay, the Norwegians moved on to Minnesota, but when the Polacks started coming in, they were definitely NOT welcome.
Just change the names of the ethnic group by decade…I remember one bunch of folks who were seriously incensed over the addition of Hmong (mountain highlands of VietNam; brought here after that war in the early 70’s, since they pretty much made themselves unwelcome by the new regime since they were US allies throughout the war.) Anyway, the nativists were all incensed and going on and on about the Hmong. The leader of the group had a Polish surname, and I figured that he simply didn’t know the history of his own people, since 75 years earlier, POLISH were the Hmong.
I came up with the saying, “We are all boat people. It is simply a matter of which boat we came over on.” Except for the Native Americans who we pushed aside, of course.
The recently deposed Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, was famous for his vow to ‘stop the boats’ i.e. the refugees and asylum seekers risking their lives in an attempt to reach Australia by unseaworthy boats. Mr Abbott was not born in Australia bur emigrated to Australia…on a boat (OK technically a ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Oronsay_%281950%29 )
Doctor Science on October 2, 2015 at 4:52 pm said:
Red Alert! WHOOP WHOOP! The Best of C.L. Moore is currently free at Amazon (US, at least) for Kindle!
thank you, thank you, thank you!
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
LOOK, DAVE, I CAN SEE YOU’RE REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS BRACKET. I HONESTLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO SIT DOWN CALMLY, TAKE A STRESS PILL, AND THINK THINGS OVER.
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anathem, Neal Stephenson
The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
abstain
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler
TIE! (forehead cloth please? Lavender scented.)
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
1. Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
(Side note: Just got home from seeing the touring company of Cinderella and the costume changes were fantastic!)
@Camestros
Yes! Lots of good things about SE London, and I can’t think of a single problem there that could be improved by adding readily available firearms. It isn’t as if anyone would want to eat the results of pigeon shooting, after all…
Kyra on October 2, 2015 at 5:07 pm said:
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
LOOK, DAVE, I CAN SEE YOU’RE REALLY UPSET ABOUT THIS BRACKET. I HONESTLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO SIT DOWN CALMLY, TAKE A STRESS PILL, AND THINK THINGS OVER.
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anathem, Neal Stephenson
The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein
because Kirstein
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
Fledgling, Octavia E. Butler
Nope
(Fledgling on Kindle)
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
1.Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
There now, that wasn’t too bad.
Sniff.
Indeed. Short of a zombie apocalypse of course. Alien invasions shouldn’t be an issue http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478964/
21ST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION PART FIVE:
1. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Anathem, Neal Stephenson
2. AN UNCOMMON PROTAGONIST
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
3. FUNGUS, BIOWEAPON, OR PROTOMOLECULE
1 – Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
2 – Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold
3 – The Girl with All the Gifts, M. R. Carey
Peter J: I was at a party in (about) 1980 when somebody excitedly told me that there were plans for a big-budget adaptation of Lord of Light.
Jamoche: Don’t forget the theme park!
Having read Lord of Light a couple of months ago, I am mystified that anyone ever thought a movie of it would be a winner (never mind a theme park).
Clearly, I just don’t “get” what is so wonderful about that book (and I love, love, love The Chronicles of Amber).
P.J. Evans: Random guys carrying guns because they feel threatened by the rest of the universe? They scare me. Because I don’t know what they’re going to do.
Oh, yeah. This is why Puppies talking about how they’re going to take their guns with them to Worldcon next year horrifies me. These are people who’ve repeatedly demonstrated that they’re hot-tempered, irrational, and frequently lacking in restraint and common sense.
Doctor Science: I created an image of Kyra’s dice (artist’s impression, based on her description). What do you-all think?
I’m sorry, but that’s a really crappy representation of Kyra’s dice. You left off the horns and the forked tails.
Since we’re waxing nostalgic–
I saw 2001 on its initial Cinerama release and was knocked out by the filmmaking. I’ve seen it several times since, at least once in a non-Cinerama 70mm print and other times on the tiny TV screen. It still impresses me. But then, I am one of the (apparently) small number of people who found Barry Lyndon stunning and not-at-all-boring. (I don’t recall being stoned on any of those occasions.)
No matter what one thinks of the final sequence, the rest of the movie is meticulously presented hard SF. I didn’t know exactly what Clarke thought he was representing there until I read the book, but Kubrick’s treatment remained fascinating (and, again, cinematically compelling) every time I viewed it. There haven’t been many SF films that have come up to its cinematic standards, even with the advent of seamless CGI (for which I have enormous respect).
FWIW, my wife and I sat through two consecutive screenings of Star Wars on its initial release, even though we both knew what its was relationship to the print SF we read. And a couple weeks ago, I finally got a look at Guardians of the Galaxy and enjoyed the daylights out of it–it’s a fine piece of comic-book/pulp space opera. (I still think that Futurama is some of the smartest, most genre-aware visual-media SF ever produced, perhaps because it doesn’t take the tropes all that seriously.)
I’m a little surprised to see so many negative reactions to 2001 here–but then, tastes vary, so it’s just as well that there’s more than one SF movie.
You must excuse me now, it’s time to see whether Roth has waxed the dean.
1. Anathem
2. Ancillary Justice
3. Diplomatic immunity
I get the fascination with weapons, I really do. I’ve got nothing against anyone who likes to collect weapons, because damn they can be works of art in their own right. I just don’t get this weird obsession with going around armed for no good reason. It scares the hell out of me, actually, and it’s one of the reasons I’m so reluctant to visit my American friends on US soil.
Re the dice: surely they need, at the very least, to be surrounded by the flames of Hell?
Re putting sci-fi into fantasy and fantasy into sci-fi: I wonder if Paulk has read “Hello, Moto” by Nnedi Okorafor? “There is witchcraft in science and a science to witchcraft.”
Glub.
I’ve been drowning in edits for the last week or so, but I think I’ve got some time to check back in for a while.
And they came over on foot.
Well. Their ancestors.
And often seem to perceive themselves as threatened by conversation, or different tastes. Or a lack of conversation.
2. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie
3. Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey
Good point. That means EVERYONE ON EARTH is an immigrant, except the people who remained in east Africa. So, we are all alike.