Speaking of YA literature (as I was, briefly, in the previous post), I would be remiss if I didn’t note that Cory Doctorow has put up a Little Brother section on his web site, promoting his new book. As with all of his books, it’s available for free download, so if you’d like to read… Continue reading Little Brother for Free
Category: SF
Iain M. Banks, Matter [Library of Babel]
The latest book by Iain M. Banks proudly proclaims itself to be a Culture novel– part of a loosely connected series of novels and stories about humans living in a vast and utopian galactic civilization– which makes its opening in a castles-and-kings milieu somewhat surprising. Well, all right, technically it opens with a prologue in… Continue reading Iain M. Banks, Matter [Library of Babel]
A Stable Heavy Element?
Via Swans on Tea, a new article on the arxiv reports the possible discovery of a new stable element: What they did was fire one thorium nucleus after another through a mass spectrometer to see how heavy each was. Thorium has an atomic number of 90 and occurs mainly in two isotopes with atomic weights… Continue reading A Stable Heavy Element?
John Scalzi Should Be Ashamed of Himself
I’m not sure whether he’s making some kind of obscure point, or just trolling, but John Scalzi gave a recent installment of his “Big Idea” series over to the witterings of “Vox Day,” talking about his book The Irrational Atheist. Curse you, Scalzi, for getting me to even look at that. And it’s not just… Continue reading John Scalzi Should Be Ashamed of Himself
Hugo Nominees 2008
The Hugo Award nominees for this year have been released. The category I care most about is Best Novel, where we have: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate) Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr) Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007) The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)… Continue reading Hugo Nominees 2008
Arthur C. Clarke, RIP
As approximately six billion other blogs have noted, Arthur C. Clarke is dead. His obit in the Times runs to three pages, which is a good indicator of just how long and distinguished his life was. My initial reaction is similar to Matt McIrvin’s: it feels like the passing of an age. Bradbury and Pohl… Continue reading Arthur C. Clarke, RIP
Plot Synopsis Project, and the Problem with LiveJournal
Joshua Palmatier, whose first two books I enjoyed, and probably ought to booklog, has organized the “Plot Synopsis Project,” in which a bunch of published SF authors post copies of the plot synopses they sent with their successful novel pitches, and talk about the writing process. Most of them have lists of the participants posted,… Continue reading Plot Synopsis Project, and the Problem with LiveJournal
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
Little Brother is Cory Doctorow’s bid for a place on this year’s list of banned books. It’s a book that not only encourages kids to hack computers, commit vandalism, and thwart law enforcement, it gives them detailed instructions on the best ways to do those things. It even comes with two afterwords and a bibliography… Continue reading Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
“Story of Your Life” Guest Lecture
The Science Fiction class for which I agreed to guest lecture is an 8am class, which is earlier than I like to be up and about. Knowing this, I went to bed early on Thursday night. Of course, being a bookaholic of long standing, I needed something to read to put me to sleep. Genius… Continue reading “Story of Your Life” Guest Lecture
Notes Toward a Discussion of “Story of Your Life”
Yesterday’s cheery hypothetical came about because I’ve agreed to do a guest lecture in a Science Fiction class in the English department. I’m going to be talking about Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” whose connection to the hypothetical should be obvious to people who have read it, but is a spoiler for those who… Continue reading Notes Toward a Discussion of “Story of Your Life”