I was rather surprised when Friday’s quick post about Tolkien spawned a lengthy comment thread full of people arguing against the suggestion that The Lord of the Rings is affected by Tolkien’s Catholic faith. I’m no Tolkien scholar, but my impression of the field is that this is simply not a controversial statement, that there… Continue reading Tolkien, Religion, and the Death of Western Culture
Category: SF
Tolkien Not Religious?
Arts & Letters Daily had a link to a City Journal article about religious symbolism in science fiction, which attempts to claim that there has been a recent swing toward Christian symbolism in the genre (at least, in movie and television SF– the only books mentioned are forty-ish years old). There are a number of… Continue reading Tolkien Not Religious?
Hugo Nominations Announced
The nominees for this year’s Hugo Awards were announced last night. The most important category is, as always, Best Novel: Anathem by Neal Stephenson (Morrow; Atlantic UK) The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK) Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen; HarperVoyager UK) — Free download Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit… Continue reading Hugo Nominations Announced
(Wis)Con or Bust
In an effort to wrest something positive from the smoking ruins of the fannish precincts of LiveJournal, a number of people (Kate included) have put together a community to raise money to provide financial assistance to fans of color who want to attend Wiscon or some other convention. They’re auctioning off a lot of interesting… Continue reading (Wis)Con or Bust
Talk Like a Physicist
One of last year’s highest-traffic posts was, weirdly, Talk Like a Physicist. I say “weirdly” because it wasn’t much more than a link to Tom at Swans On Tea. It’s that time of year again, and Tom’s back with an updated list of vocabulary for your physicist-talking needs. I don’t have much to add, but… Continue reading Talk Like a Physicist
Supporting Conversations About Race
The Flamewar That Ate LiveJournal continues its livejournophagy (I’ve only caught the edges of it, and that alone is a carnival of suck– if you want to know more, Jo Walton’s recent post gets the feel, and contains links to more). In one of several efforts to bring something positive out of this, Kate has… Continue reading Supporting Conversations About Race
“Global Warming: Facts and Myths (an All That Jazz)” On the Web
A couple of weeks ago, I moderated a global warming panel at Boskone. The panel was recorded by Richard Amirault, who has now posted the video on his Boston fandom website (Episode 41, if it moves off the front page before you click that link). I haven’t watched the video, but I listened to the… Continue reading “Global Warming: Facts and Myths (an All That Jazz)” On the Web
What I’m Planning to Nominate for the Hugos
We are now one week out from the deadline for Hugo Nominations. I’m eligible to nominate this year, and while a couple of past requests for recommendations have failed to generate anything, I thought I’d throw up a preliminary look at my ballot in hopes of bringing in a few recommendations:
Random Physics We Don’t Understand
I’ve already mentioned two of the program items I was on at Boskone (global warming and quantum physics for dogs). I should at least comment on the other two, “Physics: What We Don’t Understand” and “Is Science Addicted to Randomness?” They both featured me and Geoff Landis, but other than that were very different. “Physics:… Continue reading Random Physics We Don’t Understand
Is It Better to Be Lucky or Good?
My cold from last week has shifted into a bit of bronchitis (and here I thought my virus-fighting strategy of staying up really late drinking beer would clear everything up), so I’m kind of groggy and lethargic. And I have book edits to work on, which precludes taking a long time to write blog posts… Continue reading Is It Better to Be Lucky or Good?