WISB vBlog v.0.07
So this is my first vBlog. It’s not really all that informative, but so be it. It’s also a little behind. I finished reading The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne already. Oh well. Enjoy! Links:Aio PublishingEdge/TesseractF&SF Book Lovin’ BlogGraeme’s Fantasy ReviewsThe Book Swede (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this)
Book Review Up!
Just a quick note: my book review of The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne is up at SQT’s blog. Check it out here! Also, I’m hoping to do a short interview with the author soon. Look forward to that. And, I’m going to start video-blogging on a semi-monthly basis. I have one I’m going to put up as soon as I can load it. I’m not very bright about things like compression and the like. If anyone has any recommendations of free software I can use to reduce the size of my files without losing too much quality that would be wonderful. Thanks! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this)
Book Review: Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon
I just finished Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon! Check out the review over on SQT’s blog! Next up is The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne! (Thanks to Aio for sending me a copy to review) (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this)
The Everchanging Space Economy
First things first, I want everyone to know that I did a review of Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret over at SQT’s blog. Check it out please. Now for something interesting! I’m sorry that it seems like all my little news things are all related to SF. Unfortunately there isn’t really a whole lot of stuff that would pertain to fantasy that I’m finding. And what exactly would be good news stuff for fantasy? Anyone know? Other than literary stuff (such as Robert Jordan dying). So if anyone perhaps has some insight as to what you would like to see, let me know. Now to another interesting article I found, located here. I’m rather optimistic when it comes to space travel, of any kind. I think one of the biggest issues we have today not only in regards to space, but even other technologies, is that we don’t take risks. There are no more Thomas Eddisons in this country, or in a lot of the world for that matter.So it came as a surprise to me that scientists think that it would cost us close to a trillion dollars or more just to get us to the Moon again. First, I see no value in going to the moon. Nobody has really come out and said why we should go there other than to just said “yeah, we can build a colony there”. We can’t exactly harvest the moon. That’s too dangerous for the planet as a whole, and a risk not worth taking. I do however think we need to go to Mars. Why? Because we haven’t put a person there yet. It’s important.So when I read that article and saw that with current funding it will likely never happen I was a little miffed. We have to go to Mars. Period. This article says that it could cost of ten times as much as NASA officials are saying. That’s trillions upon trillions of dollars. NASA doesn’t have that kind of funding and I don’t think we need to give them that kind of funding.What exactly would make such a project cost so much? And here’s a thought, if it really will cost that much, why aren’t we asked for an international cooperative effort to get this project hte funding it needs? Think, if we could send a couple Americans, a Brit, and a Chinese man or woman, etc. we could get massive amounts of funding! And it would look wonderful on a resume!I think my problem is that I’m too optimistic about space travel. I think we can do almost anything if we just sit back and do it. I think space travel and understanding our own planet are paramount to the success of our species.But maybe I’m just delusional.And what does this do to all of us who are sitting around postulating advanced human societies that rule the galaxy? Yeah, doesn’t bode well. Such societies would go bankrupt with space travel.
New Review Up! Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
New review of Ragamuffin here! Check it out! There’s a giveaway too! Details on that post. (Don’t click the read more…this is all there is)
Some Useful Links of the Week
Well I’m posting a lot of links and this post is basically just some more links to stuff that might be useful to some of you. Mostly I picked them because they’re interesting to me. I’m also not trying to steal what Jason Penney is doing over at All the Billion Other Moments. He does posts of ‘Links of Interest’ on there. So my intention is not to seem like I’m copying, even though technically I’m doing the same thing here. So be it. His links are really good too! Plus I’ve become obsessed with StumbleUpon now, which is a wonderful site you should all be a part of because you can find some wonderful stuff just randomly surfing with the “stumble” button. Also, I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I did do my first review for SQT here on Spin State by Chris Moriarty. Go check it out! Alright, so some useful links!1. 13 Things That Do Not Make Sense from New Scientist Space. This one really grabbed me because of the Horizon Problem, the Pioneer Anomaly, and the Wow Signal. Some crazy things going on there!2. Magnetic Refigerator. What? Yeah, exactly. It doesn’t need electricity apparently and the lovely people in Denmark came up with it. It uses magnets to keep the thing cool. This places higher importance on magnets and magnetism now doesn’t it?3. Discworld…the cake. This is an example of someone with far too much time on their hands.4. The Evolution of the Alphabet. The short version really. This one got my attention. It shows you line to line how the alphabet evolved to what it is today from culture to culture, time to time. It’s very basic and obviously a hell of a lot more is going on behind the scenes, but still, this is interesting!5. Kinetic energy, living creatures. I’m not sure what else to even call this. It’s so bizarre and yet amazing at the same time that I had to put it up for everyone.6. eFanZines. I’m not sure how good this place is, but it does have quite a bit of literature on there and maybe there’s some good stuff there. Anyone been? I’ve just discovered it. Gives me some material to read now that I’m not working.7. Duotrope and Ralan. Both sites where you can find places to submit your work. Ralan is more for speculative fiction and Duotrope seems to be a bit of everything. Both lovely sites I think. There you have it. Enjoy!