SF/F Links: January 2008 Roundup
This is what happens when you have a lot of blogs to watch and a lot of time on your hands to click the stumble button: you find a lot of interesting new articles! So here they are: Wil McCarthy’s Science Wiktion: an experimental collaborative writing project. Essentially he has become busy with a nanotech company and has decided to give up some of his works to anyone wanting to write them. There’s more on the site, but it’s an interesting prospect. James Wharris writes about what SF has to do to survive. “For science fiction to remain vital it must stay above the event horizon or be pulled down into the gravitation hole of fantasy.” An online open-source publishing model for online magazines. Not sure if I linked this already, but check out these amazing steampunk-esque creations! They’re robotic animals and the like. It’s so cool! Did You Know? 2.0: A really interesting video I found that shows you a lot of things you probably didn’t know about the world. Watch it. It’s really cool. The International Space Station of the future! This is one of the coolest videos I’ve seen. Someone decided to make a 3D movie of future modifications to ISS as they develop. Watch it, it’s wicked cool! The Sun. That’s all. The Sun as a Google Video. Cool? Yes, and if you don’t think so you have no respect for that glowing orb of burning gas that makes sure you can live every day. I found this company website called Solar Style. They have some really interesting solar products that you can buy such as conversion kits for your mp3 player or cell phone. An eclipse as shown from space! (Take from Mir). Jupiter has cool eclipses too, such as this one of Io. In October of 2007 the Pentagon apparently supported the idea to put a satellite facility in space to gather solar energy and beam it down. It’s about damn time! My biggest concern is that the NSSO is recommending a 10 year project for a test satellite. My thoughts are if it’s going to take 10 years to get that up, then it’s going to take 30 to get a real program going. Cut it down to 2 years to get a test one up…let’s get a move on people! All Your Base Are Belong To Us! You should know that phrase from this video. Spielberg is doing another WW2 miniseries called The Pacific. This one, it seems, is going to follow the soldiers who fought in, obviously, the Pacific Theater, much like Band of Brothers followed people in the European Theater, specifically the airborne members of Easy Company. I’m stoke, by the way. I love Band of Brothers. Need a definition of science fiction? Here’s a huge list of definitions from authors in the field. Matt Mitchell talks about the differences between SF and F. The top ten science-based movies. It’s a decent list I think. (Courtesy of SF Signal) BMW has said they are going to pull out the stops and create a hydrogen-powered car this year. Maybe it’s not quite there, but I imagine that BMW will have them for sure by 2010. Alternately there is the air car from MDI. 11 Philip K. Dick books that have been turned into movies. I have some new reading and watching to do. (Courtesy of SF Signal) Universe Today has an article suggesting that some stars go through two planet-formation phases. That’s pretty cool when you think about it. Also, apparently that asteroid that was going to hit Mars isn’t going to after all. A really cool image. I’m not sure what it’s of (as in the specifics), but I imagine it’s a supernova or a nebula with massive gas jets. Wil McCarthy talks about the credibility of the AvP movie. The short version is that there isn’t a whole lot of credibility. Futurismic tells us that Neuromancer by William Gibson is to be made into a movie. To be honest, I’m fearful. Read the article and you’ll understand why.What about whether or not space travel is worth it? Is it? I think so, but look at what some other people think.And robots can lie! Yup, read this! They also evolve by the way. Sometimes people have too much time on their hands. Look no further than time wasting than this candy recreation of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields from Lord of the Rings. It’s ridiculous and awesome at the same time. My io9 Roundup: Concept art of a spaceport on Titan. Beautiful work here. Stem Cell research gets another point as a man regrows a jaw bone in his stomach. Geneticists think they may have discovered how to expand our lives by hundreds of years. They’ve (USC) managed to extend the lifespan of yeast bacteria tenfold. Parents who get sick of their kids not concentrating have hope that scientists will be able to turn them autistic temporarily, since they can now do it with mice. McCarthy’s The Road is going to be turned into a film with Viggo Mortensen. Scientists have also created a new method to ‘fix’ men that can be turned on and off via remote, which is good news for people that suddenly change their minds. The Zombie Food Pyramid. Learn it. It’s important. Will Smith has gone crazy just like most of Hollywood and joined the crazy folks known as Scientologists–in some circles they’re seen as criminals against humanity. Needless to say I just lost a lot of respect for him. Ender’s Game is going to become a video game. (Courtesy of SF Signal) Clive Thompson talks about why SF is the last bastion of philosophical writing. (Courtesy of SF Signal) Jeremiah Tolbert brings up this really bizarre conspiracy theory that suggests that a good 300 years of European history was faked. I think the theory is crazy, but it’s interesting nonetheless. What SF gets wrong about human nature! (Courtesy of SF Signal) A
Genre Links For Jan. 17th
Yup, more links for all of you. I read so many blogs and I poke around with stumbleupon and can’t help myself. Enjoy: The Fix has a great article about writing Hard SF even if you’re not a scientific genius. Good stuff there. (Courtesy of SF Signal) Is sci-fi out of good ideas? This is probably a good topic for a later article, but read this one here and ask yourself if you think so. Here are some scribd articles on Cyberculture and A Cyborg Manifesto. Check them out. Alternately I found this book at Google about Young Adult Science Fiction. Sounds interesting. John Howe (yeah, that artist for LOTR) has a great post about worldbuilding. The Guardian asks why critics sneer at SF. It’s not really all that negative. Really it’s like praise for Alfred Bester. (Courtesy of SF Signal) io9 has this about new technology that uses hyperventilating to turn on computers. Well, it’s not that far-out, but it’s interesting to think what we’ll be changing in the future about how we turn things on and off. L. E. Modesitt, Jr. says everyone is wrong about what type of fiction is better: character driven or plot driven? Modesitt sayeth neither be good. I agree-eth. Need a crazy looking house made of steel? io9 can help you out with this article. Something straight out of a bizarre Star Trek episode or something. Apparently someone wants to turn Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End into a movie! Check it out here. (Yeah, I know, MTV…get over it). Roger Ebert (you know, that review guy) talks about the sad state of Catholics who bash Pullman and not C. S. Lewis. I really agree too. The Speculist has this article about the new $2500 car in India. Congrats India, you’ve done something incredibly stupid. Sometimes things done with good intentions are done in blindness. Ron Howard and Universal are talking about turning E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensmen series into a movie. Well, they’re talking about getting the film rights, but for Howard that probably means “I want to make it”. We’ll see I suppose. io9 has an article about the new techniques in using embryos to get stem cells that don’t actually hurt the embryo. Yup, now all you people who are against embryonic stem cell research can whine and complain about the fact that so many of those embryos are destroyed later anyway because they have a shelf life. Hypocrisy abounds. I found this amazing video of this contraption this guy built in his home. You know, one of those weird things where the marble goes down the tube, kicks the dominoes that knock the man into the water, which causes and age to fall on a plate, etc. It’s not the same as that, but it’s still crazy awesome. Here’s some speculation about casting for The Hobbit. Some of the choices seem pretty good I think. A video that shows the size relationship of all the planets in our solar system and stars that are larger than our sun. It’s amazing really to think about how small this planet really is. Scientists have created a beating heart, here, and that means some crazy advancements are on the way in the near future for organ replacement. io9 has this crazy image of agriculture on our little planet. It looks crazy and weird. The Speculist brings you information about the new electric cars of our future. It’s looking really good for Chevy, who will have a useful model available in 2010 that could very well prevent the use of gas for regular commuters. Universe Today has this article that really boggled my mind. What if the world we live in is really a virtual reality? Futurismic has an article about rights for robots and what one Peter Watts thinks about the idea. I don’t know if I necessarily agree. What about you? Grasping For the Wind has this to say about formulaic fiction! Since everybody else is posting this, I will too. The Book Swede has the image of the side of Mercury we haven’t seen yet. It’s nothing special to me, but everyone else loves it. I’m just not impressed. Mercury is kind of like the pathetic planet that nobody else likes. Here’s the same image from Universe Today. List Universe has the Top 10 Sci Fi Inventions that should never have been. TechRepublic has the 75 SF words every fan should know. (Courtesy of SF Signal) And then there’s this article: Is There Nepotism in SF? (Courtesy of SF Signal) There you have it! I’ll have more for next week I’m sure. Now to more profound posting.
You’ve Got It, More Links For you Genre Folks! (Part Three)
And here is the last of them. Expect quite a lot more standard blogging from me for the next few months. I’m tired of putting links on here. It takes a long time. Enjoy! A huge assortment of worldbuilding links over at SpecFicWorld. Everything from websites to books. Universe Today has a great article about new research into that 1996 meteorite from Mars that shows that life may have started there during a cooling period of fluids, and another event from carbonate materials when the meteorite was chucked off of Mars to begin with. YouTube video of Isaac Asimov talking about the changes in SF after 1949. YouTube video of an H. P. Lovecraft newsreel. YouTube video of an interview with Frank Herbert on TV. YouTube video of a rare Philip K. Dick interview. Writing languages and systems of the world. Lots of stuff here that might help some of you in creating your own languages. Uncle Zip’s Window talks about worldbuilding. Yes, I have a lot of these links. They just pop up everywhere. Ten big myths about copyright revealed. Yup, you need this at some point I think. Apparently they are shutting down FUSE, a satellite used to search for planets and other such goodies out in space. It has outlived its three-year expected use and managed a total of eight. The thing that irritates me about this is that it’s just going to be shut down and in in several decades its orbit will decay and it’ll burn up in the atmosphere. Why can’t we make use of it for other purposes though? Right now it’s being used by a university. So, couldn’t we hand it off to another university, or to a collection of universities that would be willing to pay the upkeep? Just a waste of money to me. The Scots apparently have developed a robotic arm that is stronger than the real thing. It sounds cool, but I wonder if we’re one day going to have little contests where humans try to beat robots in strength contests…sort of like those guys who race monkeys to the tops of trees. And I’ll leave you with this amazing image from NASA. Beautiful.
You’ve Got It, More Links For you Genre Folks! (Part Two)
I’m almost through all of my links. One more post after this. There’s just a lot of interesting stuff in here. I’m saving a few items for deeper discussion. Still, here is part two of the links! The Anthology Builder. Everyone else has talked about it, but here I am to bring it up again. Possibly one of the coolest ideas ever. Think about all the things you wish the record companies would let you do in your local Walmart with artist tracks and apply that to short stories. That’s what AB does. You can build your own anthology! Apparently, according to this article provided by Futurismic, sperm actually can affect the psychological behavior of a female. At least that’s so in fruit flies. I wonder if it does anything to female humans… Stargate is real! No, not really, but if you look at the image provided in this article at Futurismic you’ll start to wonder. Apparently some physics students are trying to accelerate two particles at high speeds, collide them, and create new particles that haven’t been seen before. It sounds like science fiction doesn’t it? I wonder if they’ll accidentally discover wormholes. Dusk Before Dawn talks about why Asimov’s three laws will be almost impossible to implement. I have to agree that at this point his laws would be beyond our capabilities. TimesOnline lists the 50 greatest British authors since 1945. George Orwell happens to be number two. Represent. (Courtesy of SF Signal) Rumor has it that Richard Matheson, the author of I Am Legend, has sold the rights to a sequel to the film adaptation with Will Smith. Needless to say it’s not hard to see why. The film has raked in over 220 million dollars, which puts it well above its budget. Hopefully the sequel will be good too. (Courtesy of SF Signal) What about strange machine animals? Look no further than Nantes in France. These bizarre machine creatures have sprung up there. Truly brilliant design I must say. Looks like that was a hell of a project to work for. (Courtesy of SF Signal) Curious what sf/f authors have popped up in the movies? Well, look no further than here. Well, maybe look further, as it does miss some things (namely the fact that Arthur Conan Doyle was in Shanghai Knights), but it’s really interesting nonetheless. (Courtesy of SF Signal) Not sure if I mentioned this before, but here is a brilliant website that helps clear up all that confusing mess about the ten dimensions. Meaning, it’s sort of like complex science for us folks who don’t really want to deal with long words and such. A dictionary of symbolism, for those of you interested in that sort of stuff. A medieval sword resource, with lots of pictures and information about swords from those crazy days. This is probably the coolest thing done with dinosaurs that I have ever seen. Imagine seeing dinosaurs moving as if they were real, but not CG or any of that. Massive puppets with realistic movements! Well, bulletproof vests didn’t give us Robocop, but research by some nanotech folks just might. This article talks about how scientists may have figured out how to create a nano-vest that can stop bullets and repel their force! By the way, in a few years we won’t have to argue about how we get stem cells. So, to all those of you who are complaining about our current methods, here is the wave of the future. They’ve figured out how to use human skin cells to get just about any cell type they want. With growing concern with China’s space program, which has just demonstrated that they have the capability to knock satellites out of the sky, the U.S. is working on a program of their own to take care of those threats that might exist out there now or in the future. It’s dubbed the ‘Falcon’. It’s a super-sonic craft that can deliver a hell of a payload to any location on the planet in minutes. No doubt it’s expensive. Beam Me Up talks about ten books that should be movies. I would argue that Asimov’s Foundation would be near impossible to make into a good movie, but I can see a lot of the others working out. On the other side is AV Club’s list of 20 good books that were turned into bad movies. I don’t agree on Bicentennial Man, because I enjoyed the movie. I never read the book though. It’s an interesting list nonetheless. I don’t agree with their assessment of Stardust either. Here is a huge list of places you can get free books. Some of them are book-swap places and others are e-book sites. I assume all are legit. SFWA has a great checklist for critiquing science fiction. Give it a read and keep it saved somewhere. A chronological bibliography of science fiction history, criticism, and theory. I love it! That’s my Christmas wishlist for the rest of my life by the way. The great thing about Google is that you can find all sorts of amazing free stuff on there. Like this book about Bernard Shaw on Google Books. 30+ tools for the amateur writer. The name explains it all. The grand list of overused science fiction cliches. I’m sure there is some version of this out there for fantasy too. Top 15 best movie sequels at The List Universe. There are a lot of science fiction and fantasy nods in there. Meat, the hilarious science fiction play by Terry Bisson! I love it. I think I linked to a theatrical production of it at one point. It’s brilliant! Remoting Future is a brilliant website that uses a bunch of web clocks counting down the various futures of science fiction worlds (Dune and Blade Runner) and even real world ‘futures’ (Y2K). Some of the clocks have passed, obviously, and are simply counting the other direction now, but it’s really interesting to see what futures just
You’ve Got It, More Links For you Genre Folks! (Part One)
This is a huge bunch of links, so you’re in for a bit of a treat, I think. I’m unloading all the links I’ve acquired in the last few weeks both on my laptop and my desktop. I’m going to split it up between several posts. Here goes: Red Meat, an interesting little web comic, has a hilarious strip about God, L. Ron Hubbard, and Philip K. Dick. Read it, it’ll tickle your fancy. (Courtesy of SF Signal) There’s been talk going around of a convention focusing on young adult science fiction and fantasy. You can check it out here. My thoughts? I’m so in. I would love to be a part of this. Planetocopia. What is it? A truly bizarre project that tries to recreate Earth’s that might have existed visually. What would the Earth look like if the poles were tilted? There are various other planets no there too, some real and some science fiction. Truly interesting project. Need a list of old European terms for nobility and titles? Well, here you go. Or, perhaps you’re wanting some real historical perspectives on actual mad men and women that once lived and terrorized people? Here’s a link to an e-book that talks about medieval life and the 100 years war. Also, a pictorial glossary of armor terms (primarily medieval). Dave’s Mythological Creatures and Places is a nice website that gives you quite a bit of information on those subjects. Worldbuilding, of course, is a fantasy writer’s best friend. Most of you have seen this already, but here are Patricia C. Wrede’s worldbuilding questions. Also, Rutgers has an awesome collection of stuff to help develop the background of your fictional world. And, Seventh Sanctum has some articles too. Project Gutenberg. Need free stuff to read? Here’s the place to go. Lots of old books that are now public domain! The Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time. (Courtesy of SF Signal) The Washington Post lists some great scifi for people that don’t like scifi. I think the list is a little antiquated, but in some ways it makes sense. Seems that Anne McCaffery has sold the rights to The Dragonriders of Pern to Hollywood. Maybe we’ll have ourselves some movies! 20 things you didn’t know about aliens! Brilliant list by the way! (Courtesy of SF Signal I think) Every so often someone comes up with a really cool invention that makes something else look even cooler. And here it is. You know those cool sliding doors on Lamborghini’s? Well how about doors that actually fold into the car? No more worrying about parking too close and banging your door on the car next to you! Pullman is writing another book in the same world as the His Dark Materials books. That’s good news for his fans. The moon, apparently, is actually 30 million years younger and more Earth-like. Read about it here. Guess what? The One Ring to Rule Them All actually works. Okay, well not really, but scientists at the University of Maryland have figured out how to cloak very small particles. Sound cool? That’s because it is! This company is apparently working on making hydrogen fuel cells a commercial reality. I’m keeping on eye on them for sure. Anyone think it’s a good investment for the future? By the way, this device now allows me to see you in the shower. Not that I’d use it for that. Actually, it seems to work somewhat like radar, only using an irradiate beam like a portable x-ray machine. So, I probably wouldn’t see much more than bones. The Amish probably don’t know this, but they’ve been referenced a lot in science fiction. Find out where at this link! Want to make your own steampunk candle? Well, it’s not all that hard! Go here to find out how! A. R. Yngve talks about fads and fashions in science fiction. It’s funny, so read it! Justine Larbalestier talks about re-writing. Futurismic brings us the lovely news that oil has hit $100 a barrel, which is a record. Of course, this means that oil companies are lining their pockets with record profits and doing nothing to develop alternate fuel sources. Then again, why would they? They’re rich while the rest of us have to deal with oil prices that are a load of bull. The 100 Year Letter Project! Send an electronic letter to the children of the future! It’s really interesting. Look at things people are already sending. The Universal Digital Library with a million books! Lots of free reading in there. Need something funny? How about this dramatic prairie dog? I laughed my butt off. It’s not funny without the music, but with the music, it’s a riot. Or maybe you’d like to see Bush talking about his plans to fight off the zombies? For something beautiful, check out this video of Bjork’s song “All Is Full Of Love”. I know, it’s Bjork, but watch the video. Heck, turn off the music if you don’t like her and just watch. It’s really amazing what they did for this music video. I can’t remember where I got this, but the lolcat bible. The best way to describe this is if humans didn’t exist, and cats took over the world, what would the Bible look like? Here’s a list of ten cliches to avoid in science fiction. (Courtesy of SF Signal, I think) How much is your blog worth? Mine is apparently worth $25,968.84. Anyone want to buy it? I’m willing to sell for half that! This is ancient news, but Tobias S. Buckell released the cover for his new novel Sly Mongoose set in the same universe as Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin. Needless to say, I’m stoked to read the book! The List Universe has this top ten things you didn’t know the ancients had. Heated indoor swimming pools? Yeah, they had them first.
Upcoming Things and Links
Well there are some important things coming up soon here, and I’ll have some fun links for everyone too.First, I have an interview from Dana Copithorne in the works. I sent her my questions not too long ago. Sorry for the delay, but I not only was stuck right in the middle of the fall quarter, but I also didn’t want to send a bunch of typical questions. I came up with some good ones I think.Second, I’ll have a review for The Longevity Thesis by Jennifer Rahn soon. I’m catching up on all my reading over the holiday.Third, I’m thinking of releasing the first chapter of The Lies of Venicia, in its relatively unedited form, for everyone to read. Is anyone interested? It won’t read like complete garbage, but there might be little tidbits in it that will get changed at some later date, depending where the story goes, but for the most part it will stay the same. Now to links: Grasping for the Wind has this awesome link to a Youtube video where a guy shoots books he, I assume, doesn’t like with various police guns (he’s a police officer). I’m not sure if he really hates these books, but it’s somewhat entertaining to see what happens to these various books when they are shot with police-grade weaponry. Futurismic brings you cats that glow in the dark (yes, seriously). I’ve seen this article elsewhere. They apparently genetically altered these cats so they glow under ultra-violet radiation. The full official article is here. Apparently sex has already taken place in space. Yes, that’s a serious statement. US and Russian astronauts basically got to go up to space and have sex for science. I’m sure the lines for that job were rather long. The results? The Missionary Position…doesn’t work. Yeah. Who knew? Dinosaurs have mummies too! Paleontologists discovered ‘mummified’ skin in Montana. This discovery adds a whole lot to the whole dinosaur discussion! Read the article and look at the two pictures! Magnaverse has a really cool info-article-post-thingy, whatever you want to call it, that talks about parallel worlds in science fiction and fantasy. Check it out! Elizabeth Bear has a list of 15 things you should know or be aware of when you’ve finally made it (whether that be published or whatever). You can read it at Subterranean Press here. Apparently we missed Voyage 1 when it crossed the little zone called the ‘termination shock’: There, the solar wind – made of charged particles from the Sun – suddenly falters as it feels pressure from gas in the interstellar medium lying outside the solar system. Well, scientists didn’t miss Voyager 2’s trip through this zone. Nope. We were paying attention this time (I’m going to rant on this later, trust me). And apparently since the barrier fluctuates–wobbling if you will–so we got a glimpse of Voyager 2 passing through this zone a bunch of times. To add, apparently what was expected to happen during this event was a little off, and scientists are a bit puzzled. Read the full article here. The Thinking Blog has a video of what could be the next, more efficient energy source produced by wind! Wind could be used to cause the vibration of a band that could then produce cheap, efficient energy, or at least somewhat efficient. The little model the man in the video made could run a radio, a clock, and even some small LED lights. Pretty cool huh? Solaris Books have announced that they are going to produce a steampunk anthology called Extraordinary Engines: Airships, automatons and aether! Extraordinary Engines is a brand new anthology of all-original stories from some of the genre’s foremost writers. Featuring an eclectic range of Steampunk-inspired stories by such luminaries as Daniel Abraham, Kage Baker, Stephen Baxter, Beth Bernobich, Eric Brown, Keith Brooke, Paul Di Filippo, Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Jay Lake, Margo Lanagan, James Lovegrove, Ian R. MacLeod, Michael Moorcock, James Morrow, Kim Newman, Robert Reed, Chris Roberson, Adam Roberts, Lucius Shepard. Brian Stableford, Jeff VanderMeer and Marly Youmans (Subject to change). All stories are original to this collection. Sounds cool doesn’t it? I’m excited about it! Artificial stem cells cure sickle cell in mice. That’s the title of the article at DailyTech. Scientists created healthy bone marrow cells by taking bad cells and snipping out all the sickle cell material and putting in healthy material. Then they take the bone marrow cells, throw it into the marrow of a mouse with sickle cell and let it go to work creating healthy red blood cells. That’s the short, rather uneducated version. Read the full article! How hard is it to find planets with plant-life? Well, in the near future it might not be so hard, assuming they exist. Futurismic has this article about new research in space research that postulates that spectral-analysis could help find planets with plant-life! So far the technology isn’t quite there yet, but some scientists have found out atmospheric contests of some gas giants around other stars. Here’s a clue: the atmospheric content is semi-related to something you put on foot to make it taste good. You can also read this article at UniverseToday and this related article. Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has beautiful pictures of art prints for George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Check them out here. New Scientist has this article about a five story tall structure that focuses moonlight into a single beam over a small area. It might have medical applications, but really this is a fascinating waste of money and time. I mean that in a good way. It’s cool, but really sort of crazy. Prologues are evil and this article at The Toasted Scimitar explains why. Well, the article really just talks about prologues in fantasy and how fantasy redefined the meaning of prologue. Did you know that sitting down helps make you gain weight? The enzymes that control fat burning apparently just shut off when you sit