Random Literature List (Volume One)
(I’m stealing these lists from Pulp.net, in case anyone is wondering.) Here’s a list of ten random bits from literature, as responded to by me (feel free to comment with your own entries or steal it for your own nefarious purposes): Best short stories I’ve ever read“Sandkings” by George R. R. Martin and “Call Me Joe” by Poul Anderson. The former more so than the latter. Both stories are brilliant though and the Martin one is particularly clever. I’d recommend both. “Sandkings” was actually turned into an episode of Outer Limits starring Beau Bridges, which is pretty darn cool in my book. Book I finished reading and wanted to re-read straight awayI’ve never been in a position where I have finished the book and immediately wanted to reread it. To be honest, I’m usually itching to try something else…fast. I have reread 1984, however, and will probably do so again, but there are just too many books out there for me to continuously reread things. Favourite books from my childhoodI don’t actually remember much of my childhood, let alone any books I read during that time. The only stories I remember from that time are vague in details, mostly involving frogs and all emitted from my grandmother in the brief moments before bedtime. Books that are perhaps the first that I remember and still favor would be 1984 by George Orwell, Watership Down by Richard Adams, and Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare. Best film of the book I have seenLord of the Rings, all three of them. Absolutely gorgeous and I don’t think you could possibly have brought the books to life any better than the makers of those films did. Simply stunning and memorable (and will be for a long time, I’m sure). Most overlooked/underrated novelsDuncton Wood and the books that follow it by William Horwood. I rarely, if ever, hear about this series and it surprises me. Either people don’t know about Mr. Horwood or there’s a conspiracy keeping him in the dark. His series puts Brian Jacques’s books to shame. Brilliantly complex animal fantasy, but without all the ridiculous nonsense of sword-carrying hamsters and what not. If you liked Watership Down, then you will undoubtedly love Duncton Wood. Books that should be on the national curriculumI would like to see some of the classic SF/F authors in the national curriculum, particularly Isaac Asimov, Margaret Atwood, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Poul Anderson, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and others. The thing that needs to be done with the national curriculum is an increase of variety. It’s wonderful that we have staple texts, but those texts don’t have to always be taught. Charles Dickens wrote more than A Tale of Two Cities; Mark Twain wrote more than Huckleberry Finn; and Shakespeare wasn’t the only playwright of consequence in his time. It’s okay to shift things around, try different books, modern books, older books, middle-age books. The more variety, the better chance you have of getting kids interested in literature. Wouldn’t you have found reading more enjoyable if you got to read books in genres you were interested in? Most famous author I have met who acted like a pratHonestly, I can’t think of a single author I have met who acted like a prat. I’ve met William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Karen Joy Fowler, and many others (even film directors) and not a single one of them has ever been anything but courteous to me. Maybe I’m not meeting the kinds of people this particular item is directed towards and I suspect that I will never meet those kinds of people. My favourite bookshopOh boy. I have a problem. I can’t pick a favorite. Santa Cruz has three bookstores in the same area (downtown) and all of them are good to a certain degree. I’m going to toss out Borders for being a chainstore and focus on actual independent stores. But then I have another problem. There are two independent stores downtown: Logo’s and Bookshop Santa Cruz. Both have strengths that I like. Logo’s is fantastic for finding old, obscure, long-forgotten used SF/F titles (and for finding relatively new or popular used titles too). Bookshop Santa Cruz has the luxury of being staffed with people who actually know what the hell they are talking about and a good catalogue of books.On a non-local scale, however, I would have to say that Powell’s City of Books is by far the greatest place for book lovers. It’s enormous (and in Portland)! Authors whose work should immediately be translated into EnglishWell, to be honest, since I only read in English, I can’t rightly say. I don’t know any non-English authors who haven’t already been translated. So, I guess what I will say is that anyone who is writing science fiction or fantasy and isn’t translated, well, they should be. Deceased author I’d most like to meetPoul Anderson. That is all! And there you go! Hope it’s interesting. Leave a comment!
Ten Ways NASA Has Fundamentally Changed the World
…for the better. A lot of folks have been talking about cutting NASA’s funding as of late. The more I read about it, the more I realize that the reason isn’t because NASA hasn’t actually produced anything of value since the moon landings, it’s because people are generally led to believe that NASA just sends people to space and does all those complicated, uninteresting science-y things that don’t really matter (except they do). The reality is that you, someone you know, industries you buy from, etc. have been fundamentally changed by NASA research. NASA isn’t just a space agency; it’s a research organization that happens to specialize in space, but what it does on a daily basis has ultimately made our lives better in some way or another. With that in mind I decided to make a short list of crucial advancements in technology or other areas that have spawned due to NASA’s consistent dedication to science: Cordless toolsYou know, power tools run by batteries. Drills of all kinds and other nifty battery-powered gizmos that come in handy in the real world. You may never use them personally, but the person who built your house probably did, or your mechanic does. Heck, it really doesn’t matter if you or someone you know has ever used one, because without cordless tools, well, things would sort of suck. Imagine having to drill screws into giant logs on your own. That would suck. Medical TechnologyI’ve seen the benefits of this first hand. CAT scanners were developed following an industrial version that used to find abnormalities in rockets and the like. Now we use it on people instead of big metal things. Oh, and that’s not all. Dialysis machines exist thanks to NASA as well as cardiovascular conditioners, MRIs, invisible braces, safer breast imaging (for cancer and such), ear thermometers (which I particularly like over the alternative), and a vast array of surgical and other medical improvements that would probably cause my blog to explode if I listed them all. The put it simply: if you’ve gone to the doctor at some point since 1970, you’ve likely seen the benefits of NASA first hand. Athletic Shoes/Shoe SolesThat part inside of your new pair of shoes that’s designed to make walking better for you than walking on rocks? You can thank NASA for that. Specifically, you can thank the Apollo missions, since their lovely space suits contributed to the development of better shoes. Go figure. Water Purification TechnologyBrita filters, filtered water of any kind, etc. All because of NASA. Okay, so somebody might have figured it out anyway, but NASA helped in the process. And now we have an entire industry that basically owes NASA a big thank you check. You hear that Aquafina and Dasani? Send some money to NASA! Satellite TelevisionThis is an easy one, right? After all, without NASA we wouldn’t have satellites or ways of getting such things into space. But NASA does more than simply provide the technology to get these things up there. NASA has helped develop ways to improve reception and make satellite television better. So, when you’re watching Dish Network or DirectTV or whatever satellite company you have, remember that NASA helped make that possible. Fire Fighting EquipmentThe material used to make fire resistant suits for fire fighters was developed for space suits. Granted, if any of the Apollo vehicles exploded it wouldn’t have matter much, but I suppose they had their reasons. Sun GlassesAstronauts do a lot of crap up in space, including welding and dealing with that bright yellow ball of gas floating up there. It’s only logical that they would create a way to keep all those harmful bright lights out of their eyes, right? And now we have them here on Earth too! PlasticNASA had its hand in this industry. Since things need to be light and durable in space, NASA needed to develop new materials that could be used for a variety of things. In the process, similar processes and materials have been used down here on Earth for things like food packaging. So, next time you drink a bottle of Coke or Pepsi, remember that NASA helped make that happen. Scratch-resistant LensesYou might say to me, “Well, maybe you should take better care of your glasses, Mister,” and I would have to agree. But for those of us that don’t take such great care of our ocular devices, scratch-resistant lenses are a godsend. Granted, I don’t wear my glasses much, and they do have some small scratches from when I dropped them and kicked them across the floor and then left them there because I didn’t know I’d dropped them and kicked them across the floor, but still…they’re mostly still in good shape. More Efficient Cars/Hybrids/ElectricNASA didn’t invent these cars, but NASA funding and researchers/engineers have helped develop cars that run on lithium batteries, cars that get better gas mileage and release few emissions, etc. In fact, NASA has aided all sorts of transportation industries from cars to boats to airplanes. Pretty impressive for some silly organization that puts monkeys in space, huh? And that’s all. NASA has invented or had a hand in the invention of over 1,300 pieces of technology, most of which you probably didn’t even realize NASA was responsible in some capacity for. So the next time you sit down to use a cordless tool or watch satellite television or get a CAT scan, remember that without NASA we would be decades behind on this stuff. Without NASA the world would be a far different place, a scary place. If you want to find out more about NASA inventions, you can check out the Spinoff Database or Google search.
Five Reasons Science Fiction Is Better Than Fantasy
To supplement the Five Reasons Fantasy Is Better Than Science Fiction, I’ve decided to create this list of the exact opposite. I am a science fiction nut, after all, and what science fiction nut doesn’t think about his/her favorite things about his/her favorite genre? Enjoy: SpaceshipsSure, science fiction doesn’t have dragons and unicorns, but it does have awesome spaceships. Okay, so not all of the spaceships in SF are all that great, but a lot of them are. I wouldn’t mind owning the Enterprise. I’d throw some awesome parties on that ship! Gadgets and Technology (all forms)Gadgets, of course, are better known as a James Bond thing, but SF has a lot of gadgets too. Everything from all those handheld gizmos in Star Trek to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (don’t panic!). Then there’s all the lovely technology that makes SF so wonderful (nanotech, cyberspace, robots, universal translators, automatic, self-cleaning toilets that also clean your bumb for you, give you a quick shave, and send you on your way to work…). Expansive Interstellar GeographyUnlike fantasy, SF is not limited by location. In a fantasy world, you can theoretically see everything there is to see in a single lifetime (or a couple if you’re one of those reincarnated folks). But SF has many planets with many cultures and geographies. Imagine all the amazing things you could see! Aliens cities and artifacts and even new human ones with new cities. And this is, in theory, limitless, because there are likely trillions of planets in our universe. Unfortunately, I think if you visited them all you’d probably explode. It’s one of those rules in the Bible or something…look it up if you don’t believe me. Fantasy SimulationWell, with the invention of virtual reality (cyberspace, etc.), SF has the luxury of recreating any environment imaginable, but in the safety of one’s own home, or in a corporate complex, which likely isn’t all that safe at all. So, while a fantasy world may be wonderful to live in, isn’t there something to be said about having the best of both worlds all in one package? Well, SF offers you that opportunity, or at least the characters that populate SF stories. The FutureThis particular item is mostly to poke fun at LoopdiLou, who vehemently contested my inclusion of the same thing in my Five Things Every Science Fiction Story Should Have right up until Kim Stanley Robinson put her straight during a Q&A sessions at UC Santa Cruz. I’m quite interested in the future, as you all may well know. It explains why I read quite a lot of science fiction for fun, because the future is fascinating and wondering where we will be in ten, twenty, even a hundred years is ripe with amazing speculations and imagery. What things would you add to this list? What thing would you omit? Let me know in the comments!
Five Reasons Fantasy Is Better Than Science Fiction
It’s been mentioned to me that I don’t talk enough about fantasy around these parts. It’s true, I don’t. In fact, I don’t talk about fantasy very much at all and I think that is a horrible disservice to you, my readers. So, I thought it would be nice to start off my fantasy binge posting with a lovely little list about the reasons why fantasy is better than science fiction (there will, of course, be a second list positing the opposite). Enjoy: MagicProbably the most important aspect of most fantasy stories, magic makes the fantasy world go round. Science fiction, unfortunately, lacks magic. There are no magic baking spells in SF, no glittering fireworks spells or spells to send the evil bad guy to the fiery depths of some imaginary hell. You can’t shoot magic fireballs from your hand in an SF world either, and I think that’s a travesty. Dragons and Other Creatures You Can RideLet’s face it. If you had the opportunity to ride on the back of a real dragon, would you? Unless you’re afraid of flying or heights (or oddly afraid of fantastical critters), or simply crazy, you’d jump on this opportunity in a heartbeat. Throw in some pegasi (plural for pegasus), gryphons, unicorns, etc. and you end up with a laundry list of fantasy-based critters you can ride. Sounds good to me. The Bad Guys Always Lose (a.k.a. Happy Endings)And I mean always. You can probably cite a few good examples to the contrary, but fantasy stories almost exclusively end with the bad guy losing. This doesn’t happen all the time in SF; sometimes you nail one bad guy, but the evil corporation still exists, or another bad guy springs up from the same mold, etc. At least in fantasy you know that there’s a happy ending. Lots of cheering and good ale. All you get in an SF celebration is the dark realization that none of it really matters, because in a week some other goon will rise up and continue with the “company mission.” Unique LanguagesTrue, there are a few SF stories with unique, invented languages, but fantasy rules on this front. And I do mean rules. Tolkien wasn’t even the first one to do it, by the way, but he was the one person who made invented languages a cliche of the genre. But that’s okay. I forgive him for that. I like Quenyan and Sindarin, or the dozens of other interesting languages that have sprung up over the last 50 or so years. They’re interesting and I have the utmost respect for fantasy authors who can do it well, because I can’t. MythologyI don’t mean this in the traditional sense, although fantasy draws heavily from human mythology (obviously). By this, I mean that the fantasy genre has created its own mythology, largely due to Tolkien, of course. Science fiction, with rare exception, doesn’t have this benefit. The hordes of fans obsessively devoted to a particular world tend to be fantasy enthusiasts, not science fiction enthusiasts (with exception primarily to the Heinlein crowd and the folks that thing Dune is real). They have a lot to be devoted to: fantasy authors have developed entire histories for their fictitious civilizations, which have captivated audiences worldwide. It’s a beautiful thing. And there you have it! If you disagree with my selections, leave a comment. Or, if you would like to amend my list and put one of your own on here, leave a comment. Anywho!
Five Things Every Science Fiction Story Should Have
What makes a good science fiction story? What elements do you need? Well, the following list are what I think are necessary elements to every science fiction story, including elements that should be givens for stories in general. Feel free to disagree with me in the comments section of this post. In no particular order: Sympathetic CharactersTack onto this characters that your audience can identify with. Science fiction is known for having aliens, robots, and other bizarre things as centerpieces to the story. If one of those oddities happens to be a significant character that you want your readers to be interested in, then you have to make them somehow “human.” The readers need to sympathize with those characters, understand their struggles and motives, etc. Technology (or a damn good reason for the lack thereof)Science fiction doesn’t exist without technology. A story set in 1776 is not science fiction, unless you can make a convincing time travel story (but then, in theory, your story would have started in the future rather than 1776). If you have a complete lack of technology, then you should be able to justify that–dystopias can still be science fiction even if there is little to no technology present. The FutureWell, duh, right? This requirement is somewhat difficult, though, because for obvious reasons a lot of novels that are science fiction aren’t set in a real future. 1984 is technically set in the past, now. So, to amend this, I will say that the future must be the future at the time of publication. Yeah, procedural-ish and annoying, but so be it. Science fiction is about the future, so it must be there. ConflictBecause what story can exist without some sort of conflict? Okay, so there are stories that have no conflicts, but those stories aren’t generally remembered for being good, right? Science fiction stories do well with some sort of conflict. I’ve never read a successful science fiction story in which nothing happened. Ever. Something InterestingThis can be a conflict, a character, or maybe a fancy new technological idea. Regardless of the “interesting thing” you choose, it has to coincide with the plot and make us, the readers, interested. Think back to some of your favorite science fiction stories. What made them interesting to you? Cool tech devices? Space travel? Weird aliens? A clever dystopic view of society? Take the good things away from your favorite stories. They were successful for a reason! There you go. Five Things that every science fiction story should have! What do you think? I may do another list in the future, by the way, so keep a lookout!
Ten Reasons Why SF Is Still Awesome
Science fiction isn’t dying, contrary to what people are saying (about literature, I mean)–it might be losing some ground, but proclaiming it on the verge of death is like saying books themselves are dying, which is another can of worms that people really need to research before babbling doomsday theories about. With that in mind, however, here are my nine reasons why SF is still awesome (not entirely about literature, I mean): TVSay what you will about some of the garbage on television, but shows like Battlestar Galactica are prime examples of why SF is very much alive and very much filled with awesome. The constant reruns of other classic shows, such as the multitude of Star Trek series, X-files, and even the original Stargate SG-1 have helped make SF television worth watching–you can get the new and the old in one bite. And don’t forget all the other interesting shows floating around (some good and some not so much)! MoviesLet’s just put aside the arguments about whether or not Star Wars is SF and also just put aside the prequel movies altogether. They don’t count. What does count are movies like Pitch Black, Sunshine, X-men (the first two mostly), Evolution, The Matrix (the first one, not the sequels), Terminator 3, “I, Robot,” The Chronicles of Riddick (say what you will about this one, but it was a good movie), The Island, Spider-Man, Children of Men, V For Vendetta, I Am Legend, Transformers, Iron Man, Wall-E etc. Those are just a few of the titles in the last 10 years that we all most likely remember, or should remember. The movies coming out are still good, some of them playing games with the SF elements (Evolution) and others taking them seriously (Sunshine). I love SF movies and thankfully there are plenty to come in the future that will keep me entertained. Cool IdeasYes, science fiction is still pumping out the ideas. Just because it’s not making us go “oh my lord, that is truly the most amazing thing ever” doesn’t mean the ideas aren’t there. It’s just somewhat more difficult to surprise us with technology anymore. Spaceships and nanotechnology don’t make us jump up and down like school children like they used to. But the ideas are still there, and they’re getting more complex and more fascinating and dangerous every year. The best part is that some of the ideas we’re seeing might actually come true because they are based on real science. Take nanotechnology, which might actually create super-humans and what not. Wouldn’t that be cool? I think so. Scifi GeeksOkay, so this is one of those things that is great and utterly crap at the same time. First off, scifi geeks can be a little too obsessed (like those Star Trek fans who actually think it’s real). The thing is, all forms of geekery, even literary geekery, have these overly obsessed types. That’s just the way it is. For the most part, thankfully, scifi geeks are some of the best geeks out there. They don’t always get it right (some shows/books/etc. really aren’t as good as they make them out to be), but at least they’re keeping the genre alive by consuming the hell out of science fiction books, television, movies, comics, etc. Without them, the genre wouldn’t be where it is today. At least that’s my opinion! Comic BooksOkay, so comics have been around for a hell of a long time, and science fiction comics just as long. But comic book movies haven’t been around quite as long, and good ones haven’t started springing up except in the last 10 years–and most of those have been science fiction or at least close. True, not all of these comic book movies have been all that great (some of them have been downright terrible), but the good ones have, in my opinion, revitalized the movie industry, for the most part, and done wonders for science fiction as a whole. Now we’re seeing a lot of cross over in the opposite direction: science fiction shows being turned into comic books and their stories/characters expanded as a result. True, this type of stuff has been going on for a while, but it seems like it’s more popular these days than in days past. And it doesn’t really matter if it’s an old thing or a new thing: it’s working, it’s cool, and that’s all that matters! Non-Genre Authors Driving FocusThe title isn’t clear, primarily because it’s hard to put all of what will be said here into a short title, but it will have to do. Basically, quite a few authors who have received acclaim outside the genre have written books within the genre and embraced them. Michael Chabon, for example, has basically flipped his middle finger off at all those folks that tried to claim he and other science fiction writers were writing crap. We need more folks like him out there, for sure, but thankfully the genre as a whole has been grabbing a lot of non-genre attention as of late. And, it drives genre readers to work outside of their comfort zone. That’s a good thing! Space OperaIt’s been around for a long time, I know, but the subgenre has really blossomed lately (at least that’s what I see). Whether or not it is “new” as the whole “New Space Opera” title suggests, space opera is still kicking. I love me some space battles and interstellar civilizations, even when it’s all blended together in a dark cup (if that makes any sense). Of course, I’ve always loved space opera, so the supposed revitalization of the genre brings a smile to my face. Give me some Tobias Buckell and John Scalzi any day of the week! And, if you’re feeling friendly, toss some Charles Stross and Alastair Reynolds in there too! Science Fiction Becoming RealityWe may not have nanotech-augmented super humans who can heal on command and survive the vacuum of space, or interstellar transports that can take