This week is going to be very light on the blogging due to excessive travel. Here’s stuff I have been saving up while I have been in Ireland.
– In The Guardian Jon Ronson meets the boss of SETI.
– At Lambda Literary Cathy Camper tackles the Was Holmes Gay? question.
– In SF&F Elizabeth Hand explains why Jonathan Clements deserves a Nobel prize (though I think he’d be quite happy with a Hugo nomination – hint).
The nice folks who run Crossed Genres have started a new blog. It is called Science in My Fiction, and it is dedicated to discussing interesting science that might make for good stories. The excellent Peggy Kolm is going to guest blog. Read it here.
We are off around the world.
– Justine Larbalestier has guest post by a writer who is an Australian Aboriginal.
– Joe Gordon notes that the fabulous comic creator, Asia Alfasi, along with the equally talented Daryl Cunningham, is being interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland.
– World SF News interviews Brazilian writer, Jacques Barcia.
– And Fábio Fernandes talks about portrayals of Brazil in science fiction.
– The Guardian has news of an interesting Japanese take on contemporary politics.
The manga stars former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, may his mane ever ripple. Portrayed by author Hideki Owada as Japan’s last action hero, Koizumi settles matters of international diplomacy with slavering, corrupt world leaders from Kim Jong-Il to “Papa Bush” over histrionic, blood-spattered sessions of the ancient game of mahjong…
– Finally back to Australia with the good news that a Malaysian trans woman has been granted political asylum because of the persecution she faced back home. (By the way, if any Australian readers know Jenni Millbank, tell her to talk to the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco, who do a lot of good work in this sort of area.)
Hmm, what have we got for you today?
– “Bring me the head of Amenhotep III!” Or maybe not. It is 2.5 meters tall and made of solid granite. I’m not sure there is room on the patio. Those Egyptians sure did do BIG.
– “The name’s Dare, Dan Dare.” PS Publishing announces a tribute to the great Frank Hampton, creator of many a British schoolboy’s (and schoolgirl’s) dreams. That looks like a must-buy book.
– Time on women’s ski jumping, including IOC member, Dick Pound, trying his best to sound like a Chicago Crime Boss. (hat tip: Zoe Brain)
See, I take the morning off to get my hair done and all sorts of interesting stuff turns up. Here are some brief links.
– Neil has tweeted this, so you have probably all seen it, but some archaeologists working in Turkey have found a temple they believe to be 11,500 years old. That’s 6,000 years before Stonehenge was started. It is so old it predates the invention of pottery.
– Meanwhile archaeologists working on Crete have found a stone hand axe they believe to be 130,000 years old. That’s not so old for such an implement, except that Crete is an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, which leaves us wondering how the heck early humanoids got there.
– Jennifer Ouellette talks about the science of superheroes, and along the way has some interesting things to say about scientific accuracy in Hollywood.
– One of the things that always delights me is how simple mathematical rules can give rise to amazing complexity. Here’s a lovely story about the shapes of the beaks of finches studied by Darwin. (It also explains why we don’t see any “in between” beak shapes.)
– Jeff vanderMeer writes about Margaret Atwood and her interest in science fiction.
– Ekaterina Sedia explains why the outrageous style choices of Lady Gaga and Alexander McQueen are of interest to feminists.
Here’s me being lazy again.
– Lavie Tidhar is looking for books by Western authors that have non-Western settings.
– Justine Larbalestier gives me a word for something that happens to me all the time.
– If you are in the Boston area and have an interest in LGBT issues, here’s a talk in Cambridge you might want to attend.
– The Economist discovers that the traditional way of life in Qatar is under threat… from cross-dressing girls.
– Peggy Kolm on bioengineering mer-people.
– Two interesting developments in fusion research (here and here).
– Some rather depressing psychological research that shows how deeply ingrained sexism is in our minds.
According to Nature we are scandalously unprepared. Not a single Earth government has plans in place for what they should do in the event of being contacted by extraterrestrial beings.
Not to worry, though. There are plenty of science fiction fans all around the world who have dedicated their lives to studying what to do in just that eventuality.
Poets, that is. Today The Guardian features Percy Bysshe Shelley who also sometimes wrote our sort of stuff. Of course this may have been a result of his being married to a science fiction writer. His most famous poem is probably “Ozymandias”, which most definitely has that sensawunda feel.
Of course when archaeologists find a giant sculpted head they normally expect to find a lost city nearby. Which is why some folks from the University of Valencia think they have found a previously unknown Mayan city.
The Guardian and its sister newspaper, The Observer, have been running a series on the Romantic Poets. Today they feature the inimitable Samuel Taylor Coleridge who not only was a resident of Darkest Somerset and a major character in The Anubis Gates, but also someone who I think is highly likely to have written fantasy had he been around today. Go take a read.
Yes, it is SFWA elections time again. Not that this is really anything to do with me, as I let my SFWA membership lapse in disgust at the previous regime. However, this year has seen a significant change in the energy levels at SFWA, which I suspect has a lot to do with Mary Robinette Kowal being their Secretary. Also both she and John Scalzi have done a huge amount to promote the SF&F community and reach out to other people. Their platforms (here and here) talk about further outreach. From the point of view of someone who is trying to do similar things outside of SFWA, this is a very welcome development.
I make no comment on the fact that John & Mary have announced this new project on a day on which people around the world are supposed to be cooking haggis, but I’m sure they know how sausages are made.
A web site called LoveReading.co.uk is running a poll (in conjunction with Good Housekeeping, no less) to find the best books of the decade. Their long list contains a number of those books that tend to get described as “not science fiction”. They are written by people like David Mitchell, Nick Harkaway, Audrey Niffenegger, Cormac McCarthy, Susanna Clarke and Sergei Lukyanenko. You can vote for as many books as you like, but only once per book. Let’s see what we can get Good Housekeeping talking about. Vote here.
Yes, it is scary robot time again. Not all of them are scary, however. Silicon.com has an interesting video interview with Professor Noel Sharkey who studies artificial intelligence and robot ethics at Sheffield University. The accompanying article talks to other UK specialists and covers areas such as robot cars, robot soldiers and robot sex. Would you want to marry a robot?
I’ve already tweeted about this, but having read it I thought it deserved a blog post too. There is a lengthy profile of Mr. Neil (a.k.a. Amanda Palmer’s guest at the Golden Globes) over at The New Yorker. It tells you a great deal about him, including were he got some of his ideas from. Personally I rather liked this bit:
Jon Levin, Gaiman’s film agent, says he recognized his client’s popularity only when he took him to a meeting at Warner Bros. and all the secretaries got up from their desks to ask for autographs. Someone said, “That never happens when Tom Cruise is here.â€
I am impressed with the quality of secretaries they employ at Warner Bros..
Whenever we get one of these “donate something creative to help” appeals I am reminded of the fact that the sort of writing I do is not the sort of writing people are normally prepared to pay to read. Fortunately I happen to know a few very talented fiction writers, and I’m delighted to see that the Story for Haiti page at Crossed Genres is filling up nicely. It includes contributions from, amongst others, Nicola Griffith, Colin Harvey, Nalo Hopkinson, Jay Lake, Sarah Monette, Jeff VanderMeer and Liz Williams. Thank you so much, everyone who has donated a story.
So, head on over there and enjoy the free reading. And when you are done please say thank you by donating money to the Haiti appeal. (Personally I’m sending my money to the Rainbow World Fund, but by all means use whichever charity you are most comfortable with.)
The Guardian has a podcast about science fiction. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but first reactions are as follows. I am encouraged that Damien Walter was invited to participate. I think their reading list is very patchy (but congratulations to Kaaron Warren for making it as the token woman on an otherwise all male list). And I am astonished at this:
China Miéville, rising star of the “new weird”
What next? The Guardian interviews Johnny Rotten, the rising star of “punk rock”?
Update: Given Will’s favorable commentary I took the time time listen to the podcast. Much of it is indeed quite good, though I’m rather surprised that they managed to discuss Plan for Chaos without mentioning The Boys from Brazil. I am, sadly, not in the least bit surprised to find that one of the authors in the reading list didn’t actually get mentioned in the podcast. You should be able to guess which one too. Finally a quick nod of respect to Damien who managed to not answer the question about defining steampunk and other sfnal sub-genres with a deftness that any cabinet minister would be proud of.
Joe Gordon at Forbidden Planet gets email from the BBC:
Does your avatar do more exercise than you? Are you happier running round World Of War craft than pounding the treadmill at the gym?
If you love playing high-octane games or reading sci-fi and action based comics from the comfort of your sofa, but are turned off at the thought of real exercise, we want to hear from you…
BBC Three is looking for 18-26 year olds who are proud of their lifestyle and leisure choices, to take part in a new series.
Gee, can you say “stereotype”?
15 minutes of fame being what it is, I am sure that they will find someone who fits the bill.
Back in 1979 the BBC produced a series of five half-hour documentaries about science fiction called Time Out Of Mind. I don’t think that I saw the programmes at the time, and I’m not sure that they have been shown again since. Given how sloppy the BBC are with their archives, they may even have lost the originals. But video recording had been invented in 1979, and now, thanks to British fan Arnold Akien, I have copies.
There are five programs in all. Four of them focus on specific writers: Sir Arthur C Clarke (plain Arthur as he was back then), John Brunner, Michael Moorcock and Ann McCaffrey. The Moorcock programme also features M. John Harrison — including some live rock climbing — and Hawkwind. But it is the fifth programme that really caught my eye, because it was filmed at the 1979 Worldcon in Brighton.
Yes, seriously, a whole half hour documentary devoted to Worldcon. There are interviews with the likes of Brian Aldiss, Fred Pohl and Robert Silverberg. There are interviews with fans. There’s Filthy Pierre (with a fine crop of dark hair) playing the Star Wars theme on his signature keyboard instrument. Somewhat to my surprise, there are Christopher Reeve and Tom Baker. And some of the best interviews are given by a very calm and professional looking con chair, Peter Weston. There’s film of the masquerade, including a young lady wearing nothing much except a pair of 40-foot wings. And the programme closes with a very happy Vonda McIntyre clutching a silver, rocket-shaped object and thanking Avram Davidson for inspiring her to write Dreamsnake.
I have to say that the quality is not great. This was the very early days of video, and the tapes are now quite old. But I do have digital versions. The files are currently VBOs and quite large, but I’ll see what I can do about converting them into something more compatible with YouTube and the like. There’s also a question of copyright, of course, but I don’t suppose the BBC will object to my posting a few minutes of a Hugo Award ceremony.
If anyone knows who at the BBC I should talk to about this stuff, please let me know. And if people are interested in getting copies, or showing it at conventions, let me know.
Via Anime News Network I discover that Japanese publisher Ichijinsha is to launch a new magazine called WAaI! boys in skirts. Those of you who watch a lot of anime will know what this is all about. And yes, it does seem to be causing a fair amount of heartburn amongst American males.
I suppose I should link to a report about Tokyo’s all-male maid cafe as well. They even have an English language web site.
As many of you will know, Spider Robinson’s wife, Jeanne, is battling against a rare form of cancer that needs expensive treatments. Details are on Spider’s blog (scroll down). There is one particular fund raising drive going on at Star Ship Sofa that ends at the end of the month. I have been asked to plug it, and am happy to do so. If you want to buy stuff to help Jeanne, go here.
As many of you will know, John Brunner, one of the finest SF writers the UK has produced, died during the 1995 Worldcon in Glasgow. I was only just getting back into fandom at the time, and didn’t know anyone much, so I wasn’t really aware of Brunner’s family. Imagine my surprise, therefore, to get an email last week from his widow. Mrs. Brunner, it turns out, is still living in the same house she shared with John, which is in a part of Darkest Somerset that is even more remote, if rather prettier, than where I live. For a Chinese lady who has lost her English husband, this must be rather hard.
Thankfully we have the Internet, which not only helped Liyi find, somewhat accidentally, someone else in the SF community who lives in the same county, but has also allowed her to share her memories of her husband. The BBC is currently running a competition called My Story in which people from all over the UK are encouraged to write short autobiographical tales. Liyi managed to get hers online, and is getting a lot of votes from readers. You can find it here.
Liz Williams and I are going to try to get over to see Liyi once the various religious festivities are over. In the meantime, if any fans of John Brunner’s work want to send her Christmas greetings, please do so in comments.