Over at reason magazine Amy Strugis muses on the fiction and recent passing of sf writer Octavia Butler. Sadly, I think I’ve only read a few short stories by Butler.
Author: Anders Monsen (Page 66 of 82)
The key to remember here is that any record of any activity, once kept by any entity, is subject to being handed over to the government. Your library records, your movie rental records, memberships in any organization, your phone records, etc. In this case AT&T commits double-speak, streamlining information by stripping away any privacy guarantees.
If you wonder what happened to this blog, all I can say is that I barely have time these days to read a few regular web sites, as I am trying to read novels and short stories that need to be reviewed in Prometheus, or which are up for the Prometheus Award. I could break down the segments of my day, but even though I’m averaging 6 hours of sleep each day (up from 4), there’s still not enough time in the day to get to everything. I started some rather long posts a while back, including reviews of all Prometheus Award finalists, but no posts came close to blogger ready. I also had a change of heart when it came to posting what I wrote, as I was far from happy with some of the nominees. I also started a post listing a stack of books received, some of which I have worked my way through and now am in the process of reviewing. Even when it comes to this part I am way behind schedule. The best novel I read this year originally appeared in 2005 – Ken MacLeod’s Learning the World. I just started Vernor Vinge’s new novel, but even that has to wait until I have met all my review obligations for the Summer issue of Prometheus. Right now I’m reading Future Washington (sorry, no time for a link), which contains several excellent pieces, including a very timely (and scary) work of fiction on RFIDs. In case you’re reading this, and looking for news on libertarian fiction, all I can do is plead baby-duty and hope I’ll be able to post more data sometime in mid-July.
Another fan-based show set in the Firefly universe.
Excuse me a few minutes while I stitch back my gut after seeing this Firefly parody. Mosquito is quite amusing, with a near-lookalike of Kaylee, and neat twists on the other characters from Joss Whedon’s universe.
After being down several weeks due to a web hosting snafu, Victor Milan’s web site is back. Though Milan now primarily writes action/adventure novels, his classic sf novel, The Cybernetic Samurai remains one of my all-time favorite sf books.
Good news at last that after ten long years this movie finally may see the light on DVD. I have yet to see Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, but I know the audience will grow significantly once this work reaches the “new” medium. Long my favorite Shakespeare play (along with The Tempest, a character of which is the namesake of my daughter), I’ve seen many versions of Hamlet, except this one. Branagh is a superb actor and director, and I can hardly wait to see his interpretation sometime later this year. No doubt we’ll have to pay a pretty penny for this production, too.
This will be an interesting novel to see how it develops. very likely technology will outstrip some premises, but key elements remain.
Via Wendy McElroy’s forum, a link to a children’s book called An Island of Liberty, which bills itself as a cross between Dr. Seuss and Ayn Rand. Mainly aimed at kids, with lots of rhyming.
The online comic book by L. Neil Smith and Scott Bieser went live today at Big Head Press’ revamped web site. Right now it appears the web page is ad supported as the comics there are free. Do yourself a favor and check out the site, and if you haven’t already done so, I recommend also looking into at least one of the ads: Michael Wentz’ novel, Resurrection of Liberty. In my opinion, this novel should have been a Prometheus Award finalist, and as I’m halfway through reading those six books, I know of at least two so far that I can’t fathom how made it ahead of this novel.
