And
hoping to see many of you at the World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose,
California (Silicon Valley) in August.
Hong Kong
journalist Paul Kay interviews me in the (Hong Kong) South China Post, covering
the gamut, from history and evolution to the future and science fiction's role
in exploring the phenomenon of change. And while we're in the region...
My colleague Hao
Jingfeng – author of the Hugo-winning story “Folding Beijing” – talks about cyber systems that might enable future cities to synergize, like living
organisms.
And
Chinese SF scholar Wu Yan joined a passel of U.S. mavens, actors and futurists
on a panel at Comicon International, celebrating the release of a 4K version of
“2001: A Space Odyssey” by Warner Bros, honoring the film classic’s 50th
Anniversary. Note Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea on the far left… “Frank and
Dave.”
Panel moderated by Dr. Erik Viirre, of UCSD's Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, where the sciences and arts come together to explore humanity's most unique gift. Home of the TASAT Project - There's A Story About That!
== Depletion of a precious
commodity: our World Rascal Resource ==
Jason Sheehan gives a terrific and open-eyed
eulogy to our irreplaceable rascal, Harlan Ellison. Harlan was wickedly witty,
profanely-provocative, yet generous to a fault. His penchant for brilliantly skewering
all authority – including the bossy voices in our own heads --would have got
him strangled in any other human civilization, yet in this one he lived –
honored - to 84... decades longer than he swore he would, much to our benefit
with startling, rambunctious stories that will echo for ages.
Hence,
I list Harlan Ellison -- along with John Perry Barlow and others -- as among the most-American beings I knew. Most-Californian.
Heck, like Ray Bradbury, Harlan was among the most-Angelino, and most
alien-ready of humans. And indeed, perhaps he was beamed-up, to confront and
shake and amuse and offend those out there who most deeply need it.
Solace
to Susan, and to all who love disturbances in the force. (There’ll be others.) One
regret? Harlan should have held out till Shatterday.
== Sci Fi Miscellany ==
Such a lovely article about
the chummy roast-flame war between colleagues Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov.
The fascinating and odd intersection of Science Fiction, popular culture and Rock
’n Roll in the late 60s and 70s is explored in the newly released book: Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi exploded, by Jason Heller, writer for Rolling Stone and the New Yorker.
Predicting the future: Here’s a
seriously excellent and insightful podcast video by Simon Whistler on YouTube presenting a top
ten list of novels that eerily and correctly predicted aspects of the
future. Books like Infinite Jest,
Vonnegut’s Player Piano, Neuromancer and - counter-intuitively - Childhood’s
End,
Many of the on-targets have to do with creepy prescience about our, well, weird present-day politics, and on that note I would have added certain Heinleins.
And yes, since you ask. Toward the very top of the list, I am just barely outranked by three heavyweights: H.G. Wells, Aldous Huxley and… John Brunner for Stand on Zanzibar, a choice that won this fellow serious props and cred, in my book!
Many of the on-targets have to do with creepy prescience about our, well, weird present-day politics, and on that note I would have added certain Heinleins.
And yes, since you ask. Toward the very top of the list, I am just barely outranked by three heavyweights: H.G. Wells, Aldous Huxley and… John Brunner for Stand on Zanzibar, a choice that won this fellow serious props and cred, in my book!
All told a riveting and excellent podcast.
== And more SF news ==
We liked the film A Quiet Place, very much. Emily Blunt is outrageously good.
In contrast, the new Lost In Space series, which started with some cool creativity, had one of the worst episodes (number 4) I have ever seen, in which not one of the characters makes even a single decision that makes even a scintilla of sense. A great example of how one director and writer can come close to killing a whole project.
DOWNSIZING is a
very weird movie that has many positive traits. For example, it is rare to see
an sf'nal extrapolation of a new technology that is portrayed being used the
way techs are actually used, in the real world... by everybody, instead of
monopolized by conspirators or the rich. Many refreshing things... and some
weird logic and bizarre/sudden turns in unexpected directions. Definitely more
of an art film than you'd expect. And thought provoking, if weird.
ZION’S FICTION (or “Zi-Fi”) is the first authoritative volume of Israeli fantastic literature. Showcasing a
Foreword by Robert Silverberg, the book offers stories originally crafted in
Hebrew, Russian and English by a gallery of genre-savvy Israeli writers. To be released in September, available for pre-order.
The mighty and charismatic science fiction author Cat
Rambo has a new book in her “Tabat” sci-fantasy series. Check it out!
A cute rumination about super-villains, by Talin.
A vivid tech thriller that delves into mathematics, cyberwarfare and terrorism, try Matt Ginsberg's new novel - Factor Man.
The
solution to the Apocalypse - from SMBC Comics.
Just released, in commemoration of Sir Arthur Clarke: 2001: An Odyssey in Words: Celebrating the Centenary of Arthur C. Clarke's Birth: an anthology of speculative fiction stories, each 2001 words in length, by Bruce Sterling, Emma Newman, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Chris Beckett, Alastair Reynolds - as well as essays by Neil Gaiman and China Mieville.
Just released, in commemoration of Sir Arthur Clarke: 2001: An Odyssey in Words: Celebrating the Centenary of Arthur C. Clarke's Birth: an anthology of speculative fiction stories, each 2001 words in length, by Bruce Sterling, Emma Newman, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Chris Beckett, Alastair Reynolds - as well as essays by Neil Gaiman and China Mieville.
A new Magazine - Martian - wants drabbles! Exact, super-short
stories of 100 words. I like the 250 word length. I try to put one of those in each of my
collections. WIRED
ran a contest for 6-word tales. (I won ;-) And there's the "One Page Screenplay Contest in LA. (Won that too.)
Is this a sign we’ve fully entered the Twitter era? Wasn’t there a “Short Attention Span Theater”
that --
-- oh, look, squirrel!
