Archive for May, 2007
UNIVAC Is That You?
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007Once upon a time, in a number of short stories, Isaac Asimov imagined a single, superpowerful computer that could deduce important, critical questions for you at one of any number of kiosks spread through out civilization. In one story, UNIVAC (named because of the vacuum tubes that used to be the basic components of old-timey [...]
Women, and Culture
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007Let me bring a couple things together. The first, the impetus, is Joss Whedon’s rant spurred by the stoning death of Du’a Khalil. There’s a lot of good stuff there, including a general call to action–indeed, humanity in general is too complacent and lulled into the belief that everything is okay. (Not to be too [...]
Genre Commentary
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007Seems that Gabe Chouinard (I think he doesn’t capitalize it but, eh, whatever) has kicked off a new review endeavor called Scalpel Magazine which, unless I miss my guess, aims to bring hard-hitting, plain-talkin’ reviews of genre literature to you, the eager consumer of such things. Nick Mamatas is critical, not so much of the [...]
Diversity in SF
Monday, May 14th, 2007SF isn’t very diverse. It seems like a controversial topic that ought not be. Tobias Buckell states, as his essential thesis, that you can’t say that without calling down a storm of protest and, given the comment thread in his post, I suspect he’s right. Most people in-genre seem to want to be proud of [...]