Last year, I posted this commentary on the Hugos (reprinted below, to go with this new thought). This year, as the new ballot has been released and once again the "true Hugo fans" are up in arms over the results, it occurs that if the anti-puppy people ever do get their acts together sufficiently to form their own party to "take back" the Hugo ( Read more... )

I told myself I wasn't going to get involved. I don't have the time or interest to argue Hugo rules. But enough of my friends are involved in the current debate that I keep hearing about it, so I have formed an opinion, which I want to share ( Read more... )

I'm expanding my guest editorial from the April issue of Analog. It's called "Yay! The Future... Oh, Damn." and talks about science fiction's predictive powers, both the successes and the failures. I'm looking for specific examples, both positive and negative. For instance, in Tom Clancy's Debt of Honor (1994), a 747 is purposely crashed into the ( Read more... )

Continuing our program of bringing the classics of science fiction back into print, Fantastic Books is pleased to announce the publication of two early titles by Grand Master Michael Moorcock: The Shores of Death and The Wrecks of Time. Long out of print, these two classics are now available in beautiful, long-lasting trade paperback editions ( Read more... )

Just got confirmation that, for the third time, Realms of Fantasy is being closed. Article at SFScope: http://sfscope.com/2011/11/the-third-death-of-realms-of-f.html

It's a long time since I was day trading stocks, but I still watch the market (well, the numbers and the trends). That's part of why I was fascinated by Mark Hulbert's piece on WINS today (you can listen to the audio file at this link; it runs two and a half minutes, and is titled "Beyond Dow 12,000, a dark history lesson"). His point is that, ( Read more... )

Fascinating astronomical observation from NASA. Read the press release, click the link to see the picture, and then tell me if it might actually be a Romulan warbird decelerating from warp speed ( Read more... )

Just heard this story on WINS (though the link is to Fox News) about concerns over the new hybrid cars. Specifically, the National Federation of the Blind is warning that the new hybrids are too quiet, taking away a warning cue from the visually impaired and possibly endangering blind pedestrians who won't know to not cross the street. Discussions ( Read more... )

I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for a weekend away, but surprisingly for many on my lists, I won't be in Montreal (the WorldCon is in Montreal this weekend). I couldn't make the trip to Canada work, but with a ride from my sister and brother-in-law, I'm instead going to Buffalo for a reunion. My friends from my high school-era temple youth group ( Read more... )

Listening to President Obama's news conference right now. He teased me, a moment ago, with what was almost a science fiction reference.

The topic is health care reform, and he started the point by saying "If we have a red pill and a blue pill," and I was waiting for a reference to The Matrix's "show you the truth or let you continue living the lie ( Read more... )