Published at: 11:06 am - Tuesday June 23 2009
The last story I read by David Nickle left me impotent for a week.
That was a compliment. I have never actually read a bad story by David Nickle. I read an opaque story by him once: it was called “Pants Are For Company”, and it was (roughly) about personification of the abyss. [...]
Published at: 09:02 pm - Sunday February 01 2009
Overcoming Bias is an erudite blog out out Oxford which focuses on the general theme of self-deception. It plays around with everything from God to zombies, from neuroeconomics to applied statistics. It is sometimes dry, but always substantive — and now, for a limited time only, it is also fucking hilarious.
Blogger Eliezer Yudkowsky is serving [...]
Published at: 04:08 pm - Sunday August 10 2008
It takes a while sometimes for electrons to get all the way out here to Gibralter Point, but my understanding is that Elizabeth won the short-story Hugo last night for “Tideline”. And though I hate her for her talent and her characters, I also love her for her talent and her character.
So, way to [...]
Published at: 10:05 am - Friday May 30 2008
So, my bud Dave Williams‘ The Mirrored Heavens is out, and garnering raves as well it should. And if you wander over to the appropriate Amazon page and click on the cover art, you’ll see a blurb dead center of the spread, courtesy of Stephen Baxter.
But once you get your hands on the actual [...]
Published at: 06:03 pm - Tuesday March 18 2008
Sometimes, in defiance of entropy, little knots of complexity form in the universe and awaken. I have always found it deeply unjust that such knots, sooner or later, always stop. Each is unique, each cognizant, and if I were running things, the moment matter developed enough complexity to look around and start asking questions, [...]
Published at: 09:03 am - Saturday March 01 2008
Ah. I see my interview is featured in this month’s Locus. I get second billing to Charlie Stross, but hey — who doesn’t, these days? There I am in the lower right-hand corner (and I’m actually kinda glad the picture is small because I look a wee bit goofy in it). [...]
Published at: 11:02 am - Monday February 25 2008
I may have mentioned a fellow by the name of Dave Williams (maybe not here — I know I’ve mentioned him in interviews, at least). The guy came at me out of the blue a few years back via a mutual friend, and asked me to check out some skiffy prose he was working [...]
Published at: 05:09 am - Saturday September 01 2007
Rainbows End took home the Hugo, coming from behind to unseat Novik’s Dragon opus in the fourth round. Congratulations to Vernor Vinge; the first story I ever read by the man was “Bookworm, Run!”, back in the mid seventies — it actually first ran in 1966, from Analog — and after forty years in [...]
Published at: 06:07 am - Monday July 16 2007
Today we take time to honour the works of others, especially when such works reflect well on me in some way. First up is this cool rendition of Lenie Clarke, rendered by one Brian Prince (who quite needlessly apologises for its “hastiness”). I love the look and the apocalyptic mood of this piece. [...]
Published at: 10:07 am - Friday July 13 2007
…”We”, of course, being Jo Walton and myself, who (as you all must know by now even though I’m only getting around to posting it now) tied for third on the Campbells. We came in just behind Morrow’s The Last Witchfinder in second place, while the lot of us lost to Ben Bova’s Titan, [...]