I just finished reading Hannu Rajaniemi's Quantum Thief trilogy: 'The Quantum Thief', 'The Fractal Prince', and 'The Causal Angel'. (The official name of the trilogy is the Jean le Flambeur series, named after one of the chief protagonists, but everyone seems to call it the Quantum Thief trilogy instead.) Most visions of society after the singularity … Continue reading A darker vision of the post-singularity: The Quantum Thief trilogy
Tag: Science fiction
The definition of the science fiction genre
Charlie Stross has an interesting post up on the distinction between science fiction and fantasy. He looks at a question I haven't thought about in a while: Not too long ago, someone in the twittersphere asked, "Whatever happened to psi? It used to be all the rage in science fiction." The answer, essentially, was that … Continue reading The definition of the science fiction genre
The Three-Body Problem
Cixin Liu's 'The Three-Body Problem' is getting a lot of attention. It's a popular and award winning science fiction novel in China that has recently been translated into English by Ken Liu, to considerable acclaim. It's been nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards. (Note: if you're following the current Hugo nomination debacle, this … Continue reading The Three-Body Problem
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – teaser trailer #2
And this one is much more of a tease than the first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngElkyQ6Rhs
Greg Egan’s Amalgam is close to the most likely interstellar civilization
The other day, I did a post engaging in speculation on, assuming we don't discover a completely new physics, what I thought an interstellar civilization might look like. In summary: Given special relativity, travel faster than the speed of light is impossible. This has been verified by innumerable experiments, and nothing in nature has been observed to … Continue reading Greg Egan’s Amalgam is close to the most likely interstellar civilization
Honest Trailers does Interstellar
Okay, while I did mostly enjoy the movie Interstellar, I have to admit that this Honest Trailer of it is hilarious. WARNING: They're really not kidding about the spoiler alert at the beginning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZMzf-SDWP8 via IO9
Interstellar: more accurate than the typical sci-fi movie, but still had issues
This week, I watched the movie Interstellar, the Christopher Nolan film about travel to another galaxy, a black hole, a wormhole, and other exotic environments. I enjoyed it immensely, although I also had some issues with it. In the film, at some point in the future, the Earth is dying due to a global crop blight. … Continue reading Interstellar: more accurate than the typical sci-fi movie, but still had issues
Writing Excuses: New season, a writing course by podcast
Many of my readers and fellow bloggers are aspiring (or practicing) writers. If you haven't caught it before, 'Writing Excuses' is a podcast about writing in the science fiction and fantasy genre. If you've ever contemplated doing that kind of writing, it's a pretty awesome podcast to follow, and even if sci-fi/fantasy isn't your chosen … Continue reading Writing Excuses: New season, a writing course by podcast
X-Men: Days of Future Past, and multiple instances of a mind
This weekend, I watched X-Men: Days of Future Past, which I enjoyed. This post discusses some aspects of that movie, most notably the ending, so if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to be spoiled, you might consider skipping it until later. In the movie, mankind is in a devastating war with the mutants, … Continue reading X-Men: Days of Future Past, and multiple instances of a mind
Star Wars teaser trailer
Because, it's Star Wars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLk59H86ww I hope they don't mess it up. JJ Abrams has a pretty good track record, so I'm hopeful.
