Search found 137 matches

by caliban
Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:18 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Icarus Beach: a teaser
Replies: 16
Views: 136532

Woo hoo! I just got the issue. The cover art is pretty nice. At least, it's tasteful. Not 100% accurate, but it nicely captures the spirit of the work.

I'll add a link to Analog as soon as they post the cover art. (In a few days.)
by caliban
Sat Sep 08, 2007 6:36 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Happy 41st Anniversary Star Trek
Replies: 5
Views: 55984

Hurray! Star Trek will long remain an iconic constellation in the SF heavens, and a deeply enjoyable one. It really had that sense of wonder, while also struggling with issues of power, responsibility, and new insight on the universe (and, uh, social structures). I think I still like the original se...
by caliban
Sat Sep 08, 2007 12:46 am
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Why read or write science fiction?
Replies: 12
Views: 86354

Sense of Wonder

As Marie correctly points out, a sense of wonder is often put forward as another motivation for SF. I think that sense of wonder may be the true dividing line between "hard" SF and "soft" SF. It is frequently asserted that hard SF is more rigorous and grounded in science, but tha...
by caliban
Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:40 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Why read or write science fiction?
Replies: 12
Views: 86354

Re: Reasons for Sci Fi

Slower than Light did show cracks in and among its societies, you just had to go with the flow of the narrative. I consider it your LeGuin-style story Well, I think you hit on the problem. LeGuin, in The Dispossessed, did a fabulous job of illustrating an ambigious utopia complete with flaws; I don...
by caliban
Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:58 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Why read or write science fiction?
Replies: 12
Views: 86354

Re: Reasons for Sci Fi

Also, one person's utopia invariably is another's dystopia. It's interesting to discuss utopias in light of writing SF. I have noticed in my own writing that the story becomes stronger when there is an inherent power imbalance in the situation. Both "Political Science" and "Icarus Be...
by caliban
Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:16 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Why read or write science fiction?
Replies: 12
Views: 86354

Re: Reasons for Sci Fi

I think, in general, why people like science fiction is also due to the human need to imagine a better tomorrow. I appreciate your comments. It's an interesting idea, especially since many fantasies (e.g. Lord of the Rings ) are nostalgic for the past, a longing for the "good old days," w...
by caliban
Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:20 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Why read or write science fiction?
Replies: 12
Views: 86354

Re: Why read or write science fiction?

I yielded to the temptation of giving such a talk twice.... Audience reactions were mixed (these were lab members, from techs to the lab head). Some loved it and wanted more. Some thought it frivolous and a waste of time better spent reading experimental protocols, proving the old adage about leadi...
by caliban
Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:13 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Why read or write science fiction?
Replies: 12
Views: 86354

Why read or write science fiction?

This Friday I am giving our Departmental Colloquium, and as a lark I thought I would talk about "How to Read the Universe," based on my experiences teaching my class on science and science fiction. As always I am constantly reformulating my thoughts. While thinking about my talk I consider...
by caliban
Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:22 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Icarus Beach: a teaser
Replies: 16
Views: 136532

I considered Icarus Beach a work of original imagination when I first read it. Going over the story's beginning once again, I still feel the excitement of that first reading. Athena, you're very kind. I don't know if this helps anyone, but I started writing this story twenty years ago, when I was i...
by caliban
Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:19 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Icarus Beach: a teaser
Replies: 16
Views: 136532

Icarus Beach: a teaser

As Kazo plummeted towards the heart of the doomed star, she thought of what Apilak had told her: Love, Apilak had said, is no more eternal than the stars. It may burn slow and steady for a long time and then gradually shrink away, or it may burn bright and hot for a brief period, only to end spectac...
by caliban
Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:23 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Political Science
Replies: 9
Views: 80066

The November issue? But it's only August! I'm a science fiction writer. I live in the future. *Tsk*. Currently for me it's August 30, 4311, and I got the issue from an archaeological dig. :) Back to the important issue -- have you seen the cover? Do you get any say in it, or is it totally up to Her...
by caliban
Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:52 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Political Science
Replies: 9
Views: 80066

more news

Hi folks, I just got the November issue of Analog and it appears my next story, "Icarus Beach," will be the cover issue for the December issue! (They never tell me anything.) I'll post again a teaser for the story in a little bit...
by caliban
Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:20 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics
Replies: 18
Views: 143510

It seems increasingly likely that a marathon read of all seven Potter books looms in my future... but then I managed not to see a single episode of The Sopranos! This is what comes from having a TV set that only works as a DVD player! It'll be a marathon, especially the last four books which, to be...
by caliban
Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:37 am
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: J K Rowling and the Cauldron of Critics
Replies: 18
Views: 143510

REVIEW (No significant spoilers)

Whew. We finally finished reading the last Harry Potter book. And it will be the last book. (In what follows I will not have any significant spoilers. I will make a couple of allusions that will only whet your appetite but tell you nothing of significance. Much of the draw of Rowling is her narrativ...
by caliban
Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:26 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Evolution
Replies: 33
Views: 235882

It seems to me that the debate is not about morality, but about control -- of thought and behavior. Well, yes, I'd agree, but-- --here it might serve us to recall for a moment Lacan who, I believe, argued that everything is about control and power. Most or all of the non-controversies are, in some ...