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A defining thread of modern scientific thought is skepticism, the tendency to question accepted ideas until evidence is found to confirm or reject them. But what do skeptics do in worlds of magic, aliens, and other matters fantastic? More »
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One of the charmingly weird things about Charles Stross' new novel Saturn's Children is that he manages to include every single cliche of sexual perversion you've seen on the net — and make them somehow fit plausibly into the plot. The author of the critically-acclaimed Halting State has written a fast-paced thriller about Freya, a sexbot designed to service humans, who lives in a solar system where humans died out 300 years before. A freak among bots, she's programmed to look like and lust after something that doesn't exist. Her life is meaningless and depressing until she takes a job smuggling black market "pink goo" (human cells) for a shady bot named Jeeves. There's a lot to enjoy (and mull over) in this often-satirical novel, and one of the most interesting parts is that Freya comes from a line of "Rhea model" sexbots who share memories and lovers — just like the beautiful cylons in Battlestar Galatica do. More »
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