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San Francisco, 9:17 AM
Sun Nov 8
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City

    Eric, Steve, Sam And Charlaine Harris Talk True Blood

    Iain M. Banks' New Novel: Literary In The U.K., Science Fiction In The U.S.

    Hear The Voices Behind 60 Years Of Fantastic Stories

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    Neil Gaiman And The Power Of Storytelling

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    Young George Lucas: "In This Country, The Dollar Is Above The Individual"

    Space Opera Author Neal Asher Makes It Up As He Goes Along
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Anekanta - Go Play! Anekanta - Go Play!
    09/17/09

    In reply to Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City
    I was very close to picking up The City of Saints and Madmen last week. Maybe I should have.
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! was starred Anekanta - Go Play! was unstarred
    Image of GuinevereLagman GuinevereLagman
    09/17/09

    In reply to Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City
    just a comment from an urbanist: there's a difference between built environment and the society that inhibits it (although you can see it as combine function) - the social aspects are reflections of the built environment (and vice versa) but one should be careful to correlate them in a one-dimensional way. seeing either or both together as technology is a singular viewpoint; it's an engineer's viewpoint. for others, cities are anything from artifact to, well, text, and can be "read" in different ways. interesting to see that bruce uses the past tense in the sentence i'm referring to. in any case, one core idea of the city is proximity, and people will need that in the future too, even if it takes on other, new shapes. or they'll cease being people. my two cents. love the future metro series!
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders promoted this comment GuinevereLagman was starred GuinevereLagman was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    09/17/09

    In reply to Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City
    Well, Jeff VanderMeer knows what he's talking about. His Ambergris, the City of Saints and Madmen is one of the most fascinating cities I've seen in speculative fiction. It's at the same time infuriating and pleasant to know that he'll probably never reveal all its secrets.
     Reply
    Charlie Jane Anders promoted this comment Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
    Image of Ruthless, If you let me Ruthless, If you let me
    09/17/09

    In reply to Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City
    I think that there is a lack of historical buildings in future city-scapes. So many old buildings gain that vaunted "historical" status that they can never be torn down/modified in exterior appearance.

    I can't imagine a Coruscant type city-scape, that totally displaces these structures. A group of 10 citizens will stop it from happening.
     Reply
    Edited by Ruthless, If you let me at 09/17/09 10:57 AM Ruthless, If you let me was starred Ruthless, If you let me was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    09/17/09

    @Ruthless, If you let me: In the case of Coruscant it seems stranger that there are no *new* buildings. The Jedi Temple is apparently thousands of years old, yet its architecture doesn't seem significantly different from the rest of the city. The implication seems to be that now new buildings have been made in a millennia.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me promoted this comment Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
    Image of icelight icelight
    09/17/09

    @Ruthless, If you let me: Those sorts of cities really only appear after wars. Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, was essentially flattened by the Nazis. With no historical sites to work around, the city is almost surreal in the quantity of glass and modern architecture it contains. It's not that any one building is notably exceptional, although there are a few. Instead, the unremitting expanse of skyscrapers, plazas and modern art make walking through the city unlike any other I've been to.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me promoted this comment icelight was starred icelight was unstarred
    Image of skeksis skeksis
    09/17/09

    @Ruthless, If you let me: Bradbury Building, Blade Runner is the first one that comes to mind. But I am having trouble thinking of other examples.
     Reply
    Ruthless, If you let me promoted this comment skeksis was starred skeksis was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/17/09

    @Lightice: I think you're both right.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of braak braak
    09/17/09

    In reply to Bruce Sterling And Jeff VanderMeer Offer 2 Lessons On How To Build A Science-Fictional City
    I think it's important to remember, too, how economic realities affect the organization of a city--the banks are here because they want to be near the marketplace which is here, which is where it is for god only knows what reason, probably because it was the flattest part of the are six hundred years ago, and it's where all the cows stopped to graze.
     Reply
    braak was starred braak was unstarred
    Image of redqueenmeg redqueenmeg
    09/17/09

    @braak: and this road is in this dippy place because the dippy cows decided this was the shortest way to water, even though it wasn't... heh.
     Reply
    redqueenmeg was starred redqueenmeg was unstarred
    Image of braak braak
    09/17/09

    @redqueenmeg: Yeah, cows don't like hills, so they'll go ten miles out of their way if it means not having to have to walk up.

    Which explains the entire layout of Boston.
     Reply
    braak was starred braak was unstarred
    Image of MelvinaBeans MelvinaBeans
    09/11/09

    In reply to Eric, Steve, Sam And Charlaine Harris Talk True Blood
    How about SPOILER on the title? Too much to ask? You keep ruining True Blood for me!
     Reply
    Meredith Woerner promoted this comment MelvinaBeans was starred MelvinaBeans was unstarred
    Image of Meredith Woerner Meredith Woerner
    09/11/09

    @MelvinaBeans: how is this a spoiler? read on it's about the end of the season?
     Reply
    Meredith Woerner was starred Meredith Woerner was unstarred
    Image of gorehound gorehound
    09/11/09

    In reply to Eric, Steve, Sam And Charlaine Harris Talk True Blood
    This show is a great show for us adults and not for the little tween vamps except to be served as offerings to the vamps of true blood.

    bring on the blood,sex,and intersting stories
     Reply
    gorehound was starred gorehound was unstarred
    Image of Tracy Ham and Eggs Tracy Ham and Eggs
    09/11/09

    In reply to Eric, Steve, Sam And Charlaine Harris Talk True Blood
    Do not use "Say Bye Bye to True Blood" in a headline again please....
     Reply
    Tracy Ham and Eggs was starred Tracy Ham and Eggs was unstarred
    Image of Belabras ate my dingo! Belabras ate my dingo!
    09/11/09

    In reply to Eric, Steve, Sam And Charlaine Harris Talk True Blood
    Shameful admissions time: I'm reading these books now.

    That said, I think it's charming that Harris is just a nice older lady who writes about vampires and telepaths.
     Reply
    Belabras ate my dingo! was starred Belabras ate my dingo! was unstarred
    Image of lucyjae lucyjae
    09/11/09

    @Belabras ate my dingo!: Don't be too ashamed. I was an English major and I'm reading them. It's not a meal, just a very, very enjoyable, cheese-like snack. Enjoy!
     Reply
    The Curse of Millhaven promoted this comment lucyjae was starred lucyjae was unstarred
    Image of Alexis Alexis
    09/11/09

    @Belabras ate my dingo!: When I get to the dirty parts I can't help but giggle at the thought of a grandma-like lady writing them.
     Reply
    Alexis was starred Alexis was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/11/09

    @Belabras ate my dingo!: IRL she's charming as all get-out, and funny and sweet and very authentically Southern. And genuinely surprised and thrilled to have such a big hit.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/11/09

    @Alexis Brown: Oh, you're so young... get back to me on that when you get past 40.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Will Nickelson Will Nickelson
    09/11/09

    In reply to Eric, Steve, Sam And Charlaine Harris Talk True Blood
    Claudia Black sneaking by in the background. What the frill was that?
     Reply
    LittleDragon promoted this comment Edited by Will Nickelson at 09/11/09 9:24 AM Will Nickelson was starred Will Nickelson was unstarred
    Image of LittleDragon LittleDragon
    09/11/09

    @Will Nickelson: Well this wasn't just a True Blood gig. At the beginning there was Amanda Tapping and her Daniel Jackson clone from Sanctuary. I am more curious about who to bald dude in the hat following Claudia was. Its sad, but I watched that video just to see what you were talking about.
     Reply
    LittleDragon was starred LittleDragon was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    09/08/09

    In reply to Iain M. Banks' New Novel: Literary In The U.K., Science Fiction In The U.S.
    So how many works of "literature" take place in a series of alternate worlds?

    I'm not trying to start a fight. Well, not the one you think I am. It just seems that if SF gets labeled as literature, those that do the labeling always come up with reasons why it isn't SF. Why can't it be both? 1984, Brave New World, Farenheit 451 are all SF and literature, but I sometimes see people saying they are not. The main thrust of the argument is usually that they can't be SF because they are literature. Basically they are insulting the SF community by saying that anything good couldn't be SF and that bothers me.
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    09/08/09

    @Dr Emilio Lizardo: Lit snobbery and ghetto pride aside, the big problem is that too many people try to seriously define razor sharp borders between one kind of writing and another. Useless pursuit, like herding cats. The phrase "difference without distinction" comes to mind.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    09/08/09

    @Dr Emilio Lizardo: Standard literature is generally concerned with people's relationships with people, precisely drawn characters, social relationships. Of course this comes in an intensely large number of varieties.

    Science fiction or speculative fiction is generally seen as being concerned with how a particular THING, or an IDEA reacts on a character or system of characters. There's no particular border other than the vaguest. What's the difference between "fiction" and "historical fiction"? Well.... it's probably the "historical" part. It's not ghettoizing it, that's just what its nature is.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of LittleDragon LittleDragon
    09/08/09

    In reply to Iain M. Banks' New Novel: Literary In The U.K., Science Fiction In The U.S.
    When I rule the world good authors will have a free house and monthly allowance as long as they continue to write decent stuff. I will even be lenient on how quickly they have to finish books. And all those unhelpful-help department people will be beaten with bats by the people they put on hold for hours. And the channel that is supposed to show Science Fiction will SHOW science fiction. And every person will be granted one 2 week cruise or stay in resort a year (they can to cover costs to departure port). And there is other stuff but I want you to like me and make me your leader so I will say nothing of harvesting human brains for my super computer and stealing people's life forces to make myself immortal. Drat. You will forget that last bit. I COMMAND IT.
     Reply
    LittleDragon was starred LittleDragon was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/08/09

    @LittleDragon: Even with that last bit, I like it. I'll take the harvesting risk.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of transbastard transbastard
    09/08/09

    In reply to Iain M. Banks' New Novel: Literary In The U.K., Science Fiction In The U.S.
    Does this mean he still has to work to pay the bills?

    This makes me kind of sad.

    If his culture output hasn't put him up for life by now, where is SF really in the grand scheme of things?
     Reply
    transbastard was starred transbastard was unstarred
    Image of worsethannormal worsethannormal
    09/08/09

    @transbastard: He's a writer. Writers don't make that much.
     Reply
    Grey_Area promoted this comment worsethannormal was starred worsethannormal was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    09/08/09

    @worsethannormal: And SF writers make less.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    09/08/09

    @Grey_Area: Not true.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    09/08/09

    @Pope John Peeps II: Good to hear.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    09/08/09

    @Grey_Area: Check the desks of most modern publishing houses and most literary agents. There are still way, way more people writing standard literature than there are writing sci fi or spec lit, even though those genres have grown over the past decade. Add to that the fact that the audience for spec/sci fi lit has grown while that of standard literature has declined, and I think you'll find that on average, a science fiction author makes a bit more money than a standard lit author.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Lassus Lassus
    09/08/09

    In reply to Iain M. Banks' New Novel: Literary In The U.K., Science Fiction In The U.S.
    Isn't that expression "down-in-the-mouth"?

    Selfishly, I'd be happy if all he ever turned out were Culture novels. I'm sad that I have no more to read of that world. :-(
     Reply
    Edited by Lassus at 09/08/09 12:40 PM Lassus was starred Lassus was unstarred
    Image of mst3k4ever mst3k4ever
    09/08/09

    In reply to Iain M. Banks' New Novel: Literary In The U.K., Science Fiction In The U.S.
    Love Banks's work, but I hope the book is really an "M" and not a marketing "M".
     Reply
    goldfarb promoted this comment mst3k4ever was starred mst3k4ever was unstarred
    Image of goldfarb goldfarb
    09/08/09

    @mst3k4ever: check out the description at amazon:
    [www.amazon.com]
     Reply
    goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/08/09

    @mst3k4ever: At least the American cover isn't as butt-ugly as the British one. It's generic, but that's better than eyesore.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of mst3k4ever mst3k4ever
    09/08/09

    @goldfarb: Looks promising!
     Reply
    mst3k4ever was starred mst3k4ever was unstarred
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