Tobias S. Buckell's Blog, page 45

Paolo Bacigalupi and me, interviewed by Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast

The latest Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy has an interview with Margaret Atwood in it, talking about science fiction, dystopias, and her latest book. After her, Paolo Bacigalupi and I ended up being the follow up guests, talking about the political in SF.

Core SF’s visions are getting almost 100 years old, let’s bold on a few new ones?

An interesting thought by Alex Steffen:

Humanoid robots, brain uploading, AIs, Mars colonies, generation starships & a bunch of other futurey ideas will all soon be 100 years old.

— AlexSteffen (@AlexSteffen) September 21, 2013

While a lot of people think SF/F is futuristic, and shiny, one of the things I’m noticing about some of the discussions being had about stuff that’s just over the horizon is that the ideas that many fans at conventions want to focus on end up being a lot of those symbols...

Solar Powered Megayacht

“The 60 tonne catamaran costs 18 million euro ($24.4 million USD). The ship was created at the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel, Northern Germany, and was launched successfully in March, 2010, after 14 months of building. To achieve to full photovoltaic capture there are solar covered flaps that are extended at the stern and amidships.”

(Via World’s Largest Solar Powerd Ship -.)

I don’t know, I think you get more bang for your buck with sails.

Sure is pretty to look at, though.

Caribbean and Diaspora Writers at the Brooklyn Book Festival, September 16 – 22

If you’re in the NYC area and interested in Caribbean writers, this is the place to be from now until the 22nd. Wish I were there:

“For those of us in the Mid-Atlantic who hail from the tropics, the fall equinox – with its cooler temperatures, shorter days and waning light – often brings a particular kind of melancholy. But not to worry, again this year as it has done since 2006,Brooklynoffers an opportunity for a literary bacchanal. Book enthusiasts everywhere are invited to Borough Hall on S...

Any man who keeps working is not a failure – Ray Bradbury

Snagged via Cory Doctorow’s tumblr:

“‘If you write a hundred short stories and they’re all bad, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed. You fail only if you stop writing. I’ve written about 2,000 short stories; I’ve only published about 300 and I feel I’m still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer.’

—

RAY BRADBURY”

(Via Cory...

Orbital launches commercial space craft to ISS. Private space race officially on

When the shuttle was canceled there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. But the SpaceX and Orbital solution has been cheaper and is looking solid.

Suck it haterz.

“At 10:58 EDT today, an Orbital Science Antares rocket took off successfully from NASA’s Wallops launch site in Virginia. Even as you read this, it’s flying a Cygnus into orbit in preparation for docking with the International Space Station in what is, so far, a seemingly flawless mission.

Orbital Sciences is part of the brand...

Misogyny in online comments in reactions to anyone pointing out issues with Grand Theft Auto 5

What is the saying? The comments on articles about feminism prove the need for it?

“Carolyn Petit’s review over at GameSpot (9/10) is currently taking the most heat from angry gamers despite being an almost entirely favorable review. In the GTA tradition, the only women in the game are strippers, prostitutes, unhappy wives and nagging girlfriends, with Petit noting the addition of ‘goofy, new-age feminists we’re meant to laugh at’ in GTA 5. You still cannot play as a female character. She cont...

The tale of the death of an adjunct at Duquesne University

You know, as Christ would have wanted them to do…

“Meanwhile, in the past year, her teaching load had been reduced by the university to one class a semester, which meant she was making well below $10,000 a year. With huge out-of-pocket bills from UPMC Mercy for her cancer treatment, Margaret Mary was left in abject penury. She could no longer keep her electricity on in her home, which became uninhabitable during the winter. She therefore took to working at an Eat ‘n Park at night and then tryi...

Metatropolis: Green Space cover reveal

This October 15th, an all new audio anthology from Audible featuring novellas by me, Elizabeth Bear, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Lake, Seanan McGuire, Ken Scholes and Karl Schroeder launches: Metatropolis: Green Space.

Audible’s Audie Award-winning and Hugo Award-nominated vision of the not-too-distant future returns!

As METAtropolis: Green Space moves into the 22nd Century, human social evolution is heading in new directions after the Green Crash and the subsequent Green Renaissance. Nearly ever...

Solar power leapfrogging?

Right here was an interesting video about an Ethopian solar power maker, a single guy with some ideas. One of the things I think that is going to happen is that solar power is to the developing world like cellphones were.

Without massive infrastructure gains, but a desire to be connected and have the technology, cellphones spread rapidly throughout the developing world. To the point where there was often better proliferation than in developed world areas.

Without the infrastructure of power co...