James L. Cambias's Blog, page 53

Science of Sci-Fi at M.I.T.

Tomorrow evening I'll be entering the august and notoriously long halls of the mighty Massachusetts Institute of Technology to take part in a panel discussion on "The Science of Sci-Fi." It will be held in M.I.T. Room 4-231 (wherever that may be) at 7:30 p.m. on May 13, and is open to the public. We'll be talking about communicating science to the public through science fiction, a topic which has been much on my mind lately. It's sponsored by ComMIT, a group at M.I.T. dedicated to improving science news and education. Any Greater Cambridge area fans are welcome to stop by!

Bloggers Join the Pirate Crew

A couple of heavyweight science fiction book blogs have put up reviews and interviews about Corsair. Here's The Qwillery's take, and here's My Bookish Ways. Both of them liked the book, so they're now honorary members of my space pirate crew, with the right to say "Arr!" at space resource development projects.

More Big News

If the launch of Corsair isn't enough, this week I was pleased and honored to learn that A Darkling Sea is one of the finalists for this year's Locus Awards in the category of Best First Novel. I guess that means I'll be taking a trip to Seattle in June.

(Locus, founded by the late Charles N. Brown, is the leading "newspaper" of the science fiction and fantasy publishing world. They publish reviews, industry news, and interviews of authors and editors.)

LIFTOFF!

The Space Pirate is launched! Corsair is now available — and I'm proud to report that the good people of the mighty Amazon have named it one of the Best Books of May 2015. Captain Black the Space Pirate says check it out.

T Minus 24 Hours!

The countdown clock is running and Corsair is on the launch pad. The official publication date is tomorrow. You can get it in hardcover, ebook, or audio book format. Whichever version you choose, you get an exciting and funny tale of piracy in space, all scientifically plausible. As a proper pirate story, it has buried treasure, battles at sea and in space, daring escapes, shifting allegiances, betrayal, and romance. Run up the Jolly Roger, brew up a tall Thai iced coffee and join Captain Black the Space Pirate in his quest to be Supreme Badass of Space! 

It's Science!

Chad Orzel has a neat article up at Forbes on science in science fiction. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'm linking it because he has some kind words for A Darkling Sea.

Avast! Ahoy! Arr!

Captain Black the Space Pirate is putting up recruiting posters because my Corsair is ready to sail! I just got my first author copy of the hardback and it looks great. The cover is all swirly outer-spacey, but inside the book is pure pirate adventure. The designer at Tor Books...

Congratulations 2015 Hugo Nominees!

As I do every year (when I remember), I'd like to congratulate the 2015 nominees for the Hugo Awards. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't wish my own name was among them. The winners will be announced at the World Science Fiction Convention in Spokane, Washington. Congratulations,...

Award Nomination!

No, not that one. This one: the Compton Crook Award for best first novel, bestowed by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at their annual convention Balticon. As one can see by the list of past winners, this is definitely an award of which it is true that it's an honor...

Morons With Bullhorns

A few days ago John Scalzi put up this blog post, commenting (in the usual tail-chasing fashion of the Internet) on someone else's Twitter comment about yet a third person's magazine article — all wrestling with the question of whether writers should or should not try to be apolitical. John...