John C. Wright's Blog, page 206

Best Endings in Science Fiction/Fantasy

John Ottinger III of Grasping for the Wind has asked several authors for their favorite SF endings. By no coincidence, John De Nardo over at SfSignal asked about both the best and the worst endings.

Well, clearly there is a trend. Since my name is John, I also must answer the question.
My favorite endings in books come from a list a little different from what the worthies named above listed. This could be due to age, or taste, or some other factor. Maybe I have a penchant for surprise endings...

Book Review: Story of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

I found to my surprise that I never posted by Amazon.com review of Ted Chiang's brilliant (but to my taste too nihilistic) STORY OF YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS here on my livejournal. Let me rectify that oversight at once.
(WARNING! I am a science-fiction writer in economic competition with Mr. Chiang. All my gripes must be taken with a grain of salt.)
Eight well-crafted stories with engaging and interesting ideas are marred by weak endings. Each story ends with tepid pessimism.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.

Next we will Rescue Cavor from the Kalkars of Sulva!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6564304/Nasas-LCROSS-mission-proves-once-and-for-all-there-is-water-on-the-Moon.html

I love this headline:

Nasa's LCROSS mission proves once and for all there is water on the Moon. A new chapter in space exploration has been opened up after Nasa confirmed that their mission to bomb the Moon had found "significant quantities" of frozen water.
Any headline that contains the phrase "NASA confirmed their mission to BOMB THE MOON had found..." is a winner.

Wh...

The Extreme Folly and the Extreme Unction of the West

First, let me recommend two articles:
An article by historian Victor Davis Hanson pointing out that the Fort Hood shooting was a terrorist act following a pattern of terrorist acts. He note the absurdity, if not insanity of public figures denying the obvious link between Muslims and Muslim violence.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDM4YWY3NmRlNWQ4OTFhNWYxZTE3ZDdlNzdhM2I0ZGU=

An article by historian Fabio Paolo Barbieri offering an explanation as to why public figures say things that...

Wright's Writing Corner: Crosspost

This is John and I really do talk in this fake deep voice...

Okay, this is not John. John is asleep, having written all night on his latest Work In Progress (he has today off.)

Here's a crosspost for my latest Wright's Writing Corner. There is also a guest article here.

Hope you are all doing well,

Mrs. John C. Wright

Built a Time Machine to Kill Hitler

Evidence to all would-be science fiction writers that one does not need big budgets, more than one location, or more than simple character development to write a witty tale. I am going back into the past to show myself this video, so that I, rather than Robert Heinlein can write BY HIS BOOSTRAPS.

A single note of defiance

This is just a short note to the world at large: be it known that I have purchased, despite the extreme poverty that my recent voyage across the world imposed on my budget, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF MIND-BLOWING SF (Mike Ashley, editor).

Since I am a Null-A trained Houyhnhnm from planet Vulcan, I am (of course!) a being of pure logic unmoved by any passions or emotions, but from time to time one simply must make a gesture, no matter how small, to oppose the Dark Lord, even if that gesture is only s...

Awkward, clumsy, or misshapen, or dark, unremittingly violent

A quote from ON FAIRY STORIES, an essay by professor J.R.R. Tolkien:

We may indeed be older now, in so far as we are heirs in enjoyment or in practice of many generations of ancestors in the arts. In this inheritance of wealth there may be a danger of boredom or of anxiety to be original, and that may lead to a distaste for fine drawing, delicate pattern, and “pretty” colours, or else to mere manipulation and over-elaboration of old material, clever and heartless. But the true road of escape ...

May Green Be With You!

Only posting a link!
Belief in Climate Change given the same legal status as Religious Faith in GB.

Mr Nicholson, 42, from Oxford, told a previous hearing that his views were so strong that he refused to travel by air ...

The grounds for Mr Nicholson's case stem from changes to employment law made by Baroness Scotland, the Attorney General, in the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003.

The regulations effectively broaden the protection to cover not just...

Music from Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla - Miyarabi's Prayer.

I was going through my Mechagodzilla music collection, and came across this gem. Allow me to sum up the action so far: cute Japanese woman is singing a J-Pop tune to a giant sleeping doggy-ape thing-monster, (whose name is Shisa or Caesar or something) which is our only hope against the mind-numbing gut-crunching terror of Mechagodzilla, who is like Godzilla, only, you know, wearing Mobile Infantry Power Armor, or something.

It seems that the Azumi Clan has had this giant ...