Edward M. Lerner's Blog: SF and Nonsense, page 48

A note to my UK readers ... kindling

For the longest time, my Fleet of Worlds series novels (with Larry Niven) have been unavailable in the UK for download to the Kindle. I won't bore you with why, but that's changing.

Now available for the Kindle at amazon.co.uk:
Fleet of Worlds   Juggler of Worlds Destroyer of Worlds .

And Coming Real Soon (honest):
Betrayer of WorldsFate of Worlds (fifth and final book of the series)I'll update this post when the final two books are re-released.

(If this was all Greek to you, click any series co...

The listing list o' lists

Ah, year's end ... the season of retrospection. Who am I to fight tradition? (Well, a non-traditionalist, that's who. Nevertheless, I shall indulge :-)  )

Happier if you don't know?Let's begin with "The Most Disappointing Movies of 2012," many of them SF or fantasy. From those that I've seen, I have to agree with the "disappointing" characterization. (Still, John Carter wasn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. What a shame that this movie was considered derivative when so many of t...

Stars for the holidays

This being an SFnal blog and Christmas being almost upon us, what could be apter than a plug for Arthur C. Clarke's excellent short story "The Star"? If you haven't encountered it ... check it out. (Read the story before looking it up on the Wikipedia. The summary has a spoiler.)

Alpha CentauriAnd that sorta, kinda begs the question: what's new in astronomy? I'm glad you asked!

For one, next-door neighbor Alpha Centauri is now known to have a planet! See "Earth-Size Planet Closest to Our Solar...

That's entertainment! / Books for the holidays

Many posts here at SF and Nonsense deal with science fiction. Some of the most viewed and commented-upon posts are about specific SF books. The odds are therefore good that you, Esteemed Visitor, are an SF reader.

I write SF for a living. Good friends do, too. Other good friends write in the evenings and on weekends, eagerly anticipating the day when they can also write full-time. All of which is to say, we and our colleagues produce the entertainment I have reason to believe that you enjoy.

S...

Move along, folks ...

Nothing to see here. Not this week. Nothing new, in any case. (But don't be shy. Check out the vintage stuff.)

Why this non-post? Life and deadlines intrude. Nothing bad, just stuff -- and stuffing -- that needs my attention. Yesterday, most of it.

Next week, after I'm recovered from the tryptophan coma (cue Ah-nold) ... I'll be back.

Happy Turkey Day!======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"

Time out(s)

I've opined on this blog that time travel is a science-fictional trope -- but that doesn't mean I disapprove. Tropes endure in literature (and not only in SF) because they support great storytelling. And so, on occasion, I indulge ...

If you visit here from an interest in my SF writing -- or if you're curious about it -- I thought I'd mention my new time-travel novella. (A few years ago I did a time-travel novel: Countdown to Armageddon .  Before that, my time-travel short story "Grandpa?"...

While we wait ...

A very consequential election. The ongoing Superstorm Sandy mess/clean-up in the Northeast (with a nor'easter en route). Though today is my weekly day to post, my mind isn't on blogging -- and I believe that's understandable.

Sharing thought-provoking (or offbeat) science, technology, and SF items from my grab bag won't demand much concentration on my part (kinda essential today) and they may divert you.

Remember last year's tsunami in Japan? It caused shutdowns at, and radiation releases (bu...

As I was saying ...

Several weeks ago I recorded two interviews, one on radio and a second on TV. Both interviews are now streamable.

On the radio program Cover to Cover Book Beat, Larry Niven and I discuss Fate of Worlds (and, to some degree, the entire Fleet of Worlds series).

On cable TV, Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction interviewed me about both Energized and Fate of Worlds.



Although I usually post on Tuesdays, I'm posting this today lest I have a Frankenstorm blackout or comm outage. Wish me luck....

Of cyber stalking and cyberwar

Let's begin with the snitch in our pockets. Consider that:

There was an interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times ... that argued that we should begin calling our cell phones by a more accurate descriptive name, e.g., our personal “tracker.” The piece argues that the purpose of cell phones is increasingly less about servicing the communication needs of their owners, and increasing more about gathering data about their users’ activities to be analyzed by third parties, commercial and gover...

Taking the long view

Security lapses long predate computers. Your list of favorite breaches may differ, but DeVry University nonetheless came up with an interesting set (seemingly in the belief history began around 1600). See "Top Information Security Breaches in History."

Meanwhile, the slow, painful, embarrassing celebration of America's retreat from manned spaceflight continues with one shuttle's hours-per mile crawl through urban streets. Maneuvering past the pine trees ... how's that for space-age ambition? S...