Alan Baxter's Blog, page 100

A bit of geeky fun for the Battlestar Galactica fans

I was reading the paper over the weekend and this story caught my eye. The story is basically about a plan to start coal seam gas drilling and there's controversy because it's going to be near the Warragamba dam, which holds a lot of Sydney's drinking water. The controversy comes from the fact that the company plans to use "the fracking technique."

Fracking, apparently, is hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to shatter rock...

While you wait for book three, authors die!

The title of this post is slightly sensationalist, but in a literary sense it's actually very true. I mentioned recently that I've finally started reading A Game Of Thrones, which is the first book in George R R Martin's A Song Of Ice & Fire series. This comment lead to a few discussions in various places that has subsequently lead to this post.

When I mentioned that I was finally getting around to reading A Game Of Thrones a lot of people assumed that also meant that I'd only just bought it. ...

Starfish by Peter Watts – review

When I posted my review of Raft yesterday I realised that I hadn't written a review of the book I'd read before it, which was Starfish by Peter Watts. You'll remember that I've talked about Peter a bit here recently, and you'll probably remember the picture of me pretending his Hugo award was my own. I had the pleasure of hanging out with him a bit during Worldcon, and felt that I should read some of his work. There are so many people out there writing amazing things and I wish I had the...

Raft by Stephen Baxter – review

I don't read an awful lot of hard science fiction, but do occasionally get the urge. I love Iain M Banks' work, but I wouldn't classify that as especially hard or sciencey. It's just awesome, and usually as hard as I like it (oo-er, Mrs). But now and then I like to read something by someone with real science chops, like Alistair Reynolds or Greg Egan. I'd never read anything by my namesake, Stephen Baxter (no relation), so when a friend was selling some books on the cheap recently, I...

Aussiecon4 / Worldcon link salad

I know I said before that I'd done my last Aussiecon4 post. I'm just going to stop saying it now. I'm worse than John Farnham on his last ever tour ever honestly this time, there'll be no more. Till next time. Anyway, this post is not so much from me, but just to direct you to a truly awesome list of links for all things Aussiecon4/Worldcon. @illegiscrib on Twitter compiled this list of everything you could imagine – blog posts, photos, podcasts, audio, video and more from the con. There's...

Language, please don't abuse it

I'm a stickler for getting things right. We all make mistakes, we're only human, but some things are not mistakes. They're ignorance. One of the most pervasive forms of ignorance, and one that really bothers me as a writer, is the incorrect use of language. The other day I was having a conversation with someone online. I won't go into details about who it was or the exact subject of the conversation, but they hit me with this line:

"Irregardless, I could care less."

I nearly had an aneurism. I ...

The dangers of online translators

Danger or poetry? This is absolute gold. Cat Sparks emailed me this from the LikeItHateIt website. It's a Portuguese menu with English "translation" that has ended up being a work of art. Some of the translations are just awesome. Among my favourites are:

Clams in the manner of the ever-fighting duck

Grilled codfish with punch violent

Bastard's lamprey rice done in the manner of between rivers

Jumping clitoris

My grandmother is delightful as a cake

And the final recommendation:

"With the meal, we...

No really, the last Aussiecon post

I know I said last post that all those pictures would make my last Aussiecon4/Worldcon post. Apparently I lied. Felicity Dowker kindly pointed out to me that the Novella panel I was on with Robert Silverberg, Peter M Ball and Keith Stevenson has been immortalised on YouTube. Not the whole thing, but a roughly 9 minute chunk from the middle of the panel. It's a good clip and captured some of the most interesting stuff that Robert Silverberg had to say. I'll embed it here for your viewing...

Aussiecon4 photos – last post

I was planning to post a lot more about the recent Worldcon, but time slips away like a banana skin in a prat fall. Rather than keep posting things weeks and months after the event (especially as so many others have so ably blogged all about it), I thought I'd just make a last post with some photos. Some of these shots you'll have seen in previous posts, but they're all photos that make me smile and give me fond memories of the con. I'd love to credit everyone that took them, but I can't – I ...

Top Ten Fictional Characters

I got to thinking about this and, of course, this is my personal top 10. I wouldn't be so presumptive as to list a definitive top 10 of fictional characters, as everyone will have a different idea of what makes a character memorable. Shit, my own top 10 will change within minutes of me posting this, I expect. Please leave your suggestions in the comments, as I'd love to hear what other people rate as top characters.

I decided to list my Top 10 Fictional Characters after a conversation I had...