Alan Baxter's Blog, page 137

Asimov’s Robot Laws are bullshit

You may remember a little while ago I posted a video link of Isaac Asimov listing his three Robot Laws. An interesting discussion followed in the comments on that post.

I’ve just come across this article on Gizmodo that posits that those Laws are, in fact, utter bullshit. Some interesting points are raised, but I think the author over there is missing the point between mechanical tools and actual robots with AI, which is more what Asimov was referring to. Of course, that’s a whole new can of worm

The posts that never die

Sometimes you write a blog post and get the feeling that not a single soul ever read it. Other times you write something and it sets a fire under someone. This has happened recently. I don’t know how many of you go back and check old posts for new comments - my guess is none of you.

So I thought I’d bring this to your attention. Back at the end of December last year I wrote a post about the bizarre rise of “Real Life Superheroes”. It was a small and innocuous post, mainly taking the piss out of a

Avoid the old cliches and let originality shine

Too often in fiction writing, especially short fiction, tired old ideas get recycled more often than grandad’s underpants when nanna goes on a coach trip. We’ve all heard the old, “And then he woke up and it was all a dream” example. That’s probably the most famous of the overused tropes and I fervently hope that no-one beyond grade 3 ever uses it again.

But there are a lot more tired old ideas that many people seem to think are still valid. You can take an old idea and put a new spin on it, but

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks - Review

I’ve just finished reading this series of books and thought I might write a brief review of it. I’m going to try to review all the books I read and movies I see from now on, with a view to sharing stories with you all.

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks is a set of three (obviously) quite hefty books: The Way Of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge and Beyond The Shadows.

This is the first fantasy series that I’ve read in a long time and it was something I picked up completely on a whim. I was in a mall w

Wolverine explained

After my recent review of the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, which upset a few Wolverine fans, I thought I might set the record straight a bit with this short video. It does an excellent job of reviewing the movie:

Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Man, I’m still laughing at this one.

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Short fiction submissions - the ongoing saga

I was talking here last month about the burden of rejection. I thought I might follow up a bit on that with a quick roundup of what I have out there in the slush piles at the moment and keep you all updated on the rejections and sales as they come along.

I love writing short stories and I love reading them. I’m always going to write them and try to get them published, regardless of my actual success rate. But on going through my list today to see what was where, I thought I might start sharing so

Star Trek - The Reboot - Review

I am a total nerd for Star Trek. There, I said it and I’m not ashamed of it. I’ve loved every incarnation of Star Trek since I was a little pup and even the crappy ones are enjoyable on some level. (I also love Star Wars and don’t believe in all that “You’re either a Star Wars fan or a Star Trek fan” bollocks. I dig them both equally.)

So I was full of nerdy excitement and trepidation about this new movie. They planned to reboot the entire franchise and start the story anew, from James T Kirk’s f

Palindrome poem

A little while back I posted this video, which plays a very clever game with words. Reading that caused regular reader and all round IT guru here at The Word, James Frost, to seek out others like it. He came up with this, which is, quite frankly, a brilliant example of wordsmithery.

Doppelganger by James A. Lindon (copied from Hunting The Muse)

Entering the lonely house with my wife
I saw him for the first time
Peering furtively from behind a bush –
Blackness that moved,
A shape amid the shadows,
A mom

Online Book Tour - Shadows by Joan De La Haye

I’m very pleased to be a part of this event. Online book tours are becoming a very popular method of getting the word out about new books. (I’ll be organising one myself soon for RealmShift and MageSign.)

However, this particular tour is all about the book Shadows by Joan De La Haye. Joan is stopping by a variety of blogs, which is what makes it a book tour, talking about all sorts of things relevant to herself and her writing. For her stop here, Joan and I decided to have a conversation about de

May The 4th Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day everybody - May The 4th Be With You.

(International time zone disclaimer: Due to US software and international time zones, this post will probably be dated May 3rd, but it’s the morning of May 4th here in Sydney as I write this.)