Tassie Dave’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2011)

Tassie Dave’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

John (Taloni) wrote: "where conservatives led to collapse of civilization. Altho, this isn't even near the top - that has to be Titan by Stephen Baxter, where the mere election of a Republican US President leads to the extinction of all life on Earth. Because, well, of course it would!."

I don't find either scenario implausible. POTUS is one of 3 people in the world with the power to end life on earth as we know it.

and 2 of those leaders are to the far-left of politics. So it's not just the right.

I would hate to live in a world with a Trump-like (if not actual) POTUS with a more virulent pandemic and/or with China and Russia rattling their sabres more vigorously than they are now.

I know it's not just the conservatives, who are for the most part decent human beings. But there is a section of the conservatives (the far-right), worldwide, that have become anti-science and anti-LGBTQI.

Even this week there was a far-right US conservative commentator (Candace Owens) suggesting that the US may need to send troops to invade Australia to "free" us from our tyrannical leaders. All because we close state borders and impose restrictions to contain covid-19. Candace rightly got panned by aussies, who, mostly, support our politicians on their covid rules.

BTW for context, I am further to the left than most when it comes to politics, being a socialist. I don't even think of the US Democrats as being a left party. At best they are a Centrist party.

Alastair did write a blog on his reasons for changing the title.

http://approachingpavonis.blogspot.co...

"While my editor and I were discussing title options for this new novel (Elysium Fire), none of which seemed to follow on organically from the first, I made the not entirely flippant suggestion that, given the chance, I would jump at the opportunity to retitle The Prefect. Although I still liked the book, over the ensuing decade I'd come to feel that it was one of my weaker titles and was particularly problematic from the standpoint of establishing the idea of the Panoply stories forming a sort of universe within a universe. So, once we had begun to settle on a title for the new book, thoughts turned to the possibility of a fresh identity for the older one, ....

Obviously I am keen that no one should mistake this for a new novel, so the intention at the moment is that the original title will feature prominently as part of the description on the rear cover (this will be a paperback reissue) while the front cover will have a removable sticker clearly identifying the nature of the book. Online descriptions will also strive to make it clear that this is not an original work, and I'll aim to get the word out at all opportunities between now and the re-issue. "

BTW this book is our 150th Official book pick.

Yep, definitely an alt-pick and discussed on multiple shows while we read it. I quite enjoyed it.

It had many discussion threads. They have all been grouped into the 2011 page by Rob.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Here is the Final impressions thread:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I wonder if the series will address China when it gets further along.

It has been all tension, fighting and Cold War with only Russia so far.

With Seasons 1 & 2 covering the years 1969 to 1983, that makes sense. But with Season 3 looking like jumping ahead to 1995, China could start being a factor.

To keep this on topic ;-) , still loving Foundation 3 episodes in.

For All Mankind is great. It does start out a bit slow, but it does ramp up the action and Season 2 is fantastic.

I'm excited for where they are going in Season 3.

For All Mankind's alternate history of where NASA progresses to in space is what us space nerds were hoping for in the late 60s/ early 70s. Imagine if all the money that was wasted in meaningless wars was spent on science and space exploration.

We shouldn't be getting excited about William Shatner barely (if actually) leaving Earth. We should have seen boots on Mars by now.

A bit late to the party, but Foundation is much better than I thought it was going to be.

It may be enough to keep me paying for AppleTV+.

I would rate it as my 3rd favourite Apple TV show behind "For All Mankind" and "Ted Lasso"

Trike wrote: "I don’t see anything about this other than subscribers will have to use their Amazon login to access the app."

I've been using my Amazon login on Comixology and to pay for comics there for several years.

Comixology needed an update. I will wait and see how it turns out before I think it was an improvement or not.

I've already read it and I really enjoyed it. I rated it 4 Stars.

Yeah, the link works for me now. Weird.

Thomas wrote: "Good-looking new bundle at StoryBundle: The SFWA Magic and Mayhem Bundle - Curated by the Self-Publishing Committee of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)."

https://storybundle.com/fantasy

Trike wrote: "MCU around the house."

Your link doesn't go anywhere Trike.

"Sorry, this page isn't available.
The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed."

Iain wrote: "In the end a worthwhile read that could have been 200 pages shorter and had more impact."

Something his dad is also guilty of. Both need strict editors.

We all know FTL and backward time travel aren't possible, but we allow the author to bend the Laws of Physics and suspend our disbelief for the sake of the story.

FTL and forward time travel (faster than 1 second per second) are possible under relativity.

But when you get into mental powers and inventing Physics you are moving firmly into magic territory which is Fantasy.

Things get blurry at the edge between Sci-Fi and Fantasy and we all have our limits.

For me everything that is supernatural, paranormal, involves gods & demons or other religious miracles is firmly in the Fantasy genre.

Rob wrote: "Woo. Saga is coming back soon!

https://gizmodo.com/saga-is-making-a-..."

Woot.

This has made my day. Though we still have 3 months to wait.

Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "I still tend to think of mental powers as more of a sci-fi thing"

How? Mental powers don't exist in the real world 🤔

Once you get into paranormal and supernatural, you're in Fantasy territory.

Tamahome wrote: "That doodle behind Veronica is a message from the aliens in Arrival."

or a very advanced 10 month old 😉

I would still class NOS4R2 as Fantasy.

We have read several other books that fit the Horror genre.

Lovecraft Country (Fantasy/Horror)
Frankenstein:, (Sci-Fi/Horror)
Annihilation (Sci-Fi/Horror)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Sci-Fi/Horror)

Black Leopard, Red Wolf had its Horror moments.

Personally, I found BLRW and Annihilation to be more horrific and creepier than NOS4R2.

As far as non-Sci-fi/Fantasy, I would put Rule 34 and Reamde as more thrillers with a bit of real world cyberpunk

The latest research I've been reading, has anthropologists starting to lean towards the Americas being settled in the previous ice retreat (24,000 years ago) which makes sense. The current Theory does have extinctions of species in the Americas, and the spread of humans throughout the Americas happening at an accelerated pace. Add and extra 10,000 years and it seems more logical.

I agree that the science is still out about how our ancestors replaced the Neanderthals and Denisovans. That why I worded it as I did (ousting and displacing instead of killing) But the fact that most of us with European ancestry also have Neanderthal DNA isn't necessarily evidence that it was a peaceful meeting and blending of peoples.

It would be better if you could buy digital content from inside the Kindle & Comixology apps on an iPad.

But it is still easy to get the content. Leaving the app and going to the store through a browser takes a few seconds (if you plan ahead)

What I do is make a short cut to the Kindle store and sit it next to the Kindle app.. The same with the Comixology store and the Comixology app.