Under the Dome Coming in November

This is the second year in a row Stephen King is releasing a book just in time for my birthday, and I consider it to be one of the best gifts a girl could ever receive from one of her favorite authors!

Under the Dome, which may be over 1,500 pages, is supposed to revisit themes covered in The Stand—though, King says, more allegorically. It takes place in Chester’s Mill, Maine, a normal town that’s suddenly divided from the rest of the world with an invisible force field, for no apparent reason.

As families are separated, planes crash, and people are injured because of the sudden “drop” of the dome, readers will be introduced to what’s likely to be another team of unforgettable King characters. The cast is supposed to include a veteran of Iraq who is now a cook at a diner, a newspaper owner, a doctor’s assistant, a select woman and three “brave” kids. It sounds like the villain is going to be a politician who “wil stop at nothing—even murder—to hold the reins of power,” as well as the dome itself.

As soon as I heard about it, I couldn’t help but think of The Simpsons Movie. That said, I’m almost 100% positive that King’s book will not deal with an EPA invasion based on the feces contamination from Homer Simpson’s pig.

Though it hasn’t been released, King did allow author Dan Simmons to read the manuscript as a gift. Simmons said it’s “huge, generous, sprawling, infinitely energetic… absolutely enjoyable and impressive.”

That’s how I felt after reading It. I remember it like it was yesterday… I had strep throat, was out of school, and read it nonstop for three days, wide-eyed and terrified as Bill, Ben, Beverly and gang took on evil incarnate. Afterwards, I remember being scared of everything from sinks to refrigerators to the bathtub for at least a month.

I’m hoping for a possible repeat performance with Under the Dome—though I don’t quite have the luxury of spending three entire days reading as I once did. And although it’s really hard to wait, I always prefer the paperback version of books because I tend to bend the hell out of hardbacks and sort of destroy them.

Under the Dome is available for preorder now at Amazon.com. There are also supposed to be 25,000 Collector’s Edition copies and 1,500 Signed Editions published by Scribner, both featuring a different cover and a slipcase. 

Where I Write: Photographs of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors' Writing Spaces

Photographer Kyle Cassidy has been taking photographs of where Science Fiction and Fantasy authors write for Where I Write. The project started in 1988, when he saw where author Michael Swanwick wrote, and immediately wanted to photograph the "nest, made out of books" where multiple Hugo award winning author Swanwick wrote. According to Kyle Cassidy, Swanwick's response was positive:

"Of course," he said, "but not before I clean it up." I begged him not to but he replied "You can't stop me from doing it, nor will you be able to tell that I have."

I love the fact that Swanwick says that Cassidy won't be able to tell Swanwick has cleaned up; that's part of a personal work-space for a lot of people. They know where things are, even if the casual viewer doesn't. I love this project too— Kyle Cassidy has been accumulating photographs of SF and F writers in their writing spaces for a potential book. In the meantime, the photographs will be featured in Anticipation's (the 2009 World Con') program book.

These are lovely, fascinating photographs. I love that Joe Haldeman writes by lamplight; I love the fish-eye lens shot of where Chip Delany writes—now that's a nest of books. I'm struck, most of all, by how almost all of the writers are surrounded by books—books by themselves, books by others in the genre, and all sorts of other books—and other, fascinating things. Where and how we live says a lot about us; these photographs speak volumes. You can find some of Kyle Cassidy's other photography here; it's well worth a look.

This Gives "The Dark Side" New Meaning

The SyFy [sic] television network is demoing a new toaster at this years San Diego Comic-Con. You want be able to purchase it there, but you can purchase them at their online store—at $90.00 apiece, which, unless you're keeping in box as a collectors' item, strikes me as rather expensive. The Battlestar toaster is limited to 2,000 units. The toaster lights up while toasting, and produces toast with a Cylon on one side, and "Frak Off" on the other. The front of the toaster has a Cylon helmet-mask screen printed design, and the red LED "eye" lights up on the front of the toaster and moves across the helmet while engaged in, err, toasting.

Not to be outdone, Lucas Film is also unveiling their Darth Vader toaster; clad in "Darth black" plastic, the toaster burns an image of Darth's err, bust, onto a slice of toast; you can pre-order it online for a mere $54.99. While you're there, you might as well pick up a "Death Star" Cookie jar.

You know, I'm as rabid a fan as the next geek, but I'm now dreading a toaster that burns the "one ring" engraving in the Elvish script and the language of Mordor onto a piece of toast. If there is one already, please don't tell me; I really don't want to know.

 

Brightonomicon Review

If you like funny science fiction stories or stories with fantastical elements generously mixed in with comedic moments, characters and wordplay, then I suggest settling in to read this review. It is The Brightonomicon by Robert Rankin.

The Brightonomicon traces the footsteps of a mystery-solver and his assistant whilst sort out puzzling cases and save the world (and their neighboring suburbs in England) from various evils. All these cases are connected and are meant to help the main protagonists rid the world of the greatest villain it has ever seen.

So far, the story sound pretty standard, doesn't it? Some might even suggest that it is a bit cliché. Well, here's the bit I have been holding back until now. The detective in question is none other than Hugo Rune! Yes, those who are familiar with Rankin's work will be chuckling away by now. And guess what? The author has slotted him as the perfect parody of Sherlock Holmes. I don't know if he did that on purpose but the constant references to paper-throwing and consequential reading over breakfast does bring the duo into mind. Who plays Watson? I finally found out at the end of the book and unfortunately I can't give that away. Suffice it to say that it is a young bloke (called Rizla until the very end of the novel) who is suffering from amnesia and has a penchant for flapping him arms when he is scared. These two good albeit somewhat alcoholic fellows are striving to save us all from the devious Count Otto Black who in turn aims to steal a television that offers a glimpse into the past. The keyword here is a diabolical plan for world domination.

Robert Rankin's books make delightful reading for a number of reasons. For one thing, the characters are quirky, eccentric and a bit over the top. This is a refreshing change from the goody-two-shoes larger-than-life folks in most fantastical stories. But then, they do call this genre absurdist science fiction for a reason. One noteworthy character is Fangio, the bartender. Irrespective of the situation and location, he pops up wherever there is a bar or social event. And desperately vies for some 'on-screen' time which adds to the appeal.

What got me hooked was his British style humor. Think BBC stand-up comedy in the “Yes Prime Minister” and “A bit of Fry and Laurie” tradition. This will conjure up images of clever wordplay, innuendos and a bit of dirty jokes on the side. That's right, Rankin's got them all and then some.

My favorite was the heavy metal reference. Rizla and Rune trot off to a heavy metal gig to solve one of their weird little mysteries. Of course, Rune gets to dress up stylishly while Rizla, underdog that he is, ends up as cross-dressing. It all turns horribly wrong and yet, they accomplish a lot of their initial goals. Later on, Rizla wistfully thinks about the follies of the world, about the great evils that walk the Earth and how there must always be a Rune to save everyone. He thinks to himself, “That's how it is. Aah, it's sad but true.” Then quickly notes how that was also one of the songs he really liked from their Rock/Metal night.

2009 Locus Awards

Locus Magazine is the Publisher's Weekly of Science Fiction and Fantasy. For years, since 1971, Locus Magazine has awarded "Locus Awards" based on votes from their subscribers. This year's awards were presented on June 27th, at an awards banquet held in Seattle. The Locus Awards Finalists are listed here.

This is the first time since the award's been offered that I haven't already read all the books; I'm especially interested in the novels.

LeGuin's Lavinia from Harcourt won for Fantasy; it's a retelling, from the female point of view, of Virgil's Aeneid. It's been getting amazing reviews from some pretty surprising places. Neal Stephenson's Anathem, published by Atlantic UK/Morrow won for SF; it's a fourth volume that follows his "historical" Baroque trilogy; this one's SF though, with a sort of monastic college of scientists in the distant future and on a distant planet. It's another door-stop book, too. The First Novel award went to Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko; it was published by Tor, and Melko is a Viable Paradise workshop alum, which says something about the workshop.

The short fiction awards are a bit harder to track down; they're all listed on the Website I linked to, but they're often in short run magazines. The Editor award went to Ellen Datlow. Datlow is one of those names that I watch for on anthologies, or in terms of mythic fantasy. She's the editor responsible for amazing collections like The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales , The Faery Reel: Tales From the Twilight Realm , and The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, (all three co-edited with Terri Windling, another favorite editor). I'll buy something just because Datlow edited it. Tor won for publisher. I'm particularly delighted to see Tor nominated for the Publisher award; Tor is, hands down, my favorite SF and Fantasy publisher, and one of my favorite publishers, period. I learned in the first year of Tor's existence to watch for their logo on the spines of books. They've got not only a crackerjack group of editors; they still design their books, from covers to page layout.

You might be interested in the 2009 Locus Award Finalists, which are listed here. I think the decisions had to have been particularly difficult this year. Looking at the Finalists for novels, I'm looking forward to reading McKillip's novel The Bell At Sealy Head, and Stross' Saturn's Children, neither of which I've had a chance to read. I note that Stephenson's Anthem, and Stross' Saturn's Children are both on the Hugo Awards ballot, as is Bear's novelette "Shoggoths in Bloom," one of the Locus Award finalists for novelette. The Hugos are voted on by World Con members, and the results will be released at Anticipation in Montreal this August. It's always interesting to compare the Hugos, the Locus Awards, and the Nebula awards.

Mile-Wide UFO Sighted

Do you believe in UFOs? Though I’ve never seen one myself, I’ve always thought it to be a rather arrogant view to think that we’re the only beings in an entire universe that we have barely even begun to explore. My father and sister swear they’ve seen one, and given the hundreds of thousands of other people who have said the same, I think it’s a highly plausible claim.

A UFO about a mile wide was recently spotted by two separate aircrafts flying over the Channel Islands. Both crews and passengers report seeing the object. It’s one of the largest UFOs ever seen.

Ray Bower, 50, captain of the Aurigny Airlines flight, said that the UFO looked like “a cigar-shaped brilliant bright light.” He went on to say “It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area.”

The object is said to have been about 2,000 feet up off the ground. It was not moving, stationed 40 miles away from the flight. Bower said that at first, it seemed about the size of a Boeing 737; later, he realized that to be as far away as it was, it would have to have been about a mile wide.

Bower also said that he’d never seen anything like it in all of his years flying. Moments later, Bower spotted a similar object to the west of the first one.

An official air-miss report was filed on the incident, though parts of the report have not been made public.

So what do you think? Is this the real deal? With so many witnesses, it had to be something.

Here are some fun UFO facts to get your Monday off on a freaky foot:

  • Unlike many strange somethings, UFOs are pretty universal. They’re spotted all over the world.
  • A sighting happens every three minutes. At this rate, we’ll be able to start hopping on board all of these UFOs and take vacations with whomever’s driving them. Europa, here we come!
  • Also unlike a lot of other mysterious phenomena, UFO sightings are often accompanied by a photo, providing further proof of their existence.
  • There was actually a UFO sighting in the Bible! It’s even considered the first recorded sighting. According to the prophet Ezekiel, there was a “great cloud with fire enfolding itself, a wheel in the middle of a wheel that descended and fired lightening bolts into the earth.” War of the Worlds, anyone?
  • I can’t even believe this one myself, but according to a 1991 Roper poll, 4 million Americans think they’ve been abducted! That is a heckuva lot of abductions. You’d think we’d start missing people now and again…
  • If you think your Uncle Ralph (or my dad) isn’t such a reliable source, consider that both Alexander Hamilton (in 1897) and Winston Churchill (in 1912) both claimed to have seen some kind of unidentified airship. In Hamilton’s case, the UFO was kidnapping a cow! Maybe South Park was onto something? Churchill’s report is considered to be the first official UFO report.

Kid Hit By Meteor Lives to Tell the Tale

Most parents tell their children that they’re one in a million—and they are, at least, to their parents. But 14-year-old Gerrit Blank of Essen, Germany is the real deal. Gerrit was hit by a falling meteorite and did not die—a chance of one in a million.

The pea-sized rock was burning hot and hurdled straight from space right onto Gerrit’s hand, where it proceeded to bounce off onto the ground—creating a foot-wide crater. Luckily, Gerrit did not suffer the same fate as the ground, but was left with a scar three inches long.

Gerrit said that after he was hit, he suddenly felt intense pain followed by a bang of a sound, like thunder—which caused his ears to ring for hours afterward.

It’s definitely not a teenage prank, either: scientists have proven that it’s from outer space through chemical testing.

The only other person known to survive a meteor hit wasn’t really even hit by a meteor; in 1954, a sleeping woman was hit by the rock’s ricochet in Alabama.

Sort of makes you think about the whole “being killed by a penny being thrown off the Empire State Building” theory all over again, doesn’t it?

 

Asimov's Laws of Robotics - Useful or Not?

Gizmodo has a funny article discussing Asimov's three laws of robotics, which is partly tongue-in-cheek, but raises some interesting questions.

We can tell that Asimov's laws were silly and ineffective, because his books hinged on one or more of the Three Laws being misused or loopholed into uselessness.   In a way, his robot novels relied on playing a trick upon the reader: the reader has to believe that the Three Laws are correct and complete, otherwise there is no "Aha!" when the plot unfolds as it must.  He did this so successfully that even now many people believe the Three Laws are right.  Even though the entire point of the Three Laws was that they never worked! 

Golf clap to Asimov.

The bigger issue here is that we have no plausible way to program robots to never do the wrong thing.  We can't even get our own morality right, so how could we possibly instill it into a robot?  For example, the Ten Commandments could be said to be humanity's analogue to the Three Laws.  And aside from the fact that we're often breaking those rules for the wrong reasons, sometimes we decide to break them for the right reasons.

"Thou shalt not kill" is at the top of the list, which is all well and good.  We might even want to put it at the top of the robots' list, too.  However, we often decide that it is correct to kill another person.  There are many circumstances under which one person is allowed to kill another.  Informally, you are allowed to kill someone who breaks into your home and attacks you.  Formally, you are allowed to kill people if you are in the military, as long as you stick to killing the right people (i.e. the enemy).  At the societal level, we kill prisoners who have committed offenses grave enough to warrant death, although the topic of capital punishment has always been (and will always be) the subject of great debate even as we practice it.

How can you possibly encapsulate this complicated set of rules and contexts into a few lines of programming?  "Thou shalt not kill, unless your own life is in danger, or a government entity has given you orders, or legally we decide that someone should be put to death"?  It wouldn't be possible to prevent all the loopholes which could arise.  We can tell this already, because we ourselves use loopholes to contravene any and all of these rules.

The sad truth is that we have no effective way to prevent a Terminator future.  If artificial intelligence is inevitable - as many people believe it is - then we may well be screwed.  Even if you designed an AI to adhere to the rules, if you locked it down so that it couldn't simply ignore them (the way that we often do), Asimov has amply demonstrated that the rules can still be broken. 

It may be true that any possible robotics rules can ALWAYS be broken.  In which case, Bender has a proposition for you!

Star Trek Burger King Tie-Ins

I'm so deeply ashamed. OK; not really, but as excited as I am about the new Star

Trek movie—which my friends who have seen it are saying is definitely worth the wait—my Trek geek soul is absolutely determined to get all four of Burger King's tie-in glasses. In case you haven't seen them, they are genuine glasses, a set of four, for $1.99 each. They're beer-sized, which of course, makes them even better. The four glasses have etched color art all around, and feature Kirk/Enterprise, Uhura/Enterprise, Nero/Narada, and Spock/Original Spock with Jellfish Ship. They're sold in decorative card board boxes, which means, yes, buying at least one set to store. You don't want to know what I made last year by selling my set of Star Wars Burger King glasses from 1977. And, by the way, if you look around you can probably find left over Romulan Ale from the Las Vegas Star Trek Experience for sale.

There are toys, too; sixteen, four a week for four weeks, available as part of the kid's meal. Eight of them are oddly distorted characters, eight are ships and devices, and yeah, of course I want the Communicator! They have sound effects, too. You can see the glasses, and the toys, and hear the sound effects, here. I've linked to the Burger King commercial below. The commercial is one of the dorkiest I've ever seen, but the glasses are sweet.

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