Strange States

July 30, 2009

Oxford University physicists have created a brand new form of matter. Scientists claim to have created a form of aluminum that’s nearly transparent to extreme ultraviolet radiation and which is a new state of matter. It’s an idea straight out of science fiction, featured in the movie “Star Trek IV.” (Cuz there’s nothing like Trek […]

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Revisiting the Classics: Fahrenheit 451

July 30, 2009

I recently re-read Fahrenheit 451 for the first time since I was 14. I found the book full of surprises, in part because I retained more vivid memories of the Truffaut film, which I’ve seen multiple times, than of the novel, which I’d read only once, and long ago. The first thing that surprised me […]

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15 Books

July 28, 2009

Ish tagged me with the 15 Books meme, in which— quickly, and without giving it a lot of thought— you write down the top 15 books that will always stay with you. I’d like to start another meme, in which you actually think about this stuff before hurling a list before the public. Here’s the […]

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Movable Memoir

July 23, 2009

Scribner is about to release a revised, bowdlerized edition of Hemingway’s A Movable Feast. A Hemingway grandson has substantially revised the book, apparently to make his grandmother (aka Hemingway Wife #2) a more sympathetic character. He’s dropped the last chapter, which he claims was written by Mary (Hemingway Wife #4), stuck ten other chapters in […]

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My Fame Advances

July 22, 2009

The Review Fairy has been good to me this week.First, This Is Not a Game got a nice review in the Seattle Times. Fast-paced and with an immensely satisfying resolution, “This Is Not a Game” uses the latest true-to-life phenomenon of “Alternate Reality Games” to make its gripping story’s grasp tighter, more relentless, and one […]

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Gas Giant Smackdown!

July 21, 2009

A rogue object has collided with Jupiter!Wasn’t this how Greg Bear’s Forge of God started? Should we start saying goodbye to our loved ones now?

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Northrop Builds a Horten

July 21, 2009

Northrop has built a replica of the world’s first het-powered flying-wing stealth bomber, the Horten Ho 2-29. First built and tested in the air in March 1944, it was designed with a greater range and speed than any plane previously built and was the first aircraft to use the stealth technology now deployed by the […]

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Philosophers Needed: Apply NASA

July 19, 2009

. . . He was an engineer who until recently had been a NASA heat-shield specialist. A baffling wave of layoffs had begun, and his job was eliminated. It was so bad he was lucky to have gotten this stand-up Spielmeister gig on a tour bus. Neil Armstrong and his two crew mates, Buzz Aldrin […]

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And Speaking of Jack Vance . . . .

July 18, 2009

A new Dying Earth volume will be released any day now, a book that is not by Jack Vance but of Jack Vance. Songs of the Dying Earth is a collection of stories written in honor of Vance, by writers like Kage Baker, Tanith Lee, Mike Resnick, Dan Simmons, Robert Silverberg, and yours truly. It’s […]

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Corpse-Eating Robot

July 16, 2009

According to our friends at Fox News, a corpse-eating robot called EATR may roam the battlefields of the future . . . A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even […]

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