Strange days indeed.

Sometimes the Space Channel has some odd choices. One wonders "And what does that have to do with sci-fi, or even space?

- Laurie Smith, 2007 blog comment.

Oh Space, Space - why do you vex me so?

No, seriously, what were you thinking?  Today's lineup was one of the most marginal science fiction lineups you've ever programmed.  Okay, it doesn't include Jaws, but it's about on a par in terms of wondering what went wrong.

Let's look at the list, in no particular order:  Executive Action - fail, it's an action film.  Under Siege, ditto.  Under Siege II - see comment re: Under Siege.  The A-Team - already covered the last time you programmed it under the mistaken impression that it was science fiction (or maybe fantasy).  Face/Off - actually marginally science fiction, thank you.  Crank?  Hmmm....I'm going to go with action film again.  The Expendables - action film.  Expendables II...anyone in the audience?  Please, don't answer all at once - yes, thank you, action film.  Looper - FINALLY, an acceptable little time travel movie, which presumably made the program list because of Bruce Willis.

And the weird thing is that the rest of the week, before and after, is pretty good in terms of suitable selections - what happened today? 

For New Year's 2007, you showed Strange Days, a quirky but well done science fiction film whose pivotal action actually takes place on December 31st - why not make that a yearly tradition?  In fact, why not program the whole day with quirky little films, all of the wonderfully unique off-the-beaten-path movies* like Strange Days:  Dark City, The Zero Theorem, Code 46, Immortal, The Quiet Earth, Altered States, Solaris, Wizards, The Fountain  - have I got a full day yet?  Brazil, Soldier, Sunshine, Monsters - that should do it for a full programming day, one that might well attract some positive feedback from the critics. 

Admittedly, this isn't a list of movies that's going to attract the attention of the cool kids, but let's face it, the people who are watching Space on New Year's Eve are probably not the cool kids anyway.

Regardless - happy New Year, everyone!  One more step into the future...

- Sid

* This entire list is taken from two or three shelves of my DVD collection, and you know, "wonderfully unique off-the-beaten-path" actually covers quite a wide selection of science fiction movies - if not all of them.

Saint Nicholas?

There's a horror movie named Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everybody keeps invading you. 

The Doctor, Last Christmas

Christmas is a time of traditions, and as such I feel obliged to follow the Infinite Revolution tradition of posting a brief review of the Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Over time (no pun intended) I've found the holiday episodes of Doctor Who to be a bit uneven, with last year's offering quite definitely scoring as one of the less impressive samples. However, this year's special redeemed the shortcomings of Matt Smith's disappointing final episode.

Last Christmas offers a well-written scenario which prominently features Santa Claus, elves, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and alien monsters, and then cleverly integrates them all into the story in a logical, reasonable fashion which makes perfect sense in the context of the plot.*  This qualifies as good science fiction by my definition, in that it creates what seems to be an irrational situation and then explains it in a completely rational manner** without ever breaking the rules created by the storyline.

Last Christmas pays homage to several classic films, to the point of even listing them on screen for the less observant or knowledgeable members of the audience.  (If you're curious, yes, apparently Dave is forgiven.) To be fair, number five on that list should probably be Inception, but it may be that they were less eager to point out that particular influence.***

The episode also resolves the question of Clara Oswald's continued involvement (or not) with the Doctor, and manages to gracefully break the barriers to that involvement that were created in the final episode of Season 8.  Ultimately though, the episode's greatest achievement is in casting.  I mean, seriously, how can you go wrong by choosing an actor named Nick Frost to play Santa Claus?

Merry Christmas to all - once again, we're half way out of the dark.

- Sid

* In acknowledgement of previous complaints by my sister Dorothy, no spoilers here.

** Well, to be truthful, that's a bit strong.  It's not completely logical, but by Doctor Who standards it's pretty good.

*** That being said, series producer and writer Steven Moffat had damn well better not end the next season by announcing that it was all a dream, that will NOT go well for him.

Geekmas III: One to beam up, Scotty.

Pop quiz:  what makes for a good seasonal gift?

Well, it's not a bad thing if it's practical, but it can also be frivolous and entertaining, and obviously it should somehow be related to the recipient's interests. On that basis, I have to give my friend Colin full points for his choice of a Christmas gift this year:  the Star Trek Transporter Shower Curtain and Bath Mat combination.

It fits all the criteria - it's both practical and frivolous, it certainly reflects my interests, and it makes a decorative replacement for my previous plain white shower curtain, tying in nicely with my desire to come out of the geek closet.

I've seen Starfleet towels somewhere on line as well...hmmm...and, when you think about it, having a Star Trek themed bathroom would certainly put a different spin on the whole "to boldly go" thing.

Thanks, Colin!

- Sid

Geekmas II: Gimcrackery.

Every year my department at work has a pot luck luncheon combined with a Secret Santa gift exchange. One of my co-workers is very much a Christmas person, and as such invests a lot of time and effort* into decorating our boardroom and arranging the Secret Santa draw and so on. However, this year there was some discussion about the continuation of the Secret Santa tradition.  As someone quite accurately pointed out, “We’re all adults who make a reasonable wage, we can buy ourselves a $25 bottle of wine if we want to.”

The sad truth behind their observation is that it can be very difficult to buy a small gift for someone that you only know through work, which leads a lot of people to fall back on alcohol, the gift that keeps on giving.  I've been quite fortunate - my public reputation as a geek has done quite well by me with Secret Santa, as I’ve pointed out in previous postings.  This is the first year that I’ve received anything close to a duplicate of an existing possession – I received another figure from the CubeBot line – but that was followed up today by what I assume to have been the contents of a late-arriving parcel.   Coincidentally, when I came back to my desk after discussing the efficacy of the Secret Santa concept, I discovered a Doctor Who Floating TARDIS Pen on my desk.

Now, let’s be brutally honest.  The little collection of pop-culture geek gimcrackery that adorns my computer desk at home would be considered trash by most people, a pointless collection of dusty toys.  But for me they all have little stories. There are icons and memorabilia from my longstanding hobby, echoes of my childhood that would otherwise be forgotten, and, in the case of things like the Doctor Who pen, some of them represent a little bit of recognition from someone who has gotten to know me well enough to get me a little piece of shared memory – even if it is in secret.

Thank you, Santa.

- Sid

P.S.  The licensed manufacturers of this pen have a lot of confidence in their product, even if they've taken a slightly old school approach to it.  The packaging includes a twelve month guarantee for the pen, which is a long time to expect a pen to survive.  Surprisingly, pen owners seeking restitution cannot simply send an e-mail, but must write a letter - presumably using another pen.

* Time and effort which does not receive enough acknowledgement - thanks again, Meadd!

"No, you'll shoot your eye out."

For fans of A Christmas Story, I give you Superman #14, with an ad for the infamous Daisy Red Ryder Cowboy Carbine on the back cover, "ready for Christmas".

- Sid

The Infinite Reference.

 After seeing Guardians of the Galaxy in August, I made the following comment:

To my educated eye, it's not so much a movie as a huge teaser for Avengers 3 - and yes, I realize that the second Avengers movie isn't even out yet.

and posted the following comic book cover:

 

Since then, Marvel Comics has boldly announced its Cinematic Universe movie lineup all the way up to May of 2019, which includes, among other things, the third Avengers movie, the two-part Infinity War.

All evidence indicates that the Infinity War storyline is going to deal with Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet - kudos to me for figuring that out in advance.

Patting myself on the back now out of the way, let's look at the logistics.  In my August post, I also listed a lot of the background information that I felt Marvel would need to deal with in order to lay the groundwork for the epic struggle that will take place with Thanos the mad Titan.

Guardians of the Galaxy makes a good start on that process.  We finally get some more information about Thanos, who makes his first appearance in the end scene from the first Avengers film, we meet his daughters Gamora and Nebula, we are introduced to the Kree*, and generally get an introduction to the universe that lies beyond the boundaries of our solar system.

However, if they want to stay close to the original plot of the Infinity Gauntlet story, there is still a lot of ground to cover, and that's what four of the other seven movies in Marvel's post-2015 lineup will probably be taking care of.

One of the central characters in the Infinity Gauntlet story is Marvel's Master of the Mystic Arts, Doctor Stephen Strange**.  Check, the Doctor Strange film, starring noted otter-lookalike Benedict Cumberbatch as the Sorcerer Supreme, is scheduled for November of 2016.  In May of 2017, we'll see the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, which will undoubtedly continue to explore the extraterrestrial milieu introduced in the first film.  The first Infinity War film will debut in May of 2018, followed by Captain Marvel in July.

Captain Marvel is an interesting character - or characters, more accurately.  The original Captain was an officer in the Kree military who later gained cosmic awareness, battled and defeated Thanos, and then died of cancer.

However, during one of his adventures on Earth, he was caught in an explosion with a U.S. Air Force officer named Carol Danvers, who gained super powers as a result, eventually joined the Avengers as Ms. Marvel***, and later took over the name of Captain Marvel after his death.  In fact, over time three or four different people have used the name, but I gather that the movie version will feature Ms. Danvers in the titular role.  This confuses me a little, since the cosmic awareness Captain Marvel is the one who spent the most time dealing with Thanos, Gamora et al. It will be interesting to see how they reconcile the different versions of the character.

Following Captain Marvel will be The Inhumans in November of 2018, paving the way for the second Infinity Wars film in May of 2019.

This particular part of the lineup was quite a surprise to me - the Inhumans, leaders of a hidden race of experimental superbeings created by Kree experiments millions of years in Earth's past, have always been somewhat marginal characters in the Marvel Universe.  On the other hand, so are the Guardians of the Galaxy, and that gamble worked out very well for Marvel.

Personally, I would have replaced The Inhumans with a movie featuring Adam Warlock: the gold-skinned character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who was recreated as a tortured anti-hero by Jim Starlin in the 70s and was a pivotal element of the Thanos/Infinity Gauntlet plotline.  There are a couple of visual references to Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy during the scenes that take place in the Collector's lair.

This entire process has been a field day for long-term comics fans. As this posting makes clear, Marvel been loading up the movies to date with all kinds of overt and covert references to what's going to happen - provided that you're in a position to recognize them.  However, not all of the Easter Eggs are part of the game.  For example, I'm completely confident that Howard the Duck isn't making a return to the big screen.

- Sid

* In case people weren't paying attention, Ronan the Accuser, the villain in Guardians, is a rogue member of the Kree Empire.

**  In case people weren't paying attention in The Winter Soldier either, Stephen Strange is one of the people that Jasper Sitwell lists when discussing Zola's Algorithm in the rooftop scene.

*** Ms. Marvel is currently a 16 year-old Pakistani-American girl from New Jersey named Kamala Khan, Marvel's first Muslim character. Times change.

A Brief Experientially-Based Explanation of the Appeal of Video Games.

Friday was a long day in more ways that one.  I worked late on Thursday and came in at six this morning in order to have printed material ready for a project that had been delayed until Monday - no one had bothered to inform me.  I spent four hours in a meeting to get additional material for a training manual from someone who had not bothered to look at the first draft, and as such they spent the entire meeting just reading the existing content.

Finally, as I was getting ready to leave at the end of the day, I received a trio of rude and accusatory phone calls from our dispatch centre demanding an explanation as to why they hadn't received the posters that I had promised them on Thursday, if in fact I had actually done them at all. We tracked the courier slip and discovered that the package had been signed for at 1:30 on Thursday.  This was followed by an apology-free call from the centre in which I was told that the person who signed for the delivery had never bothered to open the box.

I think I'll be Batman for a while.

- Sid

Gnomic Statements XII.

You know, Emilia Clarke does look like the young Linda Hamilton!

- Sid

Geekmas.

It’s December 1st. American Thanksgiving and Black Friday are now behind us, I received my first Christmas card last week – apparently the holiday season has arrived, and with it, the challenging question of gifts for geeks such as myself.

Between Secret Santa at the workplace and my friends, I felt that there were enough people seeking guidance for holiday gift buying that some hints regarding affordable stocking stuffers would be useful.  I’ve split the options into four convenient categories:  books, movies, mugs, and hats.

To avoid overlap, if you do plan to purchase one or more of these items for me, just leave an anonymous comment with your choice of gift, and I’ll remove it from the list.  (If you’d like me to buy YOU one of these items, leave a comment with your name included.)

Books
I don’t usually recommend books as one of my gift options, but conveniently there are a couple of things unpurchased on my books-to-buy list.  The Peripheral, William Gibson’s new book, is currently out in hardcover, and I was intrigued enough by Sebastien de Castell’s presentation at the Vancouver Writer’s Fest that I'd like to read his book, Traitor’s Blade.  In addition, the fourth James S.A. Corey Expanse book, Cibola Burn, is also available.

Movies
The Evil Doctor Smith has already requested a short list of gift options, and called dibs on my top two blu-ray* choices, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men: Days of Future Past.  However, there are still some options out there.  For example, I don’t have any of the Star Trek movies on blu-ray.  (Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are covered, thank you.)  My movie collection also lacks many of the classic SF/horror films such as Them**, The Thing (the black and white version, that is), The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and so on, although I did just buy the original Michael Rennie version of The Day the Earth Stood Still.  The Keanu Reeves version?  Perhaps less interested.

Mugs
I have a fairly large collection of souvenir mugs – after all, if you’re careful, a good mug will last for decades, failing unfortunate dishwashing accidents.  However, only a couple of my mugs are SF or fantasy related, which offers a wide open field for gift giving.  To avoid duplication, I already have a classic logo Doctor Who mug and a large TARDIS mug from last year’s Secret Santa.  The TARDIS mug has actually never had tea in it, I view it as more decorative than practical – there’s a reason that there aren’t a lot of square mugs out there.

Hats
Because I’m bald, I’m a dedicated hat wearer, generally in the style that I think of as baseball caps.  I’ve never gone looking, but there must be someplace out there that sells hats with Starfleet logos and the like, they can’t all be sports related.  Bonus points for hats duplicating actual hats worn in movies, such as Con-Am 27 or Nostromo caps. Nota bene: I do NOT want one of those Jayne Cobb Firefly hats, that’s not my style at all. Oh, and fabric all the way around, please, no meshbacks. Too much rain in Vancouver for that.

This list is designed to max out well under the fifty dollar mark per item.  However, if someone has a desperate desire to spend $120,000 USD on a 105 inch Samsung UN105S9W TV set for me, I will not stand in your way.  Happy holidays!

- Sid

* Yes, I realize full well that physical media is dead, thank you, but I still like blu-ray.  The resolution is good, video streaming lag isn’t an issue, and you don’t have to wonder whether or not something is available on Netflix.

** Giant mutant ants, 1954. Scared me to death when I first saw it on TV at the age of ten.  Features a Who's Who of actors who went on to greater fame in other roles:  James Whitmore, Fess Parker, James Arness, and a brief uncredited speaking role as an Army sergeant for one Leonard Nimoy. Coincidentally, James Arness also appear in the titular role of The Thing.

 

Better living through science - or not.

Recently I've found myself doing this whole experimental routine in the men's room - will the toilet flush automatically?  Where's the sweet spot to get the tap to emit water? If I move my hands counter-clockwise will it get hotter?* Let's see, is the soap manual or sensor-based?  How do I get a paper towel? (How do I get the paper towels to stop?)

And every time I go through my robot-influenced dance performance in front of a paper towel dispenser, I think of this prophetic section from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wavebands for news of himself.  The machine was rather difficult to operate.  For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology  became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive - you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same programme.

Seriously, is the bathroom a place where you want to "wave your hand...and hope"?

- Sid

* Wait, this may be a brilliant idea.  Let's get on that, Science.
 

It's not over 'til it's over.

I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through The Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton, one of the books that I purchased with a gift certificate from this year's birthday gifts. Hamilton writes a modern version of what I think of as "space opera" - vast, sweeping, dramatic plot lines, epic settings, and a cast of thousands.*

The plot of The Great North Road starts on a more intimate level, with the discovery of a corpse in the river Tyne, which flows through the English city of Newcastle. The victim, a clone of the elite North family, has been killed in a distinctive manner: a five-bladed weapon of some sort (perhaps a knife-taloned hand) has punctured his chest and shredded his heart.

However, this is not the first time the authorities have encountered this particular modus operandi. A similar crime occurred twenty years earlier on the planet St. Libra, where another North clone was killed, along with his entourage. The sole survivor claimed that an alien monster was responsible, but due to the lack of evidence, the police decided that she was the actual murderer and incarcerated her.

The discovery of the corpse gives new credence to her testimony, but the authorities are still uncertain. In Newcastle, the police investigate the crime, while the elite Human Defense Army sends an expedition through the Newcastle gateway to St. Libra in hopes of discovering evidence of a hidden alien presence that may somehow have penetrated gateway security to wreak havoc on Earth.

However, the two streams of investigation seem to be contradictory. In Newcastle, the police discover that a cab was used by local gang members to dispose of the body, and trace it back to the scene of the crime, an apartment owned by an ex-girlfriend of yet another highly placed North clone. Meanwhile, on St. Libra, members of the HDA expedition are being picked off one by one under mysterious circumstances by some unseen menace that lurks in the jungle and leaves five-bladed wounds in its victims.

Logic says that both of these subplots cannot be correct - it's either a power struggle between North clones or an alien menace, a paradox which is puzzling the characters in the book as much as it's puzzling me. I'm looking forward to seeing how Hamilton resolves the situation.

Famed Golden Age science fiction writer/editor John W. Campbell once commented on the fact that it would be impossible to write a valid science fiction murder mystery, because there are too many ways that an author can cheat: time machines, teleportation, and so on.**   Hamilton has a bit of a tendency towards deus ex machina plot resolutions, and I'm hoping that he doesn't disappoint me by pulling some unlikely alien rabbit from his trans-dimensional hat during the final act.

- Sid

* In traditional space opera such as the Lensman series by E. E. Smith, the characters can actually be analyzed in terms of soprano, tenor, etc. Aliens would be the equivalent of dragons or some similar Wagneresque bit of scenery.

** In spite of which, there are several very good science fiction murder mysteries which seamless integrate exactly those sorts of SF memes and use them to create valid plot lines. Examples would be Larry Niven's ARM series, Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man, or The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov, which was written as a direct response to Campbell's comment.
 

Rosetta.

"Kudos to you, European Space Agency, and get off your butts and do more space stuff, NASA!"

Dodger Leigh, The Daily Byte

I confess that I was completely unaware of the impending touchdown of the Philae lander on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko this morning until I read about it in Chris Hadfield's Twitter™ account - feel free to take away my geek card.

The lander was launched from the European Space Agency's cometary probe Rosetta, and in spite of some problems with the thrusters intended to hold the lander on the surface while an anchoring harpoon was embedded in the surface, Philae successfully touched down on the comet - albeit with a couple of bounces. This marks the first landing ever on the surface of a comet, and is the culmination of a ten year, 6.4 billion* kilometre journey that began with Rosetta's launch on March 2nd, 2004.

Rosetta and its little brother* will spend the next 17 months investigating Churyumov–Gerasimenko, collecting detailed information on how the comet changes as it makes its way toward the Sun.  In addition, scientists at the ESA hope to learn more about the origins of the planets from this chunk of rock that predates the birth of the solar system.

To see some amazing shots of the comet's surface, pay a visit to Rosetta's Flickr™ gallery.  Included in the gallery is a very cool selfie by the probe from October, showing one of its 14 metre wings, which collect solar energy to power the craft, and a shot of the comet in the background.

© European Space Agency

Selfies with comets, selfies on Mars - is it just me, or are the robots having all the fun when it comes to space exploration? 

- Sid

* Yes, BILLION.

** Or sister, hard to tell from the photos.

 

Gnomic Statements XI.

 Let's all just take a moment and be afraid of the crazy lady, shall we?

- Sid
 

Requiem.

On Friday, October 31st, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashed during a test flight over the Mojave Desert.  The pilot, Peter Siebold, escaped with severe injuries.  The copilot, Michael Alsbury, died in the crash.

Since then, there has been a lot of talk in the media about the fact that space travel is inherently risky, and that although the death of Michael Alsbury is tragic, this will not deter us from the quest to expand humanity's horizons through the exploration of space.

Blah, blah, blah.

Space travel IS risky, no doubt about that.  People have died before this*, and there is every possibility that people will die in the future.  However, at some very fundamental level, Virgin Galactic's approach to space travel leaves a bad taste in my mouth, a bad taste which has very little to do with the expansion of horizons. The decision to sell tickets to space to the elite few who have a quarter of a million dollars in discretionary funds is like some odd precursor to the society pictured in last year's dystopian film Elysium, where the rich live in orbit and the poor are condemned to the wreckage of Earthbound civilization.

I don't want to diminish his death, but I can't help but feel that Michael Alsbury died so that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie could spend six minutes in space.

- Sid

* Some of those people have died at Virgin Galactic. In 2007, three people died and three were seriously injured when an engine exploded during a test.

 

De Castell, Dellamonica and Gibson

What’s the difference between fantasy and science fiction? Fantasy can’t happen. Science fiction is something that hasn’t happened, but could.

Probables and Impossibles, 2014 Vancouver Writers Fest

Today I ventured out into the autumn rain to attend a Vancouver Writers Fest event featuring veteran science fiction author William Gibson, and newcomer fantasy authors Sebastien de Castell and A. M. Dellamonica, reading from recent work and discussing topics ranging from world building to the dark trends in contemporary fantasy. 

To be honest, I was there for William Gibson - I've been a fan since reading Neuromancer, his first book, back in 1984, and I have an enormous respect for the unique perspective and superb style that informs his work.  However, I was very impressed by both de Castell and Dellamonica, and found the event to be well rounded and entertaining.

Dellamonica described the process of laying the foundations of her third book, Child of a Hidden Sea, as deciding that she wanted to write something "fun", and proceeding to make a list of things that she thought qualified, like portal fantasy, biodiversity, "pirates!", sword fights, David Attenborough, sailing ships and so on, and finally deciding not to discard any of the ideas and to "write about all of them!"

She defines portal fantasy as "Narnia for grownups - the idea is to go through a wardrobe or you're picked up by a tornado, something that transports you to another world but you're originally from here," and discussed how the origin of characters in our world places their story in the time it's being written, with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe ultimately being about England during World War II, and the impossibility of thinking about Oz without thinking about the Dust Bowl.

In some ways, Gibson was the odd man out on the panel when it came to the discussion of worldbuilding.  As he pointed out, his writing rarely involves the construction of a fully-featured environment: "I start with a character and ... small objects, and the nature of the character and the nature of the small objects expand into an assumed world. I think ... that part of my technique has always been to rely on suggestion." 

He described an encounter early in his career with role playing game developers who were eager to transfer the cyberpunk reality from Neuromancer into a pen and paper game. One of their first questions was, "where does the food come from", part of a list of similar "Marxist" questions that Gibson was unable to answer. Ultimately, the developers gave up, deciding that Gibson's world was "not gameable".

De Castell describes Traitor's Blade, his debut novel, as "The Three Musketeers meets Game of Thrones".  Like Gibson, he also writes from a character-centric position - in Traitor's Blade, he began with the question: "What happens when the ideals that you've believed in for your entire life turn out to not* work?" and created an honourable, heroic character who lives in a corrupt, collapsing society. From that starting point, he "builds the world out based on explanations and questions," explaining that one of the most useful qualities that you can give your narrator is ignorance.

He feels that within a richly textured narrative, the props acquire a deeper level of significance beyond their physical attributes - what it means to a character to use a laser rifle versus a light saber, for example.

One of the topics that came up in the Q and A portion of the event dealt with the question of adaptation, which might well have been a red button topic with William Gibson, given the indifferent response to the film versions of his work and the fact that Neuromancer, his best known novel, has been in development limbo for the last 30 years.** 

However, Gibson handled the question gracefully, and it was amusing to watch the way the other two authors deferred to him because they hadn't been exposed to that particular situation at this point in their careers, whereas he was a seasoned veteran regarding the entire process.

The original question about adaptation mentioned games as well as movies and television.  Ignoring the issues of food production in cyberpunk fiction, I suspect that Neuromancer would probably adapt quite well to the current novelistic, story-driven computer gaming milieu.  Maybe it's time to revisit that idea, Bill.

- Sid

* The split infinitive is Mr. de Castell's, not mine.

** To my surprise, I recently found out that Johnny Mnemonic was not the only Gibson movie out there - his short story New Rose Hotel was also adapted to film in 1999.

 

28 Days Later.

It still amazes me that a few random conversations could somehow combine with a handful of superheroes that I made up in grade school to create a novel in just a few months.  Let alone a novel someone else would want to read.

Peter Clines

Thanks to a superb group of friends, I'm just now wrapping up my birthday from last month with a final selection of gifts.  (Unwrapping might be a more appropriate verb, now that I think about it.)

When I visited Ontario, my friend Colin wisely presented me with a Chapters/Indigo gift card, which cleverly balances out my love of books with the difficulties of trying to buy me something that I don't already own (and might want to read.) Ill health and a busy schedule (a terrible combination, by the way) kept me from using the card until just last week, when I was finally able to dedicate some time to making a suitable selection of reading material.

Unfortunately, I find the Chapters/Indigo™ web site to be difficult to browse*, so I've adopted the odd technique of actually going to one of their physical stores, looking at the shelves, and e-mailing myself a shopping list for online purchasing.  This isn't as counter-intuitive as it sounds, purchasing online saved me about 20% right across the board. It also balances out the limitations of physical inventory, only two of my choices were available in the store, but looking at the shelves providing me with useful ideas for online searching.

The package from Indigo™ arrived at work today, containing the following selection of science fiction and fantasy novels:

• Ex-Heroes, by Peter Clines
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman
• Great North Road, by Peter F. Hamilton
• The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch

I've actually already read Ex-Heroes in bootlegged digital format, and enjoyed it enough that I wanted to back it up with paper, so to speak.  Peter Clines' four book Ex-Heroes series sounds like a catalogue of clichés when it's reduced to its basic elements of superheroes versus zombies, but I've been impressed by the skill and believability with which Clines creates his post-apocalyptic world and the heroes and villains that inhabit it.

For the most part, his superheroes occupy the usual slots:  Saint George, aka the Mighty Dragon, is super strong and invulnerable, Stealth is a obsessive humourless black-clad crime fighter in the style of Batman, Cerberus is a robotic battlesuit operated by the scientist who created it, and so on.  However, Clines brings his characters to life - ironically, in a struggle to protect the last survivors of Los Angeles from the undead.

As an example, Saint George (George Bailey in civilian life) is everything that a hero should be - honourable, honest, fair, and brave - but he never comes across as flat or predictable, but rather as a decent guy who has been given the gift of superpowers and who feels that it is his duty to use them to make people's lives better, no matter what happens.** 

I freely admit that the series doesn't offer any great truths or startling insights, but if you're looking for a solidly written, entertaining and enjoyable reading experience, I strongly recommend the Ex-Heroes.

Neil Gaiman is an obvious choice - has Neil Gaiman ever written a bad book? I think that the worst thing you can manage to say about Neil Gaiman is that some of his writing is not as good as the rest:  there's variation even in excellence. That being said, reviews suggest that The Ocean at the End of the Lane may be one of the better examples of his work, and I look forward to reading it.

I've mentioned Peter F. Hamilton and his Reality Dysfunction series here previously - I can only describe Hamilton's talent as astonishing.  His futures are incredibly rich and detailed, filled with an astounding range of technologies, locations, characters and situations, and his story lines are epic.  Great North Road combines all of that with a murder mystery - and a detective named Sidney, it's rare for me to get that sort of opportunity to identify with a character.

It's far too easy to get into a rut when buying books, so I always try to throw in a wild card.  This time it's The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first in a series of fantasy novels about Locke Lamora, the Thorn of Camorr - confidence man, trickster and thief.  I was intrigued by the concept, we'll see if it lives up to its back-cover advertising.  Thanks for the opportunity, Colin.

I can't finish this posting without thanking my friend Chris for the final item on my birthday list, a TARDIS USB hub, which flashes its roof light and emits the characteristic sounds of phasing in from time travel whenever a device is plugged in.  And it's LOUD - no wonder people seem to be able to hear it from so far away on the show!  Thanks again, Chris - there may well be a video follow up to this posting so you can see - and hear - what it's like in action.

- Sid

*Okay, is there anyone - ANYONE - reading this who shelves their books alphabetically by title?  In their physical stores, Chapters™ displays their books by author, which is pretty much how every bookstore I've ever visited does it.  However, the Chapters™ web site does not offer A-Z By Author as a viewing option - how hard would that be to program, for heaven's sake?

** George is also a Doctor Who fan, which obviously goes a long way with me.  To be more accurate, he views the Doctor as a role model:  "He was just a really smart guy who always tried to do the right thing.  To help people, no matter what."

 

The Queen of Engines.

"That Enchantress who has thrown her magical spell around the most abstract of Sciences and has grasped it with a force which few masculine intellects could have exerted over it."

Ada Lovelace as described by Charles Babbage.

October 14th is one of the less known holidays on the geek calendar, but nonetheless an important one. Today is Ada Lovelace Day, a celebration of the accomplishments of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

For readers unfamiliar with Ada King, Lady Lovelace, she is a pivotal figure in the history of computing, working closely with Charles Babbage, the creator of a steampunk gear-driven calculating machine that he called the Difference Engine*. Lovelace's speculations as to the potential of Babbage's proposed next-gen Analytical Engine, published in 1842, predict the eventual development of hardware able to solve a wide variety of mathematical problems, and her notes regarding the manner in which the Engine could calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers are widely considered to be the first computer program in history.

Although I completely agree with the adoption of Lady Lovelace as the symbol of women in science, why not celebrate the more visionary arts as well? Let's acknowledge the woman who occupies the same position in the pantheon of science fiction authors that Ms. Lovelace holds in the programming world, the woman who invented Frankenstein's monster, the woman who wrote the first eponymous post-apocalyptic Last Man novel in 1826?  Next year, let's see if we can't get Mary Shelley Day onto the calendar as well.

- Sid

* Astute readers will recognize this term in the title of one of my birthday gifts - a book in which an alternate history Lady Lovelace makes an appearance.

 

Remember, drink responsibly!

After a couple of pints, Sid starts flashing his TARDIS in the bar.

- Sid

UPDATE: As it turns out, my sister's question below about the ghost at the Inn on the Falls is not entirely correct.  Apparently there is a total of three ghosts on site, not one.  Now, as I've previously commented, I'm a bit of a sceptic when it comes to this sort of supernatural phenomenon, but it's an interesting coincidence that out of all the places we could have stayed in Muskoka, we ended up at the haunted inn.

 

Sentimental Concrete Robot and Other Toronto Vignettes

As per my birthday posting, I'm currently in Toronto as part of a one-week vacation trip to Ontario. Following are a few quick outtakes from the trip so far.

Good advice, but unexpected.

Really not the kind of thing that I was expecting to see for sale in Yorkville.

 
The alien invaders were quick to adapt their buildings to ours.

I'm not going to claim that the original Royal Ontario Museum is an example of classical architectural excellence, but seriously, these two styles do NOT work together.  In fact, if you told me this was the result of alien spores rather than deliberate planning, I might well believe you.
 

Abandoned Raygun, Rockwood Conservation Centre.

 

Score.

Whenever I visit Colin, he always takes me to the Pickering Flea Market - I'm not sure why, there's only so much shopping I can do when I'm travelling with carry-on - but this time there was an unexpected bonus.  The Market has added an Antiques section, where I was surprised to find some copies of Galaxy magazine from the 50s for a mere $3.50 each.  They're not in mint condition, the spines are a bit beaten up, but I know a lot of people of similar vintage who also have back problems.



Not a bad name for a band - okay, maybe an 80s band.

And, in conclusion - sentimental concrete robot, as per the posting title.

- Sid