But not actually, you know, exploding.

"I must remind you that the scanning experience is usually a painful one.”

ConSec scanner, Scanners 

I suffer from Exploding Brain Syndrome, a harmless condition with the most over-the-top name ever.  EBS is a sleep disorder-related sensory illusion: some people hear explosions, or perceive flashes of light - in my case, it's like a brief cymbal crash that occurs three or four times in a row, separated by a few seconds.    

Because EBS has such a dramatic appellation, it's impossible for me to experience it without thinking about Scanners, David Cronenberg's breakout 1981 science fiction horror film.  Scanners is best known for the horrifying scene where Canadian actor Louis del Grande's* head is made to explode by Michael Ironside, who plays the villain of the film.  The overly graphic effect was created through the rough and ready special effects expediency of firing a shotgun up through a prop head filled with dog food, leftover hamburger, and rabbit liver, resulting in an undeniably effective moment** that makes me very grateful that my experience of EBS is not a literal one.

- Sid

* Coincidentally, Del Grande went on to create and star in Seeing Things, a CBC dramedy about a newspaper reporter who experiences psychic visions of crimes.  The show ran for six years and featured the who’s who of the 80s Canadian acting community.

** For anyone wishing to see the cinematic results, here's a link to the clip:

https://youtu.be/KYEOuBWVFvk?si=cthRaE_tf0ApOJDF

The exploding head is quite near the end of the scene, if you happen to be one of those people who just can't wait to see what that might look like. 

Canada Day 2026: Art Imitates Life.

Happy Canada Day, everyone - celebrating 159 years of being the place that desperate people escape to from the United States.*

- Sid

* Strangely enough, it actually never occurred to me that this statement applied in the real world as well as in science fiction until I typed that sentence.  I was really just thinking of The Handmaid's Tale, although the photo is from a Philip K. Dick story.

93,980?!

For the longest time, The Infinite Revolution pottered away at about 3,000 views a month.  Sometimes it would go over, sometimes it would be under, but 3K was the median for about six years.

Which was fine with me.  This blog was originally just an excuse to spend some time writing, an exercise in professional development.  I never promoted it on other platforms, although I did briefly monetize it through Google Adsense, but I was kicked off the program after I was accused of faking views.*  

At some point, I decided that it was a good enough sample of my writing style that I could put my name on it so that a potential employer could read it.  I didn't get the job, but to my complete surprise, it came up at my next job interview - they'd searched my name and found the blog. (I did get that job, although I doubt that the blog was a factor.)

Then, for the next six years, the median dropped down to about 2,000 views.  One month it went under a thousand - again, not an issue, but I was curious as to what might have changed.   

And then, sometime in 2024, it started to spike. In January, I cracked 10,000 views for the first time, an achievement which I repeated over six times that year, culminating in over 17,000 in December.  July of 2025 took me over 20,000; August, over 30,000, then back down under 20,000 for a few months.

February 2026 - 45,262, a number which seemed ridiculously high until June, which rocketed up to over 93,000 views - 93,980, to be specific.

What happened?  I suspect that with over 1,300 posts, I've simply reached some threshold of volume that makes for a visible presence. I'd love to think that it's more people reading the content rather than bots, but the alert reader will notice in the above screen capture that I only have four followers, which I feel is a far stronger metric of actual human readership that the views counter.

Still, it's hard not to feel a certain sense of accomplishment.  It's going to be interesting to see if it breaks 100K a month by the end of 2026 - and even a couple of months of half that would put me over a million total views for the blog.  I wonder if Blogger will notice?  If so, some kind of commemorative plaque would seem to be in order, like getting a letter from the Queen when turning 100. That would be fun, I wonder if there's someone I can contact about that?

- Sid

* After which I ended up getting a little money from Google after a 2018 class action suit accusing them of withholding Adsense payments was successful. Last year I attempted to rejoin Adsense just out of curiousity, and was accepted back into the fold. Since then it's generated about six bucks, it's certainly not a route to financial independence.

Glory to the Principality of Zeon!

"A mobile suit's abilities don't decide a battle's outcome. I'll teach you that!"

Char Aznable, Mobile Suite Gundam  

Wednesday night is Date Night for my lovely wife Karli and I, a tradition that we've maintained for over a decade, and this evening we decided on dinner at Zubu Ramen in Kerrisdale.  

It's a busy neighbourhood at the best of times, and it took a couple of circuits of various side streets to find a parking spot.  We ended up behind what I initially thought was a Toyota dealership vehicle of some sort, until I got out of the car and took a closer look. 

The truck in question was a rolling tribute to the concept of "if you know you know".  Its impressive iconography was derived from the Mobile Suit Gundam animated series, the polystyrene models of the various mecha in the Gundam franchise manufactured by Bandai Namco, and scale modeling in general. 

Let's start at the beginning.  The Principality of Zeon is the villain of the Gundam series, an association of Earth colonies which goes to war against the Terran Federation.  Zeon created the first combat mecha, the Zaku I and Zaku II mobile suits, which led to the Federation's development of the Gundam in response.

We also have some references to Bandai Namco, the company that manufactures the various Gunpla line of Gundam models, the Tomica cast metal model car company, and the Tamashii line of toy figures.

The rear gate references Zeon once again, along with the Tamiya model company, and the Metalbuild modeling brand, which features a combination of metal and plastic components. (Not to mention a witty 1:1 scale reference.*)  

But there were also a few just random non-Gundam stickers on the cab and fenders: VISA, KFC, Sega, Hot Wheels, Marlboro - cigarettes, in this day and age? - Los Pollos Hermanos, McDonald's, Shell, and so on. It's entirely possible that they were added post-production, so to speak, and were not part of the original design, but I didn't feel comfortable taking too close a look at someone else's vehicle just to establish provenance. 

Research revealed that, in fact, there had been a marketing partnership between Toyota and Bandai Namco in 2013, but it was for a customized Auris hatchback, not a pickup, and it was nothing close to being as detailed and involved as this example.

Ultimately, I'm at a loss - the internet seems unaware of anything related to a Zeonic Toyota pickup truck, I didn't see any site links on the vehicle, and, as per my initial impression, to the casual observer it's just another branded pickup.  It may well be that it's just the property of a really serious Gundam fan, in which case all I can say is well done, sir or madam, full points for proudly flying your fandom flag - I look forward to your future work.

- Sid

* Discussion with Karli revealed that not everyone is familiar with the conventions of scale modeling.  Generally models are categorized by the ratio of model inches to real life inches.  For example, when I was young, I built a lot of Airfix 1:72 tank models, which meant that one inch on the model equaled 72 inches - six feet - on the original vehicle, making a 20 foot** Sherman tank about 3 1/4 inches long. 

** In the unlikely event that any WWII otaku stumble across this posting, I am aware of the minor variations in Sherman M4 and M4A sizing, with a range from 19 feet 2 inches to 20 feet 7 inches depending on the iteration. Twenty feet was simply a convenient compromise for mathematical purposes, no need to leave any angry comments.

"Jinkies!"

Passed in traffic on our way to Superstore yesterday - and we would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids...

- Sid

P.S. A certain amount of soul searching - and research - was involved in this posting.  Initially, I wasn't certain that Scooby-Doo qualified for the blog. In my mind, there was no supernatural* element to the show, it was more of an ongoing cautionary tale that the villains in life are generally old white men disguised as monsters. However, some research into the team's 57-year history indicated that later iterations of Mystery Inc. did in fact deal with actual ghosts and phantoms.

* Research also revealed that there was also a Scooby-Doo crossover episode in Supernatural's 13th season: 

 I feel that they nailed Sam but Dean is a bit off.

May the 14th be with you.

Photo by Gage Skidmore*

Today we celebrate the 82nd birthday of George Lucas, a man who, as they say, needs no introduction - it is hard to think of anyone who has had such a massive impact on popular culture with the creation and evolution of the Star Wars franchise.

That being said, pop quiz: how many full-length movies has Lucas directed in his legendary career?

Six.

Yep, that's it, six:

• THX 1138
• American Graffiti
• Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
• Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 

To provide some perspective, Steven Spielberg's directorial feature film score is 34. 

I was amazed to discover this bit of trivia - it seems like such a low number, considering the man's stature in Hollywood. That being said, it's a deceptive statistic that ignores an epic resume of contributions to the industry in virtually every aspect of production in some form or another.  

Regardless, as far as I'm concerned, Mr. Lucas, you had done everything that you needed to do the first time I saw the words "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." on the screen at the Norwood Cinema in 1977.  Thank you for your service, George - and happy birthday!

- Sid

* This was not the photo of Mr. Lucas that I would have preferred to use, but apparently all the production photos from the first Star Wars movie are clutched in the mailed fist of Getty Images, and I have very little desire to be the victim of a cease and desist lawsuit.  (Which I've narrowly avoided in a small freelance project, so I speak from experience.)  My thanks to Wikipedia™and Gage Skidmore, whoever he may be, for the above image.  

2026 Aurora Award Nominees: Represent!

And now, some Canadian content to balance out the Hugo Awards coverage: the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) has released the slate of nominees for the annual Aurora Awards, which recognize the best Canadian science fiction and fantasy works of the year.  In the past, the awards ceremony has been held in conjunction with Canvention, as with the Hugos and Worldcon, but in recent years the organizers have transitioned to an online ceremony in order to allow for a wider viewership.  The 2026 ceremony will be livestreamed on YouTube on August 9th - the link will be published closer to the event.

This year's nominees are:

BEST NOVEL

• The Bewitching, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Blight, Rachel A. Rosen
• Direct Descendant, Tanya Huff
• The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the Machine, Robert J. Sawyer
• Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, Heather Fawcett
• A Shift of Time, Julie E. Czerneda
• Written on the Dark, Guy Gavriel Kay

BEST YOUNG ADULT (YA) NOVEL

• Breath of the Dragon, Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee 
• Fireboy, Edward Willett 
• A Lion’s Head, D.M. De Alwis
• Minotaur, Jamieson Wolf
• One Morning Sun, Avi Silver
• Winging It, Jen Desmarais

BEST NOVELETTE/NOVELLA

• The First Thousand Trees, Premee Mohamed
• In the Gardener’s Service, Michèle Laframboise
• The Lure of Stone, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• A Palace Near the Wind, Ai Jiang
• The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar

BEST SHORT STORY

• Hunted To Extinction, Premee Mohamed
• I Ain’t Your Doll Face, Jacqueline Thorpe
• the love song of house and lake, Gillian Secord
• The Stone Played at Tengen, R.H. Wesley
• What If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire’s Yacht?, Rachel A. Rosen

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC

• Atana and the Jade Mermaid, Vivian Zhou
• Bonds of the Forest, Ally Rom Colthoff
• It Never Rains, Kari Maaren
• Questionable Content, Jeph Jacques
• Shark Girl, Kate Beaton

BEST POEM/SONG

• At the Spaceport Bar, Lisa Timpf
• Bigfoot Farewell, Carolyn Clink
• Dragon Karaoke, David Clink
• Explosive, Derek Newman-Stille
• flowers without meadow, Tiffany Morris
• From Dust, J. Y. Zhang

BEST RELATED WORK

• As the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories, Terese Mason Pierre
• Augur Magazine, Issues 8.1-8.3, Kerry C. Byrne, Toria Liao, André Geleynse, Kelley Tai, and Azure Arther
• On Spec Magazine, Issues #131 – 134, Vol 35, Diane L. Walton, Managing Editor
• One Message Remains, Premee Mohamed
• Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction: Volume Three, Stephen Kotowych, Editor

BEST COVER ART/INTERIOR ILLUSTRATION

• Dancing With the Holly King, Janice Blaine
• Seance, Alice M.
• Lunar Base, Dan O’Driscoll
• Starship Librarians, Lorna Antoniazzi
• Listen to Me and I’ll tell You a Story, Ejiwa “Edge” Ebenebe

BEST FAN WRITING AND PUBLICATION

• Amazing Stories online columns, Numbers 405-420, Steve Fahnestalk
• Book Reviews in The Ottawa Review of Books, Robert Runté
• Polar Starlight Magazine, Issues 17-20, Rhea E. Rose, editor
• Speculative Poetry and the Hugos, Lynne Sargen
• Young People Read Old Science Fiction, James Davis Nicoll

BEST FAN RELATED WORK

• Can*Con, Marie Bilodeau, chair and Brandon Crilly, vice-chair
• Scintillation, Jo Walton and Rene Walling, co-chairs
• Two Old Farts Talk Sci-Fi, Troy Harkin and David Clink
• Wizards & Spaceships, Rachel A. Rosen and David L. Clink
• The Worldshapers Podcast, Edward Willett 

I see that The Infinite Revolution has not received a nomination this year - obviously not a surprise, but can you imagine?  Joking aside, I suspect that my little hobby is a bit too casual for awards consideration - although, we are coming up on the 20th anniversary of this blog, perhaps I should be recognized for sheer persistence.

- Sid

"Hug, question?"

Image by Matteroum

This, this is exactly what I was talking about in this post about the xenomorph ecosystem. 

- Sid

The Economics of Scarcity.

My modest collection of Major Matt Mason toys is high on the list of things that spark joy for me, as per Marie Kondo.  (Is the KonMari Method still a thing?)  They were my favourite childhood toys, and as such it just makes me smile to have them on display with the rest of my idiosyncratic selection of collectables.  

All things considered, they're in remarkably good shape for 60 year old toys.  The Major himself and Sergeant Storm have their original helmets, and none of the armature wires inside their molded rubber figures are broken.  The number stickers are missing from the helmets, and a few bits of paint here and there have rubbed off (which has made me reluctant to give them a really good cleaning) but outside of that they've stood up quite well.

Similarly, my Supernaut Power Limbs, which cost me a staggering $9.99 (probably less than the original retail price) are in virtually mint condition and even has most of their original stickers. I also have one of the simple molded Cat Tracs that were packaged with the figures, a Jet Propulsion Pack that's missing one of its guiding strings, and of course my Space Crawler, which is missing its winch string and hook, rear roller, and hubcabs, but which still runs.  All in, the entire collection has cost me about $130 CAD, which may be a lot to spend on vintage toys - or at least I would have thought so until I saw the current state of the market.

I'm generally a bit of a purist when it comes to things like this, but I'd like to see the Space Crawler restored to something closer to its former glory, even if it involves non-original alternatives.  Surprisingly, options are available online for both of the issues: several people have reproduced the original stickers in free downloadable PDF format, and a recent search on eBay revealed several options for reasonably priced 3D-printed replacement parts for the Space Crawler.  

As usual, eBay also showed me a selection of related posts, including the following for two Major Matt Mason figures and a space crawler:

Personally, I'd be embarrassed to sell anything in this kind of condition.  It's bad enough that one of the figures is missing virtually all its paint, and both have lost all of their hair and eye colouring (and most of their noses), but the figure on the left is missing most of its right arm, for heaven's sake!  Given the level of abuse that the two dolls have suffered, it would be a miracle if their armatures weren't broken in a few spots, although the item description isn't specific.  It simply says "FOR PARTS", which suggests that the crawler engine probably doesn't work either.  

The price for this battered trio of toys?  An astonishing $170 CAD, plus $51 shipping to Canada. 

The next eBay suggestion was equally surprising. This is a box - an empty cardboard box.  Admittedly, it's in reasonable shape for a box from 1967, but still, it's an empty box.

Buy It Now price on eBay?  $216 CAD.  Plus $75 shipping.  When was the last time that you paid almost $300 for an empty box? 

All of this goes to illustrate what happens when there's a limited supply to meet demand. Mattel is not making new Major Matt Mason toys (well, there was an odd re-release of reimagined classics in 2022, but not really the same thing) and as such, anything and everything from the original line is now a desirable commodity, and pricing reflects that fact.

That being said, it makes me wonder if the Matt Mason toys that I owned in my childhood are somehow still out there in circulation.  I honestly have no memory of what might have happened to them  - they were certainly well used, but as demonstrated, that's apparently not a barrier to having them show up on the marketplace. Not that I'd buy them. I'm certainly sentimental about things like that, but the ones I own now are in much better condition.

- Sid

2026 Hugo Award Nominees: This Download Could Have Been A Link.

Voting for this year's Hugo Awards opened this week - for anyone interested, the full list of finalists can be found at:

https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2026-hugo-awards/ 

Along with the list of nominees, the Hugo Awards Packet was also made available to voting members.  It's an impressive 17.7 GB download, a surprisingly large number considering that none of the Long or Short Form Dramatic Presentation nominees have included full copies of their selections, although Frankenstein has been generous enough to include a screener link and password.  Sadly, Best Novel nominees Robert Jackson Bennett for A Drop of Corruption, and Adrian Tchaikovsky for Shroud, also chose not to include full copies of their novels, as did Naomi Novik for her Best Novella entry, The Summer War*.  However, it's gratifying to see that, in addition to the ePub versions of their work, many of the other nominees have elected to add audio versions as well.

Looking over the nominees, I was a bit surprised by the Long Form selections - or rather, by the options that didn't make the list. The Long Form nominees are: 

• Andor (Season 2)
• Frankenstein 
• KPop Demon Hunters 
• Mickey 17 
• Sinners
• Superman 

I thought Bugonia might get a nod - and doesn't Weapons have a supernatural element?.  None of the Marvel options of Thunderbolts*, Fantastic Four, or Captain America: Brave New World made the cut, and the latest chapter in the Avatar series was also shut out. And, if the door is opened to entire seasons by the inclusion of the second season of Andor, it's surprising that the Season One of Murderbot didn't receive a nomination, given its popularity - especially considering that two Murderbot episodes are nominated in the Short Form category, and a third episode was withdrawn by the showrunners to comply with the episode limit for the category.**  Why not just put the whole season in for Long Form?  Or Pluribus, which is also structured as a single long narrative but only represented by a single entry in the Short Form list, as is Severance?  

In contrast, I'm fine with Doctor Who only having one nominated episode rather than the whole season, given its episodic nature and the varying list of writers, but Pluribus is very much Vince Gilligan's baby and could logically be treated as a single body of work.  (Interestingly, Andor is the product of four writers, which would seem to make it a better candidate for single episode consideration.)

All of this fails to answer the question of why the download is so large?  As it turns out, the Related Work category, which cover non-fiction work related to the genre, contains an epic 4.66 GB episode from The History of Westeros podcast - slightly ironically, given that unlike the Long Form entries, the episode is also available for free on YouTube.   

- Sid

* I appreciate that authors are concerned with uncontrolled distribution of their work, but honestly, that ship has already sailed - if any of these pieces are available in digital form, I guarantee you that they're already being downloaded for free. 

** There's also a nominated Murderbot novelette from Martha Wells, which I'm looking forward to reading, regardless of whether it gets my vote.

May the 4th: Shooting Stars.

Somebody once asked, "Could I spare some change for gas?
I need to get myself away from this place"
I said, "Yep, what a concept, I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change"

Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope.

Another May the Fourth, another post...

- Sid

P.S. Full disclosure: not my work, and it was unattributed on the page where I found it.   

 

"Is that my name?"

Hi Love, 
I thought this article might interest you!  I wonder how much you'd agree. 

https://ew.com/doctor-who-best-episodes-ranked-11956344 

Love you, 
Karli*

Since Doctor Who's 2005 revival - the "modern era" of the article's title - there have been either 196 or 199 episodes: internet sources vary.  Regardless, picking the best 50 from the catalogue means that you're selecting about one in every four episodes for your list, which is a pretty coarse filter.  Interestingly, the list only contains a single Ncuti Gatwa episode - surely Dot and Bubble** or Boom qualify as top 50 selections - but I accept the subjective nature of this kind of list.

That being said, I do take strong exception with one of the EW decisions:  how could The Doctor's Wife only be at number 38??! 

It's such an excellent episode that I would have expected to see it in the top five, if not in the running for first place.  The story stands alone as a thoughtful and touching examination of the relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS, and the BBC paid it the ultimate compliment of not attempting to cash in on its success with a return visit from Idris, the human avatar of the TARDIS, as so perfectly portrayed by Suranne Jones.  

A small part of me wonders if the ranking somehow reflects episode author Neil Gaiman's #MeToo moment from last year, but I would think that if that were the case, the episode would have gone completely unconsidered for the list.  Although, with that taken into account, it really doesn't age well that Gaiman's Doctor christens the embodiment of the TARDIS as "Sexy".

- Sid

* It is such a pleasure to be married to someone with this kind of respect for my hobbies and interests - thank you, Karli!  

** Dot and Bubble is arguably a bit Doctor-light, but then so is Blink, which they rank as the number one episode - no argument with that choice, by the way.

Cheap Thrills: FAR: Lone Sails.

For the most part, my PC gaming preference is for first person shooters such as Fallout or the Halo franchise, with the occasional foray into strategy games like Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, Dawn of War, or Starcraft.  However, there's also a place for more subtle experiences in my library, such as The Long Dark survival game, or The Shore, an unsettling Lovecraftian puzzle game; Real Moon, a moonbase simulation, and most recently, FAR: Lone Sails.

FAR's normal price is $17.49 CAD from Epic Games, but it was on sale for $1.95 when I saw it on the Epic Store page, which made it an affordable gaming gamble - and, as it turned out, a wise choice.

FAR is a standard side-scrolling game, created by award-winning Swiss indie game developer Okomotive and originally released in 2018*.  It's an evocative, thoughtful experience, without dialogue, conflict, or shooting, and it's a quick play, weighing in at about three hours. 

Which is not to say that it's all smooth sailing - no pun intended.  The game features a tiny red-clad pilot** who navigates the decaying remnants of a lost civilization in a steampunk landship, propelled initially by steam and later also by sails - at least, when the wind is blowing in the right direction.  The steam engine is fueled by scavenged objects, and requires a lot of management to maintain power while not overloading the boiler.  

The ship is also equipped with a fire hose and towing winches at both ends, all of which comes into play as the pilot struggles with gates, elevators, and similar barriers left behind by the world that was. As the trip continues, upgrades, large and small, are added to the ship: titanic tattered sails, and a little blowtorch to repair damage to the ship's systems from lightning, hail or collisions. 

But it's not always a challenge. As with all trips, there are periods of quiet introspective travel, as the scenery scrolls past and the wind rustles through the sails - I wish there was some way to have the pilot make a cup of tea and sit on the rooftop gallery during these times.

It's difficult to explain the charm of the game, and I certainly wouldn't say that it's for everyone.  For myself, I would have enjoyed the game almost as much without any of the puzzles that the pilot solves in order to continue their journey, simply sailing across the abandoned world and collecting the little memories left behind: a bell, a ball, a boat, a bear. 

As the trip continued, I found myself wondering how the game would come to an end.  There would be a certain symmetry in having the pilot return to the point where they began, but that also seemed like too simple a conclusion.  I won't spoil the ending for potential players who might be reading this, but it's initially a bit tragic, with a final moment of hope - exactly what the intrepid traveler deserves.  

- Sid 

* There's also a 2022 submarine sequel called Changing Tides for $22.79 CAD. 

** The developer's press kit informs us that the pilot's name is Lone, and that they are female, but I suspect that the casual player is unlikely to dive that deep.

Props.

I recently ran out of new books on my iPhone, and ended up casually re-reading Crusade, a far-future military space opera by David Weber and Steve White*, while I was waiting to have some blood work done.

In Crusade, the Terran Federation is finally at peace, after forming an alliance with their former enemies the catlike Orions.  However, the peace is unexpectedly shattered by an assault on the Federation's borders by mysterious aliens who worship Holy Mother Terra as a religious mecca, and who are determined to free it from the perceived control of the satanic Orions.

The element of surprise allows them to sweep through the network of warp gates linking the myriad star systems that compose the Federation virtually unopposed.  One of the human colonies that they capture is New Hebrides**, but a strong guerilla resistance prevents them from completely securing the planet.  

Frustrated and angered by the continued resistance of a people that should be welcoming them as liberators, two of the alien invaders have the following exchange:

Hold on: "Lantu ran the tip of a letter-opener over the map"?

A letter-opener?

What an odd choice of props!  If the author had chosen a writing stylus, a bayonet, some kind of alien eating utensil, anything else, even a finger, I would have passed over that sentence and never thought about it.  But a letter-opener?

A letter-opener is a very specific item.  Letter-openers posit a myriad of societal elements: a tradition of formalized message delivery; envelopes - specifically sealed envelopes that require confidentiality, backed up by notions of privacy and authority; and the idea of letters themself, for that matter, suggesting a deskbound bureaucratic system that relies on physical notification.  And, given that the aliens exist in a highly technological environment, letters (and letter-openers) are an astonishing anachronism.  

To be fair, the society in question has been contaminated by the arrival of a fugitive Terran colony ship, but why would that contamination extend to such an archaic phenomenon?  Ignoring the future setting for a moment, I suspect that contemporary society contains a lot less letter-openers than it did 50 years ago. 

I realize that the authors may have selected a letter-opener without really thinking about it, which is a shame.  Storytelling is a kind of shared illusion, and sometimes it doesn't take very much to break that illusion - I can't remember the name of the planet that the aliens come from, but it will be a long time before I forget that letter-opener.

- Sid

* It's not the first time that Weber and White have come under scrutiny here.  

** It's actually New New Hebrides, which comes up maybe once along with a statement that everyone just says New Hebrides. 

Artemis II: Plot Twist.

"...Only a minute or so more and man will have his 
first view of the other side of the moon!"

Yes, I know, Apollo 8 orbited the moon in 1968, but it's been 58 years - things could have changed. 

- Sid

P.S. Some recommended reading: Construction Shack, Clifford D. Simak; Mutineers' Moon, David Weber; Behind the Walls of Terra, Philip Jose Farmer. 

Artemis II: "Flame on!"

Solar flare?  Space mission?  Four person crew? THREE MEN AND A WOMAN?!?!

Two words, NASA.  TWO WORDS.

Fantastic. Four.

Let's hope that the world is ready. 

- Sid

P.S. Well, to be completely accurate, it's actually closer to the origin story for Jean Grey from the X-Men becoming the Phoenix, but the synergy of the four person crew works better for the FF.  

J'accuse, toi.

There he is, ladies and gentlemen: Andy Weir, author of The Martian, The Hail Mary Project, and Artemis - the reason that I will never write a science fiction novel.

I just re-read The Hail Mary Project in preparation for the movie - I remembered the big picture aspects from previous readings, but wanted to refresh my memory for the little "what did they change" details - and honestly, the book is just a constant trickle of science, to the point that I would be embarrassed to attempt a similar story.

I have some basics, like the acceleration of gravity being 9.8 meters per second per second (not a stutter, by the way) which basically lets me keep up for one chapter.  Period of a pendulum is a constant?  Radius and speed of a centrifuge to create 1.5 gravities on Earth?  Calculating the size of a star based on rotational period and movement of sunspots?  All that just gets us to the end of Chapter 3.

And it doesn't stop there.  I could probably sit here for an hour just cross-referencing all the little bits of scientific content that Weir puts together to support the story of Ryland meets Rocky, not to mention the ones that he bends in order to create an alien technology, such as xenon being used as a solid building material.*  And, credit where credit is due, Weir humanizes his science.  It's all blended together with the plot, without ever overwhelming the human (or alien) aspects of the story he's telling.

To be honest, I'm confident that I actually could write a novel, perhaps even one with a science fiction theme, and I realize that there are probably thousands of science fiction novels out there that never get to the level of scientific detail that Weir does.  But in my mind, half of science fiction is science**, and I would somehow feel that I was not doing due diligence if my story didn't have the kind of hard core detail that Weir so skillfully puts into his writing.   

- Sid

* Again, I know just enough to realize that this is a big deal, because xenon is first, a gas at room temperature, and second, a noble gas, which means it doesn't bond with anything else.  (Ironically, these are things that I know from reading science fiction.)

** I have a t-shirt mockup for this, if anyone's interested.