Real education is subversive. It’s about nuance and irony — the challenging of the status quo. This is what I do.
Tag Archives: science fiction
Clarke’s Utopian Vision
In Childhood’s End, Clarke does what he does best: examines the evolution of humanity through two lenses: one of science and one of mysticism. I’m late coming to this work, but I’m reminded of his main theme in 2001: A Space Odyssey; i.e., the consequences of humanity’s ever-increasing technological sophistication and its place in the universe.
Disruption
This week’s stories were Isaac Asimov’s classic “Nightfall,” Paul di Filippo’s “Phylogenesis,” and Tim Pratt’s “Impossible Dreams.” We’re still examining “convergence,” but this week I wanted to focus on the disruptions that sometimes occur when things line up in a certain way, occasionally be design, but more often by chance.
Meeting Jack McDevitt
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I had not read Jack McDevitt until I heard he was coming to this year’s Crossroads Conference. I’m embarrassed because I’m supposed to be up on all things science fiction. His novel Seeker won a Nebula award in 2006 for best novel (and most of his other novels have been nominated), and I [...]
Developments
OK, I have been busier than a busy thing. This fact might be obvious, since I haven’t posted a thing here in over a month. Oops. Since then, Blogger has finally allowed me to switch over to my Google login to manage my blog. Just the ability to add tags is reason enough to celebrate. [...]
Very Short Stories
I’ve known about these for several days, but just managed to get around to posting about them. In the vein of the famous Hemingway six-word story (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”), Wired asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to give it a try. Here are [...]
New Job?
I’m considering applying for this job. What do you think? It would certainly be a switch from what I do now.
