| Starplex now available from Audible.com |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|12:45 pm] |
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http://sfwriter.com/2009/11/starplex-now-available-from-audiblecom.html 
Audible.com's unabridged reading of my 1996 novel Starplex is now available. The narrator is Mark Boyett, and the audiobook also includes an exclusive introduction read by me.
The Audible.com catalog page for Starplex is pretty bare-bones, so I'll mention a few things they fail to: Starplex was the only novel of its year to be nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards, and it won Canada's Aurora Award and the CompuServe Homer Award, both for best SF novel of the year.
In addition it was a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club, was serialized in Analog, and was a Locus bestseller.
You can get Starplex and all my other audio books from Audible.com right here.
For those who prefer print, the new trade-paperback edition is coming in March 2010 from Red Deer Press.
REVIEWS OF STARPLEX:
Science Fiction Chronicle: "Excellent hard SF, with Sawyer tossing stars, people and time travel around with reckless abandon. One of the best SF novels of the year."
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald: "Starplex appears to be traditional science fiction — it takes place aboard a spaceship, and several characters are extraterrestrial — but it's actually a rumination on several very deep questions, including: Where did we come from? Where are we going? And the deepest of the deep, Is there a God?"
Sci-Fi Weekly: "An audacious engineering effort that makes Larry Niven's Ringworld look like a high-school science project."
About Books: "Very, very cool. This is a book not to be missed."
Andrew Weiner, author of Getting Near the End: "Mind-blowing! Who says there are no more big ideas?"
Asimov's Science Fiction: "Starplex should gladden the hearts of readers who complain that nobody's writing real science fiction anymore, the kind of story that has faster-than-light spaceships and far-off planets and interstellar combat and all the neat things they gobbled up so greedily when 'Doc' Smith was dealing them out. Here's a story with plenty of slam-bang action but no shortage of material to attract thinking readers, either. Sawyer deftly juggles half a dozen sweeping questions of cosmology (not to mention everyday ethics and morality) while keeping the story moving ahead full speed. His scientific ideas are nicely integrated into the plot, yet they also hint at larger metaphorical levels. Enjoy."
Gregory Benford, author of Timescape: "Complex but swift, inventive but real-feeling, with ideas coming thick and fast. For big-time interstellar adventure, look no farther."
Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi, co-author of Voyages Through the Universe: "Complex hard-science novel by a Canadian amateur astronomer with intriguing ideas about the nature of dark matter and even dark matter life forms. Includes more cosmological concepts than any novel we have seen."
Library Journal: "An epic hard-science adventure tempered by human concerns. Highly recommended."
Jack McDevitt, author of Time Travelers Never Die: "Starplex takes us on the ultimate grand tour: an elegant intergalactic ride with Sawyer's signature mix of cosmic concepts and solid characterization. This one is a treat for the mind; I enjoyed it thoroughly."
The New York Review of Science Fiction: "An enormous grab bag of ideas — and a whole lot of fun."
Analog Science Fiction and Fact: "Mind-boggling. A complaint often heard these days is that there's not enough 'sense of wonder' in today's science fiction. Robert J. Sawyer's Starplex ought to lay that complaint to rest for quite a while."
Quill & Quire: "A swift, inventive, enjoyable book. Unexpected twists keep the plot moving briskly, but Sawyer is able to do this while raising intriguing philosophical issues."
James Schellenberg on the Crystalline Sphere web page: "Starplex is an astonishing novel, hard science fiction with heart, with a grand overarching vision. This book contains many of Sawyer's trademarks — addictive readability, a frank engagement with ethical questions, and a fondness for Canadiana. The grand sweep of the story and Sawyer's graceful manipulation of the reader's sympathies combine to make this a fine book; Starplex outdoes any book in Sawyer's oeuvre, and the majority in the field of science fiction. Sawyer uses a heady mix of big ideas and crafty storytelling, and he challenges the reader intellectually while grabbing their emotional sympathy. Quite the accomplishment."
The Toronto Star: "Here, at last, is an ambitious attempt to exploit the possibilities that the genre is capable of."
More about Starplex is here.
Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com |
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| If I ruled the world... |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|01:03 pm] |
MDMA (ecstasy) would be legal for anyone 18 or over. You'd have to buy it from a pharmacist. You'd be limited to two doses* per week. You'd have to order your doses five days in advance. Oh! And each packet of two doses would include the appropriate vitamins and supplements.
*Edit I think people may be misinterpreting what I meant by "two doses", which is perfectly understandable, since I didn't make myself at all clear. What I meant was "enough for one night of fun" -- i.e., an initial dose and a booster. |
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| News of the day |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|11:39 am] |
Is it okay for a boy to wear a skirt to school? School administrators are struggling to deal with a new generation for whom gender and gender expression are much more fluid.
A British think tank has published a report saying that the parenting style most likely to produce young children with qualities such as application, self-regulation and empathy was a mixture of warmth and discipline. Annoyingly, the BBC is summarizing this as "Children brought up according to 'tough love' principles are more successful in life." I'm having trouble getting the original publication from the Demos site (I think they're having some technical difficulties), but on the project intro page, they don't use the words "tough love". The use of that term perturbs me because it's the kind of phrase that conjures up very strong images, but which is actually completely undefined.
Edit: Okay, I found the author's blog post on the upcoming report, and I have to take back my rant. ;-) She does use the words "tough love". So I guess now I'm mad at the report's author, not the BBC.
This goes hand-in-hand with the next link: Feeling "grumpy" leads to clearer thinking, better decision-making, and less gullibility. Now, I'd seen that article a few days ago, and decided not to link to it, because I felt the reporting of the study was so bad. But I've seen a few people bandying it about so I'm going to post it and make my comments about why I think it's bad. It's really the same issue as above: the BBC headline is "Feeling grumpy 'is good for you'". That is a big leap to make from "feeling grumpy gives you a clearer head." I know it may seem obvious that a clearer head is "good" for you. However, there is a huge body of research that shows that being happy is actually good for you: you live longer, get fewer diseases and illnesses, are more productive, and have a better chance of being successful both at work and in your personal life (see The How of Happiness for references). So I believe the leap the Beeb is making there, and presenting to its readership with the authority of science behind it, is misleading -- and even potentially destructive. </rant>
An ex-pat Brit faces buying his own health insurance in the States for the first time. It's a glowing tale about how happy he is to be free of the tyranny of the NHS, under which he lived in fear of Victorian-era care granted or withheld by capricious bureaucratic whim. Or not. ;-)
The NYT has this nifty photo feature where they have two photos of Berlin side by side, one Wall-era and one post-Wall, and you can slide a line back and forth to reveal more of one or the other. Erm, it's hard to describe. Just go see!
A portrait of the people whose job it is to arrange the return and burial of fallen Canadian soldiers. (Warning: tear-jerker.)
Every time someone mentions Canadians coming to the States for medical treatment as evidence that Canada's system is broken, send them this article: Growing numbers of Americans are becoming "medical tourists". "Paul H. Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, forecasts an annual growth rate for medical tourism of 35 percent starting next year, which could reach 1.6 million patients by 2012."
And, of course, the big news: The US House of Representatives has passed their health insurance reform bill. Globe & Mail version. |
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| I've done easy and I've done hard, and easy is better |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|02:49 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | schmoop | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 94609 | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | industrious | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Dirty World, Traveling Wilburys | ] |
Accidentally posted this to the other blog. Oops.
A friend posted that someone famous was going to be at an important family event later on, and I mentioned it to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) someotherguy, to which he replied:
"Yeah, I stopped being surprised a long time ago when our friends end up in the news some way or another. Especially when it's people on our periphery -- you know, like Wombabes and alt.polyites and sockbiters. Half the time they end up being the person who, like, invented antimatter or something."
And the thing my brain was doing was saying "He said *sockbiter*!" That is to say, he likes my friends enough and cares enough about them/me that he knows what to call them in the aggregate. My former spouse... well... um... mistrusted internet people, and with a few exceptions (waves at ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) firecat and piglet) *hated* all my friends.
This is much better.
And now back to turning my pit of an apartment into something habitable. It's gotten so bad that I was humiliated inviting my friends in today (not that they are the type to judge me poorly because of it) and posted "before" pics to alt.recovery.clutter, just so you have an idea of how bad it's gotten. See you next time I take a cleaning break. Wish me luck. |
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| [Beantown Geek] Staying at Janet's (& life) |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|02:56 pm] |
I'm staying at Janet's place until she gets home from the hospital. I get to take care of Wolf (the one on the left) and drink her tasty coffee. Janet and I seem to have similar living requirements - tidy place, good lighting, comfy bed, warm shower - so it's a pleasure to be here.
Because I work about 6 miles from Janet's, she and I figured this would be an easy way for me to help her out while she's away. I get a nice ~15 minute walk in the morning with the dog and a shorter commute. She gets to know that someone is in her house, taking care of things (well, not answering the phone, but all the rest!).
I miss my housemates, but this is like a little vacation for everyone. A change of scenery never hurts! (Not to imply that we don't geat along or anything like that, but it's nice to be somewhere off by myself sometimes.)
Wolf is good company. I didn't shut the bedroom door last night and while he didn't sleep on the bed with me, he did stop in to see if I was going to get up (I didn't until I was ready). Somehow his paws on the carpet sounded more like a person walking into the room, but I quickly realized it was Wolf and went back to sleep.
Did I mention Janet's coffee maker? Do you think it would be wrong if we eloped? Yeah? Me too. Sad!
~~
In other news, I still love my job. I'm getting tons of things documented and straightened out. And modifying Java, Perl and SQL too. It's a great mix of things for me to be doing. I really like the people there too. Good bunch.
~~
Halloween was a lot of fun. We ended up hosting a party. I'll have to upload some pictures to Flickr sometime. Maybe this weekend.
~~
Dad and Cathy are in town. We had tasty Italian food last night and are going out somewhere tonight too. *makes a note to go the bank before dinner* Tomorrow morning, we're going to celebrate Dad's 75th birthday with brunch and a cake. |
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| The Sarah Jane Adventures |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|12:06 pm] |
Every so often a discussion happens somewhere on LJ about the dearth of fictional media with strong girls or women. I'd like to put a plug in for The Sarah Jane Adventures.
The leader of the troupe is, of course, Sarah Jane. Two of her three teenage assistants are boys, it's true, but the girl is just as -- or more -- daring, involved, and pivotal as they are. Oh, and she doesn't need rescuing any more often than they do. ;-) Special bonus: in seasons two and three, the girl is of South-East Asian descent, an ethnicity that is drastically underrepresented on television at all, much less in a sci-fi series.
Fans of Doctor Who: I would suggest at least catching the latest two episodes (season 3, eps 5 and 6 -- like the rest of the show, it's a single story line split over two half-hour episodes), even if you have no interest in watching the rest of the series. You don't need to have seen any of the other episodes to enjoy them.
The only thing that irks me is that Sarah Jane carries a sonic screwdriver -- disguised as a lipstick. Oh well, nothing's perfect. ;-) |
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| Props to Gough |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|11:00 am] |
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http://sfwriter.com/2009/11/props-to-gough.html 
For fans of FlashForward, the ABC TV series based on my novel of the same name, a historical note on Agent Al Gough (played wonderfully by Lee Thompson Young), who had the big story line this past week (in "The Gift").
In the actual TV series, he should be credited as the character who, in the story, coined the term "flashforward" for the event. There was a scene filmed for the pilot ("No More Good Days") in which Agent Janis Hawk (the amazing Christine Woods) appeared to coin the term (and that part of the scene was used in some of the promos), but her line was cut from the pilot as aired, so the credit for coining the term in-universe goes to Gough, who first uses it when discussing Fiona Banks with Demetri and Mark.
Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com |
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| Playing with colours |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|06:21 pm] |
I'm now showing maybe a third of an inch of regrowth around my hairline, which comes out about 50/50 black and white. I tried putting the stronger of my two purple dyes onto it, unbleached.
It still looks black and white, but I guess some colour did stick, because it blends in better rather than sharply standing out as regrowth. I guess that's a partial success. I remain amused that my white hairs won't take semi-permanent colour unless I bleach them first. :)
Separately, I bought some coloured shoe laces. I have put hot pink laces into my black Converse - that turned out really well. I have some red ones and some (deep) blue ones which I'll also use in my other casual shoes. I suspect none of them are long enough for my pinstripe Chuck Taylors though. Oh well. :) |
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| Psyforia: proof |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|11:38 pm] |
A couple of weeks ago, majes and I hit Psyforia. Amazingly, it's the first time I've been! When we left my place it was raining...then it turned into a torrent...and we got caught in a classic Boston vortex, somehow endlessly circling the Fenway and Brookline without ever finding a way to Boylston St.
I was on the verge of asking majes to just turn around and take me home, but thankfully he didn't succumb to my negative energies, and we eventually ended up there, only slightly wet and a little late. And of course, as soon as I got there and heard the music, I was so glad we came! In fact, I liked it so much that I'm considering going back New Year's Eve. It feels like time to do something radically different for that occasion...
I dressed the way I normally would have for going out to a rave in Toronto. Fortunately, it was costume night at Psyforia, so I didn't look out of place. ;-)
And lo! There is proof! I was a space cheerleader. majes was a ninja (being cheered on, clearly) with mystical mind powers. Well, technically, that last part isn't a "costume", per se. |
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| Next weekend, New England Fan Experience |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|09:26 pm] |
Just in case you want to hang out with some other kinds of science fiction fans. New England Fan Experience is hosting Leonard Nimoy (Spock... of course) and Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones from Dr. Who and Torchwood) next weekend at the Courtyard Marriott on Tremont Street in Boston. There is a whole lot of panels run by fans and pros alike for every other kind of interest. Check out the website at www. nefanx. com.
In the interest of full disclosure... I'm the chairman this year for this event. But I'm still the assistant div-head for events and anime programming for Arisia too. I just love to have fun. |
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| Poly express: bump |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|07:47 pm] |
I'm still looking for a way to get a box from here to Kitchener-Waterloo. I have a lead for the weekend of December 5, but I'd like to get it there sooner if I can. If anyone's heading from here to Montreal, Ottawa, or Toronto, or if anyone from one of those cities (or KW itself, of course) is venturing south of the border in the next month, and you'd be willing to take the box across for me, please let me know. Original request here. |
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| Your Friday: now with bears |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|12:30 pm] |
Once again, my childer, we find ourselves in that long Friday afternoon slide. Fortunately for you and me, I have a particularly heavy pic load, freshly harvested from the internets, upon which for you to snack. Don't worry - it's super tasty, but totally free of carbs or fats. You can munch all you want, guilt-free. Well, at least guilt-free in terms of consumption. If you should really be working on something else, well, this was a better use of your time anyway.
xtina and jasra both contributed mightily to this post, hauling in a whole slew of pics with which to delight and distract you. It's certainly getting to the point where they are bypassing me in my gathering abilities. Soon, all that will be required of me to get one of these posts off the ground is my witty banter.
Fair and early warning: there is some partial nudity, actual nudity, and a little bit of scary bloodiness in there. However, if that was going to scare you off, you probably wouldn't have read down this far.
( This way to wonderous things... ) |
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| News of the day |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|01:15 pm] |
Cute news of the day: A BBC reporter tells us what it's like to interview Sesame Street characters (Elmo, specifically). "Some of the puppet protocol [given to interviewers in advance] is obvious enough -- you are politely discouraged from attempting to establish if Bert and Ernie are gay -- but some is a little more subtle."
Newborn crying differs subtly in tone based on the mother's native language.
From rezendi: China has helped an African island virtually eliminate malaria.
Cite this the next time someone tells you to get off the Internet and "get a real life": Survey says users of social networking technologies have larger, more diverse social circles, and are more likely to volunteer and go out to parks and cafes.
NYT Magazine article on evidence-based medicine, and convincing doctors that following a standard protocol is generally better than relying on their personal judgement.
German filmmaker recreates Black Like Me for documentary. While the film works to expose modern racism, some critics say his portrayal of a black man is based on cartoonish stereotypes.
Wrap your cock in a piece of history: Collector auctioning off 5,000 leftover condoms from those distributed to athletes at the Beijing Olympics. "Each condom wrapper carries the motto of the Beijing Games -- faster, higher, stronger -- in English and Chinese." The catch -- you have to buy the full lot.
Britain's chief rabbi says that secularism is to blame for falling birth rates.
Raymond Jessop, leader of a polygamous Mormon sect, has been convicted of sexual assault of an underage girl. |
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| Invite codes on an alpha |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|01:58 pm] |
(This was half-written but not posted yesterday. Here it is in all it's technical "glory" today.)
kokoinai and I have been talking about how to manage the LifeThunder.com alpha; specifically, how do we (a) make people want to try it out and (b) prevent too many people from seeing it while it's still in a (to be polite) "unfinished state" (*). Obviously, problem (a) is more likely to be an issue, but (b) matters as well.
Two words: invite codes.
( Read more... )
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| No joy on YC |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|01:08 pm] |
Re: our YCombinator application: denied.
( Read the rejection letter (short) )
Actually, this is what I expected--they get a huge number of very qualified applicants, and our idea has no baked-in viral component which always seems more attractive--and the rejection letter is much nicer than I expected. I would definitely apply to YC again. In a couple of days, I'll respond to them.
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