http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/ en-us Copyright 2006 Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:33:10 +0000 Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:47:46 +0000 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss It is difficult for me to know what to say about Phyllis MacLennans atmospheric short story "Thus Love Betrays Us". It is a story about being marooned, it is a first contact story, and it is one of those classsic... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/12/without_compani.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/12/without_compani.html Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:33:10 +0000 'Long Shot' by Vernor Vinge This is one of the few SF stories I can think of that's based on problems and speculations from Computer Science rather than the traditional hard sciences. (Although some Engineering and Astrophysics do enter into... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/11/ilsa_changed_he.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/11/ilsa_changed_he.html Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:53:42 +0000 Another interlude - Ive been reading Simon Winchesters Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, prompted by a vague memory of the book The Twenty-One Balloons. Winchesters book has a great more geology than Id anticipated (but, alas... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/11/on_frankenstein.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/11/on_frankenstein.html Fri, 10 Nov 2006 01:07:04 +0000 It was right then when it hit me, and I still dont really know why. It was as though Id turned a page in an until then incomprehensible story and suddenly found myself looking at the key to the whole... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/10/it_was_right_th.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/10/it_was_right_th.html Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:55:38 +0000 Wallace MacFarlane had a modest career and reportedly published a short story collection which is out of print. 'Changing Woman' is about a Jicarilla Apache-Navaho woman and a Blackfoot bush pilot who go to work for a secretive organization in... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/10/in_sorrow_in_co.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/10/in_sorrow_in_co.html Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:31:50 +0000 Im leaving off Annual Worlds Best SF for the moment to discuss something else. I was recently trying to describe to a friend how Fantasy is different from other types of fiction. I finally concluded that Fantasy uses the same... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/10/mercurial_and_p.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/10/mercurial_and_p.html Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:37:41 +0000 Seecond favorite quote: "I aint no gentleman .... But I need a lawyer." "To Walk a Citys Street" is a story told almost completely as dialogue. Its plot is centered around a simple moment of realization that turns the entire... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/there_is_such_a.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/there_is_such_a.html Fri, 29 Sep 2006 22:50:31 +0000 Hm, maybe I shouldnt bring the Sponge Bob Sodoku sticker book on my next trip... This story calls to mind the Mark Twain quote, 'Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.' Or (to... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/the_recreation_1.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/the_recreation_1.html Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:43:10 +0000 This story is by Michael G. Coney (1932-2005), author of more than a dozen novels, a short story collection (which does not include this story), and the Song of Earth series. He was nominated for the Nebula award for "Tea... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/oh_valinda.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/oh_valinda.html Fri, 15 Sep 2006 22:54:13 +0000 A friend recently sent me an aerial photo with an odd curved line though it, asking me if I thought it was the remains of an old road. (Sure why not? I replied.) What I thought first, however, was "We... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/dust_from_the_f.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/dust_from_the_f.html Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:23:49 +0000 Read the Classical poet Ovid's telling of the story -- it is far stranger and more moving than any opera, or summary of Roman myths, or encyclopedia entry on "Orpheus." Go to this link and skip down to "Orpheus and... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/another_note_on_1.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/another_note_on_1.html Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:17:37 +0000 I love old SF anthologies like this one: I grew up reading every single one I could get my hands on from small libraries and rural second hand bookstores. As a result Ive probably read something by every author active... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/the_1972_annual_1.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/09/the_1972_annual_1.html Fri, 01 Sep 2006 23:57:55 +0000 One of the few SF authors I ve spoken to died recently: David Feintuch. Those who knew him better remember him as an accomplished, imaginative lawyer and SF/F author who loved antiques. Having struggled until midlife to become published, he... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/08/the_blackborder.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/08/the_blackborder.html Mon, 07 Aug 2006 22:13:44 +0000 Want some fun reading? Click here to see what we have in all of Claremont's libraries. To see the item's location without clicking away from the results screen, click on 'extended display.'... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/04/sci_fi_in_clare.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2006/04/sci_fi_in_clare.html Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:22:07 +0000 Friday morning as I was driving into work I was very surprised to hear a segment about Douglas Adams on NPRs The World. The segment noted that Adams read little science fiction and characterized himself as a satirist; he preferred... http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2005/05/friday_morning.html http://athena.libraries.claremont.edu/~jez/scifi/archives/2005/05/friday_morning.html Tue, 03 May 2005 21:45:23 +0000