More cross-posting from the Asimov’s forum.
I just learned how to do take my pulse today; it’s easy.
What you do is, place the tips of your index and middle finger on the underside of the opposite wrist, right at the top. If you’re doing it right, you’ll feel the pulse pounding right away.
Now, get a watch (or other timepiece), and for a full minute count each pulse you feel. The number of pulses in a minute is, surprise, your pulse.
SFWA announced today that William F. Nolan will be named the 2006 Author Emeritus, and Harlan Ellison will be named a Grand Master.
Congrats to both!
On the Asimov’s forum, someone was asking for Ellison recommendations. Here’s what I said:
For my money, you’ve absolutely GOT to read “The Deathbird.” Oh, and “Jefty is Five.” Also high on my list of Ellison faves are “A Boy and His Dog” and “I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream.” Of his lesser known stuff, “Along the Scenic Route” is one of my faves. He’s such a master at the short story length though, he’s got a lot of great ones to choose from. There’s one up at SCI FICTION “All the Sounds of Fear” which I liked a lot, though it doesn’t hold a candle to some of his other work listed above.
I note with glee that I’ve been mentioned on Boing Boing. Cory posted a note about his new podcast serial, “When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth” being complete, then mentioned that the story will be published in Baen’s Astounding Stories. However, Baen’s recently changed the name of the magazine to Jim Baen’s Universe, to avoid any conflict with the rightholders of the name Astounding Stories (Dell Magazines, one would assume–the publishers of Analog, which was formerly known as Astounding Stories). So, I pointed out this change, and Cory updated the post.
I haven’t started listening to the podcast yet, but it sounds pretty damn cool. Cory sez: “[it’s] about the sysadmins surviving in data-centers after the apocalypse.”
New acquisitions this month include:
a creepy and compelling new novella from Laird Barron, which is–and I know this is going to come as a huge shock–horrific and really strange; a clever alternate history from Gardner Dozois; some good old-fashioned space-faring SF from Robert Onopa; a new Guth Bandar tale from Matthew Hughes; and a hilarious short-short from Tim McDaniel, which is…well, it’s just wrong on so many levels (but in a good way).
Tobias Buckell reports that the first third his novel, Crystal Rain, will be available online beginning in January.
Charles Coleman Finlay offers his oblogatory late take on the late SCI FICTION, which is interesting in of itself, but also includes an thought-provoking discussion in the comments.
Dave Schwartz has set up a blog called the ED SF Project, in which he invites people to drop by and write an appreciation of one of the many stories SCI FICTION has published over the years. It’s first come, first serve, so get over there post-haste to claim your favorite SCI FICTION story and write up a nice tribute.
In Dave’s words:
By my count there are 320+ stories archived at the site. I’m willing to bet that there are that many SF writers/critics/fans/what have you who have some sort of presence on the web. So I’m thinking, let’s all of us write an appreciation of one of the stories.
It doesn’t need to be something long — it could be a few paragraphs, or it could be in-depth; it could be a critical analysis or just a reaction to the story. Just something that focuses on the fiction and shows how much impact the site has had. Remember, this is an appreciation. A celebration. Pick a story you love, or discover a new one by reading through the archives. Discover for yourself just what we’re losing. Then let’s give it the best sendoff possible.
The
latest installment of my book review column,
STRONG MEDICINE: Books That Cure What Ails You, was just published in
Intergalactic Medicine Show. In this installment, I review Cherie Priest’s
Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Tim Pratt’s The Strange Adventures of
Rangergirl, Daniel Wilson’s How to Survive a Robot Uprising, and Ira
Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby (on audio).
SCI FI Wire just published a news story I wrote about Lawrence Watt-Evans’s fan-funded, online serialization of his novel The Spriggan’s Mirror.
SCI FI Wire just published a news story I wrote about Greg Bear’s forthcoming novel, Quantico.