http://strangeandhappy.com Science Fiction Author Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:51:26 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yes, I said "non-writing." As in, I'm not going to talk about Scrivener or yWriter or Shelfari. You probably already know about those. If not, there are many, many, many people talking about tools for writers as writers. They're well worth a read. So. With that well-covered, I thought I'd throw ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/06/29/10-useful-non-writing-tools-for-writers/ They made Han’s introduction to the Shrill ambassador a formal thing, held in the big Walton room set in the basement of the Winfinity Hilton Extravagance. Two of the walls were fronted in diamondoid, filtering water-blue artificial light from the man-made lake that surrounded the hotel and conference center. Parti-colored ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/06/27/eternal-franchise-93-of-311/ And no, this time it's not me. Jetse de Vries, editor of the upcoming anthology of positive science fiction Shine, has now had enough experience with authors to create a taxonomy of excuses as to why we can't write positive SF (among other things; the post is quite substantive, and ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/06/19/positive-science-fiction-take-iii/ Jimson scrolled through the icons and textbits on his datover, but it gave him no clue when Tiphani would come back. He wished he had her access codes. With those, he could trawl through some of the less-censored data on the higher channels. He almost asked for them last night, ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/06/19/eternal-franchise-92-of-311/ CHAPTER NINE Knock, knock! The sound of knuckles on the thick wood door of Tiphani’s Winfinity High-Lux apartment cut through the still morning like large-caliber gunshots. Tiphani opened one eye, slowly, trying to sort her thoughts into order. Outside the big picture-window the chrome towers of Winfinity City were painted in cool ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/06/14/eternal-franchise-91-of-311/ The elevator ride back up seemed ten times slower than the trip down. Dian gripped the rail tightly with both hands and looked up through the mesh. She half-expected to see the brilliant stab of hand-flashes, murmured voices, and the metallic clack of magazines snapping home. But there was only silence ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/06/06/eternal-franchise-84-of-311/ Thanks to Futurismic for this eye-opening video. Even if this is largely scripted, the capabilities they're showing here for interaction with virtual reality are impressive. Video Games | Lionhead Milo Project | E3 09: Milo Tech Demo HD XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii Of course, it would have been better ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/06/04/another-glimpse-at-the-future-with-obligitory-slam-on-sf-writers/ They fell into the dark, riding groaning cables that scaled rust down through themesh roof of the elevator. Sara Too told him that frequency analysis of the cable noise didn’t indicate imminent failure, but Lazrus didn’t find that fact as comforting as he might have expected. The girl Dian gripped ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/05/30/eternal-franchise-83-of-311/ Dian woke to the cool drip of condensation on the inside of the tent, chill air on her face, and the stale smell of her own breath. Context snapped quickly back. Oh yes. You were fired. You’re in the middle of the Pentagon. And there’s a rogue artie wearing a human-suit ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/05/23/eternal-franchise-82-of-311/ CHAPTER EIGHT Dian and Lazrus spent the night in the big overgrown park in the middle of the Pentagon, after a quick side-trip to pick up Dian’s things at the old brownstone. Lazrus had expected Dian to want to stay in the shelter of the wide echoing corridors of the Pentagon, ... http://strangeandhappy.com/2009/05/16/eternal-franchise-81-of-311/