Futurismic hosting hiccups

Paul Raven @ 18-01-2008

Hello, boys and girls. You may or may not have noticed that Futurismic had a bit of downtime today.

Our hosting company informs us that this is due to the site hogging CPU resources - which means there’s either a lot more of you reading than we thought, that something’s broken, or that someone somewhere is playing a game we Brits refer to as “silly buggers”.

However, until we can accurately determine the source of the problem, we need to take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again. So if you notice anything odd or untoward here in the next week or so, please bear with us.

It may be that we’re forced to deactivate the comments at some point, but this will not be a permanent change by any means.

And please also rest assured we’re working hard on a long term solution to the problems, which we hope to be able to make an announcement about very soon.

Thanks for reading!


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New blog on the block: Gawker’s io9

Paul Raven @ 02-01-2008

io9addict Doubtless after realising that the Futurismic team, as awesome as we are, just don’t have the resources to cover everything, the folk at Gawker Media have started a new science fiction blog, io9, headed up by none other than Annalee Newlitz. [Image lifted from i09 introductory post]

From the looks of it so far, they’re going to be covering all sorts of funky science fictional stuff, and not just the written fiction and plausible technogeekery we try to stick to here - so I’m guessing there’s room in your RSS reader for both. :) And as Scalzi points out, fandom will not be slighted lightly … still, they’re off to a good start from my point of view, with a post that faces the rotting elephant carcass in the room and points out six reasons that Star Trek should stay dead. Amen, brothers and sisters.


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CommentPress 1.0 Released

Jeremy Lyon @ 31-07-2007

If you’re a long-time reader of Futurismic, you know we’ve recently made the switch to WordPress. In the spirit of embracing the new platform, we link to CommentPress 1.0, a WordPress theme that puts comments in a box that scrolls as you scroll, and lets you click on a paragraph to see comments related to that paragraph. They imagine lots of uses for CommentPress, but the one most interesting to me is the applicability to workshopping stories online. If you’re a writer, would you use something like CommentPress to solicit feedback on stories in progress? [o'reilly radar]


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About

Paul Raven @ 03-07-2007

You have questions? We have answers!

What is Futurismic?

Futurismic is a website for people interested in the future and the effects of science and technology on the present.

Futurismic comes in three parts:

  • The blog consists of short introductions to content that exists elsewhere on the web, usually (though not exclusively) with some sort of science fiction angle.
  • The columns section covers the same ground in more detail, allowing for hyperbole, punditry, humour, or whatever else the writer chooses to deploy.

Both blog and column entries might cover scientific advances; new technology and technological products; news about technology companies; descriptions of people impacted by technology; emergent cultural or social phenomena; or political issues that couldn’t exist in the absence of any of the above.

In addition to its core focus, content may delve into tangential issues at the whim of its contributors. Such tangents are made for particularly amusing or interesting content, or for news about the professional activities of its contributors. Or because the contributor thought you might find it interesting.

  • The fiction section contains innovative, exciting new stories that use the tools of speculative fiction to examine contemporary issues and take a look at what’s just around the corner.

Futurismic’s fiction section, in other words, is an extrapolative complement to our blog entries and columns. Or is it the other way around?

Who’s behind Futurismic?

The Staff page has the answers you seek!

We’re always interested in potential non-fiction contributors: if you’re an excellent writer with a keen interest in what tomorrow will bring, drop us a line!

Do you pay for writing?

Bloggers and essayists are not paid. They do it for the love. Or the glory. Sometimes both.

We buy science fiction short stories at a flat rate of US$200.00 for first electronic rights and nonexclusive audio performance rights. We are currently closed to submissions, but expect to reopen imminently.

We publish one story per month.

What kind of fiction are you interested in?

We’re looking for the very best in current science fiction, with an emphasis on work that truly connects with and illuminates the fast-paced, fascinating time we live in. We accept stories of any length up to 15,000 words. We are not interested in reprints or simultaneous submissions.

Please read the Futurismic fiction submission guidelines carefully and make sure your story matches our requirements.

What are your response times like?

We work as fast as we can, but we’d ask you to bear in mind that all of Futurismic’s staff have day-jobs as well! We intend to reply to all submissions within three months of receipt.

How do I submit fiction to Futurismic?

There’s a link to the online submissions form on the guidelines page, which we heartily recommend reading first. Please note that the only file format in which we will accept fiction is .RTF (Rich Text File).

Who pays for all of this?

Much like any other site that makes a mission of delivering quality content at no end cost to the user (that’s you, by the way), Futurismic will be relying on adverts to generate the money to pay our authors and prop up the server it lives on. We will be doing our level best to make sure those ads are not offensive, inappropriate or (worst of all, in our opinion) patronising.

If you have any queries or complaints about the adverts (or anything else, for that matter), please drop us a line via the Contact page.

Legal Stuff

All content on Futurismic remains the property of the person who wrote it, with the exception of quotations or excerpts or images from linked works which we republish under the terms of Fair Use. In such cases we make every effort to credit the original source of the material; please get in touch if you feel any content on Futurismic is infringing on your copyright. We believe content should be free and that promoting the content of others is not just fair but beneficial; however, if you want to lock up your content just let us know and we’ll remove/de-link it. It’s yours, after all; you can be as irrationally protective of it as you like.

Please note that the ownership of content extends to comments supplied by readers; while Futurismic staff will delete or redact comments deemed broadly offensive (or blatantly self-promotional and irrelevant), we will endeavour to leave all others - no matter how staggeringly uninformed or bizarre the opinions held within.

So please feel free to comment - but be prepared to stand by your own words. :)


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