All posts by Paul Raven

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Are alien lifeforms already on Earth?

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A cluster of Escherichia coli bacteria Is the emergence of life a localised one-shot fluke, or does it happen all over the place? It’s not a question we can answer with certainty yet, but that’s probably why it’s such a fascinating thing to ponder. Scientists in the latter camp suggest that life may have arisen here on Earth more than once, and according to Scientific American they are engaged in a search for examples of Terran microbial lifeforms which aren’t (or rather weren’t) based on the building blocks of the biology that we’re more accustomed to – which might add evidence in favour of the emergence of extra-terrestrial life. [Via Slashdot] [Image from Wikipedia]

Of course, some of the creatures that have existed on Earth that were based on the familiar biological patterns can still seem pretty alien, if only in the B-movie/pulp magazine manner – 2.5 meter long monster sea scorpion, anyone?

[tags]life, biology, science, extraterrestrial[/tags]
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Amazon’s Kindle – Luddite technology?

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You’d have had to be hidden under a very large interweb-proof rock to have missed the fact that Amazon have launched the Kindle, their long-anticipated wireless e-book reader device, this week.

While we at Futurismic Towers are still awaiting our evaluation devices (which the Amazon people seem to have inexplicably forgotten to mail to us), we cannot pass judgement on the reading experience the Kindle offers – though we’d agree with the consensus that it’s not the prettiest machine ever. [Image from Engadget article]

Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

So, in the meantime, we’ll refer you to the inimitable Nick Carr, one of the most reliable contrarians of the modern age, who points out that Jeff Bezos’s vision for the Kindle is possibly the best one for the future of books as a platform:

“… Kelly and his fellow-travelers are wrong, and Bezos is right. The only thing that will keep books great is respect for the individual author, the individual reader, and the sanctity of the book as a closed container. When that respect goes, the book goes with it.”

What do Futurismic readers think? Will e-book ubiquity save the novel, or destroy it?

[tags]Kindle, e-book, technology, fiction[/tags]
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Easy-off tattoos for the impulsive

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tattooist A lot of people don’t really give proper consideration to the fact that tattoos are, pretty much by definition, forever. For those people, good news arrives in the form of a new type of tattoo ink that is more easily removed by laser treatment; the ink itself is water soluble, and is encased in tiny balls of polymer which can be dissolved by a single laser treatment rather than seven or eight.

Now, perhaps I’m biased from being a tattoo collector and body-mod enthusiast, but this strikes me a product filling what should be a non-existent niche. As any responsible tattooist worth their needles should tell any prospective customer, if you’re going to take long enough to think about using a special ink in case you decide to get the tattoo removed in a few years time, you probably shouldn’t be bothering to get the tattoo at all. [Image by ElvertBarnes]

[tags]body modification, tattoo, cosmetics[/tags]
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Friday Free Fiction for 16th November

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Okay ladies and gents, boys and girls, here’s your weekly fistful of free fiction.

Before I begin, though, I’d just like to draw your attention to the sidebar, where I’ve been adding as many science/speculative fiction webzines as I know addresses for. Not only should this act as a useful reading list for you guys, it also means you can drop us a line about any we don’t know yet – so please do.

Right, onwards!

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James Patrick Kelly has finally finished the epic podcasting marathon that has been his novel, Look Into The Sun, and you can get the whole lot (all 34 installments!) at his "freereads" blog.

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New at ManyBooks.net:

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Ben Peek has posted Chapter 1 from his book Black Sheep.

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Two heads-up posts in one week from BoingBoing. Firstly:

"[Rick Dakan‘s] Mile Zero [the sequel to Geek Mafia] is a labyrinth of twists and turnabouts, filled with charming geek humor, thoroughly likable characters, and a relentless plot that you won’t be able to put down. Don’t take my word for it — it’s Creative Commons licensed, and you can download the text and check it out for yourself."

And secondly, via a BoingBoing reader:

"Mindwebs was a radio series produced in Madison, Wisconsin in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It features semi-dramatized readings of stories by authors such as Norman Spinrad, Arthur C. Clarke, Gordon R. Dickson, and Ray Bradbury. I’ve been listening to it on the bus and it’s really entertaining!"

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News from Sir John of Scalzi:

"I’m delighted to announce that Subterranean Press has decided to post the complete text of “The Sagan Diary” at Subterranean Online […] and don’t forget the audio version is also freely available."

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Chris Roberson returns to free-fiction Friday action this week with a story called "Granma Stemple".

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These aren’t really science fiction, but certainly are free: 201 Stories by Anton Chekhov, via Jeremiah Tolbert.

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Friday Flash Fictioneers in effect … but first, a brief word from James Bloomer of Big Dumb Object:

"Just thought I’d mention that I’m posting a piece of flash fiction
every day in November (my alternative to NaNoWriMo) on my writing blog – and consequently some of it is both Flash, and on a Friday. So you could say that I’m popping into the FFF club for one month …"

Welcome aboard, James! We’re short a few crew this week, for various reasons, so that’s well-timed.

Meanwhile, Martin McGrath has a continuing disregard for the ‘Friday’ part of the title, but as he’s a nice chap we’ll let him off. He posted "The Decision That Changed The Life Of Fabrice Colliseo" last Sunday.

Gareth D. Jones tells of a different sort of "Cat Burglar".

Neil Beynon remembers "Amber".

Justin Pickard is using NaNoWriMo extracts again – this week, he has "Creeping Doubts". Not about the NaNo project, we hope, Justin!

Gareth L. Powell is in a sober mood with "Where Were You When The Fun Stopped?"

An last but not least (or so I hope) is my attempt to win the not-very-prestigious (and, indeed, non-existent) award for the shortest title for a piece of short-short science fiction ever – it’s just called "J".

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That’s your lot for this week. Don’t forget that if you (or someone you know) have a piece of free fiction that you’d like us to tell the world about, or if you’d like to join the ranks of the Friday Flash Fictioneers, please just drop me an email using my address on the staff page. Just make sure you put "Friday Free Fiction" in the email subject line so it doesn’t get chomped by my spam-traps.

Have fun!

[tags]free, fiction, stories, online[/tags]
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Text ads in trolley handles

dead shopping trolleys When better to advertise to someone than when they’re engaged in the activity of shopping? As proof positive that there’s no surface in the modern world that won’t eventually be used to barrage you with information about products that you almost certainly don’t need, a company called Modstream is pitching scrolling text ad displays that are embedded in the handles of shopping trolleys (or carts, as you call them on the other side of the pond) which can have messages beamed to them wirelessly. As Engadget points out, though, there’s plenty of opportunity for comedy hacks and culture jamming right there … [Image by Cyron]

[tags]commerce, marketing, adverts, technology[/tags]