The science fiction genre is full of authors who, with a few exceptions, understand the value of giving content away for free as a marketing ploy (and we love them for it, too). The same attitude is less prevalent in the world of ‘proper’ literature, but the literary cachet of Nobel prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, combined with her enthusiastic adoption of a new publishing paradigm may change that fact. A recluse in real life, Ms Jelinek feels more able to communicate with people online, describing the internet as “the most wonderful thing there is. It connects people. Everyone can have input.” As an experiment into using the internet to raise an author’s profile, I’d say it’s been a success – Nobel Prize or no, I’d never heard of her before now. I wonder if the story’s any good?
Category Archives: Blog
Astronomers spot a wet ‘hot Jupiter’
This story is everywhere today, but my preferred source for the real unsensationalised science behind astronomy headlines is Centauri Dreams, which explains that, while there is indeed water in the atmosphere of exoplanet HD 189733b, it’s almost certainly not in the liquid form that we are used to finding it in. The good news is that it suggests water-abundant star systems are not a rarity – so maybe one day we’ll find a planet more like our own.
UK military denies deploying killer badgers
You just can’t make a story like this up … a spokesman for the UK armed forces in Iraq has had to deny rumours that they were responsible for releasing a horde of man-eating animals into Basra. A bit implausible, especially for us traditionalist Brits … but it strikes me as the sort of thing DARPA might have thrown money at, had they thought of it first.
Watering Southern Australia (With Ziploc Bags)
South Australia is short on fresh water. North Australia’s got plenty. Rather than build a pipeline or indulge in large scale watershed engineering, Dr. Ian Edmonds proposes filling giant plastic bags with northern water and letting them float south in the East Australian current. There’s your roughneck of the twenty-first century: rather than drilling for oil, he’s heaving water bags out of the ocean. [treehugger]
Booktour.com Launches
Chris Anderson’s latest project is now live. BookTour.com is:
…a free online service that connects authors and potential audiences of all sorts, from book groups to civic organizations, from bookstores to corporate events. Authors create their own page (biography, books, tour dates and availability) and any group looking for speakers can find them and contact them directly to arrange for an appearance.