Tag Archives: science fiction

Today's Tomorrows

Introducing Today’s Tomorrows, a new column by Brenda Cooper

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Hi.  I’m Brenda Cooper.  I’m looking forward to penning a column here at Futurismic, at least for the rest of the year.  It’s an exciting spot for me, since I’m both a science fiction writer and a futurist.

So how does one become both of those things?  Well, I always knew I wanted to write.  Since I was three.  We all say that, but eventually I actually started writing real stories instead of beating myself up for not writing.  So now I’ve got about thirty stories published so far, and three novels out from Tor (one is a collaboration with Larry Niven).  The futurist part happened because I was part of a long-term strategy team for a city a little over a decade ago, and I found I really loved thinking and talking about the future.  In fact, I’m so rabid about that being a conversation that matters, that I’ve gotten somewhat known here in the Pacific Northwest region of the US and I now periodically get paid to talk to business audiences about the future.  I find the two avocations quite compatible.  Often I’m researching a talk when some fact I find demands to have a story written about it.

So what I’m planning here at Futurismic, starting soon, is to do a monthly column that mashes up the science fiction and the science of the future.  I’ll write about a technology or other futurist topic, and explore some of the ways that science fiction writers have either shaped or reacted to that topic.  I plan to explore cloning (did you know they just cloned a camel in Dubai?) and robotics (there is a robotic scientist named Adam), among other things.  I’m open to ideas, so feel free to comment on this post and leave me technologies you’re interested in.

For more information, stop by www.brenda-cooper.com.  The website won’t tell you I love dogs and reading and listening to podcasts while I walk the dogs.

Blog

My book is out, and I’m giving it away–the sequel!

Terra Insegura resized Paul recently accused me of being too modest to promote myself here on Futurismic, but this should prove him wrong!

My latest science fiction novel, Terra Insegura, is out from DAW Books tomorrow, and to promote it, I’m running a month-long giveaway at my blog (details here). You’re welcome to enter over there, but as I did last year for Marseguro, I’m also offering a special for Futurismic readers only.

Email me at edward(at)edwardwillett.com and put “Futurismic contest” in the subject line, and I’ll enter you in a Futurismic-only draw. The first name drawn receives a copy of Terra Insegura, and the second name drawn a copy of last year’s Aurora Award-nominated Marseguro. (I’ll only ask for mailing information from the winners after they win, and don’t worry: I’ll ship anywhere in the world.)

I’ll keep this draw open for two weeks, closing it at midnight GMT on Sunday, May 17.

And just a reminder: you can read the first two chapters of the book and/or listen to me read them on my website.

We now return you to your regular Futurismic programming.

(Image: Cover art by Stephan Martiniere.)

[tags]Edward Willett,science fiction, books, novels, contests[/tags]

Blog

Friday Free Fiction for 1st May

Happy May Day! Even if your religious or political leanings don’t care for the date, it’s not only a Friday but the first weekday of the month – which means we’ve just published our regular fictional offering, and you should go read Stephen Gaskell’s “Under an Arctic Sky” right away.

And when you’re all done with that, you can get started on this little list of free science fiction on the web as a way of filling up your weekend…

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Here’s a bunch from ManyBooks:

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And a couple from FeedBooks:

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HUB Magazine #84 features “My Dad’s Idea” by Llinos Cathryn

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I’ve lost track of what I’ve linked to at Shadow Unit and what I haven’t, as the DVD Extras don’t come with numbers to sort the order out. So here’s the latest two pieces, just in case: “Dragons” and “Disintegration“.

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Jason Stoddard delivers chapter 6.1 of Eternal Franchise

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Tor.com presents “TVA Baby” by Terry Bisson

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Via Ken MacLeod:

My colleague and fellow Genomics Forum Writer in Residence Pippa Goldschmidt‘s short story “The Competition for Immortality” is now online at LabLit.

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From good friend o’ the site Nancy Jane Moore:

I ripped my free Book View Cafe flash fiction for this week straight from the headlines: “How to Deal With the Coming Crisis” is about swine flu. By the way, I post a free flash fiction every Thursday on Book View Cafe, and we generally have new free fiction on the site every day.

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Via BoingBoing and loads of other places:

“[To make Thoughtcrime Experiments,] Sumana Harihareswara and Leonard Richardson selected nine mind-squibbling SF and fantasy stories from the slush pile, commissioned five works of art, paid the authors and artists, and packaged the whole thing as a high-quality anthology that you’re free to copy and remix. Artists include E-Sheep’s Patrick Farley and fanfic darling Erin Ptah; authors include Mary Anne Mohanraj, Carole Lanham, and Ken Liu. We also wrote an essay describing the process, which you can read if you’re interested in how we did it or what the SF/fantasy market looks like from the editor’s perspective.”

Looks like you can get Thoughtcrime Experiments in multiple formats from ManyBooks already, too.

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The SF Signal team obviously sensed how busy I’ve been this week, and did a couple of round-up posts of free fiction links in additio to scraping up the following little tidbits from the far crevices of the intertubes:

  • Aberrant Dreams presents “Children of the Fire” by Melissa Mead, “Dione” by Jess Kaan, and “Gilding the Dandelion” by Futurismic veteran Marissa K Lingen
  • Chapters 1 and 2 of The Time Idiot by A R Yngve can be found on his website
  • The latest issue of Abyss & Apex includes fiction by Lisa A Koosis, Bud Sparhawk, Aliette de Bodard, Ruth Nestvold, and William Highsmith
  • The latest issue of Ideomancer presents fiction by J(ae)D Brames, Michaela Kahn, Steven Mohan, Jr., J C Runolfson, Mike Allen, and Amal El-Mohtar
  • Issue #5 of Concept Sci-Fi has appeared, including fiction by Dylan Fox, Lawrence Buentello, and Jonathan Lowe

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      And to cap it off, there’s one bit of Friday Flash Fiction this week, courtesy of “R-zero” by Sumit Dam.

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      And we’re done – so get out of here and enjoy your weekend! But don’t forget to let us know about cool stuff we should be mentioning here, OK?

      Fiction

      NEW FICTION: UNDER AN ARCTIC SKY by Stephen Gaskell

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      We publish writers from all over the globe here at Futurismic, but this month I get to present a story by someone who lives damn near on my doorstep! Stephen Gaskell comes from Brighton here in the UK, but “Under an Arctic Sky” is as far from the faded Regency glamour of his seaside hometown as you could imagine. It’s a powerful story of dedication to a cause against the fiercest of oppression, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

      Under an Arctic Sky

      by Stephen Gaskell

      Slava ran.

      Ran as fast as he could. His icy breath speared the air. His footfalls made slapping sounds against the packed snow. The temperature must have been minus forty, but he didn’t feel the cold.

      He didn’t look back.

      Didn’t want to see the oil well derricks. Didn’t want to see the scarred black tundra. Didn’t want to see the line of nodding donkeys and their belches of fire.

      Most of all, he didn’t want to see how close the snowmobiles were, buzzing behind him like angry bees.

      In his mind’s eye he streaked ahead to the northerly reaches of the Kanin peninsula. Past herds of caribou, past the last encampments of the Nenets, past the odd polar bear loping away on the horizon.

      The back of his neck felt stiff, as though somebody had kicked him there with a steel-capped boot. He stretched a gloved hand over his head to rub at the aching spot.

      And stopped dead.

      There was something embedded in his neck. Continue reading NEW FICTION: UNDER AN ARCTIC SKY by Stephen Gaskell →

      Blasphemous Geometries

      The criticism of video games

      6 Comments

      This month Blasphemous Geometries turns a conceptual corner, as Jonathan McCalmont decides to refocus the critical crosshairs on video games.

      Blasphemous Geometries by Jonathan McCalmont

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      Back in the 1930s, a number of physicists (including Einstein) argued that our universe is oscillatory. What this meant was that after the Big Bang, the universe expands until it reaches a certain level of density and gravitational pull, at which point it begins to contract until it ends with a Big Crunch. This idea still has some devotees. However, what made the Oscillatory Theorists interesting was the belief that after the universe had contracted back to its original singularity, it would then bounce back again; expanding until its physical limits were met and another Big Crunch was initiated. This meant that, according to the Oscillatory Theorists, the universe was stuck in a cycle of eternal destruction and rebirth. This has always struck me as a rather useful analogy for certain internet debates. “Is Science Fiction Dying?” is one such debate but another is “Where is the Lester Bangs of Video Games?”. Continue reading The criticism of video games →