Just when I’d stopped expecting any depth from The Mary Sue… This.
Originally shared by The Mary Sue
On why the story of a robot overcoming society’s programming feels so compelling — and some ideas for how we could make our robot stories even better.
Sharing to bookmark.
Originally shared by Fantasy Literature (FanLit)
How Great Science Fiction Works: A college course for science-fiction fans
I have a story in Volume 2, but my five-star review is not influenced by that. Rather, it stems from the fact that these are well told, moving, clever, diverse and interesting SF stories.
They trained an AI on romance novels to make it better able to “respond” to people.
Give me your comedy stylings in the comments.
Good stimulus for steampunk or fantasy stories.
Originally shared by The Public Domain Review
One of the many designs for hydraulic automata created by the first-century-AD engineer Hero of Alexandria. Many involved elaborate networks of siphons that activated various actions as the water passed through them, especially figures of birds drinking, fluttering, and chirping. Read more in our latest essay “Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence” by Jessica Riskin — http://bit.ly/1W9hZTR
What I like about outlining is that I can use it to time-shift my creativity.
Take today. It’s chilly, a grey, depressing Auckland overcast. The cats have deactivated themselves until the sun comes back out, or until dinner, whichever is the sooner. Creativity is at a low ebb.
But I have stuff outlined that I can work on, and I know if I do I’ll be able to make some progress.
Anthologies I would like to see
(And will probably have to end up editing myself, God forbid.)
1. Runyonesque. Stories in the distinctive style of Damon Runyon. There was a lovely one from Maria Dahvana Headley in, I think, The Very Best of Tor.com last year, “The Tallest Doll in New York City,” and Mike Resnik has one that I just saw reprinted in Funny Fantasy. I’m sure I’ve seen at least one other. Also, I’ve written one.
2. Unevenly Distributed. Stories that pick up on William Gibson’s observation about the science-fictionality of today. (His recent novels also use current technology in a science-fictional way.) Maybe Robin Sloane could be persuaded to contribute?
What unusual themed anthologies would you like to see? Go large.
A few people have asked me, after I’ve read their books and pointed out issues that their editors missed, whether I take editing clients myself.
Up until now, the answer has been “no”, but that’s just changed. At least for the month of May, my wife and I are taking on a few select clients. If you’re interested in being one of them, take a look at what we offer.
(Signal boost appreciated, especially if you can personally attest to my skill at spotting punctuation errors, homonym issues and the like.)
A third of the year has gone, and I’m halfway to my target number of short story submissions (30/60).
Originally shared by David Brin
Scientists are making some progress in learning how to manipulate the microbiome, a realm that I predict will bring the 21st Century’s first truly major medical transformations – because the array of bacteria living within us, while large and complex, is inherently linear and ought to be well-corelated, soon, with genes, body types, diet and lifestyle. Already there are pushes to alter many longstanding practices, as described in Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.