Author Archives: Mike Reeves-McMillan

Aug 11

I believe this is true. Fated Heroes aren’t inherently more interesting, just easier.

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I believe this is true. Fated Heroes aren’t inherently more interesting, just easier.

You’ll sometimes hear writers say that writing an interesting story about X kind of person is impossible. (I’m aware of one prominent SF writer who has said that about women, for example.) This says more about their limitations as writers than it does about the people they won’t write about.

Originally shared by Amanda Patterson

Quotable – Mavis Gallant, born 11 August 1922, died 18 February 2014. Read more here: http://bit.ly/2hOeTYe

Aug 08

I was reading through this article, trying to find a story angle that wouldn’t be hard to make interesting, and…

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I was reading through this article, trying to find a story angle that wouldn’t be hard to make interesting, and eventually hit this, near the bottom:

“Dutch startup Nerdalize has begun trials of a solution for the domestic market: customers pay the company to install servers in their homes and receive free heating in exchange.”

Story idea: unbeknown to you, there’s data stored on the server in your home that scary people want to steal or destroy.

Go!

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Waste Heat: The Overlooked Energy Problem, and How to Solve It https://suhub.co/2nmKdgZ

Aug 08

I very much enjoyed the moment in an episode of The Librarians where two women were literally in a refrigerator (one…

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I very much enjoyed the moment in an episode of The Librarians where two women were literally in a refrigerator (one of the big walk-in ones).

While they were in there, they passed the Bechdel test.

Originally shared by Standout Books

Fridging is a lazy device – digging deeper will usually leave you with a stronger story.

Find out more with ‘What Is ‘Fridging’, And How Can You Avoid It?’

http://bit.ly/2zrddNa

Aug 08

I refuse to use Gmail’s autosuggested reply “Ok”.

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I refuse to use Gmail’s autosuggested reply “Ok”.

Because the correct capitalization is “OK”.

This kind of “nagged by our tech into decisions we don’t really mean” issue was something I touched on in “Aspiration Value” (though in the final version of the story it got deemphasized a bit): http://compellingsciencefiction.com/stories/aspirationvalue.html

Originally shared by Walter Roberson

Mike Reeves-McMillan for multiple reasons

https://www.fastcompany.com/90205359/google-you-auto-complete-me

Aug 05

Here’s some useful handwavium for you.

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Here’s some useful handwavium for you. Comes with a shelf life; a lot of research is going into figuring out what this stuff is actually good for and how to make it do that. But for now, you can probably use it to justify all kinds of crazy materials properties in your SF if you need to.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Graphene and Beyond: The Astonishing Properties and Promise of 2D Materials https://suhub.co/2KvRQux

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Aug 05

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

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Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Wasn’t there a woman in the team at the end of the last film? Why has she vanished without trace, never to be mentioned?

Oh, I get it. There can only be one named female character per action movie.

Otherwise they might have a conversation about something other than a man, and then where would we be?

Aug 04

The total short-run impact of automation on low-wage employment may be economically small even when technological…

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Originally shared by Judah Richardson

The total short-run impact of automation on low-wage employment may be economically small even when technological substitution is taking place.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/the-potential-to-automate-low-wage-jobs-in-the-u-s-and-its-impact-on-workers