May 16

My story “Aspiration Value” (http://compellingsciencefiction.com/stories/aspirationvalue.html) shows virtual…

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My story “Aspiration Value” (http://compellingsciencefiction.com/stories/aspirationvalue.html) shows virtual assistants (“assists”) giving users visual cues as they go about their daily lives, directing their attention according to what their algorithms calculate are the users’ best interests.

I don’t, at any point, talk about the hardware side of how that happens; it’s just there, because the interesting part is the effect of the technology, not the form of it.

My wife and I are making our way through Person of Interest on Netflix, and it’s struck me how the characters walk around in different parts of the city talking to each other just as a matter of course. That’s something that you couldn’t have put in a show set in the present just ten or so years ago, but now we accept it as a common convention – and it makes a huge difference to how stories unfold, and how the characters interact. How much more so if they could call up images of each other?

Via Lisa Cohen.

Originally shared by Marcel Gagne

Make no mistake. This is where we are headed with personal technology. The smartphone that is today an extension of so many of us, will quickly, in a few short years, transform us all into cyborgs. Whether you see that as the end of humanity, or the next step in our evolution, is a question I leave to you.

http://www.businessinsider.com/death-of-the-smartphone-and-what-comes-after-2017-3

May 15

Having practiced as a hypnotherapist, I have an interest in (non-pharmacological) altered states of consciousness.

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Having practiced as a hypnotherapist, I have an interest in (non-pharmacological) altered states of consciousness. I want to do more with them in fiction, too. I have a short story on the cook about a technologically enabled shared dreamspace, for example, though at the moment it’s mostly a parable of social media.

Originally shared by Singularity Hub

Are We About to Unlock the Secrets to Peak Performance? http://bit.ly/2qjZDTE

May 13

This was my first semiprofessional sale, but the anthology I sold it to is no longer available, so I thought I’d put…

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This was my first semiprofessional sale, but the anthology I sold it to is no longer available, so I thought I’d put it up on my website.

It’s a mashup of Damon Runyon; detective noir; and sword and sorcery, three odd tastes that go oddly together. What originally sparked it off was reading (or partly reading, because I got bored and didn’t finish) a book about a dwarf noir detective that lacked the compelling voice of noir and instead plodded along in the manner of poorly-written epic fantasy. I thought, “I can do better than that!” and… well, this is the result.

I’ve since read Ari Marmell’s much better noir fae detective books. This story probably wouldn’t have existed if I’d read them first, because he does it right.

http://csidemedia.com/shortstories/axe-stone-dwarf-detective/

May 13

There’s a fan theory about Murder, She Wrote that says that Jessica Fletcher committed all the murders herself and…

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There’s a fan theory about Murder, She Wrote that says that Jessica Fletcher committed all the murders herself and expertly framed other people for them. How else to explain why a prosperous middle-aged widow who lives in a small town in Maine encounters so many murders wherever she goes?

As a fellow writer, though, it’s obvious to me that each episode depicts Jessica’s writerly imaginings: “What if this person I just met was murdered? How might that work out?”

May 12

So pleased at my friend Lisa Cohen’s well-deserved success with her excellent book.

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So pleased at my friend Lisa Cohen’s well-deserved success with her excellent book.

Originally shared by Lisa “LJ” Cohen

There have been 2 pieces of amazing news that I haven’t been able to share. Which is probably one of the hardest things for me to do, given that I have very little ability for delayed gratification.

But I’ve been good.

Now I can share the 2nd opportunity that has come my way:

http://mailchi.mp/dfba4dc3fe6c/what-you-are-reading-is-rebellion?platform=hootsuite

DERELICT has been chosen as the inaugural pick for the Feminist Book of the Month project – F-BOM.

First of all, the name rocks!

Second of all, I am thrilled at the opportunity to share my work in this kick-ass curated selection of books.

I am grateful for the folks at Her Story Arc for their support.

http://mailchi.mp/dfba4dc3fe6c/what-you-are-reading-is-rebellion?platform=hootsuite