Category Archives: Literature

you must read Red Lightning

Fun, Literature, Science fiction, Space

This weekend I read Red Lightning, John Varley’s latest page-turner. I stand by what I said about Red Thunder, its predecessor:

It’s a fantastic read, the kind of book that would be written by the mutant prodigy love-child of Varley, Robert Heinlein, Carl Hiaasen, Spider Robinson, Douglas Coupland, Neal Stephenson, and Carl Sagan.

You must read this book. If you won’t take my word for it, listen to Cory Doctorow:

There are few writers whose work I love more than John Varley’s, purely love — but now that I’ve finished Red Lightning, I love his stuff even more.

Go get it. Now. Why are you still here?  [Special thanks to Ted for lending me his copy before he read it himself.]

like mini sci fi audiobooks

Literature

Thanks to a mention on Boing Boing, I discovered an extraordinary podcast called “Escape Pod”:http://www.escapepod.info/ today. It’s a collection of short sci-fi stories read by podcasting veterans, and the result is awesome. There’s some fresh, funny, and thought-provoking stuff in there, and it’s open to everyone.

My favorite so far is “The Burning Bush”:http://www.escapepod.info/2005/09/22/ep020-the-burning-bush/, a sacrelicious must-listen for any feminist. This means you, K and Deb and Deana. Fire up whatever MP3 player you have and start listening now.

Oh, and they’re accepting new submissions, with a $10-20 reward (and an audience of 2,000) for getting published.

sf questions

Literature

Did you read science fiction as a child? If so, take a look at this “SF Reading Habits Questionnaire”:http://sfquestions.blogspot.com/. It might be interesting to know who “our people” are…

“The purpose of this questionnaire is to provide material for a book called (provisionally), The Inter-Galactic Playground of Children’s Science Fiction to be published by McFarland Press.”