"Space explorers have yet to get their hands on the replicator of "Star Trek" to create anything they might require. But NASA has developed a technology that could enable lunar colonists to carry out on-site manufacturing on the moon, or allow future astronauts to create critical spare parts during the long trip to Mars. The method, called electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3), uses an electron beam to melt metals and build objects layer by layer. Such an approach already promises to cut manufacturing costs for the aerospace industry, and could pioneer development of new materials. It has also thrilled astronauts on the International Space Station by dangling the possibility of designing new tools or objects, researchers said."
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
Not sure where Young Adult begins since I read Orson Scott Card in a college class but Isaac Asimov "End of Eternity" still resonates with me as incredible premonition of the internet, also by Asimov "The Naked Sun" as well as Orson Scott Card "Speaker for the Dead"
- Matt Terenzio
Where does A Wrinkle In Time fall in to things?
- Alex Scoble
Being partial to Ender's Game, I offered it to an 8 year old as a birthday present. I heard later that it was confiscated by his mother who opened it and saw the word "bugger" <grins>
- Kisholi
ender's seems more like a 12 y/o story but i know some 8 y/o that'd be total appropriate for...
- mike "glemak" dunn
Accelerondo - Charles Stross; Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom - Cory Doctorow; Diaspora - Greg Egan (a bit technical); A Fire Upon the Deep – Vernor Vinge; Against the Fall of Night - Arthur C. Clarke (out of print - may be hard to find)
- Stuart Dambrot
Overclocked - Cory Doctorow (short stories - note Anda's Game, an "update" of Ender's Game; and I, Robot and I, Rowboat, of the original I, Robot)
- Stuart Dambrot
I just picked up Ender's Game to start reading today.
- James Ferguson
I never liked Ender's Game to be honest. Little Brother was a great book.
- Aram Zucker-Scharff
aram - re: ender - blasphemy & agreed on little bro ;) <seriously> to each his own </seriously>
- mike "glemak" dunn
Stranger in a Strange Land (most Robert Heinlein), A Place so Foreign +8 (most Cory Doctorow), The Diamond Age, Dune...
- Rafael Robayna
I read Ender's game when I was in highschool, or maybe middle school. While I enjoyed it at the time, I don't know if I would enjoy it as much with my current tastes in books. I'll have to crack open my copy and go through it again to see if it stands the test of time. Been wanting to read Little Brother for a while now, think that may be my next one to pick up when I finish my current series.
- Aaron Kurtz
yeah good point - we are discussing young adult scifi books that'll wet their appetite towards the genre (ya normally being 13-20 y/o - but some argue for younger which depends on the kid really)...
- mike "glemak" dunn
That is a good one, I've never thought about that.
- C Luther
That's def true. *Science* fiction has gone south since the death of the Star Trek series, replaced mostly by fantasy. I've noticed it even in novels. It's increasingly difficult to find anything scientifically sensible that's also well-written and fun
- LANjackal
"In Pandorum, actors, Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster join Cam Gigandet , Cung Le, newcomer Antje Traue and director Christian Alvart (Antibodies) to tell the terrifying story of two crew members stranded on a spacecraft who quickly realize they are not alone. Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It’s pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the spacecraft. They can’t remember anything – who are they, what is their mission? The only way out of the chamber is a dark and narrow airshaft. Corporal Bower (Foster), the younger of the two, crawls inside, while the other, Lt. Payton (Quaid), stays behind for guidance on a radio transmitter. As Bower ventures deeper and deeper into the ship, he begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft’s shocking and deadly secrets come unraveled, and the astronauts realize that the survival of mankind hinges on their actions."
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
is it me or does it at times look like a resident evil in space? does look interesting though.. will probably watch :)
- Jay Martinez
It looks like just about every space videogame shooter plot ever: wake up aboard spacecraft with zero memory. cue Monsters/zombie/etc.
- LANjackal
from IM
yea but i like that cheesy stuff so i will watch... :)
- Jay Martinez
"Not only will it allow users to read and manage their comics from their desktops and mobile devices, but it will also come with access to an online store so that readers can purchase their books directly. Starting at $0.99 per issue, the LongBox store will have one major factor that differentiate it from the iTunes model, says Hoseley. "Along with buying an incentivized 12-issue subscription for $10, publishers can and will provide discount coupons for print versions if [the reader] subscribes to the LongBox version.""
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
Advice Needed: I have to recommend a Sci-fi/Fantasy book to a 50+ year old woman who loves to read (20 books ever two weeks) but who has never read a Sci-Fi or fantasy book. She is fairly conservative and even used to be a Nun. She really likes mysteries and thrillers.
I'm looking for a suggested book that will give her a very positive introduction to the Genre so that she will return for more. So throw out your best advice.
- Bill Rawlinson
Mary Doria Russell: The Sparrow (1996). Much appreciated as both sf and main stream literature. Won the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
- Peter
well I had hoped for a little more feedback. Thanks Peter. I checked out the blurb on Amazon and it sounds like a good choice. I like Russell's writing (I've read her novel "A Thread of Grace") so I think I'll run with your suggestion.
- Bill Rawlinson
start will some of the classics, the older stuff is usually a little more conservitive. starship trooper will get her hooked, then the I robot series of short stories. then bam Harry turtledove guns of the south. hope that helps
- Lon Widdicombe
Maybe Tamara Siler Jones? Set in a medieval Europe type setting, and they're basically police procedurals, with magic. 1st one is Ghosts in the Snow. Threads of Malice was a bit gory, though.
- Elizabeth
Go see this movie! If Philip K. Dick is your kind of sci-fi, go see this movie. If you loved Blade Runner, go see this movie. Sam Rockwell is terrific.
- Kevin Pedraja
from Bookmarklet
Bump, because, really, I'm not kidding. It's great.
- Kevin Pedraja
"I generally find that building the world my characters are going to run around in takes me a heck of a lot more effort than simply coming up with an idea for what they’re supposed to be doing in the process. Fitting all those elements together, filing off rough edges to establish a smooth fit, structuring things to provide a believable whole for the reader, and then remembering how it all goes together and honoring the restrictions I’ve built in takes a lot of work. In the long run, though, I think it pays off big time. When you write from a firm platform, one that you’ve taken the time to develop, it provides a consistency and a sense of cohesion—one the reader may not even consciously notice, but one of which, believe me, the reader’s enjoyment is well aware."
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
This is an excellent article that illustrates one of the often overlooked, major challenges of writing sci-fi: creating an internally consistent universe
- LANjackal
"The novel tells the story of what happens when Mars is colonized by a corporation that then goes bankrupt. “Such things have happened before—busted corporations stranded a lot of 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century colonists in remote parts of the world,” Baker said. “The colonists on Mars are stuck up there with no money to come home, and their situation is not exactly desperate but certainly squalid. One woman makes ends meet by keeping a bar and bartering for goods"
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
Is Alternate History SF? This has been the problem with being a Harry Turtledove fan, his books in the book stores are spread out between sci-fi/fantasy/fiction/history sections. (Harry Turtledove should have his own section in book stores.
No, not necessarily, unless it depends on time travel at some point (like the Cross Time Engineer series). Most alternate history books are just historical fiction. Like the books where the south won the civil war in the US.
- Alex Scoble
What it is, though, is "speculative fiction" which integrates magical realism, science fiction etc. (although to me all fiction is speculative, really...)
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
"Newsgroups like comp.graphics.animation and rec.arts.animation have long been home to discussions of the technical aspects and technique of computer animation by industry insiders and fans alike. Where rec.arts.comics covers the superhero realm and an abundance of discussion of hero specific movies."
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
"To participate, you just have to log in with Google, Yahoo!, Facebook or OpenID, then find a story and write a prequel or a sequel in 1024 characters. Your piece doesn't have to stand alone, it could just flesh out a character or place, or start a new scene for someone else to finish. I'm looking forward to reading some of the stuff coming out of Ficly, and speculating that maybe the evolution of print-on-demand services will play well with it. It would be too cool to have a long story you helped write shipped to your door in book form."
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
"Normally in science fiction, faster than light has a speed that has nothing to do with Einstein and everything to do with self-referentiality and the way other science fiction has done it—faster than light ships go at the speed of sailing ships, taking months to go between stars. They are wormholes or Jump or something letting them go faster than light, but it takes months of the crew’s real time. And when they get there, they can’t land on planets, any more than sailing ships can (outside of Dunsany) sail on land, they need space stations to be their ports, and they need dedicated career sailors and officers."
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
In the new Scribd store, authors or publishers will be able to set their own price for their work and keep 80 percent of the revenue. They can also decide whether to encode their documents with security software that will prevent their texts from being downloaded or freely copied.
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
Interesting. I missed this until now; will have to read the article.
- Elizabeth
I'm planning on going to T4 this weekend, but everybody is panning the movie. Anybody seen it already and have any advice? Worth the $10 ticket, or wait for netflix?
Okay, first of all, the future can pretty much be summed up in three basic concepts: constant yelling punctuated by frequent explosions, killer robots, and then more yelling, punctuated by the occasional guffaw-inducing cliché.
- LANjackal
from Bookmarklet
Is Alternate History SF? - Generally as far as finding things in the bookshop goes, alternate history is treated as SF if it’s published by SF writers, and as mainstream if by mainstream writers. This isn’t very helpful. - http://www.tor.com/index...
what's the last genre book you picked up? Mine was The Sun, The Moon and the Stars by Brust. But it was just to give to my wife, who sadly ended up not reading it. Sigh.
Was not a huge fan of The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, myself. It was "okay". I just finished Asaro's The Charmed Sphere -- interesting world, bland characters, iffy plot. Still plan on trying the rest of the series, though.
- Alix Whitmire
How was Dust? I liked the Casey novels and Bear's short stories, but not her fantasy novels.
- Rantalica Rant