Marginalia

[coalescent]

'Singing My Sister Down' by Margo Lanagan is now online. This is the story from Black Juice that has extended eligibility for the Hugo Awards: you should go read it to see if you think it deserves a nomination.

When you're done with that, it probably wouldn't hurt to read Kelly Link's novella 'Magic for Beginners', too.

Tube Map for New Crobuzon (and railway modelers do Middle-Earth.)

Michael Chabon on the clock of the long now.

Essay by, profile of, and conversation with Octavia E. Butler.

Justine Larbalestier on acceptable self-promotion.

And finally: the credits for The Simpsons, but with real people.

EDIT: Hey look, Lisa Tuttle reviewing in the Times. (Shame she has the BSFA and Clarke Awards mixed up, though.)

Comments

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Thank you v much for the Butler link -- I didn't know about that Butler/Delany transcript. That's amazing.

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

And finally: the credits for The Simpsons, but with real people.

Just make sure they don't get any ideas about making the eventual movie live action...

[ajp.livejournal.com]

That would be so very bad.

Really, very bad...

[white_hart]

Ugh, what a horrible story* (the first one, that is)! That's one that I fear will come back to haunt me at 3am for months to come...

*Please note that this isn't a comment on the writing. It's very well-written. It's just horrible.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

And they're marketing Margo Lanagan as a young-adult writer, you know.

[white_hart]

There are a lot of creepy and unpleasant stories marketed at older children/young adults, and always have been. There are a fair few which even twenty years on I still remember with a shudder, having caused several nights of being too freaked out to turn the light off (even with the landing light on and the bedroom door open!)

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Hey look, Lisa Tuttle reviewing in the Times.

Weird format: publisher and imprint but no author. And you shouldn't too upset about the BSFA/Clarke mix up since she's both upgrade and publicised you award.

[sparkymark.livejournal.com]

That looks like Didcot power station in the establishing shot. But I guess they all do. (Marge is driving on the left and Chief Wiggum is a rozzer so I guess I might be right)

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Concerning the Clock of the Long Now, i just want to say:

• I love the Clock of the Long Now.


• I also love Longplayer.


• Penn Jillette had what i think is the best idea about the Clock: you don't build it; rather, you conduct a very elaborate, very detailed, and utterly convincing hoax, to create the popular belief that you have built it and hidden it somewhere secret. Partly, this is brilliant because it's a joke (i suspect involvement of KLF units!); partly, because it's much more cost-effective than actually building it; mostly, because it is actually the most practical approach: artifacts do not last, myths do. Bits and atoms, my friends, bits and atoms.

Anyway, i'm off to design the Clock of the Short Now [1].

-- tom

[1] Not this.

Simpsons reality

[applez.livejournal.com]

Two things:

1. The 'Marge' gave it away...she was driving on the right side of the car, which makes this British/NZ/Aussie... (I guess one of the first two, given the damp)

2. I assume you've heard about the REAL Simpsons house...

http://images.google.com/images?q=simpsons+house&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest

http://www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/misc/simpsons/

[applez.livejournal.com]

Well, looks like Wiki is already on top of this!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_of_the_Long_Now

As for a Clock of the Short Now - do you think it will ever be able to supercede the superior design of the human heart? ;-)