rivendellrose: (Georgiou)
My talking meme calendar has some gaps in it, but I got a bunch of lovely new questions today, and since one of them had to be shuffled a bit due to two people selecting the same days, I moved one to today!

[personal profile] mekare asked: "What other sci-fi films and/or shows have you enjoyed apart from Babylon 5 and Star Trek? Can you rec any?"

And indeed I can! Your mileage may vary, of course, with recommendations, but I'll try to at least give some sense of what it is that I liked about each property, and whether or not I would recommend watching it.

Recommendations and nattering under the cut... )
rivendellrose: (books)
Snagged off a link from Io9, here's a pretty nifty flow-chart for choosing where to start in NPR's recent list of the Top 100 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

The list was created by poll, and therefore has something that positively everyone will consider incorrect. The flow-chart, however, is pretty cool. (Although I'd like to put in that LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness is not, IMHO, about feminism. It is about gender. There is a difference.)
rivendellrose: (seeress)
Just finished the first panel of the "test" lantern, painting the glass with Gallery Glass in amber. Now I'm going to be staring at it for the next few hours, wondering what it will come out looking like...

In other news, our big actual book release over at Royal Archivist is THIS WEDNESDAY, OMG. 90+ pages, full-color illustration, cover art by Julie Dillon (and I am still so in love with that cover...) - and this one includes lifetime updates to the guidebook and its expansions. Which is a huge deal, as we're always doing something! We're still editing and adding to this one up to the minute (...well, a few hours ago, for me, but I know I've got a few more sections coming at me, still!). Super exciting. Lots of really interesting worlds and concepts are coming out, and it seems like every time I get a section there's something new that makes me go "oh, cool!" ♥
rivendellrose: (sunny)
Royal Archivist has had its website face-lift and is live, with fun columns and an FAQ about the project and the universe!

The official guide book (source of recent comments about how much I love editing) will be available Wednesday, for free download. Because what better hook could there be for a new shared universe than a free guidebook?

Anyway, bookmark the page, sign up for their newsletter, and keep your eyes out for future developments - we've got a lot more coming up soon!

Now to finish my rounds on the net and get my lunch packed away before I'm back on the clock. ♥
rivendellrose: (Delenn2)
So, in the process of twiddling about with the outline for a possible novel that I've been thinking about (or, in the case of today, staring blankly at in between sneezing fits...), I noticed that my Inner Editor and I are having a little fight about something, and that the general world of sci-fi around me isn't helping much. So I appeal to you, f-list, for your opinions on these things.

Aliens in sci-fi - over and done, just over-done, or just not especially 'in' right now? Or, you know, am I just hanging out in the wrong corners of sci-fi lately?

I ask because I can't help but notice that the majority of sci-fi that I've seen or read lately (and keep in mind, I have a chronic problem with not keeping up on current trends as well as I'd like) tends to forego any kind of aliens in favor of humans alone in the universe, doing our thing. Which, okay, great. Love it. It's very interesting. But... I kind of miss the sci-fi of my childhood, sometimes? With aliens? *Points at icon* And as much as I was underwhelmed by the time all the hype was through, Avatar was a pretty clear example that this kind of thing is not totally unappreciated by contemporary audiences, either, right? But the only other recent time I've run across aliens in anything was watching The Boy play the Mass Effect series... and giddily loving every minute of it because it reminded me of my sci-fi roots, damn it. ♥

So why do I feel like the instant I start to consider including aliens in my universe, I'm turning it into a bad space opera? Overactive guilt complex? Obsessive terror of vomiting all my childhood sci-fi pet-loves (what is the opposite of pet peeve?) all over my would-be novel in such a way as to make it utter crap? An unspoken acceptance of the lit-fic nonsense that says that sci-fi and fantasy can only be good and literary and serious if it includes only the faintest twinges of anything we don't see in modern life?

...I'm placing my bet on that last one, with a few shades of the others, myself. But talk to me, oh f-list. What do you think about this subject?

The cats insist that they're starving, and now it actually is almost their dinner time, so I'd better disentangle myself from the blankets and go feed them.
rivendellrose: (octopus curly)
Don't worry, the Vatican is ready to baptize aliens if they ask!

It's... good to know that all other, more pressing moral dilemmas have already been solved, I guess?

Is there some kind of contest at the Vatican right now for "most befuddling press release?" or what? I'm guessing this is one of those "any PR (that isn't talking about sex scandals) is good PR" kind of things...

Edited to Add: So... I've been thinking. The Vatican astronomer said:

Any entity – no matter how many tentacles it has – has a soul.

Any entity. Any... entity. So either there's a missing adjective there (like, say, 'sentient' or 'self-aware' or something like that), or this is a major change in theology, isn't it? I could have sworn the existing doctrine stated that animals don't have souls. I'm not going to complain, but isn't that going to be a tad bit problematic for them?

Also, I forgot to say that I snagged this link from [livejournal.com profile] deborah_judge, and that it's her fault that I'm now picturing the Pope attempting to baptize Londo. It was the "tentacles" remark.
rivendellrose: (Dalek is in trouble)
Frederick Pohl has apparently decided that Now Is The Time... for him to really let loose and rant about Robert Heinlein.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what the fuck this is about, but it's damned interesting in a "dear god, I didn't think I'd see this sort of shit from professionals, and by the way I wonder how long it'll take to make Fandom_Wank." Does it count for Fandom_Wank if it's professionals? I mean, professionals not bitching about their fans? o_O

My bad, I neglected the links to the other posts in the series. That's the most recent so far (I think) though it's 'to be continued.'

Altogether, all I can say is that it's a very odd collection of entries to link-hop across.
rivendellrose: (Eowyn)
I cannot sum this up in a better way than 'If Star Wars were an Icelandic Saga.'

If you enjoy the study of Icelandic sagas, it is intensely, unbelievably perfect and awesome. It's giving me serious nostalgia for my old classes in the sagas. ♥
rivendellrose: (omgwtf)
Spreading the word from a link via [livejournal.com profile] seachanges: Dr Peter Watts, Canadian Sci-Fi Author, Beaten and Arrested and US/Canadian Border. He's been released on bail, now, but will be called back to court in Michigan, and has been charged with felony assault of an officer.

So far, I'm not seeing any mainstream media picking up on this. I'm sure we'll get more details as they come out. Personally, I'm not familiar with this gentleman, but if his statements regarding what happened are true, this is a horribly appalling situation.

Further comments over on Making Light. It is deeply strange that someone would be searched leaving the US (in my experience, they don't give a damn if you're going elsewhere...). I don't know what the hell to make of this - I'm hesitant to give an automatic "he couldn't possibly have done anything," given that I don't know the guy and that it's easy to get freaked out and riled by those kinds of situations, and escalation quickly follows. But in whatever case, the whole thing is extremely disturbing, and I feel very badly for Watts.

A Pay-Pal donation system has been set up to help out with legal fees for the case - see the first link in this entry if you'd like to help.
rivendellrose: (Warrior)
SLog has a few things to say about the idiot who thinks women and gays are ruining science fiction.

I have a few things to say about him, too. They are as follows:

As far as women go, we've been here since the beginning - no, really the *real* beginning - we've been involved in the making of your favorite things (among many fine others), and we're not going away. The gays have been here since the beginning, too, but, to my horror, I can't actually think of any completely certain known examples - anybody help me out on that?

Seriously, I can't believe this sort of attitude keeps going.

There are other words, but I'm trying to cut back on swearing in my LJ. :P
rivendellrose: (scully red)
You have so got to be kidding me...

Found in my Gmail ads this morning: Quantum Jumping: The Inter-Dimensional Quest for a Better You. "Are You Ready to Jump Into Other Dimensions? Warning: For the True Seeker Only."

So... Are they banking on no one remembering Quantum Leap, or are they hoping it will boost their revenue? Because if the latter is a sound marketing system, I have a religious system based on a savior traveling the universe in a blue phonebox that I'd like to sell you...

And no, before you ask, they don't appear to mean this as fiction. Oh dear.

fantastic!

Jul. 6th, 2009 11:00 pm
rivendellrose: (he's waiting)
Want to know what Earth TV broadcasts various extrasolar systems have received by now?

With bonus fun commentary.

"40 Eridani, the system containing the planet Vulcan, has not yet seen the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (and have no idea what JJ Abrams has planned for them).

Aldebaran will not learn of its own part in Ursula LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven for over forty years.

Regulus is the site of the Earth Alliance's first extrasolar colony, but it will be well over sixty years before they receive Babylon 5 and find that out."


Check it out, it's awesome. ♥

...Also, blast, I just had my first heart-flippy-thing in almost a year. I'd forgotten how uncomfortable those things are. I haven't even had any caffeine today, damn it, and I'm not stressing at all! Poo. I'm going to go have some water, take my baby aspirin, and go to bed.

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