SF Signal: August 2005 Archives

Wednesday August 31, 2005

Quest For Thrones

November 8th, 2005 is the (latest) release date for the oft-delayed next book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series: A Feast For Crows.

Until then, fans can take part in the online adventure The Quest of Thrones, described as:

...a Quest to track down characters from this bestselling series hidden across the Internet. There will be successes and losses, decrees from your king, life and death, battles for dominance, and a multitude of power plays. But only those who remain loyal to the Quest during its five-week duration will be eligible to win.

And what do you win? A nice prize package with A Song of Ice and Fire theme:

A copy of A FEAST FOR CROWS, the new George R. R. Martin novel from Bantam Spectra

An autographed book plate for A FEAST FOR CROWS

A copy of The Hedge Knight trade paperback from Dabel Brothers Production

A Winter Edition starter deck for the A Game of Thrones CCG from Fantasy Flight Games

One of six limited edition resin figures based on A GAME OF THRONES from Testors

A free issue of Locus Magazine

A commemorative coin inspired by the fictional works of George R. R. Martin from Shire Post Mint

A Game of Thrones d20-based role playing game from Guardians Of Order

Deadline for registration September 16, 2005.

[Link via Slice of SciFi]

Saturn

The Cassini spacecraft is still orbiting Saturn and returning volumes of useful information. In case you weren't keeping up on our changing understanding of the solar system, here's a quick recap courtesy of NASA.

The Huygens probe landed on Titan and returned very cool information about its surface. Titan's surface is remarkably Earth-like, with evidence of rain, erosion, drainage channels and a dry lake bed. Titan also seems to have a volcano, rain clouds, lakes, craters, and other puzzling terrain. True, the rain would be methane, but still - incredibly interesting.
The rings of Saturn aren't uniform, but instead filled with clumps and waves.
Saturn's moon Phoebe is an object from the outer solar system. Phoebe was not formed during planetary evolution but captured by Saturn much later during the object's transit of the solar system and is likely older than Saturn itself.
Saturn's surface changes dramatically over time - the northern hemipshere is now blue instead of tan (likely because the rings are shadowing the surface, changing its temprature.) This was highly unexpected because, of course, our view of Saturn has only been of the sunny side (the side that reflects light back to Earth.)
Saturn has a moon hiding it is rings! This tiny moon causes ripples in the rings as it moves by.
Saturn's moon Enceladus has a thin water vapor atmosphere (no doubt along with other things.) It also has cracks in its icy surface (dubbed tiger stripes.) These are getting a lot of attention from planetologists because they aren't exactly sure what is causing them, and if the area at the southern pole might in fact be in a liquid state instead of ice.

All this focus on Saturn's moons is driven by the interest in discovering if any of them seem capable of supporting life. We have found life on Earth in some of the most inhospitable environments (from the bottom of the ocean near thermal vents to the inside of glaciers) and finding it here - even single celled bacteria - would be one of the most significant scientific discoveries of our lifetime.

Sunday August 28, 2005

Google Earth Video

I have yet to install and play with Google Earth, but this video showcasing some of its capabilities looks way cool!

Does Golden Age Science Fiction Suck?

In an NPR article, Jacob McMurray, senior curator at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, says:

"A lot of books in the '50s and '40s don't hold up at all now because, either the scientific advances that they're talking about just never happened, or these sort of cultural things that were happening at the time are so different than what's happening now that it seems absurd," he tells Liane Hansen. "I think a lot of the stuff from the '60s and '70s, when authors were trying to focus on social aspects of humanity, I think those books hold up really well. You know, a lot of the science fiction that's happening in the '80s and '90s today is less fantastic, sort of focused on scientific technologies that are happening today."

Hmmm...interesting. I might disagree with Mr. McMurray but I'm not sure of his intended meaning of "don't hold up". If he's referring to the science aspects of the books, sure, some of it was off the mark. Although science fiction writers are often hailed as oracles forseeing technology decades in advance, in reality that is rarely the case.

However, if the statement is to be taken literally that the book as a whole does not fare well over time, then I would say "Nonsense!" Many Golden Age books are still considered classics even to this day. So what if the science is a bit off? Golden Age is more than an era of sf - it's a flavor. Perhaps it's just not a flavor that suits everyone's tastes. Wrong predictions can (and should) be taken with a grain of salt in Golden Age science fiction.

(See also the addendum to my review for Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.)

Ben Bova on Hiroshima, The Moon Landing and Mick Jagger

SF author Ben Bova gets all political with his Naples Daily News article (registration required...or BugMeNot). Some excerpts:

Personally, I think the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were valid on political, military and ethical grounds...They ended the war...They saved lives...The nuclear bombs broke their will to fight.

...

It's a big universe out there, with all the splendor and mystery and adventure that we could ask for — as well as such wealths of energy and raw materials that every man, woman and child on Earth could become millionaires if we would just go out there and start to use the natural resources that are waiting for us.

...

[A]s I watched newscasts about this Jagger-vs.-Bush controversy I saw clips of Jagger and the Stones in concert. And broke out laughing. Here's a bunch of men well past middle age, gray and wrinkled, working up an audience with songs about how lousy their parents are. It's ludicrous.

REVIEW: Spring-Heeled Jack by Philip Pullman

REVIEW SUMMARY: An entertaining, one-sitting read.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Legendary Victorian hero Spring-Heeled Jack helps a trio of orphan siblings fight kidnapper/thief Mack the Knife.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting narrative/comic-strip format; deft handling of multiple characters and twisty plot.
CONS: Some of the panels contained a meant-to-be-funny cat whose jokes fell flat.
BOTTOM LINE: A fun and different read.

Philip Pullman's young adult book, Spring-Heeled Jack, is a short book that plays off the legend of Victorian-era superhero Spring Heeled Jack, so-named because of his extraordinary leaping abilities. Of course, his devil-like costume didn't hurt putting the scare into the bad guys.

The story follows a trio of sibling orphans as they try to escape their mean caretakers. They quickly fall victim to the evil Mack the Knife who kidnaps young Ned in hopes to eventually steal his sisters' gold locket which holds a picture of their departed mother. Spring-Heeled Jack appears on the scene to help the two sisters by rescuing their brother and helping the three kids get on board a ship heading to America where they can start a new life.

The book is interesting in that it is part narrative and part comic strip, both interwoven so as to make the story move along quickly. The panels contain pen drawings that helpfully put faces on many of secondary characters that are introduced: Jack's friend Polly, Polly's beau Jim Bowling who works on the ship heading to America, The kids' long-lost father (no spoiler - he's introduced within the first twenty pages), Ms. Gasket and Mr. Killjoy from the orphanage, Mack and his gang, and even a cute stray dog. There's not a whole lot of time devoted to characterizations here other than the quick stereotypical bad-guy kind of imagery. That's OK, though - this is a plot-driven tale that uses occasional humor to tell its story, pleasantly winding its way to its satisfying ending. In the end, this short book was a fun and different read able to be completed in one-sitting.

Saturday August 27, 2005

REVIEW: finding Serenity

REVIEW SUMMARY: An Firefly love-in that any true fan will love. Otherwise, I think you'd best give this one a pass.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Anthology of 21 essays examining the cult (and canceled) TV series Firefly.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Some very intelligent writing and analysis and some well-done humor
CONS: 'Celebrity editor' a distraction, all essays aren't held to the same standards
BOTTOM LINE: Fans of the series will love it - all others should probably skip it.

SF Signal is made up of many affirmed Firefly fanboys (of which I am one!) and so I was very much looking forward to reading this book. It was a blast to remember the episodes while reading the essays and getting a good view of how others felt about the series. It is unfortunate the book wasn't held to a high standard throughout.

The best essays are by authors David Gerrold, John C Wright, Keith RA Candido, and Lyle Zynda - I really enjoyed getting to read all these different viewpoints in one text.

There are some weaker entries here to be sure - the treatise on Chinese in the series for example because it doesn't have much in the way of analysis, but reads more like an internet post. There are also one too many essays about the women of of the show. I'm often pointing out how few strong female characters there are on TV - so I loved Firefly for that - but it was a mistake to include so many essays on that one topic. Certainly there are more things to write about than that?

The essay by Lyle Zynda commenting on the episode "Objects in Space" was the highlight for me. I really enjoyed reading about how clearly Whedon imbued his story with existentialist views and contrasted them between River and Early. I wish there had been more essays that discussed the influences on the episodes.

The worst part of the book isn't an essay at all, but the amateur commentary by 'celebrity editor' Jane Espenson. The publishers must have decided that fans would give the book more credibility if a writer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly was an editor. Jane might be able to write good TV but it is clear she's forgotten how to write the written word rather than the spoken. Her writing is far too colloquial and very often inane. It often feels arrogant and immature to me (by way of example, see her notes on the essay's by John C Wright and Jewel Staite.) In fact, her commentary reads like a collection of blog entries or forum posts - heaven help us if that is what is going into books of the future. Call me old fashion, but I prefer my anthology editors comments to offer insight into the authors, maybe tell the story of the way the particular entry was selected, and of course take a firm hand to ensure the entries all live up to a certain standard.

[Note, I suspect that the book is really edited by Glenn Yeffeth (credited inside the book, but not on the cover) and while I certainly think s/he should have held out for some higher quality essays, the book is overall edited well.]

REVIEW: Ventus by Karl Schroeder

REVIEW SUMMARY: A high-tech story set in a finely detailed, low-tech world.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A rogue AI sends a cyborg to take over the planet Ventus in order to plant a "propagation seed" as a stepping stone to controlling the universe.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Detailed world-building; interesting plot with AIs and nanotech.
CONS: World-building often gets in the way of the story; less interesting plot involving civil war.
BOTTOM LINE: Holds a reader's interest.

One thousand years after terraforming nanotech was sent to the planet Ventus, trouble is brewing. The planet is the target of a takeover of a cyborg named Armiger who was sent there by the rogue artificial intelligence known as 3340. This is 3340's last ditch effort to conquer the galaxy via a "propagation seed" as the AI is on the verge of total destruction. To accomplish his task, Armiger has planted a device inside one of the Ventus natives - seventeen-year-old Jordan Mason. Unbeknownst to Armiger, the device in Jordan's skull gives him visions that allow him to see what Armiger sees.

While attempting to understand his visions, Jordan meets the mysterious Calandria May who has tracked the cyborg Armiger to Ventus so that she may kill him and, thus, finally annihilate 3340. But the planet itself has something to say about this. The terraforming nanotech, known in the medieval Ventus society as the mythical "Winds", is no longer operating on the command of their human creators. The Winds' top priority is in the protection of the Ventus ecosystem and they will attack anything to protect it including any technology more advanced than a steam engine. Unfortunately, that also includes the implant inside Jordan.

Bummer for Jordan. It is through this character that reader becomes familiar with the meticulously detailed world of Ventus. Jordan, like all members of the medieval-level society on the planet, knows nothing about the true origins of the planet which are shrouded in myth. He only knows that the Winds discourage any advancement of technology lest the ecosystem become imbalanced. This fear of technology keeps the society from advancing and this provides a great backdrop to the high-tech story of rogue AIs, cyborgs and nanotech. (Oh my!)

Part of the fun of Ventus is in exploring the world. Many questions are raised about its origins. It is, in fact, some of these questions which are the thrust of the story. For example, why have the Winds stopped communicating with humans? The author has done an exhausting job in fleshing out the details about the world and its origins; perhaps too much. The book is filled with so many world-building details that the story sometimes shows signs of collapsing under its own weight. I'm a big fan of world-building, but not when it begins to get in the way of the story.

The driving plot for me was the mission of Calandria May and her partner Axel. Calandria a wonderfully three-dimensional (and strong) female character and Axel is also very likable. When she involves Jordan into her attempts to find Armiger, the result was a captivating plot thread that kept me reading. But my interest levels went seriously south with the introduction and loitering of the native civil war between Ventus natives. Much of the second act suffered for this very reason; it just moved too slowly and was mired down in medieval padding. It felt like I was reading historical fiction instead of science fiction. Maybe it was supposed to provide some sort of symbolism for the civil war being waged at the nanotech level?

There are some way cool sf-nal ideas here. As mentioned, there are the AIs, the cyborg and the nanotech, but there are also offshoots of the Winds to track. Namely there were morphs, mecha and desals - concepts that I must admit were a little too close in definition to do anything with them other than rat-hole them into the same bucket labeled "nano-creations". (Another symptom of too much world-building.)

I do give Ventus credit for its ambitious and nearly-successful attempts to create a fast-paced high-tech story in a finely detailed low-tech world. It's an attractive combination. Along the way, the reader is also treated to the thoughtful themes of what it means to be human, choosing one's own destiny and doing the right thing. Some parts read faster than others (insert note about medieval padding here) but overall the book held my interest.

I read Ventus in expectation of reading Karl Schroeder's new novel Lady of Mazes. (While not a sequel, they are set in the same universe.) Although Ventus failed to overly excite me, I am still looking forward to reading the newer book, an expectation that is partly bolstered by the better reading experience I had with Schroeder's Permanence.

Friday August 26, 2005

REVIEW: Jonathan Strange And Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke

MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In early 19th Century England, the only magicians left are those who study magic (theoretical magicians) with one exception: Mr. Norrell. Mr. Norrell embarks on a path to bring magic back to prominence in England, but without revealing its roots in fairy creatures and other lands. Jonathan Strange becomes Mr. Norrell's pupil, but soon begins his own quest to revive magic by opposing Mr. Norrell's view.
PROS: Incredibly detailed world building, interesting characters, filled with humor.
CONS: A very long read, system of magic isn't really detailed, can be somewhat dry.
BOTTOM LINE: I can see why this book won the Hugo based on it's world building alone. The humor and characters are icing.

MY REVIEW:
I'd heard a lot about this book and it's recent Hugo award prompted me to pick a copy up from the local library. I knew it was big, but it clocks in at almost 800 pages in hardback. I'm not usually daunted by reading door-stop books, but being a fantasy book I wasn't sure if I would like it. Well, I did. It's hard to describe what genre this would fit in. Certainly alternate history and certainly fantasy, although without trolls or elves. Much like 'steam punk' describes that sub-genre where Victorian Era tech is taken to extremes, Ms. Clarke has created a new area where magic becomes common place in the early 19th Century. Let's get to the details.

The first thing that jumps out at you is the world building Ms. Clarke has done. She obviously has done a lot of work on creating a detailed history leading up to the story. This shows in the numerous footnotes throughout the book. Sometimes, these notes can run to multiple pages. Almost every magical tome mentioned has some back story that is detailed and many of the myths and legends mentioned get their own footnote that actually gives the story. This does wonders for creating a truly believable setting that seems real and lived in. Also, several words are deliberately spelled using the period spelling which adds yet another level of realism to the story. A remarkable job that, in my opinion, had as much to do with the Hugo as anything else. The characters themselves are quite good too, each with their own quirks and conceits that bring them to life. Mr. Norrell wants to bring magic back to the forefront of English thought, but he wants it on his own terms, bereft of its true underpinnings in the fairy world. He goes to any extreme to eradicate any mention of the fairy world and buys all the books of, or about, magic which he then keeps in his library and will let no one see. Mr. Strange also wants to bring magic back to its former glory, but he eventually realized that magicians must be cognizant of magic's roots to make full use of it's power. This sets up a conflict between the two magicians that takes up the latter half of the book. The secondary characters are also interesting with con-men, cut-purses, and a second-hand magician who turns out to be something more (and his condition is actually a really cool concept) among them. All of these characters are infused with typical British traits of dry humor, a penchant for outrageous understatement and extreme politeness, even when confronting those they would just as soon smack in the mouth as talk to. The humor flows from these traits and is literally everywhere in the book.

I had two issues with the story itself. One, it's very long. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, there are very few set pieces with any action. It's more of a story of discovery than action/adventure, but I would have expected more confrontation than what we get. This leads to parts of the story to be somewhat dry in tone. Another problem I had was that the way the magicians used magic was never explained. Typically, you'd know a spell was cast when you read something like: 'Mr. Strange performed the spell.' This passive voice seemed odd to me and didn't give any hint as to what the magic looked like (no mind-candy here) or what the magician was doing. I will say that the spells themselves have very descriptive names that sound like something the British would come up with. I guess you could say they did since Ms. Clarke is British...

Even with the length, I still found myself wanting to keep going. Not at the headlong rush of a real page-turner, but at a deliberate pace, wanting to savor the atmosphere of the world that has been created. Which is the real accomplishment of this book. Ms. Clarke had created a living, breathing world that pulls you in and keeps you wanting more. And, luckily, the ending is such that a sequel is not out of the question.

REVIEW: Road to Mars by Eric Idle

REVIEW SUMMARY: A solid sci fi book with some statements about comedy and humans.
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS:2 comedians and thier robot (who attempts to unravel the secret of comedy) become embroiled in a terorrist plot.
PROS: Some great characters and decent action once you get past the slower parts of the book.
CONS: Starts out a bit slow for me, and the narrative of the secondary story gets annoying at some points
BOTTOM LINE: If you like Eric Idle and are looking for some light science fiction, this would be a book to read.

MY REVIEW:

So let me begin here by saying, this book is not intended (in my opinion) to be a laugh out loud book. There is humor in the book, but its not
a Terry Pratchett type of book where you find yourself giggling out loud. The book has a main plotline covering the adventures of two comedians who are working thier way through the solar system, and decide that they want to work the big show on Mars. The secondary plot involves this professor and a dissertation on comedy written by a robot that is with the two comedians.
These two plot lines intertwine throughout the book and the transitions were not always that smooth. There would be points where the perspective would jump from the comedians and thier robot directly to the professor explaining some of his problems without much more than a paragraph spacing and others where they were seperated by being different chapters. Combine this with a relatively slow start (the real action does not begin til about page 80) and its a very hard book to get started with.
The characters, on the other hand, are all well represented and feel like you have seen them someplace before. This is really where Eric shines in the book in that he creates characters that are believable but recognizable.
Overall the book is a decent soft science fiction book with some humor. I will be honest and say I was expecting something more humorous. Furthermore, the slow start really kept me from getting all that absorbed and extended the experience in that I really didnt feel drawn to the book until I passed that start.

New SciFi Anthology Show: Masters Of Sci-Fi

Along the same lines as its Masters of Horror series, Showtime will soon be adopting short science fiction stories for the small screen in an anthology show called Masters Of Sci-Fi.

Michael Tolkin (The Player) will adapt Heinlein's "Jerry Was a Man." John Milius (Conan the Barbarian) will rework Lem's "The Hunt." Bradbury will adapt his story "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed." Similarly, Ellison will adapt his short story, "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the TicktockMan," [producer Keith] Addis said.

Harlan Ellison is quoted. Interesting trivia: A request to purchase Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the TicktockMan" was made by...Michael Jackson.

Libraries Offering Audiobook Downloads

From CNN:

...libraries from New York City to Alameda, California, are letting patrons download Tom Clancy techno-thrillers, Arabic tutorials and other titles to which they can listen on their computers or portable music players -- all without leaving home.

There's still one big hitch, though: The leading library services offer Windows-friendly audiobook files that can't be played on Apple Computer Inc.'s massively popular iPod player.

Vendors such as OverDrive Inc. and OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc.'s NetLibrary have licensing deals with publishers and provide digital books using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Audio format, which includes copyright protections designed to help audiobooks stand apart from the often lawless world of song swapping.

A patron with a valid library card visits a library Web site to borrow a title for, say, three weeks. When the audiobook is due, the patron must renew it or find it automatically "returned" in a virtual sense: The file still sits on the patron's computer, but encryption makes it unplayable beyond the borrowing period.

Serenity World Premier Footage

In order to maintain that Firefly fanboy status we all so desperately wish to have, I have found this link to the footage from Serenity world premiere. The link is courtesy of Sci-Fi Heaven. I will note that the footage is encoded as MP4 and requires Quicktime and there are spoilers in the Q and A sections.

We're Doomed

The newest Doom movie trailer has been released on Yahoo! Movies. The interesting thing here is the inclusion of several first-person scenes, where the film is mimicing the feel of the Doom games. Interesting, but I can't tell how effective a movie technique that wil be. It feels weird. Although I will say the final scene has a lot of possibilities...

Thursday August 25, 2005

REVIEW: Touch by Gayleen Froese

MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Anna Gareau can, with a touch, read a person's past, whether she wants to or not. After a woman is drowned at the hotel where she is staying, Anna is drawn into investigating the murder.
PROS: Clear writing style, easy read, lots of humor, potentially interesting magical setting.
CONS: Flat characters, humor wears thin after awhile, a weak ending.
BOTTOM LINE: Not a bad read if you like supernatural murder mysteries.

MY REVIEW:
Touch, by first time author Gayleen Froese, is the story of Anna Gareau and her ability to read a person's past by touching something of value to that person. While staying at a hotel in Victoria, B.C., a woman is drowned in the hotel pool. Anna is drawn to helping the dead woman's best friend, Collie Kostyna, solve the murder. What follows is a sometimes interesting murder mystery with heavy supernatural and magical overtones.

I'll state right out that supernatural stories aren't my preferred type of story, so it's a testament to how well Ms. Froese writes that I kept wanting to go to the next page to see what happens. It's not a page turner, for me, of the usual sort where I had to read as fast as possible to find out what's happening, but it did keep me interested till the end. Ms. Froese writes competently, if not stylishly, and her prose helps move the story along by staying out of the way. This made it easy to keep on going with Anna and her investigation. There is also a lot of humor infused in the story, most of it of the sarcastic, witty comeback type. It reminded me a lot of the conversations (in general) that we have around the lunch table, which is a good thing.

However, that's about the only type of humor there is in the story, and with several deaths along the way, some other type of humor could have been used to lighten the mood. The sarcastic replies got old after awhile. Another drawback is that the characters themselves are rather flat. No one really seems to change or to be fleshed out well, with the minor exception of Anna, who gets some development. I wasn't sure I bought into the reality of the characters.

I will say that Ms. Froese does setup an potentially interesting magical setting, where magic does exist in the modern day world, and there is an entire culture of people who are able to use it. They basically exist in the background and don't try to draw attention to themselves. Within in this setting, Ms. Froese uses a deranged magician with the power to compel others to do his wishes to setup an atmosphere of fear and paranoia on the main character's part. As the story progresses, the hidden culture is slowly revealed and I was fully expecting the members of this society to become a 'deus ex machina' and to help Anna out. This didn't happen which I view as a good thing since it would have been the easy way out. However, the actual ending of the investigation didn't really make sense to me because I didn't understand why the bad guy would do what he did. There was really nothing to explain his action. There is also a subplot about Anna having terrible nightmares involving swarms of beetles that I felt really didn't fit into the story overall, except to possibly increase the fear on the part of Anna about her situation.

Touch is a good story about magical and supernatural powers and being a first novel portends good things from Ms. Froese in the future. I think the setting she has created here has lots of possibilities to explore how magic and it's practitioners could interact with the modern day world. If the supernatural interests you, give Touch a read.

Octopulps!

And you thought SF was only for squid! Not so. Octopus Pulp! shows us old pulp SF covers featuring octopuses (octopi?) in all their science fictiony glory.

8 Stupid Mobile Technologies

Mobile Magazine has an article listing the 8 Stupid Mobile Technologies. The winners?

MP3
Bluetooth

Cell Phone Service

Microsoft Windows

The Internal Combustion Engine

Batteries

Spam

The QWERTY Keyboard

[Link via MobileRead]

Wednesday August 24, 2005

River on iFILM

From our friends at /., we have some links to video of River during some time she is imprisoned. They are called The River Tam Sessions. I know not very creative but a bit more firefly news for you all...

Chasing Mars

We have several interesting sites for you today, all involving Mars.

First up, The Mars Homestead Project is a group researching a plan to colonize Mars, using local Martian materials. They have technical document, forums and images available for your perusal.

Second, Red Colony is a site for people interested in colonizing and/or terraforming Mars. Lots of up to date info on Mars. They also have lots of links to Mars related stuff.

And last, but not least, our own Fred "Real Men Don't Eat" Kiesche is heavily involved in Martian Soil and toils endlessly to bring you the latest news covering the exploration of Mars.

Now all we need is someone to get us to Mars so I can go there. Too bad NASA got hit by the budget crunch in the late '70s. No telling where we'd be today. Instead, we get an agency that is unwilling to take risks and lacks a coherent vision for its future direction. I'm not sure if the private sector has the resources to do much more than to get us into orbit. I hope so, because I'd love to make it at least as far as Earth orbit before I die. Even if I do throw up.

Blunders in SciFi

Gravity Lens points us to the website Sci-Fi Science Blunders which lists scientific errors made in science fiction. It hasn't been updated in a while (Bad Astronomy, however, is still being updated) but it's still a decent site. I'm sure there are lots more infractions than are listed here.

Science blunders in science fiction, assuming you catch them, are potential story killers depending on the reader/viewer. A scientific fallacy might be easily dismissed or it might be the thing that stops you from reading/watching. Suspension of disbelief can be shattered if, say, a planet scan determines the surface temperature to be -280º C. Some people are annoyed with explosions in the vacuum of space. Whatever the reader's willingness to let it slide, realistic science makes for good science fiction.