Archives for May 2007
EP108: Kin
Published on 31 May 2007 at 3:45 pm.
20 Comments.
Filed under Hugo Awards, Podcasts, Rated PG.
2007 Hugo Nominee!
By Bruce McAllister.
Read by Stephen Eley.
First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2006.
The alien and the boy, who was twelve, sat in the windowless room high above the city that afternoon. The boy talked and the alien listened.
The boy was ordinary—the genes of three continents in his features, his clothes cut in the style of all boys in the vast housing project called LAX. The alien was something else, awful to behold; and though the boy knew it was rude, he did not look up as he talked.
He wanted the alien to kill a man, he said. It was that simple.
Rated PG. Contains implied violence and morally complex themes.
Referenced Sites:
The Girl Who Loved Animals and Other Stories by Bruce McAllister
Balticon 2007 Trip Report
EP107: Eight Episodes
Published on 24 May 2007 at 4:20 am.
29 Comments.
Filed under Hugo Awards, Podcasts, Rated PG.
2007 Hugo Nominee!
By Robert Reed.
Read by MarBelle (of Director’s Notes).
First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2006.
Eighteen months later, the fledging Web network declared bankruptcy, and a small consortium acquired its assets, including Invasion of a Small World. Eager to recoup their investment, the new owners offered all eight episodes as a quick-and-dirty DVD package. When sales proved somewhat better than predicted, a new version was cobbled together, helped along by a genuine ad budget. The strongest initial sales came from the tiny pool of determined fans—young and well educated, with little preference for nationality or gender. But the scientists in several fields, astronomy and paleontology included, were the ones who created a genuine buzz that eventually put Invasion into the public eye.
Rated PG. Contains some suggestive imagery, references to infidelity, and not very good television.
Referenced Sites:
World Science Fiction Society
Steve’s LiveJournal
EP Review: Spiderman 3
Published on 19 May 2007 at 4:18 pm.
9 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG, Reviews.
Reviewed by Jonathon Sullivan.
EP106: The House Beyond Your Sky
Published on 17 May 2007 at 3:31 pm.
24 Comments.
Filed under Hugo Awards, Podcasts, Rated R.
Read ‘EP106: The House Beyond Your Sky’
-->2007 Hugo Nominee!
By Benjamin Rosenbaum.
Read by Paul Tevis (of Have Games Will Travel).
First appeared in Strange Horizons, September 2006.
The simulations, while good, are not impenetrable even to their own inhabitants. Scientists teaching baboons to sort blocks may notice that all other baboons become instantly better at block-sorting, revealing a high-level caching mechanism. Or engineers building their own virtual worlds may find they cannot use certain tricks of optimization and compression‚Äîfor Matthias has already used them. Only when the jig is up does Matthias reveal himself, asking each simulated soul: what now? Most accept Matthias’s offer to graduate beyond the confines of their simulation, and join the general society of Matthias’s house.
You may regard them as bright parakeets, living in wicker cages with open doors. The cages are hung from the ceiling of the priest’s clay hut. The parakeets flutter about the ceiling, visit each other, steal bread from the table, and comment on Matthias’s doings.
Rated R. Contains some profanity and child abuse. It’s probably too complex for young children as well.
Referenced Sites:
Diversity in SF Markets (blog post by Tobias S. Buckell)
Finis: A Book of Endings
Nina Kimberly the Merciless
SciFi Smackdown
EP105: Impossible Dreams
Published on 10 May 2007 at 5:26 am.
72 Comments.
Filed under Hugo Awards, Podcasts, Rated G.
Read ‘EP105: Impossible Dreams’
-->2007 Hugo Nominee!
By Tim Pratt.
Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick (of Brave Men Run and Writers Talking).
First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2006.
He went to the Sci-Fi shelf‚Äîand had another shock. I, Robot was there, but not the forgettable action movie with Will Smith‚Äîthis was older, and the credits said “written by Harlan Ellison.” But Ellison’s adaptation of the Isaac Asimov book had never been produced, though it had been published in book form. “Must be some bootleg student production,” he muttered, and he didn’t recognize the name of the production company. But‚Äîbut‚Äîit said “winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.” That had to be a student director’s little joke, straight-facedly absurd box copy, as if this were a film from some alternate reality. Worth watching, certainly, though again, he couldn’t imagine how he’d never heard of this. Maybe it had been done by someone local. He took it to the counter and offered his credit card.
She looked at the card dubiously. “Visa? Sorry, we only take Weber and FosterCard.”
Rated G. Contains excessive movie trivia; some of it true.
Today’s Sponsor:
Referenced Sites:
Balticon 2007
EP104: Lust for Learning
Published on 3 May 2007 at 11:55 pm.
31 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated X.
Read ‘EP104: Lust for Learning’
-->By Pete Butler.
Read by cunning minx (of Polyamory Weekly) and Stephen Eley.
Musical guest: “First of May,” written by Jonathan Coulton and performed by many podcasters for the Joe Murphy Memorial Fund.
Yet Mme. Theuret’s word-of-mouth reputation was to die for. Both the official feedback data and the school’s on-line forums placed her among Wilhelm U’s most popular instructors. It was a matter of technique. Wilhelm U was awash in eye candy, but Monique’s pitch-perfect mastery of lascivious restraint was something else entirely.
All thirty-eight of her new students–she’d have wagered a month’s salary that not a soul had skipped this class–now looked at her with naked desire, even though she’d merely introduced herself.
She remained silent to let the anticipation build a bit, to inform them they were now at her mercy. “Welcome,” she finally said, “to Computer Science 338, Artificial Intelligence.”
Rated X. Contains explicit sexual description, sexual innuendo, sexual themes — and some sex.
Referenced Sites:
Joe Murphy Memorial Fund
Jonathan Coulton
