Even as you’re reading this, Readercon is bearing down upon the world of F&SF literature like an express train.  Is that the light at the end of the tunnel I see? Perhaps.  It is definitely the light of sweet reason.

I’ve noticed that plenty of scientists and engineers do not like science fiction, even when they grew up on the genre and it was a major contributing factor to their chosen profession?  Why?  All too often, they find themselves unable to excuse the scientific and/or engineering inaccuracies in a text whose genre presupposes a basis in scientific fact.  They end up reading fantasy instead, which is unhindered by claims of ties to the real.

Are there authors currently producing science fiction where the science is as rigorous as the prose in beautiful?  I suggest the following and welcome suggestions for additions and subtractions, comments and criticisms.

• Rudy Rucker
• Ken MacLeod
• Charlie Stross

Who else would you suggest?

The following was originally published on http://con-news.com on 11/02/2009

Well, as promised, or threatened, I’m back for part two of my Gaylaxicon 2009 recapitulation. Thank you for returning for more. You know, perhaps this isn’t really a recap, because, part of the definition of a recap is “concise”, which this isn’t. Synopsis doesn’t fit either, for the same reason. Call it a wordy review. In any case, on with the whole ADHD soaked show!

Gaylactic Jeopardy! 1 of 2 – Drew Post with contestants David Kaplan and two others still to be identified.

Gaylaxicon has it’s own game show, Gaylactic Jeopardy, played just like the television show, except that the answers are all at the very least, genre related, though not necessarily BGLT related. Drew Post was ebullient as the master of ceremonies, exuding that bit of Canadian-ness required to be a Jeopardy! host. Nersi Nikakhtar kept everyone honest by keeping score and a young gentleman named Richard Martin who gracefully revealed the answers. Dave Kaplan and others (please help me out with names) were faced with topics like; Author! Author!, ABC (Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke), Twilight and Comic Book Movies. And what was the general consensus?
A) The whole thing was damned funny.
B) Gentlemen, you need to read more.
C) Sparkly vampires suck, and not in a good way.
D) Shy geeks who read need to not be so shy, so get up and participate.

Just sayin’.

Spectrum Awards – Rob Gates [M], Carl Cipra, Warren Rochelle
The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards honor outstanding works of science fiction, fantasy and horror, that include significant positive explorations of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered characters, themes, or issues. (more…)

This convention re-cap originally appeared in Con-News.Com (http://con-news.com) on 10/26/2009.

The 11^th Gaylaxicon was a convention with a difference… and what a difference! Even Marlin was surprised, and he’s used to REAL conventions. With apologies to Monty Python.

This is, of course, not quite fair. Gaylaxicon – http://www.gaylaxicon.org – is a real convention, a small but well run convention, which travels about North America, and is run by local chapters of the Gaylactic Network, an organization of BGLT (or LGBT, or GLBT (I’ll use the alphabetical)) science fiction /fantasy/horror/gaming clubs. And that, my friends, is quite a difference, a difference which makes me tingle all over, makes me willing to brave airport security, makes me shiver with… anticipation. There was no way I wasn’t going to go. Hey, this was a meeting of my tribe within a tribe.

The trip to Minneapolis from Manchester, NH was uneventful. I have come to believe that that working out, having a buzz cut, and wearing a tee shirt with an NYPD patch on it (purchased right after 9/11) helps. Plus, you get to surreptitiously check out who’s surreptitiously checking you out. I have reason to believe that this will work for women too. Just sayin’. During the ride, I put a serious dent in Iain Bank’s The Algebraist, which a seriously engaging but seriously dense space opera. I still have about 100 pages to go.

Anyway, I arrived in Minneapolis MN (my first time ever in the state and city) the day before the convention tired but happy. My roommate for the convention, artist and bon vivant, Rob Allison, soon joined me. Now, normally travelling leaves me tired and grumpy, but I am unable to watch people struggle with lugging heavy objects, like a giant, gold ribbon covered rocket, without lending a hand. Suddenly, I was volunteering. I slept very well that night. Yes, I turned in early & did not join the evening’s (or any evening’s for that matter) bar crawl through what some thought was the best of what gay Minneapolis had to offer. As far as I was concerned, Gaylaxicon 2009 was the best of what gay Minneapolis had to offer.

A lot more after the break.
(more…)

Well, I’ve posted the second 1/2 of my Gaylaxicon 2009 review, http://bit.ly/1UkTFN – I’m missing a few bits, but i should get them shortly.

The film has only been out a few days, so I’ll try my best to let you know what I thought, without spoiling the surprises.  I might write more when I can do so without fear of spoiling things for others.

The First Impressions:
Star Trek (2009) is an extremely enjoyable reboot of the franchise, with a fresh approach and a fresh cast the franchise owners can build upon for the foreseeable future. The writers have figured out a way to create an origins story well grounded in the canon, while simultaneously giving themselves absolutely clear territory into which they can move forward. That which was, is relatively safe from meddling. That which will be, is a tabla rasa. Quite a neat trick when you think about it, which is when the trouble starts… thinking about it.

The Genre:
So, how and where does Star Trek 2009 fit into the realm of cinematic science fiction? This episode occupies a region I find interesting because it moves Star Trek further from its ostensible grounding in scientific plausibility and further into the realm occupied by franchises like Star Wars, which gleefully make use of the tropes and symbols of science fiction, but leave the science behind as unwanted baggage. Of course, Star Trek has always been suffused with techno-babble and regularly careened into the patently ridiculous, but, you always felt that science was viewed as an asset instead of a hindrance to good storytelling.

Wait.  Is this truly a shift in positioning?  A search through IMDb seems to indicate that other than the first Star Trek film (where Issac Asimov filled the position) , science advisers or consultants haven’t been credited members of the crew, as opposed to the televised series where folks like André Bormanis, David Paige, and Dave Krieger are included in the credits for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Enterprise, Deep Space Nine and Voyager as scientific consultants.

I think I just contradicted myself.  So be it. “I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.”

It seems then, that there is a differentiation in the importance of scientific accuracy as a production element between the televised series and the films.  By the way, a quick web search reveals that as recently as early 2008 Carolyn Porco was acting in, and giving interviews in this role, but she is missing from the movie’s credits (at least on IMDb). An oversight? Perhaps. It’s one of the little things I’ll look for when I see the movie again.

Yes, I’ll see it again. Gladly.

The Wrap-Up:
So, where to now? Paramount has an unqualified hit on their hands which has breathed new life into a profitable piece of intellectual property. But, we might ask, what kind of life? Has Star Trek become even more unhinged from science fiction and moved ever more fully into the realm of magic clothed in technical jargon? Nyaaa.  The cinematic half of the franchise was there already.

What Abrams and co. have undeniably done is re-invigorated the relationships between the core characters.  The chemistry among and between them is new, lively, surprising and emotionally charged.

In the end, it is probably a mistake to expect a Star Trek film to be great science fiction, not to mention, a great film.  If that’s what you’re looking for, rent Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell or A Clockwork Orange or 2001 or Primer or  Terminator or The Thing or Children of Men or The Andromeda Strain or, or, or…

I’ll try not to think about it. Pass the popcorn. Wow, the new Enterprise sure is cool looking.