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?

If you’ve been following the h+ summit, or even if you haven’t been, perhaps you have questions regarding transhumansim, human augmentation, radical life extension, germ line genetic engineering, etc, etc.  I know I do.

So, I’ll be headed down to Sprout for the h+ beer meetup sponsored by DIYBio.

When?  6pm until 8ish.

Where? 339 Summer St, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

This past Sunday,  after an abbreviated visit to Boston Media Makers [http://bostonmediamakers.wordpress.com/], I made my way over to West Newton to attend a day long seminar on Wielding a Longsword (pics & vid to come), taught by Steven Hirsch (founder), Stuart Ferguson and Josh Watson of Kunstbruder – The Brotherhood of the Art.

This was a six hour long version of the 1 hour class I took part in at Arisia [http://www.arisia.org].  Whereas at the Arisia class we were quickly introduced to basic stances and footwork, this seminar proceeded as follows:

• 12:00 -12:25 Introduction to the Longsword
• 12:25 – 12:35 Warm-ups – Be prepared to sweat
• 12:35 – 12:50 The Basic attack – Oberhau
• 12:50 – 1:30 Footwork
• 1:40 – 2:30 Moulinet & Zornhau with Zorn-ort and Abnemen
• 2:30 – 3:00 Snack break
• 3:00 – 3:50 Unterhau and Combining it all
• 4:00 – 4:30 Absetzen – parry-riposte
• 4:30 – 5:00 Ringen am schwert – Wrestling at the sword
• 5:00 – 5:40 Coached free play
• 5:40 – 6:00 How to practice what you’ve learned
• 6:00- Dinner!

There were 6 students in attendance, including Marc Bernier [http://www.hickoryarmsonline.com], the swordsman and craftsman who created my brand new hickory waster, seen above and on the right.

By the end of the day, I was sweaty, tired, famished, and totally happy.  Afterwards, we shared a well deserved beer and some much needed calories.  Check these guys out.  They’re great teachers.  I’m definitely looking forwards to many, many, more lessons.

Thanks guys!

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.
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