Sheila's LiveJournal

IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?

2009-12-14T19:22:16Z

I'm pleased to publicize the table of contents of a coming anthology, edited by Marty Halpern and Nick Gevers: IS ANYBODY OUT THERE? Its theme is the Fermi Paradox (if aliens are out there, why haven't we heard from them?) I'm thrilled to be in such great company!

(stories are in alphabetical order, by author)

Paul McAuley, “Introduction: Here Comes Everyone”

Michael Arsenault, “Residue”

Pat Cadigan, “The Taste of Night”

Paul Di Filippo, “Galaxy of Mirrors”

Sheila Finch, “Where Two or Three”

Matthew Hughes, “Timmy, Come Home”

Alex Irvine, “The Word He Was Looking for Was Hello”

Jay Lake, “Permanent Fatal Errors”

David Langford, “Graffiti in the Library of Babel”

Yves Meynard, “Good News from Antares”

James Morrow, “The Vampires of Paradox”

Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn, “Report From the Field”

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, “The Dark Man”

Felicity Shoulders & Leslie What, “Rare Earth”

Ray Vukcevich, “One Big Monkey”

Ian Watson, “A Waterfall of Lights”

ANOTHER BLOG ON THE NEBULA SITE

2009-11-12T02:34:22Z

I have another blog about elements of science fiction up at the SFWA Nebulawards site:

http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php/guest_blogs/things_that_go_bump_in_the_dark/

NEW BLOG UP ON NEBULA AWARDS SITE

2009-09-01T23:26:38Z

Musings on why descriptions of destruction and obliteration appeal to us:

http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php/guest_blogs/the_fascination_of_apocalypse/

NEW BLOG AT NEBULA AWARDS SITE

2009-07-01T01:32:47Z

My latest musing on life and science fiction is up:

http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php/guest_blogs/fantastic_voyages/

COINCIDENCE? (WE DON'T THINK SO.)

2009-05-18T20:28:04Z

It's an eerie feeling, sitting in a darkened theatre, watching various parts of Rome explode or erupt in flame ("Angels and Demons") when an earthquake hits.

Wow, those Illuminati sure are still powerful!

I liked the movie, but I see several reviewers were disappointed. I thought "Angels and Demons" was a better novel than "The Da Vinci Code." Easier to follow, in any case. I really admired the fact that Dan Brown observed Aristotle's rule (and the movie followed it too): the action should take place in a 24-hour time span; it makes for a tight drama. If nothing else pleases the viewer, then at least the shots of Rome are spectacular, all the more so when you consider that the Vatican wasn't cooperative (surprise!), and a lot of footage was filmed in England.

(And Ewan McGregor is great eye-candy.)

As for the earthquake (which we felt), I arrived home to find a lot of stuff on the floor and pictures hanging crazily on the wall, but no real damage.

WHEW!

2008-09-10T20:00:58Z

CERN's Large Hadron Collider went into action today in its giant circular tunnel under Geneva. The scientists involved say they're searching for the Higgs Boson, the so-called “God particle,” but others claim they're risking creating a black hole that will devour the Earth and us with it. Nevertheless, we're still here right now, so maybe the doomsayers were wrong and we dodged the bullet?

I wouldn't be a science fiction writer if I didn't come up with another explanation of what happened.

The Black Hole was created as predicted. We're falling into it right now. But you remember learning about the Schwarzschild Radius in physics class – that boundary from which no light can escape? Well, that's where we are right now. We're at the event horizon and time has slowed for us but we don't know it.

That's the beauty of it. To an alien observer watching from the far corners of the universe, we appear to be falling into the black hole they created in Geneva, falling and falling forever. Time is standing still, or so it appears to our alien.

To us, it's just this interminable election season.