On Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow writes about the novel The Execution Channel by Ken Macleod, a thriller that includes as a plot element an internet video feed of people being tortured and killed. No one knows where the signal originates. Sound familiar?  Long live the new flesh!

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 11 November 1922 — 11April 2007. He’s up in heaven now.
From “God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian”:
I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great, spectacularly prolific writer and scientist, Dr. Isaac Asimov in that essentially functionless capacity. At an A.H.A. memorial service [...]

Tom Harrison in his blog Monday Evening was kind enough to recognize a second grade teacher and me for our accomplishments in our mathematics courses. I enjoyed Linear Algebra very much, which is a good thing since if I am accepted to UIS, my minor will be mathematics, and for that I will be [...]

John Morressy, author and retired english professor, was perhaps best known for his stories of the wizard Kedrigern. Hardly a month went by without one of his short stories appearing in F&SF or other magazines.

When I was in the second grade or thereabouts, the teacher read us “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl in installments after lunch. I loved the book, and was delighted by the first film adaptation, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. I’ve read the book [...]

This morning I awakened from a horrible nightmare. Perhaps somewhat apropos for Halloween. But the dream didn’t involve vampires, wiches, or ghosts. It was about Digital Restrictions Management (DRM).
I dreamt that I went into a bookstore to browse. I pulled a book from a shelf and opened it, only to find [...]

I just read Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David, a comedic fantasy. It was quite entertaining. There are a few puns, but not a non-stop stream of them like a Xanth novel. The paperback includes a teaser for the sequel, which I’d have to describe as a bawdy parody of Fellowship [...]

Started reading “The Elder Gods” by David and Leigh Eddings. I really liked their Belgariad and Mallorean series. I’m only 1/3 of the way into this one, and am not yet convinced that I like it as well, although it does show some promise.
I read “Lyra’s Oxford” by Phillip Pullman. [...]

I purchased the new book “The Elder Gods” (The Dreamers, Book 1) by David and Leigh Eddings last night at Borders. The Eddings’ have been my favorite fantasy authors ever since I read “Pawn of Prophecy” (book 1 of the Belgariad) back in the mid 1980s.
When I got home, I discovered that they’d stuck [...]

Finished reading The Amber Spyglass a few nights ago. That’s the final volume of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy. Highly recommended!
I recently received the DVD I’d orderd of the short animated film More. The package it arrived in is quite amusing. Looking at the box, I wasn’t [...]