As I touched upon in a previous post, it’s a bit odd we don’t have mile-high futuristic towers in our cities built by the richest companies in the world to show off their power, and just because humanity can. Well, I’m a science fiction writer … Continue readingA Short Story in the Urban Fabric?
In alternate history one cliche is for a polity, society, or culture to “pull a Meiji”, referring to a rapid modernization and industrialization, the archetypal case being Japan under Emperor Meiji in the late 19th century, when Japan ascended to become one of the great … Continue readingPulling a Meiji in the Arctic?
Where are all the gleaming futuristic towers stretching like needles a mile or more into the sky like science fiction promised would be the Future, realized by the 21st century? The closest we’ve come to a real-life Coruscant, at least aesthetically, is places like Dubai; … Continue readingWhere’s My Mile-High Tower?
My new story, which ended up being novella length, “The Coldest Inferno”, is now available for purchase as either an ebook or a paperback on Amazon. So what’s it about? I’ll start with the little blurb I wrote for it: In the solar system of … Continue readingThe Coldest Inferno: New Sci-Fi Novella Out
When driving home yesterday evening I had on this cool Youtube video (featuring the delightful song “Night Drive” by Timothy Drury and Corridor) that featured a gorgeous drive through what I’m pretty sure is Dubai. Which got me thinking about those gleaming Coruscant-esque cities blossoming … Continue readingGleaming Cities of the Eclipsed
Novak Djokovic’s case, and especially his recent reversal at the hands of a regime who obviously hate him personally and want to turn (what they no doubt consider to be) a filthy unvaccinated Serb untermensch into an example of their power for the undesirables to … Continue readingA Stream of Thoughts Against Lockdown
The other day on the road, which was lined with garbage and litter, I saw groves of trees being cleared, leaving poor little raccoons homeless, to build “luxury housing”…but not luxury enough to keep any of the woods it seems. That arouses several thoughts in … Continue readingGermanic America’s Strange Dearth
At LessWrong Virgil Kurkjian has a fascinating post, “Leto among the Machines”, analyzing Frank Herbert’s “Dune” chronicles, specifically its worldbuilding point of the Butlerian Jihad (the elimination of computers from human civilization), from a “rationalist” perspective, especially how the Butlerian Jihad makes perfect sense once … Continue readingNemesis Among the Machines
This morning I was thinking back to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; back then, in the winter of 2020 and through March 2020, various right-wing personalities and influencers, particularly the “smart right”, the “mainstream conservatives”, and the like, were equivocating about lockdowns and restrictions … Continue readingFolkways From Our Past Return
One of the more curious aspects of communications technology is how the 21st and 19th centuries in many ways share much more in common with each other than either does with the 20th century. Consider that the 19th century predilection to send notes and letters … Continue readingA Telegraph World