What Makes Me Think I Can

Many times, I’ve seen interviews or posts in which a writer says she decided to make a serious go at writing and publishing after reading some godawful novel, throwing it down in disgust, and saying, “Surely, I can do better than that!” This has always turned my stomach, and the feeing of superiority has never [...]

Awesome Dinosaurs

People who know me personally will understand why I find this so awesome. It’s called “Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs,” and it’s by Leonard Richardson, published in Strange Horizons. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve read in recent memory:
“Don’t guilt me! I love Cass like my sister who’s a different species for some [...]

Second Person, Second Post

Roderic Crooks’ “Fuckbuddy,” a finalist for the Million Writers Award published in Eyeshot, was on my own short list when I read nominees. The basic story is of the main character’s regret at how he treated an old lover, and the combination of manipulation and tenderness that seems poised to rekindle the romance. What works [...]

Not Fan Fiction

Ken Liu’s “Single-Bit Error,” published in the Thoughtcrime Experiments anthology, is related to Ted Chiang’s “Hell is the Absence of God.” (I discuss this relationship more extensively in yesterday’s post). Both stories are explorations of faith and atheism, using the concept of angelic visitations to drive the action and the philosophical discussion. To be clear, [...]

Science Fiction v. Fantasy

This is the first of several posts about Ken Liu’s “Single-Bit Error,” published in the Thoughtcrime Experiments anthology. The story provides fertile ground for a variety of discussions–on its central questions about faith and rationality, on the nature of science fiction, and on its relationship to the other works that have influenced it. I got [...]

A True Thoughtcrime Experiment

Therese Arkenberg’s “Goldenseed” is the story in the Thoughtcrime Experiments anthology that best fits the project’s name. Xan, a recognizable, though altered, Johnny Appleseed, wanders the countryside engaged in a political experiment:
“Mostly because they’re beautiful. But also for the gold.”
“No, I don’t want to become rich in the least. But I want more gold in [...]

Up to the Level

(THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS)
Sherry D. Ramsey’s “The Ambassador’s Staff” appears in the Thoughtcrime Experiments anthology. If you’re worried about spoilers, go read the story and then come back.
COMMENCE SPOILERS…
Ramsey’s story is a mystery constructed around the death of a Martian ambassador. The key to solving the mystery turns out to be a drug called Level, [...]

A Sweet Golem

“Daisy,” by Andrew Willett, seems to have been the inspiration for the entire Thoughtcrime Experiments anthology (according to the intro note the editors gave it), and it seems fitting that a classic golem story would inspire the editors to build a creation of labor, love and words.
Most people are familiar with derivatives of the classic [...]

Million Writers Finalists Posted

Jason Sanford posted the finalists for the Million Writers Award yesterday, along with some honorable mentions. None of my picks made the finalist list, but two of mine were on the honorable mentions list (“Retardo” by Rachel Maizes and “Flyaway Dreams” by Bryan S. Wang). Congratulations to the finalists and other stories!
I’m planning to do [...]

Quantum Computers and Hard SF

William Highsmith’s “Qubit Slip” is the hardest story in the Thoughtcrime Experiments anthology, according to the editors, and I buy that. It’s hard enough to satisfy my own pretty stringent definition of hard SF (without the science, there is no story; the story extrapolates current science in a reasonable way; the story makes a reasonable [...]