The political news is annoying me to no end. Obama, so promising in so many ways (and he remains so, despite the following), is embracing and exceeding Bush's absurdist claims of unchecked executive power. I'm not quite ready to get all worked up to refight, against a Democratic president, battles we shouldn't have to fight in our democracy against any politician of any party. So I'm going to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation in fighting the good fight and bring up something of more immediate interest to me, seeing as it's my blog and all.
And that would be my ongoing quest, as I make, if I do say so myself, major headway in a long-winded prose effort of my own, to find interesting literarily minded science fiction authors. They are few and far between in a genre too enamored of stilited prose and alien princess sex scenes. And I say that as a fan of the genre for years. There are the fine old stalwarts like Philip K. Dick and Stanislaw Lem, both of whom I can't get enough of.
But I just got a stack of new stuff (well, some of it's older, but I haven't read it before):
Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination
Jonathan Barnes, The Somnambulist
Greg Bear, Darwin's Radio
Robert Charles Wilson, Spin
M. John Harrison, Light
The last has proven most intriguing–equal parts contemporary murder and mayhem with a decided flair of China Mieville-like weirdness (Mieville praises Harrison mightily), way-futuristic Delaney-esque high-strange space opera, and an air of mysticism mixed with quantum mechanics. So far, a stunner.
Suggestions for further reading are most welcome…
ADDITIONAL: Some Senators are busily crafting legislation to take care of "cyber-emergencies." They also want a "Cybersecurity Czar."
Could I just gently raise a question? Do we want anybody in charge of the Internet who uses "cyber"?
On the other hand, maybe we could also appoint an Astrosecurity Rajah while we're at it. Or a Heliosafety Yangban.
