Steampunk anthology

Extraordinary Engines is a forthcoming steampunk anthology from Solaris Books, including original stories by Daniel Abraham, Kage Baker, Stephen Baxter, Beth Bernobich, Eric Brown, Keith Brooke, Paul Di Filippo, Hal Duncan, Jeffrey Ford, Jay Lake, Margo Lanagan, James Lovegrove, Ian R. — Read the rest

Charlie Stross on Japan

For the past two years, Charlie Stross and his wife Feorag NicBridhe have been planning their Big Trip to Japan for the World Science Fiction Convention that's just gone by. Now Charlie — an accomplished sf writer and keen observer — has written up a charming and fascinating set of observations from his trip. — Read the rest

State of the transgenic union: Frankenorganisms ahoy!

Ribofunk science fiction writer Paul Di Filippo rounds up the big picture on transgenic plants and animals for Contract Pharma magazine:

Meanwhile, at GTC Biotherapeutics in Framingham, MA, goats seem to be the ideal solution to that company's particular quest. And certainly this choice of caprine platform has paid off enormously; GTC can now boast a historical milestone with the release of "ATryn®, our recombinant form of human antithrombin, the first transgenically produced protein to be approved anywhere in the world, having recently been approved by the European Commission for the prophylactic treatment of deep vein thrombosis in patients with hereditary antithrombin deficiencies that are undergoing surgical procedures," according to a company statement.

— Read the rest

Steampunk in the Boston Globe

The Boston Globe's Peter Bebergal has a long feature on steampunk — including a nice little section on the literary roots of the field — that discusses the work of makers like von Slatt, Datamancer, Kaden, i-Wei and other Boing Boing favorites:

"The iPhone might be sleek and well-designed within its mode, but there's no way it can compete in luxe qualities with some Victorian equivalent," said author Paul Di Filippo, the first to use the term "steampunk" in a title of a book, "The Steampunk Trilogy."

— Read the rest

20th anniversary of Science Fiction Eye magazine

Paul Di Filippo notes that it's the twentieth anniversary of the first issue of SCIENCE FICTION EYE, one of my favorite zines.

200704131044 SFE was born in the heady cyberpunk years, in the wake of the folding of Bruce Sterling's CHEAP TRUTH, when he bade his disciples to go forth and found a million zines to carry on the good and noble fight for better speculative fiction.

— Read the rest

SF podcast: "How Lonesome a Life Without Nerve Gas"

The latest installment of the great sf story podcast Escape Pod is "How Lonesome a Life Without Nerve Gas" by James Trimarco. Escape Pod always publishes great science fiction audio, but "How Lonesome a Life…" is a standout, even so. It's the story of an artificially intelligent battle-helmet, testifying for its life, in front of a judge of the Earth Imperial court system. — Read the rest

Peter Watt's Blindsight – breakout novel under CC

My friend Peter Watts has just put his breakout novel Blindsight under a Creative Commons license and put it online, partly because the book is selling so fast that readers are having a hard time laying their hands on copies. Peter writes the angriest, darkest sf I've ever read, heart-rending stuff that makes you glad you're alive if only because you're better off than his characters. — Read the rest

PDF of second issue of bOING bOING from 1990

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In honor of Boing Boing's 6th anniversary, here's a PDF scan of the second issue of bOING bOING, published sixteen years ago, in January, 1990. This issue includes an article about the over-domestication of Americans by Antero Alli, cartoons by Dennis Worden, Ace Backwords, Rudy Rucker, and me, a review of Dan Clowe's Eightball #1 and #2, articles about brain machines (which I am embarrassed about), a review of Rudy Rucker's artifical life software, CA LAB, a great essay on Ribofunk by Paul Di Filippo, and a biography of the US government's own LSD evangelist, Al "Cappy" Hubbard. — Read the rest

Sf story: Internet collapses, bloggers become street-people

Awesome sf author/satirist Paul Di Filippo has published a short story in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in his "Plumage from Pegasus" column in which the collapse of the Internet ("chaos of viruses, worms, spam, terrorism and busts by the FBI anti-porn squad") turns bloggers (including me) into crazed San Francisco street-people who shove bits of paper into the faces of passers-by, hoping to interest them with novel tidbits:

The recognition was plainly one way.

— Read the rest

Piss-powered battery

Researchers in Singapore have designed a paper battery that converts urine into electricity. The scientists from Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology built the battery to power tiny biochips that tests bodily fluids for diseases. With their approach, urine is not only tested but also acts as the power source for the testing device. — Read the rest

Sturgeon Award finalists announced

The finalists for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short SF of the year have been announced! Congrats, Bruce, Greg, Charlie, Ted and Paul!

Bronte's Egg – Richard Chedwyk – F&SF, 8/02
Liking What You See: A Documentary – Ted Chiang – Stories of Your Life and Others, Tor
Singleton – Greg Egan – Interzone, 2/02
Year in the Linear City, A – Paul di Filippo – PS Publishing
Madonna of the Maquiladora – Gregory Frost – Asimov's, 5/02
Stories for Men – John Kessel – Asimov's, 10/02
Wild Girls, The – Ursula K.

— Read the rest

Cover for my short-story collection

Woohoo! I've just gotten the cover-proofs for my upcoming short-fiction collection, "A Place So Foreign and Eight More," which Four Walls Eight Windows will publish in the fall. Sweet. Here're a few of the cover-blurbs I've gotten so far:

Cory Doctorow strafes the senses with a geekspeedfreak explosion of gomi kings with heart, weirdass shapeshifters from Pleasure Island and jumping automotive jazz joints.

— Read the rest

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