Archive for August, 2007

Loyalty comes at a price

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

RS Publishing of Australia have published my short story “Loyalty comes at a price” in ebook form.
Follow female assassin, Katie Song, into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she must meet with a “business associate”. However things are not quite that simple, and she will be forced to reexamine her own feelings about loyalty. Don’t worry though; [...]

A little bit about Arcology

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

In 1912 a novel called The Night Land, by William Hope Hodgson was published. In his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature, H.P. Lovecraft describes the novel as “one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written”. To quote a summary of the novel:
One of the strangest visions ever published in science fiction or [...]

Where the hell are all the sky-cars?

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

Today I just found out that Moller International have finally - finally — finally!! — gone into production of parts for their M200G Jetsons like, vertical take off and landing (VTOL) craft.
But don’t get too excited; in a press release Moller International says it “has completed tooling and has begun producing parts for its Jetsons-like [...]

Night Markets

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

Kuala Lumpur has lots of night-markets. Every area has one, and they happen on different nights. I was at one earlier, or rather since it’s 3:35am here for me now, I was at one yesterday. This isn’t a photograph from that trip, this is one I took last year at Bangsar night-market some time ago [...]

River of Gods by Ian McDonald

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

What can I say about this tremendous novel, it is an accomplishment, that is for sure. I love India, and I love reading novels set in India. This one, set in a future India is definitely my favourite; it is as if Ian McDonald just happens to have precognition, as if he is able to [...]

One man, 18 wives, and 100 children (or so he hopes)

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Reuters has reported that a one-legged Emirati is lining up his next two wives in his fantastically conceived bid to reach 100 children by 2015. He’s already the father of 78. Daad Mohammed Murad Abdul Rahman, who is now 60 years of age has had 15 brides during the course of his adventures. Due to [...]

Screamers (1995)

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Since I’m a big fan of Philip K. Dick’s work, and having seen many of the movies that have been derived from his stories and novels (such as Total Recall, Blade Runner, Minority Report, and Next), I heard about a 1995 film called Screamers, which was adapted from one of his short stories called Second [...]

When Open Office has a bad day

Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

Open Office is brilliant. Microsoft Word is a nagging b**** of a program, and I can’t bear to use it anymore.  It’s okay for an office worker who needs their grammar checked when sending the occasional letter or even writing a report, it’s okay for students who are writing out that A+ essay and don’t [...]

Teaser for the month of August

Monday, August 13th, 2007

I’m working on ‘The Gateless Gate’ which is the spiritual successor of ‘The Shade of the Soul’ and will include some of the same characters. I will perhaps reveal some more details later, suffice to say I’m having as much fun writing this as I did writing the first one!
Excerpt (first draft)
The boat slid through [...]

The Drabbler 9

Saturday, August 11th, 2007

I just recently recieved my contributor copy of Drabbler 9. I suppose this may require a little explanation. Drabble is fiction of precisely 100 words, no more, no less - with a title of up to 15 words. In their ‘between kisses’ newsletter, 3 times a year, Sam’s Dot Publishing hold a drabble contest. My [...]