Haven't posted here in quite a while.
Here is a new poster I've created.
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paul_carlson
15 July 2014 @ 08:14 pm
Haven't posted here in quite a while.
Here is a new poster I've created.
08 June 2013 @ 02:06 pm
Geez, I have not posted here in more than a year!
Another amazing BayCon event has already come and gone.
Got to chat with David Peterson, who's creating languages for two different TV shows.
Another amazing BayCon event has already come and gone.
Got to chat with David Peterson, who's creating languages for two different TV shows.
24 May 2012 @ 05:52 pm
Here are the 4 panels I'll be speaking on, during this holiday weekend at BayCon. I'm moderating the History panel, a first. (Nervous? Who, me?)
"Alternative History: A Single If," "Zombie Survival Plan Redux," "What to Pack for a 3-hour Tour," and "1982-2012: Thirty Years of Science Fiction."
http://www.baycon.org/
"Alternative History: A Single If," "Zombie Survival Plan Redux," "What to Pack for a 3-hour Tour," and "1982-2012: Thirty Years of Science Fiction."
http://www.baycon.org/
07 April 2012 @ 09:39 am
Okay all you science fiction buffs, I have a question.
A friend of mine has posed a stumper, so I'm going to toss it out here.
(I've read some mind-stretching SF, however, none that I recall addresses this particular issue.)
To set the stage: we know that some modern cosmologists favor the Multiverse theory, and much science fiction deals with some parallel cosmos in which the physical laws are different. Beings who live there, or humans going, or (at least) making contact with them, etc.
The strength of gravity, a fourth spatial axis, a varying flow of time, and other factors could be radically different.
(Think of Baxter's "The Raft," Asimov's "The Gods Themselves," or novels set within a 4D hyperspace.)
So!
Is there at least one unchanging constant?
That, my friend proposes, is mathematics.
2 + 2 = 4 and in every conceivable realm or brane or 'bubble within' the multiverse.
Not even God can change that, it's claimed.
What do you folks here on LiveJournal think?
A friend of mine has posed a stumper, so I'm going to toss it out here.
(I've read some mind-stretching SF, however, none that I recall addresses this particular issue.)
To set the stage: we know that some modern cosmologists favor the Multiverse theory, and much science fiction deals with some parallel cosmos in which the physical laws are different. Beings who live there, or humans going, or (at least) making contact with them, etc.
The strength of gravity, a fourth spatial axis, a varying flow of time, and other factors could be radically different.
(Think of Baxter's "The Raft," Asimov's "The Gods Themselves," or novels set within a 4D hyperspace.)
So!
Is there at least one unchanging constant?
That, my friend proposes, is mathematics.
2 + 2 = 4 and in every conceivable realm or brane or 'bubble within' the multiverse.
Not even God can change that, it's claimed.
What do you folks here on LiveJournal think?
03 March 2012 @ 09:08 pm
Whew! Been banging my head against the cyber-wall, but finally got it all figured out, and passed Smashword's AutoVetter system.
All four of my stories now have better covers (which, no doubt, can still be improved), and they'll soon be listed for the iPhone and Kindle, etc.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/v
All four of my stories now have better covers (which, no doubt, can still be improved), and they'll soon be listed for the iPhone and Kindle, etc.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/v
15 February 2012 @ 09:27 pm
I've decided to give Smashwords a try.
Like many authors, I have some 'backlist' stories that are no longer available from the original publisher.
Two of them, "Spin" and "Waveform," are now available for 99 cents. Both are flash-fiction.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/v
Like many authors, I have some 'backlist' stories that are no longer available from the original publisher.
Two of them, "Spin" and "Waveform," are now available for 99 cents. Both are flash-fiction.
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/v
12 November 2011 @ 10:28 am
I'm happy to note that "Title Goes Here" has my short story "Cold Beach" posted, in their November web edition. It is free to reed.
http://www.titlegoeshereonline.com/page
It's set in the same basic future history as my robot-trucker stories in Analog, however this tale is much darker in tone.
http://www.titlegoeshereonline.com/page
It's set in the same basic future history as my robot-trucker stories in Analog, however this tale is much darker in tone.
04 November 2011 @ 07:42 pm
I've been noticing how many editorial cartoons have commented upon the Tea Party movement, and lately, the Occupy movement.
Some of them are virtual mirror-images.
Observe:
(I saw one that fits the second position with a style identical to the first (top) image, and will add that one if I can find it again.)
Last but not least, we have the actual similarities:
Some of them are virtual mirror-images.
Observe:
(I saw one that fits the second position with a style identical to the first (top) image, and will add that one if I can find it again.)
Last but not least, we have the actual similarities:
17 September 2011 @ 10:04 pm
Hi everyone,
Been away from LJ for a while. Busy busy busy, plus almost have a couple thousand friends on that 'other' social network.
Here's a little joke I heard, to break the ice. :-)
HILLBILLY VASECTOMY
Joe Bob went into town, and paid a visit to his old family doctor.
"Doc, Mabel and I have twenty-three kids now, and that's plenty. I need one of them vaso-thingies. Get fixed, you know?"
"You mean a vasectomy. Yes, that is a common procedure. You don't have medical insurance from your moonshining business, by any chance?"
Hearing of the cost, Joe Bob objects.
"There is an alternative procedure, a do-it-yourself hillbilly
vasectomy," says the doctor.
"Doc, I'm all for it! What do I do?"
"Go home and get out your fireworks stash. Put an M80 [a huge
firecracker] into a beer can and hold it up to your ear. Then count to ten."
"Really, doc? That's it? But how does . . . "
"Just trust me on this one."
So Joe Bob jumps in his trusty, rusty pickup truck and heads home to the holler. He finds an M80, grabs an empty beer can from the front porch, and proceeds to light the fuse.
With the loaded beer can to his ear, he counts.
"One, two, three, four, five . . . " on his fingers.
Then, with a puzzled expression, he stops. Sticks the beer can between his legs, and with the other hand, resumes.
"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten."
BOOM! The procedure is done.
Been away from LJ for a while. Busy busy busy, plus almost have a couple thousand friends on that 'other' social network.
Here's a little joke I heard, to break the ice. :-)
HILLBILLY VASECTOMY
Joe Bob went into town, and paid a visit to his old family doctor.
"Doc, Mabel and I have twenty-three kids now, and that's plenty. I need one of them vaso-thingies. Get fixed, you know?"
"You mean a vasectomy. Yes, that is a common procedure. You don't have medical insurance from your moonshining business, by any chance?"
Hearing of the cost, Joe Bob objects.
"There is an alternative procedure, a do-it-yourself hillbilly
vasectomy," says the doctor.
"Doc, I'm all for it! What do I do?"
"Go home and get out your fireworks stash. Put an M80 [a huge
firecracker] into a beer can and hold it up to your ear. Then count to ten."
"Really, doc? That's it? But how does . . . "
"Just trust me on this one."
So Joe Bob jumps in his trusty, rusty pickup truck and heads home to the holler. He finds an M80, grabs an empty beer can from the front porch, and proceeds to light the fuse.
With the loaded beer can to his ear, he counts.
"One, two, three, four, five . . . " on his fingers.
Then, with a puzzled expression, he stops. Sticks the beer can between his legs, and with the other hand, resumes.
"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten."
BOOM! The procedure is done.
