fiction

Short Story Sunday-- June

It was her eyes that caught my attention. She had the most incredible green eyes, just one shade this side of being unnaturally too green. The skin on her face seemed to glow in the diffuse light, framed by auburn hair.

She was standing just inside a department store, smiling at people walking past her but obviously watching for someone.

It wasn't me. As I walked in, she gave me that same soft half-smile she'd given an elderly woman moments before, briefly making eye contact before her gaze flicked past me, scanning for somone in the open space … Read more

My inspirations from science fiction

I really enjoyed going through this image collection over on CNET's News.com. It lists ten influences from the world of science fiction on today's high-tech industries:

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Minority Report William Gibson's Neuromancer Bruce Sterling's Distraction Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Arthur C. Clarke's 1945 invention of the geosynchronous communication satellite Isaac Asimov's I, Robot Star Trek Karel Capek's R.U.R.

I'll go along with the Heinlein and Star Trek references, … Read more

Weigh in on sci-fi to technology inspirations

I was reading an article the other day that mentioned Neal Stephenson's ground-breaking novel, Snow Crash, and I started thinking that surely, a lot of science fiction has at least partially inspired some of the technology we use every day.

So I got to the office and started researching sci-fi that had a hand in future technology or science. And, sure enough. There's a ton of it.

The result? My package, The sci-fi effect on high tech, which ran on CNET News.com on Friday.

In the package, I discuss the technology inspired by Snow Crash, as well … Read more

Robotics as a hobby... and a way of life

Have you ever heard of the Homebrew Computer Club? I'm sure you've heard of the products designed by its members: the Apple I and Apple II, the Osborne I, maybe even the earlier Sol-20 (one of the prettiest little personal computers ever; I have a beautiful example myself).

Wikipedia reports that the Homebrew Computer Club stopped meeting in "roughly 1977"-- about 30 years ago. But a small part of it survives. Some of the people in the Homebrew Computer Club spun off the Homebrew Robotics Club, and that club still meets regularly.

I try to … Read more

With an AT-AT Imperial Walker stroller, your kid will never turn out normal

An e-mail exchange with another Craver yesterday, for one reason or another, led to my embarrassing revelation that photos exist of me at a very young age wearing a pair of big, fake fennec fox ears. It's embarrassing, yes, but after reading this post on Geekologie I realized that things could be much, much worse. The poor little munchkin in this photo will have to deal for the rest of his or her life with the fact that there exists visual evidence that he or she used to get pushed around in a Star Wars stroller. To be more … Read more

Rumor: Annalee Newitz to helm new Gawker sci-fi blog?

Trekkies rejoice (or beware): The rumors are getting stronger that New York-based blog network Gawker Media will be launching a science fiction themed title in the near future, and we're hearing that Wired blogger and freelance writer Annalee Newitz has been chosen for the top post at the new blog. The original rumor, as reported last week by the Huffington Post hinted that Gawker Media had nabbed a writer for its new, yet-to-be-named blog from Wired; a source confirmed to CNET News.com that the title will indeed be launching soon and that an editor has been hired.

A … Read more

Government seeks sci-fi antiterrorism insight

In effort to broaden its thinking about terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security is tapping into the thinking of a group of science fiction authors called Sigma, according to USA Today.

"We need to look everywhere for ideas, and science fiction writers clearly inform the debate," said department spokesman Christopher Kelly.

Science fiction authors are often prone to flights of extreme fancy, but they can be good prognosticators. Indeed, in the novel Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the government assembles a group of science fiction writers to seek their counsel about an alien invasion. Pournelle … Read more

'Star Wars' homages through the years

We've got a gallery over at CNET News.com of some of our favorite 'Star Wars' pop culture homages over the past few decades, from Spaceballs to Lost. In case you stepped in late, today's the 30th anniversary of the original A New Hope release--seriously, has it really been that long? Talk about timeless.

Click here to see the rest of the gallery.

P.S.: What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz? Chicken?