Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’

Top 5 most unusual alien conspiracy theories

On Tuesday, i09 posted an article called “10 Tips for Generating Killer Science Fiction Story Ideas”. The first tip, right bang at the top is “Look at the big unanswered questions – Like, why haven’t we heard from other intelligent civilizations yet?”

The cover for the ground-breaking science fiction novel Existence, featuring first contact, from the award-winning author of the Uplift novels, David BrinIt seems to me they’re taking their cue from one of science fiction’s great masters there, as David Brin asks exactly that question his latest novel EXISTENCE (UK | ANZ).

Into his plot, David weaves a number of possible answers to the “Fermi Paradox” – the conundrum of why we haven’t we heard from any alien life forms yet when it’s scientifically probable that they do exist. And the story that results is certainly killer. In fact it’s pretty darn mind-blowing.

But importantly, behind David’s writing is an extremely rich, in-depth scientific understanding of the world and the patterns of our progress within it (he is, after all, a real-life astrophysicist and consultant to NASA).

However, out there on the interwebs, there are also a multitude of fun conspiracy theories about where the aliens are hiding. And some of these are, in my humble opinion, just a tad more unlikely. . . Not that we don’t love hearing about them!

I trawled the internet looking for these theories, and here’s a run-down of my personal top 5 for your reading pleasure . . .

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630> A dalek from Doctor Who to illustrate the article "top 5 weirdest alien conspiracy theories"

1.       WORLD LEADERS = SHAPE-SHIFTING REPTOIDS. . .

There exists a rather widespread theory stating that thousands of years ago, extraterrestrials from the “Draco” constellation came to earth and mated with humans, forming reptilian-human crossbreeds.

These beings are hiding amongst us, and they only serve the agenda of the reptilian race. Famous such reptilian-human hybrids include: George W. Bush, Tony Blair, The Rothschilds, Vladimir Putin, The British Royal Family (I’m assuming including Kate Middleton?) etc.

Perhaps this could explain a lot? (more…)

Introducing THE HYDROGEN SONATA by Iain M. Banks

This doesn’t seem possible to me, but Iain M. Banks’ first Culture novel, CONSIDER PHLEBAS (UK | US | AUS), was published 25 years ago – making this year, according to our calculations, the 25th anniversary of the Culture. For anyone who has experienced the ridiculous awesomeness of the Culture novels, this is of course a rather special occasion demanding a hearty cheer at the very least – and a large statue at most. Or something in between, such as these cupcakes we made to celebrate in our own way.

But what better way to celebrate than with a brand new Culture novel? None! Conveniently released this month around the world, THE HYDROGEN SONATA (UK | US | AUS)  is a science fiction-shaped marvel that is already grabbing the attention of reviewers. Look at these for starters:

“This rich, sweeping panorama of heroism and folly celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Culture, Banks’s far-future semi-utopian society…. The action tumbles along at a dizzying pace, bouncing among a fascinating array of characters and locales. It’s easy to see why Banks’s fertile, cheerfully nihilistic imagination and vivid prose have made the Culture space operas bestsellers and award favorites.” — Publishers Weekly

“Banks’ Culture yarns … brim with wit and wisdom, providing incomparable entertainment, with fascinating and highly original characters, challenging ideas and extrapolations, and dazzling action seamlessly embedded in a satirical-comedy matrix.” — Kirkus Reviews

“One of Banks’ best Culture novels to date.” — Booklist

“A supremely enjoyable read … Banks’ charming prose and the scale of his imagination continue to delight Culture vultures” – SFX

“It’s fantastically good fun” — SciFi Now

To help celebrate the release of THE HYDROGEN SONATA and the 25th anniversary of the Culture, you have three basic options:

  1. Say, “Hip, hip, hurrah for the Culture!”
  2. Read the first chapter of THE HYDROGEN SONATA here.
  3. Try to make Culture cupcakes better than ours.

Choose wisely.

 

The Orbit UK team celebrates 25 years of the Culture series with Iain M. Banks!

Google Hangout Video – Featuring Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton and Alistair Reynolds

Last night Google’s UK headquarters in London bore witness to a very special event: a discussion between the UK’s three biggest SF writers, Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton and Alistair Reynolds. Eight lucky fans from across the world – who were all lucky enough to win a competition to join the conversation – sat in on the debate and supplied questions.

The hour-long discussion covered a wide range of subjects, such as worldbuilding versus characterisation, approaches to writing and the future of science fiction in an increasingly digital age. The entire hour-long session was watched live by hundreds of fans and was also filmed. Many thanks to the Google crew for their hospitality and for making the event possible!

Iain M. Banks is on tour in the UK next week, signing copies of his brilliant new Culture novel THE HYDROGEN SONATA [UK | US | ANZ] – the events are as follows:

Weds 3rd October – Waterstones Piccadilly, London, 7pm
Thurs 4th – Toppings & co., Bath, 8pm
Fri 5th – Waterstones, Yeovil, 1pm
Fri 5th – Waterstones Galleries, Bristol, 7.30pm
Weds 10th – Waterstones West End, Edinburgh, 6pm
Thurs 11th – Manchester Literature Festival, 7pm
Fri 12th – Formby Books, Liverpool, 7pm

New Short Fiction: GODS OF RISK

One of the unexpected and, I think, very good things that the rise of ebooks has done is haul the novella back out of the shadows.  When I started writing, the common wisdom went that novella-length work, that is stories between 17,500 and 40,000 words, was the sweet spot to write if you wanted awards because so few got published.  If there are only fifteen stories written in your category in a single year, it’s not that hard to get in the top five.  Or at least that was the theory.

That day, I’m pleased to report, has passed.

It was never the novella’s fault.  It’s actually the length that is best suited to the modern reader and to science fiction.  It’s got about as much room for plot as a two-hour movie.  There’s enough room to really go into an idea or set of ideas, and not so much room that it threatens to get dull.  I love novellas.  But once the golden age of the Ace double passed, they were a pain in the ass to publish.

For a magazine, printing a novella meant there wasn’t room for much else in a given month.  And that meant there were fewer authors’ names to put on the cover.  And that meant there were fewer sales of the magazine, so novellas were pretty much a non-starter.  For a book publisher, a novella is too small to charge full price for, even though the costs of setting up a production run aren’t that much less.  The wise choice, especially among the mass-market publishers, was to print something a little bit longer that you could charge full price for.

But then ebooks came and when we signed the contracts for the second run of Expanse books, part of it was a call for five novellas set in the same world.  I was delighted.  We’d written a short story before – The Butcher of Anderson Station – but it was done with print markets in mind.  To have the luxury of a full novella’s length was great.  We got to tell the stories that didn’t quite fit in the big epic-sized books, we didn’t have to try to compress the stories into the constraints of magazine wordcounts, and there would be a new James SA Corey story out that was big enough to satisfy folks between the major novels.

The only down side is that there’s not an easy category for awards anymore.

Small price to pay, I think.

…

GODS OF RISK , a new story of The Expanse, by James S.A. Corey is available now in the US. Corey’s space operas have traveled the far reaches of our solar system, and now turns their attention to our neighbor, Mars. Visit the Orbit Short Fiction today to find out where you can pick up this new fantastic novella.

This is BEDLAM

Feast your eyes on this cover for Christopher Brookmyre’s amazing SF novel – BEDLAM! (UK|ANZ) Cover design by Mark Swan and Nico Taylor.

The cover of BEDLAM shows a man falling into a vortex

Would it be your ultimate fantasy to enter the world of a video game? A realm where you can fly space-ships, shoot zombies and slay dragons, yet all of it feels completely real.
Or would it be your worst nightmare? Stuck in an endless state of war and chaos where the pain feels real and from which not even death can offer an escape . . .
This is where you find out if you’re in a prison or a playground.
This is BEDLAM.

Coming February 2013.

“Like the best Science Fiction books, Bedlam utilises an alternative reality to pose deep philosophical questions about the human condition. Like the best Christopher Brookmyre books it also has funny jokes, characters you can empathise with and devastatingly employed swear words . . .” – comedian Ed Byrne

http://www.brookmyre.co.uk/

DNA, climate change and free drinks . . . Ken MacLeod on the hidden life of an SF writer

There’s more to being a writer than writing (and reading and research and self-promotion and whatever that leaves over for, you know, life).

There’s also all the other jobs that being a writer qualifies you for, such as reviewing books and teaching creative writing. Being a science fiction writer gives you expertise on all that and on science, technology, and the future.

If that’s what people think, who am I to tell them otherwise?

Actually, most of the time I can hold my head up – though do hold my hands up about one or two occasions when I’ve been asked for a media comment on some scientific breakthrough about which I know next to nothing. (‘So, Ken, what do faster-than-light neutrinos mean for the Scottish off-shore wind-farm industry?’)

One area where I’m fairly sure I’ve delivered the goods is in public engagement with science. Some time ago one of my former tutors at Glasgow University asked me to give a guest lecture on SF and the public understanding of science, and invited me back to give the same lecture several years in a row. I’ve since delivered variants of the lecture in far too many venues. When it achieved peer-reviewed publication in the SF studies journal Extrapolation, its work on this planet was done.

In 2009 I was one of two writers in residence at the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum, based at Edinburgh University. Part of a network of research institutions set up to look at the social aspects of the new life sciences and their associated technologies and industries, the Forum specialises in connecting social science research to policy-makers, the media, and civil society. It’s sponsored numerous events at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and supported creative residencies – last year it was a playwright, this year it’s a photographer and a documentary film-maker. In 2009 it was me and Pippa Goldschmidt – a terrific new writer (look out for her forthcoming novel, Wider Than the Sky) and former astronomer who as a civil servant once held the official job title ‘Controller of Outer Space’. Together, we fought crime…

Two of our initiatives I’m particularly proud of are: The Human Genre Project, a website of poems and short stories inspired by genomics; and The Social Sessions, a series of public events that included Ian Rankin and Lyn Anderson talking about crime and DNA, science journalists and social scientists discussing ‘Climategate’, and poets on science as an inspiration for poetry. The sessions came out of a wild notion that Scottish writers and journalists could be lured to relaxed, open-ended, informal discussions that offered free wine. ‘Hmm … it’s a crazy idea, but it might just work!’

Working with social scientists taught me a great deal, such as not to say ‘Social scientists and, uh, actual scientists …’

Especially not in conversations with social scientists.

Some of what I learned – and a lot I made up – is in my novel Intrusion. Along the way I also did some work with science communications people, which (via yet another outing for my SF-and-science lecture) got me an unexpected but welcome commission: to write what may be my most widely-read work to date: the script for an online informational comic about stem cell medicine, Hope Beyond Hype.

After the Edinburgh launch event for Intrusion at Pulp Fiction back in April, I was told a big secret, which I found hard to keep (but did). A few days ago it was officially out in the open: I’ve been appointed Writer in Residence at Edinburgh Napier University, with the job of mentoring students on the MA in Creative Writing course.

My immediate predecessor in this post was the great Dr Who writer Rob Shearman. The course leaders Sam Kelly and David Bishop know all there is to know about SF and about the ways of SF writers. It’s a wonderful opportunity and terrifying responsibility, and I’m looking forward to it.

Cover launch! EXISTENCE and the new-look David Brins

EXISTENCE, a science fiction novel from the award-winning David Brin, admired by Stephen Baxter

This November, we’re releasing the paperback edition of David Brin’s science fiction masterpiece EXISTENCE (UK | ANZ). It’s his first novel to be released in ten years, and he’s truly returned in triumphant form.

It’s a breathtaking novel about First Contact – one that asks ‘why are we alone?’ and ‘are all civilisations doomed to fail?’ And it does it in spectacular, imaginative, mind-boggling, heart-thumping style.

See the paperback cover to the left and just a few of the reviews this unmissable book has been receiving:

‘Cleverly argued and uncomfortably plausible’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘A masterpiece of rock-hard SF’ SUN

‘Brin tackles a plethora of cutting-edge concepts…with the skill of a visionary futurologist’ GUARDIAN

‘Bursting with ideas, including near-future tech, first contact with aliens, and the exploration of what it means to be human’ i09.com

‘Existence is my top SF novel of 2012 and I recommend it without hesitation’ SFFWORLD.COM

But it’s not just EXISTENCE that we’re releasing this winter. We’re also giving a makeover to some of David Brin’s most classic titles. See the new-look covers below in all their glory…

New-look covers for David Brin's classic science fiction titles EARTH, POSTMAN, the UPLIFT trilogy and the second Uplifgt triology, called EXILES

See more info about each title below! (more…)

CHIMERA: the final installment of The Subterrene War

CHIMERA (US | UK | AUS), the concluding volume of the Subterrene War series is available now!

As with GERMLINE (US | UK | AUS) and EXOGENE (US |UK | AUS), CHIMERA follows a different combatant into the dark underbelly of the warfront. Escaped Germline soldiers need to be disposed of quickly, and Stan Resnick is just the man for that job.

Back in June, T.C. McCarthy first introduced us to Stan Resnick saying,

“If Germline and Exogene are character studies about a man who can’t handle war and a girl who rejects it, respectively, then Chimera is a study of someone for whom war is a natural habitat: Stan Resnick. I’ve seen this. These types of soldiers exist — ones who genuinely thrive in settings that would make most of us want to huddle under a rock and stay there until everything dies down.”

You can read the entire article here and find out how his short story, SUNSHINE, connects to the secrets that are revealed in CHIMERA.

Pick up CHIMERA today or start elsewhere in this rich and complex setting featuring a futuristic world at war.  There are many ways to immerse yourself in The Subterrene War series, including short fiction and video.

 “The highly detailed, brutal depiction of futuristic warfare brilliantly complements the intimate narrative, which examines the insanity of war and those personally affected by it. Breathtaking and heartrending, this is the future of military science fiction.”  – Publishers Weekly, starred review

Job Opportunity: Laundry Field Agent. Do You Have What It Takes?

You: you’re a civil servant, working in an administrative or support role, within SOE X Division, commonly known as the Laundry. You have signed the Official Secrets Act. You know the score. You know that when you carry out certain computation operations, it has echoes in the Platonic realm of pure mathematics – echoes audible to beings from other universes, who can be bound to act at our command. Magic is a branch of applied mathematics, and there are agents out there working ceaselessly to protect the realm from esoteric alien threats. You aren’t one of them – yet.

You believe you can contribute more to the organisation by taking a proactive role. You’re a dynamic self-starter and a team player, flexible and able to plan and execute on your feet while remaining within official guidelines. And you want to get out from behind your desk.

Do you have what it takes to handle an active service assignment?

We’re looking for the next Laundry field agent to assist our rising star employee, Bob Howard. Bob has seen service. He’s dealt with nameless horrors you could only dream of, and with only limited . . . mishaps.

Starting today, we will be releasing clues that will allow you access to the Laundry Vault.
(more…)

James S. A. Corey’s CALIBAN’S WAR is out!

Please stand by for a tightbeam from Orbit Books:

For anyone who enjoyed last year’s Hugo-nominated barnburner LEVIATHAN WAKES  (US | UK | AUS) the next book in the Expanse series is a must-read.

Earth and Mars are rattling sabers following a grisly attack on the asteroid colony Ganymede, and heroes familiar and new are drawn into the fray. This reader would happily follow Captain James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante to the ends of the solar system, and may yet. But some new faces have joined the cast, including Bobbie Draper, gunnery sergeant in the Martian Marines (and her beyond-deadly combat suit), and Chrisjen Aravasala, an Earth politician as grandmotherly as she is shrewd, sharp-tongued, and determined to keep UN forces and Mars from all-out war.

CALIBAN’S WAR (US | UK | AUS) keeps up the faster-than-light pace set by LEVIATHAN WAKES, and raises the stakes, putting the fate of the entire solar system (and one missing little girl) in the balance. Says Kirkus Reviews: “Topnotch space opera … The characters, many familiar from before, grow as the story expands; tension mounts, action explodes and pages turn relentlessly.”

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