Category: Follies of the Human Condition

Thomas Pynchon understands the basic ingredient of lab work

Electrical arcs stabbed through the violet dusk. Heated solutions groaned toward their boiling points. Bubbles rose helically through luminous green liquids. Miniature explosions occurred in distant corners of the facility, sending up showers of glass as nearby workers cowered beneath seaside umbrellas set up for just such protection. Gauge needles oscillated feverishly. Sensitive flames sang at different pitches. Amid a gleaming clutter of burners and spectroscopes, funnels and flasks, centrifugal and Soxhlet extractors, and distillations columns in both the Glynsky and Le Bel-Henninger formats, serious girls with their hair in snoods entered numbers into log-books, and pale gnomes, patient as lock-pickers, squinting through loupes, adjusting tremblers and timers with tiny screwdrivers and forceps. Best of all, somebody in here somewhere was making coffee.

– Thomas Pynchon, Against The Day p. 235

Cyborg and Cyberpunk links

In association with my reading of Bernard Wolfe’s post-apocalyptic, proto-cyberpunk, Limbo, I’ve run across a few fun links:

Cyberpunk and Cyberculture: Science Fiction and the Work of William Gibson by Dani Cavallaro (PDF):

In contemporary western and westernized cultures, people are sur- rounded by an increasingly wide range of tangible products that seem to impart a sense of solidity to their lives. Objects such as mobile phones, computers, portable physiotherapy units, personal stereos, microwave ovens, video recorders and fax machines (to mention but a few examples) are integral components of many people’s everyday existence. Often, they are regarded not merely as useful tools for the accomplishment of practical tasks but actually as defining aspects of people’s identities, lifestyles and value systems. They thus become comparable to prostheses, the artificial supports used by medical technology to complete otherwise lacking physical organisms.

“Cyberpunk 101”, Richard Kadrey and Larry McCaffery (PDF) Continue reading “Cyborg and Cyberpunk links”

Real Victorian Pubs

If you’re inspired by our recent renovations here, check out the Campaign for Real Ale’s historic pub interiors.

Just looking at the photos has me craving a drink.

Thanks to SOPA, I got my first letter from a congressman. . .

. . .that was probably written by a staffer, from party talking points, before he’d made up his mind about his vote, and I showed my margin notes over at The Paltry Sapien.

Neanderthals, extinction, the apocalypse

After a lengthy hiatus, I’m about to kick my survey of post-apocalyptic science fiction into gear again. Before I do so, I’m reposting my original rationale for reading post-apocalyptic sci-fi:

What does the Neanderthal genome have to with post-apocalyptic science fiction? It may seem like odd inspiration, but Neanderthals have aroused my interest in one of the most venerable genres of science fiction. Last summer I was awaiting the release of The Road movie, reading a piece of classic post-nuclear sci-fi (John Wyndham’s 1955 The Chrysalids), and thinking about some recent news stories on the (then) forthcoming Neanderthal genome sequence. Continue reading “Neanderthals, extinction, the apocalypse”