The end of Harry Potter

I missed the actual show (as I forgot that it was even on) but I'm kind of glad that Rowling has said enough Harry Potter when number 7 comes out. Expect two more deaths of characters (I still think the whole Dumbledore episode smacks of the Resurrected Man which we find in children's literature) and wrist strain from even carrying the book (if previous size increases are to be continued).

Source: BBC

New online sf magazine and news of Jim Baen

Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing has just posted news of a new free online sf magazine, Helix, run by Lawrence Watt-Evans and William Sanders. It joins Baen's new one, Baen Universe, though hat one isn't free.

Talking of Baen, Jim Baen has been taken to hospital following a stroke. The company is running under an emergency plan detailed by him. More details on the Neilsen Hayden blog. Please don't send flowers but rather prayers of what ever faith/appropriateness.

Update: Jim Baen died on 28th June.
Source: David Drake's blog and Boing Boing

Mundane-SF: Ian McDonald

Mundane-SF: Ian McDonald asks whether, in part, sf can be set in the US and whether this is all right. Of course it is and must be but there also need to be one eye to the edges as 'twere, like Ryman's Air or Ian McDonald's River of Gods. Perhaps it is a misreading of the Mundane SF manifesto as well. Sf does seem a little parochial at the moment but perhaps that comes from folk trying to understand the world that we live in from a variety of angles and get lost in the US/UK focus.

Glasshouse

Finished Glasshouse by Charles Stross last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Its intriguing that he has placed the posthuman back into the "Dark Ages" (placed around now) and has come up with the same scenario as we have now. Basic human urges don't change though the form does radically (think multi-armed and changing gender largely on a whim). Couples still come together as best they can. Some are abusive and are correctly censured and punished for doing so. Some folk just rub along before finding out their real identity. Perhaps it is his most human book to date in terms of characters and the polity he creates.

One comes away with the feeling that this is less polemic than Singularity Sky, less rushed certainly. He takes more time to develop the world and the society, twisting the Desperate Housewives scenario ever so sweetly on its head.

More soon.

Glasshouse - Aust Gate


Glasshouse - Amazon UK