SciFi

I used to read a lot of science fiction; an inordinate amount when I was a child. These days I seem to work too much to have time.

That's changed a little in the past few days, as I started reading Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. It calls to mind Greg Egan, which is a very good thing, and I'm devouring it as quickly as I consumed Diaspora.

I love it when a book seems to be saying “oh, you like that, huh? Pretty gobsmacking, eh? WELL TAKE THIS!”, crushing you with a wholly unexpected yet completely consistent turn of events. It's like having my brain pried open with a spork constructed of bacon and ideas.

Posted at 2008-08-26 00:14:31 by Richard Newman • Link to SciFi

V for Vendetta

Boy am I glad I'm no longer in the UK. I would be sputtering in confusion at how my countrymen had become sheep.

In the Queen's speech this autumn Gordon Brown's government will announce a scheme to institute a database of every telephone call, email, and act of online usage by every resident of the UK. It will propose that this information will be gathered, stored, and "made accessible" to the security and law enforcement agencies, local councils, and "other public bodies".

From The Guardian, via Bruce.

Posted at 2008-08-26 10:23:00 by Richard Newman • Link to V for Vendetta