Edit: Ok, ok, I botched things up. Now you can all stop complaining, I fixed the title. ;)
[Source: Digital Unrest Comic]
Interpreting Link’s Eyes [Comic]
The Laundry Files Series is a Must Read!
By Jimmy Rogers (@me)
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Looking back on even a single year of new publications, there are a LOT of SF/F books. Some people stick with their favorite authors. Others read the classics. You might even be the sort who grabs whatever Barnes and Noble has sitting on display!
Among all of these types of readers, there is a shared desire for a singular experience: “Wow, that last book I read really opened me up to a new idea!” Readers of speculative fiction don’t just want to be rewarded for reading, they want to be challenged and inspired. My latest find has really excelled on all these levels.
Meet Bob Howard, lowly IT geek and computational demonologist. He works for an organization within the British government called The Laundry. Charles Stross, Hugo Award winning author, has laid out a three book series (soon to be four!) that takes you on an intimate tour of Bob’s life, both private and professional.
The Premise
I don’t want to spoil any of Stross’s fantastic storytelling, but here is the premise:
Long have scientists and mystics been at odds over the validity of magic in our universe. This series posits that magic DOES exist, but that its mysteries can be understood through the use of high level math (made manifest through iterate computing and the occasional severed body part). Computational demonologists attempt to discover tools that will help in the fight against alternate universes. Such universes are often filled with information-eating monsters who have a taste for our highly-ordered brains!
Bob’s division of the British bureaucracy makes sure that the horrors beyond our reality don’t destroy the world – this ALMOST happens more often than you would expect. Unfortunately for Bob, when he’s not busy banishing demons and grappling with zombies, he’s filling out forms in triplicate, worrying over paper clip audits, and generally drowning in red tape. His plight makes for a refreshing diversion from heroes who think 9-5 is only a math problem.
The Books
The first book, The Atrocity Archives, introduces us to Bob Howard, his job (managing a local area network), his flatmates (who are somewhat comparable to Dr. Frankenstein and Igor), and the hair-raising adventures in which he often finds himself entangled. There are a few grim aspects, but enough dry humor and geekery that even the gritty bits stay reasonably light.
The second book, The Jennifer Morgue, takes Bob out of his element on a tropical adventure. Any more would give away too much, but let us just say that we learn quite a bit more about some of The Laundry’s deepest secrets. Also, there is quite a bit more romance in this book, which is nice, as you otherwise spend much of the story feeling sorry for the oft under-appreciated Bob.
The third and most recent book, The Fuller Memorandum, returns to the familiar haunts within The Laundry itself as Bob struggles to prevent a catastrophy that could easily bring about the end of the world.
While the fourth book, The Apocalypse Codex, is still being prepared at the moment, those of you who follow the series will be interested to know that it is rumored to concern the ultimate nightmare that the agents of The Laundry have long dreaded!
The Short Stories
How did I find out about this series? Well luckily enough, the novels are supplemented with a number of great short stories. In fact, Down on the Farm and Overtime have both been published at Tor.com and are available for free…right now!
Feeling lazy? They’re also in audio form because Tor.com has a podcast (Down on the Farm, Overtime)!
You can find ALL of the Laundry Files short stories on the author’s story chronology page (most of them are easy to find or are the endcap to one of the novels).
Role Playing
I am not a roleplay geek by any stretch of the imagination (Magic: The Gathering was all about the numbers for me!), but I do think it’s cool that somebody has gone to the trouble to MAKE The Laundry into a roleplaying experience. Here’s the link to the game manufacturer.
My Take
Why am I so obviously gung-ho for The Laundry Files? Every so often I read a book that really blows me away. The last such book I read was Anathem.
Bob Howard isn’t the most lovable, cuddly protagonist, but he does come across very human and believable. His viewpoint not only lets us into the fantastical world of The Laundry, but explores it in a suspenseful and almost realistic way. It can be a little challenging to navigate the computational demonology theory (pretend Lovecraft, the Internet, and non-Euclidean geometry had a baby), but I found it more fun than confusing. As an agnostic atheist, I was very pleased to see a way that that which is “indistinguishable from magic” may still flourish in our logical, ordered universe.
I fear saying too much more, as the books are laid out in the format of a spy novel and I would risk fun-stealing spoilers. Lastly, I’ll disclose that I have no formal ties to the books and wrote this review purely out of geeky devotion to the author’s fabulous mythology.
–The Atrocity Archives – $7.99 @ Amazon.com
–The Jennifer Morgue – $7.99 @ Amazon.com
–The Fuller Memorandum – $7.99 @ Amazon.com
Sucker Punch: Introducing the Dragon + Two New Shorts from Ben Hibon
A few new Sucker Punch clips have appeared online today, including one featuring a scene with the dragon, plus two new animated shorts from Ben Hibon. You can see Ben’s first short, Trenches, right here, in case you missed it.
Take that!
Dragon
Distant Planet
[Via Io9]
Pixel Oven Mitts
We know some brothers who could’ve used these Pixel Oven Mitts when swinging mallets, jumping over barrels, and saving princesses! Our Pixel Oven Mitts can help you do almost anything, but they are intended to protect your hands while holding hot trays and plates at home. Sure, if you could shoot fireballs, at let’s say… turtles, they could help with that too!
Excuse Me, Miss–Your Dress Is Ringing.
I can’t tell you how often I’m all dressed up and have nowhere to keep my phone. This has happened to me, I don’t know… at least one time. Thanks to soft circuit technology and the folks at CuteCircuit, I can now have my fancy soiree and my phone, too. Behold, the M-Dress, a silk jersey sheath that is also a mobile phone:
That sharp-dressed woman is presumably talking on her phone (and levitating, but that’s a different post). According to the CuteCircuit site, you simply insert your SIM card into the tag and voila! Phoneless mobile service on the go. If you do receive a call while looking fabulous (and of course you will), simply lift your palm to your ear as illustrated, and to hang up, return your arm to your side. Silk jersey and gesture recognition? I’ll have two, please.
The M-Dress is not yet available but CuteCircuit has it posted as a Coming Soon item in their store. Available now: the beautiful-but-somewhat-less-impressive Star Scarf, shown above, and the goth-glam-meets-sci-fi configuration in the video below, known as the CuteCircuit Kinetic Dress.
The company, based in London, specializes in all manner of Wearable Technology, including Bluetooth enabled shirts and pattern-shifting skirts.
[source]
ZOMG: Amazing Science-Themed Shirts
These t-shirts are made of so much “Winning!” and “Awesome!” that I absolutely had to share them with you guys.
Science! is dedicated to bringing you the finest in off kilter science t-shirts with a faux sarcastic nerd loving absurdist bent. Funny geek friendly graphic t-shirt designs by Jeremy Kalgreen and are available in a variety of colors and styles, or feel free to create your own with our custom designer
Tilt-Shift Time-Lapse Video of Disneyland Paris
A little less than a year ago, My family and I took a 1 week vacation to Disney World in Orlando, FL., where we pretty much had the best time of our lives. I never went to Disneyland Paris though, but judging from what I’ve seen, it looks pretty much the same, on a smaller scale. Anyways, check out the following video showing the theme park from a tilt-shift perspective.
[Via]
Best Anti-Theft System of All Time: Real-Life Eye of Sauron
Some people over at The Technology Studio in the U.K. had the marvelous idea of hooking a Kinect to a Pufferfish globe-projection system to create what could possibly be one of the most awesome anti-theft systems of all time. Just project an image of the Eye of Sauron on the globe’s surface and use the kinect to have that eye follow people walking in its vicinity. Now all you have to do it set up the device in the middle of your house and let it do its job.
[Via]
A First Look at Captain America
Yesterday evening, Entertainment Tonight aired a one minute preview for Joe Johnston’s upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger. The movie opens July 22nd, 2011. Can’t wait for it! :)
[Via TDW]
Google Books Settlement Will Need a Sequel
Google’s attempts to settle its legal dispute with authors and publishers — and in the process, claim the rights to millions of out-of-print titles — have been dismissed by a federal judge.
Judge Denny Chin said the proposed settlement would go too far in granting rights to Google and even said that if approved, it would be “rewarding [Google] for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission.”
The case involves a lawsuit by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers dating back to 2005, which accused Google of copyright infringement by scanning books to make them searchable online.
In 2008 the two sides agreed a settlement to the case that would include Google setting up and maintaining a register of book copyright and a royalty payment system. The settlement also gave Google the right to scan all books unless and until the copyright holder asked it to stop. And most controversially, the deal meant Google would have exclusive rights to digitize orphan titles: those which were in copyright, but where the rights holder either wasn’t known or couldn’t be traced.
Critics of the deal complained it would effectively give Google a monopoly in the book digitization market. There were also claims that neither party in the agreement had any authority to “give away” the rights to orphan books, along with serious questions about how the deal could affect books published outside the US.
According to Chin’s ruling, around 500 people filed formal responses to the proposed settlement, the vast majority opposing it. Specific objections included other author and publisher groups noting that they should be involved in any granting of rights to Google, and concerns that approving the deal would violate the right of Congress to decide copyright law.
Chin backed most of these concerns, as well as noting that given the original lawsuit only involved Google displaying “snippets” of book content on its Book Search site, a settlement wasn’t the place for the two sides to decide copyright issues involving the full text of books.
Concluding that the proposed settlement was “not fair, adequate and reasonable”, Chin rejected it. While technically that leaves the two sides back in opposition to one another with a copyright infringement claim to dispute, Chin did strongly hint that a revised deal would stand a better chance of getting approval with one major revision: that the opt-out system be replaced with opt-in, meaning Google could only digitize a book with the express permission of the rightsholder.