Nanobots to the Masses
One of my favorite books of the year is out today in paperback. Small Miracles by Edward M. Lerner is a story of nano-technology gone awry.
A company is successful in developing nano-bots able to isolate injuries and infections in the human body and then fix the problems. An early test is contaminated and then the nano-bots spread both inside the company and out.
Lerner is very convincing in his description of this near future technology. The events seem highly plausible and like most good science fiction there is an effortless discussion of the ethics of this new technology versus the high stakes risks.
Tor.com shows off their free Science Fiction
Tor.com is a great source for news and original stories from the world of Science Fiction. They are loosely affiliated with Tor Books but publish stories online by authors who are not under contract with Tor Books.
That said, they have an awesome list of stories that they have featured on their site this year that are attributed to authors and artists nominated for the 2010 Hugo Awards. You can read these stories online or download them in various e-book formats.
These are amazing reads and if you have ever wanted to see just how wide this genre is then this is the perfect place to start. This list also include graphic novels and art work from the past year.
above image is from Tor.com and it was created by Jillian Tamaki
Ballard by Mievelle
Over at the Nation, China Mievelle writes about the huge J.G. Ballard collection that was released in September of 2009. It is always nice to see an author who has a real love and appreciation for history and founders of their craft.
Pot shops, best pictures, Decaf, 3d alphabets and Nano Sci-Fi
What I'm reading/listening to today:
Los Angeles Aims To Close Some Pot Dispensaries - It seems to be one of the only businesses thriving in tough economic times. (via NPR)
The Big Picture : 2009 in photos - The Boston Globe photo blog is consistently the most beautiful and sad site on the web. This is part 1 of 3.
Hackers release Decaf to combat Cofee : Microsoft released a series of tools to Law Enforcement. They called it Cofee. Now hackers have a tool to combat it called Decaf.
Make your own 3d alphabet. No, not on the computer, in real life!!
I started a new book today. Small Miracles by Edward M. Lerner. Published by Tor Books. BTW Tor has an awesome blog site: tor.com
listening to "Neu! - Hallogallo" http://blip.fm/~hteik
Zinefest in Minneapolis: July 11th and 12th
I missed Zinefest last year and I am very excited to go this year. Homemade publications have so much to offer and I think anyone who goes will be surprised at the diverse topics that are covered. Sure you will find hardcore punk and anarchist journals but you will also see a ton of creative art work, comics and topics such as mental health, alternative culture, eco-culture and plenty of fiction.
Visit the Zinefest website for more information.
Here’s the Event Schedule for Zinefest:
Saturday, July 11th
11am-5pm open to the public
1pm : open mic zine reading (by attendees and exhibitors)
3pm : MPLS Zines (documentary by Monica Anderson)
4pm : Presentation Night (Minneapolis’ own living zine)
Sunday, July 12th
11am-4pm open to the public
12pm : Starting a Distribution Co-op with Likeminded Publications (workshop with Microcosm’s Joe Biel - limit 20 participants)
2pm : If It Ain’t Cheap, It Ain’t Punk: 15 Years of Plan-it X Records (documentary by Joe Biel)
Admission is free.
Location
Stevens Square Center for the Arts
(Where Zinefest is hosted)
1905 3rd. Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55404
China Mieville works the crooked beat
China Mieville is one of my favorite Sci-Fi writers and he has a new book out, City & the City. Usually know for what he calls 'weird fiction', this book is more of a mystery. Of course his version of a mystery takes place in an odd city with strange goings-on.
Not only that but he is the guest blogger over at Omnivoracious this week. His post entitled 'Neither a Contract Nor a Promise: Five Movements To Watch Out For' is a humorous look at upcoming hip literary scenes that don't exist yet. Omnivoracious also have a podcast interview with China.
Expanded Books has a nice video of China giving a synopses of the book. (Watch it here)
itis edition
itis edition is a great looking shop in Teipei, Taiwan. The shop has rare books, magazines and goods.
Simon Reynolds on the Relevance of the Fanzine
I first started reading Simon Reynold in 1986 when he was writing for the English music weekly the Melody Maker. I have never tried to find his writing but it always seems to pop up here and there. The consistent thread to most of his work was that he was usually interested in the polar opposite of my tastes.
Now he shows up writing what will be an ongoing blog for the British newspaper the Guardian. His first column is on the relevance of fanzines in the age of the blog. He is right on with this one. The fanzine still works because it is intimate, personal and self-contained. For such a new medium blogs tend to follow pretty rigid formats. Blogs also lead the reader off in a million directions, usually not bringing you back to the blog itself.
My favorite zines are the ones you least expect. A year ago I stumbled onto entire scene of mental health zines. The stories were written in a familiar way. They are the punk rock road stories of my youth transformed into anxiety and bipolar lives today. I must have a dozen of them and they read better than many such stories as you might read in traditional news magazines of today.
What I really want to see are new techniques. Poster sized fanzines and oddly bound ones. There is such a huge world of creative publishing out there and the fanzine should be part of that.
Designing For A Tuxedo
If you love Penguin books as much as I do, then you will love the site of designer David Pearson.
His work on the Great Ideas series has been a personal favorite of mine lately. Watch for Great Ideas Series III coming this fall.
Here are three from Series II
His designs are beautiful as a single edition but when you look at them as the entire series they really shine.
Here are three from the Zulma series.
Finally for the love of all things Penguin:
If you can track it down (not available in the US), he also did the cover for Seven Hundred Penguins. This is a celebration of all the beautiful covers that graced Penguin books throughout the 20th century. Call a friend in Canada and ask them to buy it for your birthday. Better yet, go on a vacation to Canada or England where it is available.
Poison Pad flips through the Roomates from Hell
the Poison Pad, a notepad novella by Dave Kunz
I have had the Poison Pad for about 7 months now and have raved about it to anyone who will listen. It is exactly the type of literature that I look for. It is unique, home made and readable.
The book consists of a xeroxed notepad that contains messages left back and forth between roommates over a period of weeks or months. The entire book is just a stack of unbound paper contained in a folded piece of cardboard and held shut with a rubber band. The second page is user manual with the following steps.
- Remove entire Poison Pad from box cover.
- Read 1st panel.
- Flip panel over, place to the side.
- Repeat until done.
- Re-read or use blank side as note paper.
- In case of paper cut please do not contact an attorney.
The thing that I most like here is that there is actual character development and dialog. The fact that Kunz was able to do this on scribbled notes where most writers struggle with real pages. The characters are very dysfunctional but anyone who has ever lived in a house with strangers will tell you that if they don't talk like this then they think like this.
The book has no official website but La Mano 21 is selling it.
When You Pry It From My Cold Dead Fingers
Wyoming Libraries has a great new bumper sticker, billboard, and radio ad campaign. Every library system needs marketing like this!
Here are some of the bumper stickers
The Shock Doctrine / APA Infighting
I've been reading a lot about Naomi Klein's new book, "The Shock Doctrine", and about the American Psychiatric Association and their internal fighting over issues of torture. Both of these have been featured on Democracy Now, GNN and the Guardian.
The main idea of Klein's book is that the state of shock has been used as the preferred state for torture by our government and that is nothing new. Her real claim is that governments use times of shock such as natural disaster, terrorist attacks, war, etc, to push through harsh policies that society would never put up with in normal periods of calm.
Naomi Klein's website has a short promotional film for her book that is directed by Alfonso Cuaron , the director of Children of Men. The clip is very good.
The APA's internal fighting is based around the organizations inability to pass a rule forbidding its members from participating in acts of torture. By passing this rule licensed psychiatrists within the military would lose their membership in the APA by participating in acts of torture. Losing their membership would all but guarantee that they would not work as a Psychiatrist after their career in the military was over.
Do some digging, these are both great stories.
Books All Kids Can Love – by Glenn Danzig
The NY Times Papercuts Blog has a great entry and YouTube video featuring everyones favorite goth/metal frontman, Glenn Danzig. Glenn gives us the personal tour of his book collection and shows off his young muscles, tats and pearly whites. What a hunk, and who knew that he could read?
Back Down The Rabbit Hole
The Washington Post interviews Robert Graysmith whose seach for the Zodiac killer is the topic of David Fincher's new movie, Zodiac.
Many years ago my friends and I were passing around the book by Graysmith called Zodiac. I left it at home one night and went to band practice. Late in the evening when my friends were dropping me off at home we noticed all of the lights in my apartment were on. My wife usually goes to bed at 10pm so I knew something was wrong. When I got up stairs she was waiting for me completely spooked because she had been reading the book.
As we all know, the Zodiac is probably still out there!
Bruce also points to a good LA Times article with Zodiac director David Fincher and Black Dahlia writer James Ellroy.
