Sean is in Nagoya, worrying about tsunamis and enjoying being a giant. He’s set up a journal to talk about it. Maybe he can hook up with American SF writer Chris Barzak, who’s also doing the living in Japan thing.
no.ipod.no.method.no.teacher
so, bills came in. book bills, tax bills, sudden dead car bills. ipod cancelled. sigh. tv card for pc cancelled. sigh. next time.
cricket
Bangladesh defeated Australia in a one-day game last night. There’s no way to sugar coat it. They played well, and Australia, who strode arrogantly towards this UK summer, is somewhat in disarray. While all the early talk was whether the Aussies would finish the summer undefeated, it’s all now of whether they can get their acts together. I don’t know what happened. It’s mystifying. On paper the Australians are the best team playing in the UK right now. I’m hoping everything right’s itself, but tonight’s game against England is sure to prove a real test of character. I’m betting Symonds will play, and I even wonder about Lee.
Accelerando download
Charles Stross has made his new novel Accelerando available to download for free at www.accelerdando.org. Go download it, check it out, and see what all of the fuss is about. This is the latest, hottest, smartest thing in SF. You’ll still need a print copy, trust me, but this’ll give you a taste.
Coode, Clute and Laughin’ Boy
As we move towards the end of the financial year short term chaos looms, but order is on the horizon. Gordon is kindly, happily building new IT systems for Chez Coode Street. Anne is on her way to visit. Ipods beckon, as do Melbourne and Continuum. A visit to the accountant today, some painful check writing and things should once again be on a reasonable level, at least until October.
With that in mind, let me point you towards John Clute’s review of Brad Denton’s scathingly brilliant Laughin’ Boy which, as Clute points out “rubs our ears in the junk noise and anguish of America” and is “one of the funniest novels of the past decade”. The comedy was so dark that one of Locus‘s reviewers was unable to read it, but I loved it. Magnificent stuff, and one of the novels of the year.