I know lists are nearly verboten on blogs, but I’m tired and I need to post something for this half-hour, so another list is what you get :-p I’ve got a small collection of short stories bookmarked; I’ll share the best of them with you here. Along with Terry Bisson’s They’re Made Out Of Meat, you have:

All You Zombies— - Robert Heinlein
Harrison Bergeron - Kurt Vonnegut
The Last Question - Isaac Asimov
Everything here - Sam Hughes

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I have a secret love of short stories, especially science fiction. High on my list of favorite books are compilations of little-known authors’ short stories. I like novels, as well, but short stories have so much more freedom to explore. A novel has to appeal to a large enough audience to be worth the sometimes huge investment of the author (writers have to eat, too, you know), but a short story might be dashed out in a day or two. This means that the ideas that never quite make it, the ones even the author can’t imagine enough of to make a full-length novel, show up in short stories.

Then there are the stories that would tick you off if you spent a few hours reading, but a few minutes delight you. The Last-But-One Question

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I’ve been reading an actual book (*gasp*) for the last couple of weeks. The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks is a science fiction novel, and one of the better ones I’ve read. While it takes place “only” one or two thousand years in the future, it depicts a history that is much longer. As far as I can tell, it fits mostly within the realm of “hard” scifi; IE, there is little to nothing in it that directly contradicts current science, and there are no humanoid aliens (except one race who are actually bipedal cats, and another species that was actually created through genetic engineering). One of the other races involved is purported to have existed for fifteen billion years, and now inhabit 99% of the gas giant planets in the galaxy.

The book shows some of the interaction between these veritably ancient races who have settled into their patterns, and don’t concern themselves with much, collectively known as the Slow; and the Quick, such as humans, that go to so much trouble to devise quicker ways to move place to place, and cause (and fear) death so much more. These Quick also generally last only a few thousand years once they discover galactic civilization, before they either annihilate themselves or evolve beyond themselves.

I won’t reveal any of the plot here, but it really is an engrossing book. Check it out.

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So here I’ll continue the list from my last entry. More movies I don’t have time to watch.

The 2nd and 3rd Riddick movies
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Really want to see this)
The 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies (I know, I know, they’re horrible, but I haven’t seen them, and I must finish the trilogy!)
Paycheck
Planet of the Apes (any version… I haven’t seen any of them :-()
Hollow Man

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I’ve discovered a problem with being a married geek with a full-time job. I never have time to go to the movies. When I’m not working, I’m either spending time with my wife, or doing other geeky stuff that I have less time for now. When else am I supposed to build my Magic: The Gathering decks? When do I spend 3 hours looking up astrophysics and gardening on Wikipedia?

In any case, here’s the list of movies I haven’t taken the time to see, just because I don’t seem to have the time. Enjoy; and if any of these are horrible, let me know and I’ll yank them from my list. (I did get to see Transformers this week — Great movie)

TMNT
Fantastic Four (both of them)
Schindler’s List (what, this doesn’t fit the theme?)
Blade Runner again (Didn’t quite understand it the first time
28 Weeks Later (I saw 28 Days Later, and honestly disliked it, but I did like the premise, so I may as well see the sequel)
Spiderman 3
Superman Returns
Idiocracy
The Island
Doom
Man With the Screaming Brain

I’ll come up with more later… this is just the last 2-3 years, from Wikipedia’s list.

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One of my favorite short stories is (obviously) Terry Bisson’s “They’re Made Out Of Meat.” It’s a short dialog between two alien intelligences observing Earth.

I’ve just discovered a film short of the story, and have to pass it on. Watch for the alien in red to almost lose it at the end.

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