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Retrocausal Literary Analysis: 2004 vs 2012
This post is a follow up to two past posts of mine, an explanation of the idea of retrocausal criticism and a book review, so I would recommend reading those if you haven’t read them yet. I recently finished Science Fiction: The Best of 2004, edited by Karen Haber and Jonathan Strahan, and I enjoyed… — read more
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The Shape of the Future in The Year’s Best SF 17
I’ve been doing the Bradbury challenge, both versions, and as a part of that I’ve been reading a lot of sci-fi short stories. I picked up a copy of the anthology Year’s Best SF 17, which was published in 2012 and edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The lineup includes some authors who… — read more
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Discarding Forms – A Short Story
I felt it at the same time as everyone else, that one night in June. The knowledge appeared in the back of my mind. I was alone when I felt it, in my apartment. I was washing dishes, and there were soap suds all over my hands, and I dropped a plate in the sink… — read more
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In Retrospect
Recently, I’ve been reading a bit of old philosophy. I checked out Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy and I thought that a lot of it was pretty interesting. But one thing that I thought was also interesting about it was how it could be treated as a response to later philosophy. Obviously, Boethius’s writing doesn’t make… — read more
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Space Datacenters are Nonsense
This is a little different from my usual content, but I wanted to talk about space datacenters. Firstly, because I thought that they might be an interesting element for a story, and second, because they are really in the press. To make a long story short: they don’t make any sense, financially or technically. Now,… — read more
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The Disunity of Identity
Recently, I have become interested in the philosophy of identity. This is probably not especially surprising to long-term readers given that transhumanism is a recurring topic on this blog and in my writing more generally. Now, when I talk about “identity”, you may already be uncertain of what I mean. After all, the term “identity”… — read more
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A Little Relaxation – A Short Story
I decided to buy the machine when my in-laws were visiting. My husband and his father were in a shouting match in the backyard, because I didn’t want them to yell at each other in front of the kids, and my mother-in-law was insisting that I talk to her about my plans for the future.… — read more
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The Akashic Record – A Short Story
Derschmidt’s boss had come in, huffing and puffing and with his face all red, and he glared at Derschmidt like he might glare at a dead insect on a freshly cleaned windshield. Derschmidt, for his part, had no idea what his boss was talking about, when he started yelling about a pallet of water bottles.… — read more
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The Problem with Greg Egan’s “Dust Theory”
I might talk about Greg Egan too much, but he’s had a lot of interesting ideas. Somewhat recently, I read the book Permutation City based on the recommendation of a few acquaintances, and I really enjoyed it, but I think that the book has a fundamental philosophical problem, which I will attempt to explain here.… — read more
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Time Travel Epistemology
I recently rewatched the movie Sphere, which is based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name. It is about an expedition to investigate a crashed spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean, which as it turns out is from the future. The people investigating find the titular sphere and some other things happen… — read more
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J. E. Landau 