Accelerando / Charles Stross ( Powell's Books ) Manfred Macx lives on the cutting edge of future thought, and the future is coming at us whether we want it or not. The whole concept of humanity and sentience is changing. A singularity of human existence. Only as we become the aliens we learn there may be something else out there, and it might not have our best interests in mind. Accelerando is a multi-generational story of post-singularity humanity and evolution. Accelerando was the July (yes, I know, it's November, this has been a difficult few months) pick for Virtual Speculation. I find Charles Stross' Science Fiction intelligent, witty, and fascinating, with the added bonus of the author's strong information technology knowledge set. His near future (or alternative current day) science fiction explores the what-ifs of technology and culture. The book is curious and quirky. An idea seeded from the experiences working in IT during the late...
If 7th Sea is a game of "What Would Errol Flynn Do?", Thirsty Sword Lesbians is "What Would Julie d'Aubigny Do?" Confession, my first reaction to the the play test materials was "this is a game of 'What Would a Sapphic Errol Flynn Do?" And then I remembered there was someone from history that was THE perfect fit for this game. The swashbuckling high adventure ideals and the structure of the game built around relationships and story brought to mind the much popular game by John Wick... but for me in a much more comprehensible and to the heart package. Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a rolepaying game for telling queer stories with friends. If you love angsty disaster lesbians with swords, you have come to the right place. In this book, you’ll find: Flirting, sword-fighting, and zingers in a system designed for both narrative drama and player safety. An innovative take on the Powered by the Apocalypse family of games. Nine character types...
As part of Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World I write weekly short essays (270-320 words). Our first week looked at Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm from 1882 (full text available via Open Library ). For credit on any submitted assignment each student then peer reviews 5 other students' essays on From and Content, each graded on a scale of 1 to 3, with 2 as the expected adequate work grade. What struck me very early on in this translation and edition of the Grimm's Fairy Tales is that they by-and-large were stories of utterly horrible people. That seemed as good of a starting point as any for a short essay. The fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm are not by-and-large morality tales, but instead often tales celebrating clever deception and manipulation. Often the rewards go not to the virtuous or deserving but to the one who thinks on their feet and is not caught. For example, Clever Gretel is selfish,...
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