"A fast-paced, suspenseful dystopian picaresque, part Huck Finn and part bizarro-world Swiss Family Robinson..."
---Kirkus
Long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and finalist for the Crawford Award. Title short story listed for the 2000 O. Henry award.
Sergey Brin, in a recent discussion of Google Glass, noted that smartphones are “emasculating.” Let’s look at a more or less standard definition of “emasculate”. (I generally hate arguments by pedantics who pull out dictionary definitions as a kind of proof text for an argument, but I think this is worth it). 1. Make (a […]
Fri, March 29 2013 » Computers/Tech, Fiction, Polis » No Comments
A great article on 18th century almanacs as ur-iPhones: By now, I hope you’ll forgive the ahistorical slip that led me to enlist the iPhone as a way of imagining just how resourceful an early almanac could be. It was so much more than a book. Comparing it to the iPhone helps expand our vision […]
Thu, October 14 2010 » ?!?!?, Computers/Tech » No Comments
Bruce Sterling’s essay on design, the potential of design, and the design of fiction, is something that anyone interested in those issues should read-moving away from the tired arguments of why science fiction is dying, why it’s not dying…anyway, I tend to get those two things confused. Of course the pulp era has left its […]
Sat, September 26 2009 » Computers/Tech, Fiction » 3 Comments
ON FURRIES It is perhaps not surprising that the furry culture as we know it today sprung up in early virtual worlds (MOOs, Mucks, and Muds — these acronyms themselves hint at the wet dust of the first creations, paradise’s barnyard). Besides FurryMUCK, one of the most significant early furry spaces is the Swedish MUCK […]
Sat, January 3 2009 » Computers/Tech » 1 Comment
I wonder if it’s time for a speculative (or otherwise) ezine inhabiting myspace and myspace only. I wonder if Hex is a better show than Buffy. I’m really beginning to wonder about both of those.
Fri, July 14 2006 » Computers/Tech, Fiction, Movies/TV » No Comments
Net Neutrality died in the House Commerce Committee. btw, these are the Democrats who voted to kill the Internet as we know it: Ed Towns of New York, Bobby Rush of Illinois, Al Wynn of Maryland, Gene Green of Texas and Charlie Gonzales of Texas. Thanks! You obviously know where your well-heeled bread is buttered. […]
Wed, April 26 2006 » Computers/Tech, Fiction, Poetry, Polis » 2 Comments
This is a brilliant, brilliant essay by Danah Boyd about Friendster vs. MySpace, and about burgeoning “super publics”: Online communities are more like nation-states than technological tools. There is a master behind the architecture, a master who controls the walls of the system and can wage war on her/his people at any point. People know […]
Tue, April 4 2006 » Computers/Tech, Meta/Logistics » 1 Comment
I “love” the opening text for Blogads: “You need to woo the early adopters that traditional media can’t reach. You need to engage 500,000 opinion makers, not pester 100,000,000 nobodies.” translation: “Non-non-poor people SUCK!” Now that’s some good hipster talk there. Mirrorshades or death!
Tue, September 20 2005 » Computers/Tech, Polis » No Comments
Wed, August 3 2005 » Computers/Tech » No Comments
