Tag: charles stross

Book of the Week: The Trade of Queens.

Because I broke down and eventually read The Revolution Business; gratuitous bashing of the last administration aside (I had Charlie Stross figured as being too smart to auto-date his books like that), it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The Trade of Queens finishes it all up, which is probably all to the good.

And so, farewell to The Cat in the Hat.

See, this is why I don’t mind funding the National Endowment of the Arts.

You can watch the video below only if you promise to read David Thompson’s post on it first.  It’s important that you do that: it’s not fair for me to reproduce it in full here, and it’s just too good to miss.

OK, you did that?  Excellent.  Here’s the video:

OK, see why I don’t mind funding the NEA?

Precisely: if we let somebody like Teixeira just wander around loose to try to find his own food, clothing and shelter, chances are excellent that when he finally autodarwinates* he’d accidentally take somebody with a net positive use to society with him.

So, it’s not so much a government subsidy as it is life insurance.

Moe Lane

*Thank you, Charlie Stross. But for the love of God, give up the grudge, OK? They’re out of office and it’s turning out that they got it right anyway. Drop the series as a bad job and just write the next Bob Howard novel.

…oh. Right. Should have checked first. Never mind…

Looking for something to read? (Charles Stross)

(Today’s guy: Charles Stross)

If you’re the sort of person who thinks that mixing higher mathematics, spy fiction, and the Cthulhu Mythos is kind of cool… well, you’ve probably already read The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue. On the other hand, if the idea’s never actually occurred to you before, or you’re just looking for a good couple of books, you should pick these two up.  Stross is a fun writer with a good eye for combining horror and science fiction; his alternate histories (the most developed being the Merchant Princes series; a couple of good ones can be found in his short story collection Toast) are likewise well-conceived.  The space opera that he’s done has not really reeled me in as much, but there’s nothing wrong with it; I’m just more of a E. E. “Doc” Smith type.