I also just remembered that "The Invisibles" also has a Hand of Glory!
]]>What if it isn't an infinite regression but rather something like the Penrose stairs? In this case the simulation is circular and the "top universe" is actually being simulated by the "bottom universe". This also would necessitate that complexity can be born of lesser complexity.
]]>Certainly humans have loved and fought and wanted for some time now, but the priorities and reasons for these things are changing at a faster and faster pace. It is too simple to simply label actions as being driven by some base human desires. Certainly we have our evolutionary urges, but our response to those urges changes drastically from culture to culture and time period.
Is there anyone else who finds it more interesting when a character who is human (perhaps post-human) seems truly alien to us? For some reason many people can't stand this, and thus most sci-fi movies and books simply have stories and characters which feel like they could be placed anywhere and just given different costumes and toys.
I much prefer characters who are products of their strange sci-fi environment, not my regular early 21st century human environment.
]]>I found Accelerando for free through an auto-recommendation from another book on an e-book store (through the Stanza app on the iPhone).
Since I enjoyed it thoroughly, I have since bought a number of your books in digital formats (mostly through the Kindle app on the iPhone) almost all at $9.99.
I have yet to see a single bit of marketing or advertising for your books, so the money going there doesn't really seem to be doing much, but I still managed to find and buy many of your books (which I rarely find in hard or softcover on shelves at any of the major bookstores around me).
Thus not only did e-books expose me to your work in the first place, they provided the only means for me to purchase your work at all, and the only means in which I want to purchase that many books anyway.
That is not lost revenue compared to my purchasing a $24.99 hardcover, that is new revenue since I would never have heard about you otherwise.
I agree that Amazon should give you a larger percentage of book revenue, but it doesn't change the fact that you are getting more exposure and more readers due to e-books.
]]>Halting State and the Laundry series are great, but not in that same kind of way. Although I do need to read the Merchant Prince series now that everyone is saying they love them in the comments.
Something on the scale of Greg Bear's Aeon? DO IT.
]]>Being a nice guy, he hands me a sandwich with a rich brown spread and says "I made you some Nutella!" I love Nutella. So I take a huge bite and begin to chew with pleasure, which quickly turned to horror as I realized that Nutella is not salty, has a different texture, and actually tastes good.
It was a Nutella/Vegemite bait and switch! I swore never to touch the foul substance again.
Although I do admit that the bread idea sounds good.
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