Arthur Chance

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• Commented on Dread of Heinleinism
  Because you're going to have to wait until I've chewed some more on Peter Pan vs. Withnail & I Clap your hands if you believe in the finest wines known to man?...
• Commented on That sinking feeling
  Sorry Charlie, I normally agree with much of what you write but this is nonsensical alarmism. Any food from the EU that would have been perfectly safe to import on the 28th March 2019 isn't suddenly going to become toxic...
• Commented on GDPR compliance notice
  How can the website operator be assured that the person making the deletion request is the ACTUAL person who provided the information the website has stored? The same way as they can be sure of the identity behind any action...
• Commented on GDPR compliance notice
  Generally there is no way of knowing how the different parts should be handled, so in my opinion (as an occasional developer by trade) there should be one set of documented rules for all names, at least inside a certain...
• Commented on GDPR compliance notice
  I wonder if the ECHR and GDPR are going to be an issue for Britain after Brexit. The ECHR has nothing to do with the EU so is unaffected by Brexit, (although certain Tories and right wing tabloids hate it)....
• Commented on GDPR compliance notice
  Just a reminder that purely an IP address, without additional details is not personal data. It's only if you have other data that together with the IP address would identify someone that it is That case applies to dynamic IP...
• Commented on New publication dates (and audiobook news)
  Ebooks are sold cheaper to the customer … [snip] … the percentage I get from an ebook sale is higher than for a hardcover Can you/do you wish to say which gives you the higher amount of money? I've been...
• Commented on I get book covers
  Do I spy Cthulhu doing a Kitten Kong in the background?...
• Commented on What can possibly go wrong?
  My biggest fear is that algorithmically-generated attractive video content could converge with basilisks in terms of a threat to a human cognitive system: basilisks in the classic Langford sense probably don't exist, but something you can't look away from? As...
• Commented on Rejection Letter
  1977 novel "The Shockwave Rider" $DEITY, is it 40 years? And yes, bloody ridiculous the whole thing. I'd like to think this would stick a cattle prod up the relevant people, but strongly suspect we'll just see the same old...
• Commented on Typo Hunt: Empire Games
  I mentioned these before, but repeat in case you didn't get them. UK trade paperback version. P 325, principal cast list: River Douglas, Rita's sister. Whereas PP 126-7 & other places, River is "he" and "brother" P 326, principal cast...
• Commented on The sudden eruption of news
  I'm increasingly of the opinion that May is a dim-witted Thatcher impersonator and instinctive authoritarian and xenophobe. We might actually (gasp) be better off with Boris Johnson, who is at least obviously an incompetent clown. I'd agree with the first...
• Commented on The sudden eruption of news
  I've got to the stage where I think the most accurate news reporting comes from the Daily Mash. Two of today's headlines read: "‘More politics? How absolutely f**king fantastic’, says Britain" and "Theresa May announces last election" Some days the...
• Commented on Free ebooks! Get 'em while they're hot!
  Charlie, I've noticed a couple of errors in the "Principal cast list" section of the UK version. River Douglas is described as Rita's sister but is Rita's brother in the main text. Both Brill and Elena Hjorth are described as...
• Commented on The dog ate my homework
  And Amazon UK still don't seem to have sorted out the correct entry for Empire Games. Not to mention turning OGH into a 25 year old girl....
• Commented on Eleven Tweets
  Re #5: have to keep growing or die I.e. a Ponzi scheme. (See also: Roman Empire.) The problems come when growth is no longer possible, and break up/down occurs. Then things get messy. The big problem with micropayments is that...
• Commented on The Day After
  And, bluntly, I can't see any path to ANY improvement, globally, until the juggernaut that is the USA military-industrial machine is derailed, and Trump might just put the first stick in its spokes. If Trump runs the country like he...
• Commented on State of the Charlie
  I'll second Murphy's recommendation. I bought a 10,000 lux SAD lamp several years ago and it's totally changed my life when there's less than 10 hours of daylight. An hour or so first thing in the morning, and maybe a...
• Commented on Empire Games
  for the next three years I'm putting out a book every six months Many more cheers than three. I've just got round to (re)reading the original series in the revised edition, immediately after reading The Nightmare Stacks, so obviously I'm...
• Commented on Three Unexpectedly Good Things VR Will Probably Cause
  A problem (as opposed to moral panic) I've seen reported fairly often is motion sickness. Some people simply can't stand any discrepancy between what their eyes and inner ears are telling them (my wife is one). One extreme case I...
• Commented on Holding pattern (part N ...)
  The bureaucrat-as-hero is someone who undermines such systems from within. This reminds me of Frank Herbert's "Bureau of Sabotage". It was always an appealing idea....
• Commented on Excuses, excuses
  Mo in "The Delirium Brief" The Annihilation Score, surely?...
• Commented on An Apology
  "Something new and different" means different. Not the same! So no novel length Palimpsest. Still, I'll look forward to whatever you come up with, it'll undoubtedly be a new look at $SUBJECT....
• Commented on The Scottish Political Singularity, Act Two
  "The Little England scenario wouldn't be pleasant, but predictions of a permanent Tory majority in England are a bit exaggerated." Which is why I put semi- in front of permanent. It was a toss up though, I'm that pessimistic. "Very...
• Commented on The Scottish Political Singularity, Act Two
  "A Conservative/Labour coalition just isn't conceivable." Except in the Laundry Files universe, where an alignment of the stars would lead to CASE NIGHTMARE BLUE RED, which would undoubtedly be as unpleasant as whatever Apocalypse OGH is going to serve up...
• Commented on Update
  "I suspect that ownership, and use on private property, is fine." Unless you're of a Muslim persuasion or the anti-terrorist squad have some other reason to suspect you, in which case it's possession of material of use to terrorists. "IANAL...
• Commented on The Curse of Laundry
  ACPO is being scrapped Ack, the one long weekend I'm so busy that I don't read any news and they finally decide to get rid of that totally opaque, FOI busting, democracy avoiding con on the general public that is...
• Commented on Not a Manifesto
  I've noticed a similar trend in my reading, and of course a writer has to scratch their own specific itch. I'll look forward to your future output. However ... If you do find the time and inclination for the novel...