davharris

davharris

  • Commented on Books I will not write #3: No plan survives contact with the editor
    I'm really not sure I see understand the difference between science fiction and fantasy. (Is that heresy?)...
  • Commented on Books I will not write, #2: Iron Sunrise Variations
    For those who hated the "Glasshouse" world within a world, it was only that - effectively staged. The "real" Glasshouse universe is, clearly, much more diverse, freer and weird - so another novel set in the Glasshouse universe would presumably...
  • Commented on Lost in Translation
    Another fascinating book about translation (human and machine) and language is Douglas Hofstadter's "Le Ton Beau De Marot"...
  • Commented on Books I will not write, #1 (of an ongoing series)
    Nuclear reactors had to precede plutonium bombs, didn't they, because that's how you make the Pu? But those reactors were only built because they were necessary for the bombs. The question is, would anyone have gone to the trouble and...
  • Commented on Books I will not write, #1 (of an ongoing series)
    "Fantasy critters like goblins give the author two possible approaches: incredibly dodgy early 20th century race politics, or aliens." Hm. If you have a world with several intelligent species, then can't you play with their perceptions of each other -...
  • Commented on Books I will not write, #1 (of an ongoing series)
    I, too, would buy and read this if it had been written: but Charlie's judgement of what he can/ should write and can't/ won't shouldn't seems very sound on the whole, so I won't cry that it never did. As...
  • Commented on Shiny!
    Well done, and richly deserved....
  • Commented on Moonshine
    After reading the various comments on what the point would be in building a moonbase, I can only see one convincing reason: you are an Evil Criminal Genius and need something on which to spend the hundreds of billions that...
  • Commented on Apropos Nothing ...
    And Ken MacLeod's "The Restoration Game" features a Woolworths. I read the two one after the other and wondered if the two of you were being clever......
  • Commented on Apropos Nothing ...
    Alastair Good tip about it being on Amazon - I've added this to my "Books coming in 2011" Listmania list....
  • Commented on All that is old is new again
    Ah! Thanks. Done that....
  • Commented on All that is old is new again
    So how do we order?...
  • Commented on Insufficient data
    "I guess in a sense those are all just variations on a theme, that theme being: maybe you can do with a much smaller active population if you can sufficiently reduce the cost of "retooling" that population from one specialty...
  • Commented on Insufficient data
    With the post sudden apocalypse scenario, there could of of course be immense practical difficulties in collecting (no transport! no comms!) and organising and focussing the group, even assuming that enough had survived with the right skills. So it could...
  • Commented on Insufficient data
    Put like that, the trouble is, you can't necessarily rely on historical precedent, can you? I mean you might think we could say "The Victorians could support their society with X population so we could afford to go down to...
  • Commented on Insufficient data
    "If one believes in a coming global catastrophe that will threaten our current society a follow-up question immediately leaps out: how do we ensure that the minimum number of people (with the right skillsets) survive? If that is impossible: what...
  • Commented on Insufficient data
    We don't have proper spaceflight yet (defined by me, arbitrarily as, at a minimum, the ability to go back and forth to the Moon at will - rather than being able to do so only as the climax of a...
  • Commented on Five reasons to envy the French
    "I don't think anyone had anything Made In the USSR back in the days. " I'm sure that's nearly true, but not 100%. My grandfather was the proud owner of not one but two Moskvitch cars in the mid 1970s....
  • Commented on Five reasons to envy the French
    Until a few years ago there used to be a train that divided at High Wycombe (ie stopped and the front part went on while the rear stayed behind) but that no longer happens - I understood this was due...
  • Commented on Five reasons to envy the French
    "If you were really clever, you could even break up the train mid-journey and send different carriages to different destinations." I've sometimes wondered if you couldn't (in principle, hard to see it working in practice) take that idea one stage...
  • Commented on Beer, Cambridge (MA) — and a book
    Re the C&A reference, I noticed that Ken MacLeod's also recently published "The Restoration Game" has a similar reference to Woolworths, another ex-chainstore. And both books make a point of referring to Katy Perry. Clearly, something odd is going on......
  • Commented on Beer, Cambridge (MA) — and a book
    "i am surprised to see that there are as yet no reviews..." There's one now!...
  • Commented on Public Service Announcement
    Success - the Oxford Waterstones had a pile on the table in the 1st floor SF section (though not on the main tables on the ground floor). Managed to present it on return home as the "free" book in the...
  • Commented on Public Service Announcement
    Found my HB copy from thebookdepository had come, when I arrived home this evening. I was getting a little impatient so I tried my nearest Waterstones (Trafalgar Square) at lunchtime - no copies to be seen on the front tables,...
  • Commented on A message from our sponsors
    I also had a message (from thebookdepository) telling me that TFM (preordered) was in early. In the same batch of email was another from Amazon to say that Ken MacLeod's Restoration Game would also be despatched early - anyone would...
  • Commented on Not dead, just editing ...
    Great news about all the Strossian stuff in the pipeline. I'll update my buying schedule accordingly....
  • Commented on Shameless self-promotion
    I have the US hardbook on order, but I would also have preferred a hardback of the UK cover. The UK publisher has missed a sale here due to going pbk only......
  • Commented on Next year's Hugo novel shortlist ...
    Grr. I put Deep State on my Amazon.co.uk "Books coming in 2011" list (it already has 9 entries, and one is actually for 2012 - must split off a new list - I'm sad that way) but now I see...
  • Commented on Next year's Hugo novel shortlist ...
    Coming soon - according to Am** Deep State is coming in March 2011. It's cruel to get our hopes up then dash them again! (Or do you know better?)...
  • Commented on Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss ... not.
    I think a lot of it's already written down - just not all in one place, there are bits missing, lots of it is unclear and some of it is contradictory!...
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