Zoo City and Moxyland – Cyberpunk With a Fresh Twist
A couple of months ago I ran into an article lamenting the poor visibility of female authors in the field of sci-fi, especially new ones. It made me go “Pfft, that can’t be right! Of course there’s a lot of new female sci-fi authors I know, like… umm… uh oh.” This was definitely a situation that required fixing. I have a lot of sci-fi and fantasy fans in my (online) circles, so I posed them a question: give me your list of the most interesting female sci-fi authors from the last 10 years.
I got a bunch of names, and amongst them a couple of strong suggestions to check out Lauren Beukes‘ Zoo City and Moxyland. That turned out to be the most interesting dose of cyberpunk I’ve read in ages.
Mood Pieces: The Modern God Gaming of “From Dust”
Mood Pieces is a new recurring feature, where I introduce and review games that make an impression on me with their atmosphere, mood or theme.
The first game in the series is a game called From Dust, which I first became aware through a Penny Arcade comic. Having been a Populous and Black & White fan, the idea of a modern god game intrigued me immediately. From Dust is available in Xbox Live Arcade, and later on it will be published in PlayStation Network and OnLive. The guy behind the game is Eric Chahi, whose previous work includes a true classic, Another World.
Stop being so scared of being wrong
There are several things in the world I feel quite strongly about, and consequently can’t keep my mouth shut when I think someone is very wrong about them. In that regard the last few weeks have been pretty intense online. There has been a lot of talk in Finnish internet circles about gay marriages (thanks to our new minister of interior being a fundamentalist Christian), gun laws and gun control (thanks to the atrocity in Norway), gender and sexual politics (thanks to a journalist saying school shootings and the Norway incident happened because young guys can’t get enough sex) and I even got one totally random anti-vaccination nut thrown in.
Although I feel strongly about these subjects, I’m usually not on the extreme ends of the opinions. I’m not interested in being right, I strive for rational discussions aimed for a functional solution. This is often a very thankless point of view: usually you find yourself slogging through the gray area, doing dull stuff like researching the issue, and being shouted at by the pundits of both extremes who can’t be arsed to even check their sources. Usually these people operate under the mistake that their personal matters of taste, personal beliefs and philosophies, or other unexamined opinions should be on equal level with researched arguments. “I think gays are disgusting, they should stay in the closet.” “Well I certainly don’t see the appeal or sense in shooting sports, so they are of no value.” etc.
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Näin tehtiin Iron Sky – eli kuinka lakkasin olemasta huolissani ja opin rakastamaan internetiä
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