March 14, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
The goal of the Tomorrow Project is to use science fiction to “spark conversations about the future.” This international project taps ideas from today’s emerging technologies, including synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and 3D printing, and spins out possible impacts on future society.
The good news is that it’s not all killer AIs and artificial plagues:) As they so succinctly put it,
Science fiction is a way to think about how we want the future to be.
Anthology Titles:
Enjoy, fellow futurists!
Posted in Entertainment, Writing | Tagged #FreeFiction, entertainment, Fiction, free, futurists, genre fiction, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, writing | Leave a Comment »
March 11, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
It’s a bit before lunch and I’m feeling snacky, so today’s edition of #ThingsILike is food related. (Let’s face it, a lot of the things I like are food related:)
In honor of the coming Pi Day (March 14th, for obvious reasons:) and my mother’s cooking, I give you one of my favorite fruit pie recipes. Thanks, Mom!
Blueberry Orange Pie
Crust:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter, shortening or a mix (I use butter for flavor)
1 tsp. grated orange rind
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
5 Tbs. ice water
Filling:
4 cups blueberries (frozen work fine)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
touch of vanilla, Grand Marnier, or lemon juice if the berries need a flavor boost
2 Tbs. butter
Powdered sugar
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter until it is no more than pea sized. Add orange rind and nuts. Add water, 1 Tbs. at a time, mixing after each addition. Form into a ball and refrigerate* one hour before using.
3. Roll out half of the dough and use to line a 9-inch pie pan. Mix berries, sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and any extras. Pour mixture into pie pan and dot with butter.
4. Roll out remaining pastry and cover pie. Seal edges with water and cut vents in the top for steam. Bake 1 hour, cool on rack and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.
Note: This pie will probably overflow. Use a cookie sheet or foil beneath the dish unless you like cleaning ovens;)
—–
* If you don’t have an hour I’ll note that I’ve skipped this step; the dough is harder to work and not quite as perfect, but the end result was still nommy. Since we’re fessing up about time-saving measures, I’ll admit that I’ve also used store-bought pie crusts, seasoned with the orange rind and walnuts. Desperate times, but in the end, pie:)
Posted in Food and..., Likes | Tagged #fuelforwriters, #ThingsILike, food, home, Pi Day, pie, yay | 1 Comment »
March 9, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
For my mother and anyone else facing a challenge today:
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
― Confucius
Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged #HipsShouldBeUnbreakable, Confucius, encouragement, family, finishing, inspiration, Motivation, perseverance, persistence, quotes, Thoughts | Leave a Comment »
March 7, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
Today we have a double dose of free fiction! The first comes from David D. Levine at Tor.com:
“Damage” is a tale of desperate times, desperate measures, and the inner life of a fighter spacecraft.
This thoughtful short story of a ship and its master has been nominated for the 2015 Nebula Awards. (If you liked Ann Leckie’s Ancillary trilogy I imagine this could appeal to you as well.) For more on the stories selected for this year’s Nebulas, including select links to full-text versions, check out the complete list of nominees.
The second dose is more like a raging river. Up and Coming is a collection of works by authors eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016, and is now available for free download. That’s over a million words of fiction!
The anthology is free free free but only until March 31. Get it while it’s available and enjoy:)
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing | Tagged #FreeFiction, Ann Leckie, awesome, David D. Levine, entertainment, Fiction, free, genre fiction, John W. Campbell Award, Nebula Awards, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, Tor.com, writing | Leave a Comment »
March 4, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
A friend with a shared love for Harry Potter sent me a link the other day. Some creative and determined person decided to make a Weasley clock.*
The magical ‘Harry Potter’ location clock exists in DIY form
For those who may have missed this detail from the HP book and/or movie, the Weasley clock is a magical JK Rowling invention that tracks each Weasley family member’s location and displays it on an antique clock face.
Rowling thought it up, and a Muggle made it real. How cool is that?
So with thanks to my friend, today’s installment of #ThingsILike is the real-world power of fiction.
*
“If you just focus on what you know, you’re blinding yourself to new opportunities.”
— Tyler Jacks, MIT
There are a lot of discussions of this topic out there, both contemporary and historical, but it’s a point I like to touch on periodically. A writer imagines a thing and someone else finds a way to make it real.
That’s magic right there.
This applies to specific items like the clock but also to everything from emotional states to broader goals. Want to generate ideas, stir up communal interest, and apply creativity to complex problems like living in space long-term? Tap the power of fiction:
The White House Wants To Use Science Fiction To Settle The Solar System
How to get into space? Excite the minds of young (and not so young) people with stirring tales of adventures in space. This applies to stories from Asimov, Clarke and other Golden Age of Science Fiction authors, but also to more recent blockbusters like Andy Weir’s The Martian.
The latter was particularly good at building future versions of current technologies, and NASA was happy to help Weir build his fictional (for now) world from the Popular Science article on the support NASA gave Ridley Scott as he turned the book into a blockbuster movie:
If you want to understand why it is that NASA loves The Martian and is so gung ho for this movie, you have to realize that this movie more or less presents exactly their future vision, minus all the drama.
*
I’ve cited this quote before but it’s so fitting I’ll use it again:
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
That’s the power of fiction.
———
* There may be other such clocks out there (in fact, I hope there are) but this is the version that caught my attention. Feel free to build more!
Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged #ThingsILike, Andy Weir, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, awesome, books, creativity, DIY, Fiction, Golden Age, innovation, inspiration, JK Rowling, NASA, Popular Science, quotes, science, science fiction, sff, space, speculative fiction, Thoughts, Tyler Jacks, Weasley clock, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
February 29, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
26 Monkeys, Also The Abyss, by Kij Johnson (no relation:)
This lovely story is subtle but with great atmosphere, and the ending packs a punch. Find more of Kij’s fiction and poetry on her website.
Happy Leap Day, and enjoy!
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing | Tagged #FreeFiction, entertainment, Fiction, free, genre fiction, Kij Johnson, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, writing | Leave a Comment »
February 26, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
Today’s entry for #ThingsILike is Impostor Syndrome. Let me be clear, I don’t enjoy feeling like a fraud. What I do like is that I’m not alone when I do. My advisor introduced me to the term in grad school and gave me a gift: he told me that practically everyone at our prestigious and accomplished institution had it. It just wasn’t something people talked about.
Ok, maybe what I really like is the fact that the today’s connectivity means I don’t feel like the only one, be it re: impostor syndrome or sci-fi fandom, POC or what have you. Still, today is as good a time for a pep talk as any. Let’s get to it:)
A lot of people feel like frauds at some point in their lives. The topic came up for me this week because Mary Robinette Kowal has a good piece about it on her site. (If her gaming analogy doesn’t work for you feel free to come up with your own.)
Have you ever felt like a fake, attributed your accomplishments to luck or some external reason, or downplayed your success even though on paper you might look pretty darn impressive? If you’re asking yourself “Who hasn’t?” well, you know about impostor syndrome.
(Quick, here’s a pretty picture to keep your spirits up. That’s you, taking in the view on your way to the top. It only looks like someone else’s behind:)
Impostor syndrome is so common that CalTech has a page on it for its students, and everyone from Forbes to Geek Feminism Wiki to the American Psychological Association wants to help people work through it. (And that’s just from the first Google search page:)
I like Mary’s take on impostor syndrome as a way to tell that you are making progress, working hard, and facing down problems that feel too big to handle. (The key here is “feel.” Feels are fine and all but emotion is interpretation, and not necessarily fact.)
Impostor Syndrome means that you are winning.
I think that’s great.
Speaking of progress and how to make more of it, there’s a great TED talk with relevance here. Rather than seeing challenges as a binary yes or no, can I or can’t I? Carol Dweck argues that it helps to think about targets as yes or not yet. That “yet” is the crucial modifier. The brain is built to learn, you just have to chill out, keep going and give yourself a chance.
Do that, and not yet can become yesterday’s accomplishment. Now I’m off to take my own advice:)
Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged #notyet, #ThingsILike, artists, Carol Dweck, creativity, happiness, impostor syndrome, Mary Robinette Kowal, Motivation, pep talk, persistence, progress, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
February 24, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
Well, kids, I’ve officially got nothing today. Sure, I wrote and got my exercise in and worked on a couple of projects, but deep thoughtful thoughts? Sorry, nada.
I do have wonderful memories of childhood snow storms, though, so in honor of the fact that is snowing here, I give you a snow angel.
Posted in Likes | Tagged #ExploreCanada, fun, home, snow, snow angel, Thoughts, winter, yay | Leave a Comment »
February 22, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
One of the best ways to understand writing and how to connect with an audience, I find, is to read. A lot. As I read, I ask myself which stories stick with me and why, which annoy me and why, which suck me in so completely that I forget to think about the how and focus only on the what.
For today’s free fiction we have the winner of the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, “Bridesicle”* [audio available from Escape Pod], by Will McIntosh. It’s a lovely twist on the classic science fiction theme of cryogenics, and it’s exactly the sort of story that sticks with me.
Originally published in Asimov’s, this touching tale also won the 2010 Asimov’s Reader Poll and was a finalist for the 2010 Nebula Award. If you like the story and want to explore the world further, the author also expanded the story into a full-length novel titled Love Minus Eighty.
Enjoy!
* Update: I originally posted a link to what I thought was a freely available version of the story text but! as it’s copyrighted material the link has been removed. It’s still a great story and it’s still available through Escape Pod, narrated by Amy Sturgis, or check out Love Minus Eighty.
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing | Tagged #FreeFiction, Amy Sturgis, Asimov’s, audio fiction, entertainment, Escape Pod, Fiction, free, genre fiction, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, Will McIntosh, writing | Leave a Comment »
February 19, 2016 by J.R. Johnson
I have two #ThingsILike today, because I couldn’t choose between them. All I can say is wow!
‘When People Can See Time’: Photographer Captures Day, Night In One Image
Posted in Likes | Tagged #firefall, #ThingsILike, awesome, effing amazing, inspiration, national parks, nature, photography, Serengeti, Stephen Wilkes, Thoughts, yay, Yosemite | Leave a Comment »
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