*If you’re curious as to why each post from Amazing News carries the date (after all it is easy enough to see when a post is published without it being in the title), it is for a very selfish reason: I hate it when time-travelers have to run around looking for a newspaper or accost a total stranger and we get that cliched-to-death scene: Accidental Time Traveler – breathless: “What day is it?” Accosted Innocent Bystander – inching away: “Uhhh, Tuesday.” ATT – leaning in closer: “No! The date man! What’s the date!?” AIB – looking for an exit: “Oh, umm, the 19th.” ATT – grabbing a convenient pair of lapels: “NO! What YEAR is it!!!?” AIB – fingering the pocket atomizer that everyone in the year 2213 carries to protect themselves from those infected with the murderous and delusional Dsplaced-in-Time brain virus: “It doesn’t matter.” ZZZZZZAP!
Why can’t they just ask what year it is as their first question? (Not to mention that those choosing to keep mum and looking for a paper may find themselves mightily disappointed in a few years). Therefore, the headline. Now newly-arrived time travelers need only look in one place. Amazing Stories, the preferred website of accidental time travelers every when.
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From the New York Times: Virtual reality headsets are being prepared for the consumer electronics market. I know Amazing is based on what they call a “responsive” theme, meaning that it can detect the type of device you are reading it on and adjust its presentation accordingly. Something tells me we’ll be needing to modify things a bit.
Space.com brings us the latest in crowd-funded space travel. Now it’s Destination Moon
The Huffington Post reports on the newest immersive game from the people who brought us HALO – DESTINY. I hope it comes with a VR option….
Gollancz – the UK publisher that supports the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction – bring us a piece about the relationship between genre and mainstream fiction, and suggestions for what we ought to do to increase genre’s profile (they recommend embracing those folks who write genre fiction but won’t admit it because they get the coverage). Via SF Signal. Needless to say I don’t hold with that strategy and say so in the comments over there.
Matt Staggs at Suvudu brings us a clip from an episode of Portlandia, where the characters are attending a Steampunk convention. It is painfully hilarious.
Google’s Doodle today features a nifty orrery in celebration of Nicolaus Copernicus’ birthday 540 years ago.
Science Fiction .com is looking for reviewers. Read a good book lately? Give them a shout.
