Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Meta
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Link and Comments: UFOs and Other Fairy Tales
No I don’t “believe” in UFOs, in the sense of believing them to be evidence of extraterrestrial visitors, because I’ve long been too familiar with the many ways human perception can go awry and of the many ways reports of … Continue reading
Posted in Psychology, Religion
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Link and Quote: Hitchens on Christmas
Slate reposts a 2008 essay by curmudgeon Christopher Hitchens: ’Tis the Season to Be Incredulous: The moral and aesthetic nightmare of Christmas. Aesthetics aside; whether Jesus existed or not, was the Son of God or not… Suppose we put the … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
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Link and Comment: Evangelicals Embrace Trump Because They’re Frightened in a Big World They Don’t Understand
NYT, from Dec. 15th. Amy Sullivan, who describes herself as “a progressive evangelical and journalist covering religion”, wonders “how white conservative evangelicals could support Mr. Trump, who luxuriates in divisive rhetoric and manages only the barest veneer of religiosity.” And … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance
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Links and Comments: Regulations; Science on Sundays; How to Talk to Someone in a Conservative Bubble
Slate: Trump’s quiet attack on the regulatory state is another part of his broader class war The conservatives’ simplistic rebellion against “regulations” will have consequences, and costs. Regulations are there for a reason. Yes, these rules and regulations might technically … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Psychology, Religion, Science
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SFNF: Heinlein addenda from The Science Fiction Novel
Addenda to previous post. Every time I write up notes based on my reading, something else lingers in the back of my mind that seems especially significant a day or two later. Here’s a couple from the Heinlein essay in … Continue reading
Posted in Science Fiction Nonfiction
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SFNF: The Science Fiction Novel
The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism is, like Of Worlds Beyond, another slim volume of essays. It was published by Advent (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/advent_publishers, stylized as Advent:Publishers), like Fantasy Press an SF small press, that specialized in critical and bibliographical … Continue reading
Posted in Science Fiction Nonfiction
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SFNF: Eshbach, Of Worlds Beyond
I’m revisiting some classic critical nonfiction books about science fiction, beginning with Lloyd Arthur Eshbach’s OF WORLDS BEYOND, a collection of essays by Heinlein, Campbell, Williamson, and others. This is the book where Heinlein identifies 3 basic plots and his … Continue reading
Posted in Science Fiction Nonfiction
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Links and Comments: SF, fantasy, and SF cinema
» io9: 10 works of science fiction that are really fantasy I love lists like these, and I still mean to compile many of them. Still, I’m not sure I agree with some of the selections on this list. This … Continue reading
Posted in Films, science fiction
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