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Yang accuses Microsoft of ‘trying to destabilize’ Yahoo
Awww. That’s terrible. Those naughty boys!
Asprin was important to me because he was a very successful SF writer from my home town. I enjoyed the first few books in the THIEVES WORLD and MYTH series. Too bad his life and career was cut short.
I am beginning a project of organizing my library and deciding what books to keep and what books I want to add. I am working my way through things methodically, beginning with the science fiction section and authors beginning with “A”. Here are my thoughts so far … Adams, Douglas — there is a single-volume omnibus (is that redundant?) with his collected works. that would be a nice readers’ copy to own. Adams certainly had a huge influence on the history of SF … but not one of my personal favorites. Does it need to be in my collection? I can always get it from the library. Anderson, Poul — I have a volume of collected stories. What I would like to have: a first of Tau Zero and (maybe) a complete run of the Flandry and van Rijn series. Anthony, Piers — I’ll deal with his fantasy in a separate section. In the meantime, there is an argument to be made for Macroscope. Asimov, Isaac — the first unqualified “must” in this section. I want the best possible editions of all the Foundation books. The Robot books are a lower priority. The End of Eternity might be higher than the Robot books. Who else am I missing? more tk … Patrick Swayze Diagnosed With Cancer, Five Weeks Left to Patrick Swayze, best known for his role in Dirty Dancing, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told that he has just five weeks to live. Way too many people have died recently. Patrick Swayze made some indelible contributions to people of my generation with DIRTY DANCING and GHOST. This is one of the better days in the history of Nimble Books. Today we have reached a final agreement with Hugo and Nebula-award winning science fiction author, futurist, and commentator David Brin, and we will be publishing his THROUGH STRANGER EYES, a collection of “Reviews, Introductions, Tributes & Iconoclastic Essays” in the U.S. and U.K. We will be working in partnership with Robert Stephenson of the fine SF publisher Altair Australia who be publishing a simultaneous edition for his markets. THROUGH STRANGER EYES will include essays on figures as diverse as J.R.R. Tolkien, John Brunner, George Orwell, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Charles Sheffield, Richard Feynman, and Ayn Rand.
More to come …
Finally, some real news about THE SOLOMON KEY. According to the publisher, quoted in today’s Wall Street Journal, the release date has been set — but it is a secret. Which is progress! There was no release date at all before. There’s no new news about the content of the book (or any confirmation of the title), but the thrust still seems to be that the book will be set in Washington, D.C. and focus on those wacky Freemason Founding Fathers. I brought out my SOLOMON KEY pre-book/meta-book in 2005 (!) 
“The Solomon Key” and Beyond: DIGITAL FORTESS, ANGELS & DEMONS, DECEPTION POINT, THE DA VINCI CODE, and more …
Price: USD 9.99 33 used & new available from USD 5.69 and I have to say it has stood the test of time quite well. It has already made a pretty healthy profit, and among my forty titles in print ranks sixth in lifetime revenue per month. The content is still sound because book is far less speculative than most efforts in the pre-book genre. I cover Brown’s entire oeuvre, and I include a detailed analysis of Dan Brown’s work habits and narrative strategies, but I didn’t think it wise to go on speculative excursions into the occult and Freemasonry before seeing the published books. I stick closely to what Brown and his publishers have actually said about the book. Judge for yourself if you like my approach: take a look at the Table of Contents in Search Inside the Book mode. I’ve gotten better at covers since I published this book, but I’m reasonably satisfied with the dominant cover image: Kryptos in the CIA courtyard is still a pretty darned cool piece of Washington architecture, and it’s neat to look at and learn about. I would probably use a different font for the title type. Although the cover colors look clunky, they are keyed off the colors used in THE DA VINCI CODE, so I don’t think there was a principled basis for a better choice. I will update this book when THE SOLOMON KEY finally comes out, but I am not sure exactly what mechanism I will use — I may update this edition, or I may issue a separate thinner paperback. Either way, I will provide a PDF softcopy to previous purchasers, as stated in the book. (Simply send me proof of purchase using the email address in the book). I will update this post as publication nears. Until then, enjoy the anticipation! Cordially, Fred Zimmerman
1) no one really liked the book very much, and some people really hated it; Fair enough! Onward… Cordially, Fred Zimmerman” |
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wfzimmerman’s review: “The latest in a series of consistently outstanding SF novels from Alastair Reynolds. I enjoyed this one a lot.”
wfzimmerman’s review: “I’m a few chapters into this and it is terrific so far. Big Smart Objects, astroarchaeology, credible science — this is what SF is all about. I immediately rushed off to order his other book, [[Star Dragon]]].”
wfzimmerman’s review: “An impressive debut novel. The multiplexing clones who are the protagonists are creepy at first, but at the end of the book there is a convincing explanation for their existence. One minor nit is that practically every character has a self-descriptive name (is there a word for that? autonym?) Ultimately, a tough-minded meditation on what might lead us to a Singularity and what might happen after it.”
wfzimmerman’s review: “What I have learned from the LibraryThing reviews:
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