Timewaster's Guide Archive

This is interesting.


http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2010/09/01/01venturebeat-writer-neal-stephenson-unveils-his-digital-n-97561.html

Author Neal Stephenson has been credited for inspiring today’s virtual world startups with his novel Snow Crash. Now he’s launching a startup himself: Subutai, where he is co-founder and chairman.

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The company, based in Seattle and San Francisco, has developed what it calls the PULP platform for creating digital novels. The core of the experience is still a text novel, but authors can add additional material like background articles, images, music, and video. There are also social features that allow readers to create their own profiles, earn badges for activity on the site or in the application, and interact with other readers.

Stephenson said in an interview that this material is an extension of what many science fiction and fantasy novels already offer.

“I can remember reading Dune for the first time, and I started by reading the glossary,” he said. “Any book that had that kind of extra stuff in it was always hugely fascinating to me.”

Subutai is launching its inaugural product today, a serialized story called The Mongoliad about the Mongol invasion of Europe. The company promises to release a new chapter a week. Readers can pay $5.99 for a six-month subscription fee or $9.99 for a year.

Co-founder and President Jeremy Bornstein said the company is experimenting with a new model for publishing books. The traditional model of paying for content may not hold up when the content “be canned and sent around to your friends for free,” he said, but people will hopefully still to pay for content if “the experience is so much more rich, so much more involving.”

Stephenson isn’t writing the book alone. There’s a team led by a writer Mark Teppo; it also includes Greg Bear, author of Blood Music and other science fiction novels. Stephenson compared the experience to writing a TV show, and not just because it’s a team of writers. The Mongoliad will have an ending, but there’s room for sequels and other stories set in the world, so it’s kind of like season one of a show.

Bornstein first showed off The Mongoliad back in May. The first chapter should be available on The Mongoliad website now. There’s also an iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch application going through Apple’s approval process, and an Android app in the works. Subutai is self-funded.

This is one of my favorite books. Starz is going to have a miniseries based on the book later in July. I don't have Starz, but I think I can get it off of netflicks. Ridley Scott produced it. I am very hopeful. Three books that I liked alot were made into movies lately and were not very good (Lovely Bones, The Road, The Time Travellers Wife) so I really hope this is good.

Pillars of the Earth takes place in the high middle ages in England. It revolves around a large cast of characters in a village that is building a cathedral. I think it is the kind historical novels that fantasy readers would like.

I did not see this one coming. 6 yeras to make the 2 hobbit movies? That is some committment.
I had thought the first one was due out in 2011, now they are saying 2012. They also did not say what caused the delays.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/31/guillermo.del.toro.drops.out.ew/index.html?hpt=T3

I am looking for recommendations. I grabbed Peter Hamiltons "Netronium Alchemist" at the library (it was the only one of his they had at that branch). Is that one of his good ones?

I heard Iain Banks is good. What book do you recommend?
Here are some of the ones I have read and what I think

The books could be older, but I prefer if its believable science. Not interested in a book where people live on Venus.

Stephen Baxter: Voyage is GREAT. Timeships (sequel to HG Wells the Time Machine) was good and In the Light of Other Days is one of my favorite books. Did not like Titan.
Robert Heinlein: Like Starship Troopers, did not like Stranger in a Strange Land
Neal Stephenson: Like Snow Crash. Been meaning to read more of him, but never have.
William Gibson: Like Neuromancer, but read it a long time ago so don't really remember it
Kim Stanley Robinson: Mar Series, very good, but took me a while to make my way through them.
Greg Bear: Darwins Radio. I like this. I just grabbed City at the End of Time on audio from the library
Stephen Sawyer: Liked Flash Forward(it is different from the TV Series). I read this 10 years ago.
Kevin J. Anderson: I have the first book from his Space opera on reserve on audio at the library.

Not looking for Alternative History. Some people might list Harry Turtledove as hard. I have read a dozen of his books and not looking for more.

Looks like John Scalzi is doing a reboot of this series. It is from the early 1960s. I had never heard of it, but when I look up H. Beam Piper on wikipedia, he is apparently very influential. They are very short books (150-160 pages... books were shorter back then). My library has a book with 3 Fuzzy books in them called The Complete Fuzzy. I am going to check it out. Alot of the sci-fi tech elements will probably be dated, but it may be good. Some older Sci-fi books are still good reads.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/04/07/the-super-secret-thing-that-i-cannot-tell-you-about-revealed-introducing-fuzzy-nation/

I see reviews on Amazon from last year, but this book was just released. Was this first self published and then Dan picked up a publisher?

you also wrote a book called Monster Inc correct? I don't see that on Amazon. That is self published, so I can buy that from you directly?

I greatly prefer daylight savings time since it is light out later at night. I can spend more time outside after work.