Welcome to Biting-Edge, a blog shared by authors and vampire experts, Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein. We’ll cover urban fantasy, vampires, pop culture, and all things Joss Whedon. Unlike other fantasy blogs, we don’t insist on body cavity searches (unless you ask politely). Snarkiness is most welcome...though we won't promise not to bite back!
Sunday, April 07, 2013
The future is here and it ain't pretty
Mario here:
What I'm reading:
Gil's All Fright Diner, by A. Lee Martinez.
Last week, Jeanne gave in to her inner sparkly vampire and posted the movie trailer to Stephenie Meyer's The Host. So to even out our karma, please visit Rotten Tomatoes to read their opinions about the movie. Among my faves:
Years ago, the future was chrome and fins, clean energy, and bounty for all. Jobs? Ha! We don't need no stinking jobs. Who cares about money? (When did you ever see anyone on Star Trek ask a buddy to spot him some cash? Just until payday.) Or worry about deductibles?
Now that we're well into the second decade of the 21st Century! it's obvious we're getting the toys and gadgets but little of the promised enlightenment. The dark side of high-tech is definitely ugly. Lately there's been a lot of noise about Google glasses and FaceBook's smart phone, and its obvious that the primary purpose of both gizmos is to collect as much data about you as possible. They'll record where you are, who you're with (through facial recognition), what you're doing, what you're buying, who you're texting/talking to. If you think Google and FaceBook care a whit about your privacy, you're a fool. And those who claim you can opt out of the tracking or data mining are even bigger fools. For example, I joked in an email that I'd been eaten by a giant carp. The next time I opened my Gmail account, they had posted an ad for carp fishing. I can opt out of receiving ads based on my email content, but not out of Google shifting through my (not-so) private correspondence. And FaceBook is notorious for fudging the line when protecting your privacy. Some restaurants have already banned Google glasses, and you know it won't be long before some jerk causes a car crash because he was looking at porn while driving.
Plus we have drones. More and more of them. Getting deadlier. And smaller. Some new ones are the size of large wasps.What does this mean for privacy?
Another unforeseen consequence of high-tech is how it affects the way we're communicating. Cell phone users under the age of twenty-six text more than they talk over the phone. Many of us geezers lament the loss of communication skills. And how will we writers realistically and dramatically portray someone texting? Some have tried by including blocks of text-speak, but it makes for a boring narrative. Maybe we are boring.
The best book I've read that extrapolates the present trends--technologically, culturally, and politically--to their logical frightening developments is Richard K. Morgan's chilling Altered Carbon. It's a future that I'll gratefully never see.
Thankfully, we're not completely there yet. You can celebrate the joys of great traditional prose with Seattle author Jeanne Shortridge, who will be signing Water Love Memory at the LoDo tattered Cover, April 10, and she'll be presenting a workshop on Voice: Tapping into the Distinct at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Saturday, April 13.
Try as we might, life is not all sunshine and chocolate. Acclaimed science fiction author Iain Banks announced that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Please read Orbit's blog where he bravely discusses the news and his immediate future.
What I'm reading:
Gil's All Fright Diner, by A. Lee Martinez.Last week, Jeanne gave in to her inner sparkly vampire and posted the movie trailer to Stephenie Meyer's The Host. So to even out our karma, please visit Rotten Tomatoes to read their opinions about the movie. Among my faves:
"Come back Bella and Edward - all is forgiven." James Croot flicks.co.nz
"An invasion of the body snatchers is preferable to realizing
that the true horror perpetrated here is not on the characters but on
the audience."
Connie Ogle Miami Herald
Years ago, the future was chrome and fins, clean energy, and bounty for all. Jobs? Ha! We don't need no stinking jobs. Who cares about money? (When did you ever see anyone on Star Trek ask a buddy to spot him some cash? Just until payday.) Or worry about deductibles?
Now that we're well into the second decade of the 21st Century! it's obvious we're getting the toys and gadgets but little of the promised enlightenment. The dark side of high-tech is definitely ugly. Lately there's been a lot of noise about Google glasses and FaceBook's smart phone, and its obvious that the primary purpose of both gizmos is to collect as much data about you as possible. They'll record where you are, who you're with (through facial recognition), what you're doing, what you're buying, who you're texting/talking to. If you think Google and FaceBook care a whit about your privacy, you're a fool. And those who claim you can opt out of the tracking or data mining are even bigger fools. For example, I joked in an email that I'd been eaten by a giant carp. The next time I opened my Gmail account, they had posted an ad for carp fishing. I can opt out of receiving ads based on my email content, but not out of Google shifting through my (not-so) private correspondence. And FaceBook is notorious for fudging the line when protecting your privacy. Some restaurants have already banned Google glasses, and you know it won't be long before some jerk causes a car crash because he was looking at porn while driving.
Plus we have drones. More and more of them. Getting deadlier. And smaller. Some new ones are the size of large wasps.What does this mean for privacy?
Another unforeseen consequence of high-tech is how it affects the way we're communicating. Cell phone users under the age of twenty-six text more than they talk over the phone. Many of us geezers lament the loss of communication skills. And how will we writers realistically and dramatically portray someone texting? Some have tried by including blocks of text-speak, but it makes for a boring narrative. Maybe we are boring.
The best book I've read that extrapolates the present trends--technologically, culturally, and politically--to their logical frightening developments is Richard K. Morgan's chilling Altered Carbon. It's a future that I'll gratefully never see. Thankfully, we're not completely there yet. You can celebrate the joys of great traditional prose with Seattle author Jeanne Shortridge, who will be signing Water Love Memory at the LoDo tattered Cover, April 10, and she'll be presenting a workshop on Voice: Tapping into the Distinct at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Saturday, April 13.
Try as we might, life is not all sunshine and chocolate. Acclaimed science fiction author Iain Banks announced that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Please read Orbit's blog where he bravely discusses the news and his immediate future.
Labels: A. Lee Martinez, better bagels, drones, Richard K. Morgan, The Future
¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 2:21 PM 6 comments
Sunday, March 11, 2012
I'm nostalgic for the future
Mario here:
Last week I posted a video of Prometheus, the prequel to the Alien franchise. In that trailer, it's 2023, on the eve of the alien encounter. Meaning a deep space mission is in the offing.
Not to be a spoil-sport, but that's only 11 years in the future and we're nowhere close to building a spacecraft capable of practical interplanetary travel. In fact, we're not even going to Mars. For missions beyond our solar system, we'll need a technological leap similar to the discovery of fire. You know, like the bending of gravity and time. Which only happens around here at Happy Hour and afterwards, we've yet to get farther than the street corner. Not to mention the risks if you spend too much time in space.
In an earlier post I had discussed how we're in the 21st century, the Future!
What happened to our spaceships, anti-gravity boots, and clean fusion energy? This is how we were supposed to dress when tomorrow got here:
The best we seem to have is an iPhone, which really, had Mr. Spock have seen one, I doubt he would've said, "Interesting." I think his reaction would've been, "Holy shit, that freakin' rocks. Where can I get one?"
Here's another look at the future from the British TV Show UFO. At 45 seconds, check out the mesh uniforms; the men were looking exceptionally stylish.
Blatant Self Promotion! It's about The Good, the Bad, and the Weird. I'm teaching a class on Speculative Fiction with The Writing School. The first class is free! March 26. The four week bookend workshop (One live class, two online classes, & a final live class) starts April 11. For details, go here --> The Writing School. It's a great way to channel those voices in your head.
Last week I posted a video of Prometheus, the prequel to the Alien franchise. In that trailer, it's 2023, on the eve of the alien encounter. Meaning a deep space mission is in the offing.
Not to be a spoil-sport, but that's only 11 years in the future and we're nowhere close to building a spacecraft capable of practical interplanetary travel. In fact, we're not even going to Mars. For missions beyond our solar system, we'll need a technological leap similar to the discovery of fire. You know, like the bending of gravity and time. Which only happens around here at Happy Hour and afterwards, we've yet to get farther than the street corner. Not to mention the risks if you spend too much time in space.
In an earlier post I had discussed how we're in the 21st century, the Future!
What happened to our spaceships, anti-gravity boots, and clean fusion energy? This is how we were supposed to dress when tomorrow got here:
The best we seem to have is an iPhone, which really, had Mr. Spock have seen one, I doubt he would've said, "Interesting." I think his reaction would've been, "Holy shit, that freakin' rocks. Where can I get one?"Here's another look at the future from the British TV Show UFO. At 45 seconds, check out the mesh uniforms; the men were looking exceptionally stylish.
Blatant Self Promotion! It's about The Good, the Bad, and the Weird. I'm teaching a class on Speculative Fiction with The Writing School. The first class is free! March 26. The four week bookend workshop (One live class, two online classes, & a final live class) starts April 11. For details, go here --> The Writing School. It's a great way to channel those voices in your head.Labels: Alien, The Future, The Writing School
¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 1:11 PM 2 comments
