129,864,880! to samo do nedelje...

[PTY]

The Queen of American Gothic

For Shirley Jackson, there was poetic poison to be found in the domestic






How Shirley Jackson Wrote "The Lottery

[PTY]

Kaže čika DeNardo:




Off the Beaten Path: 5 Books Guaranteed to Be Different



Crooked by Austin Grossman

I don't think many would argue that the years that Richard Milhous Nixon led the United States are not our proudest. But, come on, give the man some credit. He established a peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union, he ushered in a new era of diplomatic relations with China, and let's not forget that time he faced off against supernatural beings from another reality. Oh, you hadn't heard about that part? Then you should check out Austin Grossman's Lovecraftian alternate history novel Crooked. In it, a young Richard Nixon stumbles on a terrifying supernatural secret that paints the president we know in a whole new light. What if there was a secret truth behind the Cold War? Do you want to know the real story behind the Watergate cover-up? What if the man who some call the country's worst president was, in reality, the nation's greatest hero? Here's your chance to find out.



The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán

If I told you there was a world called paradise, you would rightfully think that it was a land of untold beauty and peace, where you wouldn't be left wanting for anything. But in Victor Milán'Dinosaur Lords weird new novel The Dinosaur Lords, the name of the world of Paradise belies the dangers that lurk everywhere. Made by the Eight Creators for mankind to settle their differences, Paradise is populated by all manner of garden-variety creatures, like cats, dogs, horses and goats. But the predominant life form is the dinosaur. There are massive plant-eaters like Brachiosaurus, meat-eating creatures like the Allosaurus, and of course, the most dreaded of all, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. So how is mankind supposed to settle their differences on such a world? Simple. Paradise is a world where vast armies of dinosaur-mounted knights engage if fierce battles that will shake dynasties. Is that not enticing enough for you? How about this: this is the book George R.R. Martin himself calls as cross between Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones.



Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo by Brian Falkner

While parents are turning the pages of The Dinosaur Lords, what are their like-minded kids supposed to do? Brian Falkner's Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo is a great page-turner aimed at younger reading audiences. In this alternate historical novel, dinosaurs never became extinct. In fact, some have learned how to harness their ferocity. The story is set in 1815, right before the battle of Waterloo, in which Napoleon himself uses dinosaurs as weapons to help him win that battle. It would seem that nothing could stop Napoleon's bid for world domination, until a young man defeats the dinosaur that is terrorizing a small village. That makes him the most knowledgeable person to foil Napoleon's advancing army, and that makes him Napolean's greatest threat, and thus a direct target. 




H.G. Wells, Secret Agent by Alex Shvartsman

H.G. Wells is one of science fiction's most notable authors. As creator of dozens of novels and short stories, he invented many of the tropes still in use today and has filled readers' mind with countless images that evoke sense of wonder. In H.G. Wells, Secret Agent, author Alex Shvartsman puts the author in a new role: that of a Victorian-era James Bond wZombieUnicornho must defend England against a variety of other-worldly threats like time travelers and invading aliens. (Maybe that's where he gets the idea for his classic novels The Time Machine and War of the Worlds?) This humorous steampunk story is also filled with numerous British pop-culture references and Easter eggs, as well as appearances by notable historical figures like Arthur Conan Doyle and Marie Curie.



Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

The "Which is Better?" Internet war between zombies and unicorns is older than the cat-pic meme and that question still is left unanswered. Finally, this anthology of all-original stories aims to settle the question once and for all. Two esteemed editors, Holly Black (representing Team Unicorn) and Justine Larbalestier (representing Team Zombie) have assembled a fine group of authors (including Cassandra Clare, Naomi Novik, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan) to present the case for both sides. Half the stories show how zombies rule while the other half show the mighty power of unicorns. All that's left for you to do is sit back and enjoy the fun.

[PTY]

+
For the last ten years I have lived in Croatia and if there is one rather strange thing that I will always remember about my time here, it is the fact that Croatians don't especially like those who have managed to find success in whatever it is they're good at. There is even a proverb that literary wishes for the neighbour's cow to drop dead. It is damningly bizarre thing to understand. Therefore it is no wonder that news about Dasa Drndic's rise were few and far between, even when "Trieste" was at the height of its success. Lucky for all of us, Drndic has surpassed the humble Croatian literary scene and found a global fame and respect so June sees her latest translation to English in print, this time of "Leica Format", her meditative psychedelic masterpiece that's rather hard to explain in few sentences.

"Leica Format" is best described as a series of meditative passages loosely woven into a tale that touches upon malleability of history and memory. Taking its name from a legendary camera format most famous for making documentary photography, you can hardly find a better title for what is presented here. "Leica Format" is like looking at a series of photographs but those from ages ago that we forgot. There story itself is re-built around the scene and as neurons that raiding our memory banks, you never really know which of the details will finally reveal the whole picture. Fragmented text strewn all through the book goes a step further to reinforce the feeling of loss and melancholy.

In my opinion, "Leica Format" is a lot harder to approach than "Trieste" but don't let that put you off. If you dedicate it enough time, you will realise its depth, allegories and hidden message, if that's the right word. I imagine it was an incredibly hard book to translate but having read the original, I can only say that Celia Hawkesworth has done a superb work. "Leica Format" is one of those books you won't forget in a hurry. It's experimental and original, and I'm really pleased that another great novel from one of the finest Croatian contemporary authors has seen the light of day as an English translation.
http://upcoming4.me/book-news/review-leica-format-by-dasa-drndic




There's always something Marmite-y about Greg Bear. Either you really enjoy his books or you simply can't be bothered to finish them. Luckily for the purposes of this review I'm firmly in the first camp so each time one of his titles gets published I know I'm in for a treat. I simply enjoy his action packed, cleverly thought out old school science fiction and that's that. While many consider his 2010 generation ship saga "Hull Zero Three" to be a book preceding "War Dogs", since 2010 when it was originally published Bear was in fact a very busy bee. For starters he published an immense trilogy of novels set in the Halo Universe. In typical Bear fashion his Halo:Forerunner trilogy was not just another Halo novel catering to the masses but a feast of high concept action which in equal measures confused and delighted many fans of the franchise. It is this trilogy of Halo novels that, in my opinion, holds the key to his new trilogy, first installment of which is his latest novel "War Dogs".

To put it bluntly, "War Dogs" is military science fiction of finest order which brings together massive conflict on an epic scale that Halo is best known for and Bear's worldbuilding skills. Set in the future after the first contact was made, human race is in the position where it can enjoy the benefits of knowing a more advanced spacefaring species The Gurus. Gurus are miles ahead when it comes to technology and are generally scientifically more developed but are lacking one very crucial thing when it comes to survivability - an ability to wage war. As a species which is very experienced in all matters of causing destruction, human race is asked to help them in their conflict against the Antagonists, malevolent race hot on Gurus' heels. In fact, the Antagonists already set their camp on Mars and it is Master Sergeant Michael Venn, combat expert specialized for off-world missions, who must together with his small team tackle the much more powerful Antags or perish trying. However, once they drop on Mars events quickly escalate beyond their control resulting in such glorious chaos which is a pleasure to read.

If you like Greg Bear's work and you can ignore headline-baiting names like The Gurus, The Antags or Skyrines which for a while made me feel like I'm reading The Sun, "War Dogs" offers an explosive ride across the red planet - that is once after you've passed the initial slow-burning entry. Indeed, for the most of its parts "War Dogs" does feel like a set up for what's coming in the subsequent books but as soon as you get down and dirty with Master Sergeant Venn the results are simply extraordinary. Caught in an unpredictable environment all the training that his team has goes out of the window and luck is suddenly as important as experience. The desperation of a modern soldier is palpable and it is often only the intuitive reflexes that make the difference between life and death. By the end Venn and his team are already battle-weary but their part in this war is only beginning.

"War Dogs" is Bear's best book in years but only if you're ready to commit for a long haul - this is after all just the first third of the story and next two books are still far in the future. The whole set up is engaging and while it does play with some of the more familiar tropes in science fiction its pitch-perfect delivery feels entirely refreshing. An opening to a series well worth checking out!
http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/review-war-dogs-by-greg-bear



For the whole past week Edward Cox has been suitably silly and tweeted picture where he's pulling faces while posing with the freshly printed hardcover of "The Relic Guild". His enthusiasm is perfectly appropriate considering he's just about to publish a book through Gollancz, probably the finest purveyors of quality fantasy and science fiction around. However, one thing must be said. Cox's face in these pictures could be potentially misleading as his debut is anything but silly. In fact, it is a fairly dark tale without a pinch of humour in it.

The Relic Guild in question are a secret band of magickers whose existence is dedicated to protecting the Labyrinth, a mystical construction where million humans are forced to live after a devastating war destroyed the world around them. Before being cut off from the rest of the world for 40 years, Labyrinth once held a more noble purpose. It was a meeting place where Aelfir brought trade and riches but after the Thaumaturgists, rulers of both human and Aelfir, went to said war things instantly changed. Labyrinth these days is a chaotic place. Magic is forbidden and punishable by death and the city is bursting with peril for those not careful enough. In this dangerous environment lives Clara, a young woman who has a deadly secret. She's running for her life and as she's also touched by the magic, the only people who can help her are the Relic Guild.

"The Relic Guild" was a fast and pleasurable read and while it is not an instant classic, it certainly shows that Cox is an author who has enough writing potential to create some great things in the future. He knows how to craft a tale and to write an engaging characters and I've also loved his use of the Labyrinth as a vehicle for setting a fully immersive dystopian (with a dash of noir) atmosphere. It is a magical creation and a true feat of imagination which I'm looking forward to exploring more. However, I just wished Cox was a bit more courageous with his decisions in storytelling as well as with keeping the number of disparage elements such as magic, lycanthropy and all kinds of phenomena in check. "The Relic Guild" reads to much a lead-in to a grander story. As things stand, while I've really liked the idea behind "The Relic Guild", I think I'll take an excellent second book in the series to make me fall in love with it. A promising debut which has yet to fulfill its full potential.
http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/review-the-relic-guild-by-edward-cox

[Mica Milovanovic]

Jesi li čitala nešto od nje? Taj Trst ili ovu knjigu?

[PTY]

ne, nista. nisam naisla na ijednog njenog pirata.  zato sam je i stavila ovde na spisak, da ne zaboravim...

[Mica Milovanovic]

Pogledaću šta može da se nađe.
Jel ti stiglo nešto od Bobana, ili da ja uzmem da šaljem
Ja bi trebalo da se vidim s njim danas-sutra

[Mica Milovanovic]

Deluje zanimljivo...


http://feral.audiolinux.com/tpl/weekly1/section3.tpl?IdLanguage=7&NrIssue=962&NrSection=14

[PTY]

Ma Boban je u permanentnoj frci, pa olakšaj ti njega za sve što možeš, u moje ime... 

[Mica Milovanovic]

OK.

[PTY]

moja omiljena blogerka & rivjuerka krimića i sama objavila jedan  :


The story opens up as Detective Inspector Francis Sadler and Detective Sergeant Damian Palmer are called to the Wilton Hotel. A body of a woman has been discovered by a chambermaid but as the forensic officers examine the scene they discover that, what initially seemed like an ordinary suicide, hides a more sinister note. Placed on the chest of drawers is a book, full of newspaper cuttings and photographs, all pointing to a cold case from 1978. On 20th January, 1978, two girls, Rachel Jones and Sophie Jenkins have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Rachel eventually returned but Sophie was never found. The woman who killed herself some thirty years later was in fact Sophie's mother.

"In Bitter Chill"is an interesting creature. Partly crime thriller, and partly psychological, emotional rollercoaster that borders on family drama, it is a cracking reading experience. I wouldn't go so far as to classify it as a book fitting a "Lifestyle/Health" category as Faber labelled it in jest or by mistake in their online shop but there's certain reinvigorating quality in its complexity. I have stormed through it in mere two days and was surprised by its well developed, three dimensional characters that are both strong and fragile, and by its story that flicks back and forth in time without ever revealing too much information. With its carefully paced tension, Sarah Ward's debut is without a question one of the best crime thriller debuts of the year. Well recommended.

[PTY]

 

http://youtu.be/5NFzGlU6V84

[PTY]

 
... za kolegu Ridiculusa: prilično je lako prepoznati zašto je Neal Stephenson toliko impresivan, to i kao pisac i kao gik: on jednostavno nije umeren, ni u kom smislu, ni u jednom od ta dva polja. Naravno, to ne zato što on ne uspeva da bude umeren, nego upravo suprotno - on to naprosto ne želi.

Malo ko bi na njegovom mestu uspeo onako kako on uspeva, i eto, upravo to ga i čini unikatnim – fakt da je ekstremno nadaren pripovedač, čija interesovanja su tako maestralno široka i duboka da mu polazi za rukom nekakav apsolutno zarazan amalgam gikovštine i nerdovštine koja do te mere pleni da ste naprosto bespomoćni, čak i kad ne marite za nju odviše.






Fakt je da niko osim njega ne bi uspeo da uvali naraciju koja je toliko izrovarena logističkim problemima da naprosto bečite oči na sav kakamumi koji vam taj čovek plasira. Ili bolje rečeno, ne bečite oči na sam kakamumi, nego na sopstvenu halapljivost sa kojom ga konzumirate. To zato jer je maestralno zanimljiv. 

Otud i nema veze što mu je premisa blatantno eksploatistička: naš voljeni Mesec je raznesen u paramparčad, ili tačnije sedam velikih komada, inercijom ostavljenih da rotiraju u istoj putanji. Stephenson ne bi bio gik kakav jeste kad bi se udostojio da vam objasni šta i zašto i kako: Stephenson želi da ga sledite stazom znatno manje gaženom, naime, želi da se fokusirate na onaj (naj)bitniji deo – i šta sad? Šta sad dalje?

Jer zaista, koje svrhe ima razbijati glavu oko pitanja tipa kako i zašto... takav stav može samo da vas fiksira u prošlosti, a jednom kad se tamo nađete ukotvljeni, pa, to je momenat koji anuliše budućnost. Stephenson otud piše ogromnu romačinu koja se bavi budućnošću.

Književno gledano, Seveneves je palp u svom najfinijem, najsofisticiranijem formatu - palp za elitiste, dakle za gikove i nerdove – koji dozvoljava maksimalnu opuštenost pri čitanju. Kod Stephensona ne morate da brinete o tome da li će vam išta promaći ili da li ćete se saplesti o podznačenja koja ma na koji način dovode u pitanje izrečeno: kod njega je sve glatko i prepoznatljivo i visokooktansko, pa vam otud i ništa sporednog tu ne smeta, čak ni karakterizacija tako blatantno podređena gikovštini naracije.

Otud, kolega Ridiculus, obavezno bacite pogled na Seveneves, jer tamo se može naći zaista maestralna filozofija, zgruvana u palpični narativ: nije važno šta i kako, baš kao što i nije važno sačuvati okoliš pod svaku cenu. Bitni su samo ljudi, to u smislu njihovih character traits, a tome je onda i sve ostalo podređeno, uključujući i stvaranje boljeg i pedantnije inžinjerisanog okoliša, gde firewall katastrofe ne može da dosegne.

Pozdrav. 

[ridiculus]

O, hvala puno, sada sam zaintrigiran još više.

[PTY]

wow, koji za-zum na ovom topiku... 


elem, nekoliko međuvremenskih rivjua dadne se naći ovde: http://klub-knjige.blogspot.com


to da ne mrcvarim sebe i sve oko sebe kopipejstovanjem.... 


dalje, što se novosti tiče: bojim se da je drugi deo Trisolaris trilogije znatno... pa, recimo, manje impresivan. Znatno manje impresivan. 
ne verujem da je to do prevodioca - da, istina, ovaj put to nije Ken Liu, ali ipak, prevod se doima sasvim korektno: problemi The Dark Forest-a su u sasvim drugim domenima, tako da... šteta, sve u svemu.

[PTY]

Science Fiction and Philosophyby Brenda Cooper
There is a fascinating futurist named Gray Scott who calls himself a techno-philosopher. I recently attended one of his talks at the World Future society, where he discussed rapidly approaching changes in robotics, AI, and energy. There are a lot of technology futurists willing to present us with these things, but what Gray does extremely well is talk about what they might mean, and what questions we should ask ourselves about the future. He's great fodder for a writer like me; I jotted down at least six story ideas during his forty-five minute talk. If you want a taste, catch his new Futuristic Now podcast.

Gray's talks got me thinking about the philosophical nature of science fiction. The Merriam Webster dictionary contains a number of definitions for the word philosophy, the most interesting of which is "a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means." That's a lot like the way I approach story, whether I'm reading one or writing one. In either case, I want to learn something. The very best SF makes me think about something in a new way. This isn't terribly surprising; my love of SF originated with a little girl's desire to understand how the world works. I suspect I'm still asking the very same questions that I used to think about when I was seven years old and standing in the long driveway watering our trees on hot California summer days (my childhood chore).

I return to many questions, but almost every story has a core question that is at least borderline a philosophical question. For example, in my most recent novel, Edge of Dark, the core questions are about how we define life and soul, and what being human is really about. I use a combination of human and post-human characters to explore the boundaries between biological and mechanical life, and the way that either might or might not display empathy to the other. In my short story collection which is just now coming out from Fairwood Press, Cracking the Sky,  I explore the implications of robots raising humans, of VR re-creations of the past, and of cloud-based artificial intelligence.

My drive to write about these topics started in my early teens when I read Asimov's I, Robotand Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and coupled those with books by J. Krishnamurti's teachings on the nature of reality (Yes, I was a strange child). Part of what drew me to science fiction is the genre's implied freedom to ask about anything. Ray Bradbury explored the affects of television as well as forces for social control in Fahrenheit 451. He also touched on banned books and ideas; a conversation we have been having since books were first printed – who has access to what ideas, and what ideas are harmful? Will good ideas save us? Both Brave New World and 1984 also deal with the ways that information might be provided or withheld, and with the consequences of those choices. Even though they were written decades ago, they echo into our time, into Orwell's and Huxley's far future.

[PTY]

Eh da, vredi zabeležiti: Armada je deset puta crnja infantilna bezvezarija od Ready Player One.
(teško za poverovati, ali ipak istinito.)

[angel011]

Tebi se baš nije dopao Ready Player One? 


Jesi li pročitala Armadu, ili je to reakcija nakon čitanja opisa?

[PTY]

To je iskrena reakcija nakon čitanja 1/10 i 1/5 obaju romana. 
dobro sad, istini za volju, RP1 je sasvim okej roman, s obzirom da je prvenac i sve to, tako da se tu štošta moglo oprostiti i progledati kroz prste. Ali Armada je beyond redemption, što se mene tiče. naprosto mi je... odveć bleskaksta, eto.

[angel011]

Heh. Ja sam u jednom trenutku prekinula čitanje RP1, kad su mi se smučile reference. Posle sam se vratila knjizi i dokrajčila je, i ok je to, ono, klasičan problem prvenca kad autor ubaci sve što mu se dopada, a, sa druge strane, s obzirom na postavku, izbacivanje dela referenci jednostavno ne bi funkcionisalo, tako da bi se moja glavna pritužba svela na to što autor nije napisao nešto drugo. 


Opis Armade me je malo podsetio na The Last Starfighter, koji mi je bio zanimljiv kad sam imala 12 godina, mada mi se i tad činio detinjastim. Ne znam kako bih sad reagovala na nešto slično.

[PTY]

da, dosta ljudi je imalo sličnu nostalgičnu reakciju na RP1, i mislim da je baš to u velikoj meri stalo iza hajpa oko te knjige.
samo što mene to daleko lakše dohvati u filmovima nego u knjigama, ne znam zašto ali je tako.
nisam stigla da ovih zadnjih nedelja  upratim kako se Armada kotira po pitanju hajpa, ali čisto sumnjam da će se dokopati tog nivoa. eto, ne znam, ali mene se Armada doima kao ekstremno YA, stvarno. i to ne na onaj ljupki spilbergov ET način, nego... uh.

[PTY]

stvarno odličan i strašno zabavan i zanimljiv roman: http://klub-knjige.blogspot.com 

[PTY]

nego: stvarno je zanimljivo kud nas sve to risrč može da odvede. 


pošto sam odlučila da je krajnje vreme da dovršim bar neke od davno započetih projekata, ispostavlja se da će onaj o AI nesumnjivo biti i najzanimljiviji, a evo i zašto: prvo pominjanje AI je zapravo ni manje ni više nego u - Guliverovim putovanjima! ha! 


dakle, pazite samo ovo:




_____________________________________
     Presiječemo ulicu i odemo u drugi dio akademije gdje prebivaju, kako sam već rekao, projektanti spekulativnih znanosti.
Prvi profesor kojega sam vidio bio je u velikoj sobi, sa četrdeset učenika oko sebe. Nakon pozdrava, kad je vidio da ja ozbiljno gledam stalak što zaprema najveći dio sobe i u duljinu i u širinu, reći će da se ja možda čudim što se on u projektu za unapređenje spekulativnih znanosti služi praktičnim i mehaničkim operacijama; ali svijet će brzo osjetiti njihovu korist; a on se diči što se nikojem čovjeku u glavi nije rodila plemenitija, uzvišenija misao; svatko zna kako je teška obična metoda za učenje umjetnosti i znanosti; a po njegovu će izumu i najveća neznalica, uz ponešto troška i malen tjelesni trud, moći da piše knjige o filozofiji, pjesništvu, zakonima, matematici i teologiji, bez ikakve pomoći genija ili studija.

Onda me odvede k stalku oko kojega su se poredali oni učenici njegovi. Stalak je imao dvadeset četvornih metara i stajao usred sobe. Gornja mu se strana sastojala od pojedinih komada drveta, koji su po prilici kolika je kocka, ali neki veći od drugih. Svi su povezani tankim žicama. Svaka je četvorina na tim kockama pokrivena prilijepljenim papirom, a na tim su papirima pozapisivane sve riječi njihova jezika, u različitim oblicima, konjugacijama i deklinacijama, ali bez ikakva reda. Onda me profesor zamoli da pazim, jer on će krenuti svoju spravu.




Po njegovoj zapovijedi uhvatio svaki učenik željeznu dršku kojih je bilo četrdeset, pričvršćenih uokolo na stalku po bridovima, pa kad ih naglo okrenuše, sav se red riječima sasvim promijenio. Onda on naložio trideset i šestorici dječaka neka polagano čitaju pojedine retke kako su se javili na stalku, pa gdje oni nađu na okupu tri-četiri riječi koje bi mogle sastaviti rečenicu, kazuju ih onoj preostaloj četvorici dječaka koji su pisari. Taj se posao ponovio tri-četiri puta; a sprava je bila tako udešena da su se pri svakom okretu riječi potiskivale na drugo mjesto, kako su se drvene kocke micale odozgor dolje.
103

Jonathan Swift: Gulliverova putovanja

Šest sati na dan mladi su đaci bili zaposleni tim poslom; a profesor mi pokazao nekoliko knjiga folio formata gdje su već sakupljene krnje rečenice koje će on posastavljati i iz toga bogatoga materijala stvoriti svijetu potpunu cjelinu sviju umjetnosti i znanosti; no to bi se još usavršilo i jako ubrzalo kad bi općinstvo skupilo glavnicu da se u Lagadu napravi i iskoristi pet stotina ovakvih stalaka i kad bi se pothvatnici primorali da za zajednicu prilože različite svoje zbirštine.



Uvjeravao me da mu je taj pronalazak zaokupljao od mladosti sve misli; da je za svoj stalak iscrpio sav rječnik i najtočnije izračunao kakav je u knjigama opći razmjer među brojem čestica, imenica, glagola i drugih vrsta riječi.



Najponiznije zahvalim tome dičnom čovjeku što mi je priopćio takvu veliku stvar, obećam, ako mi ikad dade sreća i ja se vratim u zavičaj, iskazat ću mu pravicu kao jedinom izumitelju te divne mašine, i zamolim ga za dopuštenje da nacrtam na papiru oblik i osnovu, kako je na priloženoj slici. Rekoh mu kako je našim učenjacima u Europi doduše običaj da jedan drugom krade izume, pa je pritom bar taj probitak da nastaje razmirica tko je pravi vlasnik: ali ja ću biti tako oprezan da će njega zapasti sva slava, bez ikakva suparnika.
___________________________________________



(ono podvučeno je i glavni razlog zašto mi je ova referenca toliko važna...    fascinantno, zaista, da je čovek pre skoro trista godina imao takav insajt u jednu aktuelnu transhumanističku dilemu... mada, naravno, po logici stvari cinici uvek budu bolji futuristi od optimista...  )

[PTY]

     AI#2
Turingov test

Danas je to skoro pa generički pojam za proveru inteligencije programskog ili mehaničkog sistema, ali u isto vreme, zanimljivo je da se u savremenom žanru skoro pa i ne koristi.


To zbog dobrog razloga, naravno. 

Reč je o radu COMPUTING MACHINERY AND INTELIGENCE, A.M. TURING, MIND, Oct. 1950
Turing je tu adaptirao takozvani "imitation game" argument, u kom ispitivač (C) pokušava da serijom dobro sročenih pitanja sazna ko je ženskog pola od dva njemu nepoznata ispitanika, nejmli A i B. Ispitivač postavlja svoja pitanja u okvirima koji minimiziraju hendikepe između dva pola, znači, nije mu dozvoljeno da uživo vidi ispitanike, nego komunicira sa njima isključivo preko tastature i monitora, i mora da izbegava pitanja tipa "subjekt A, da li ste ikada menstruirali?"

Turing je tu situaciju adaptirao tako da ispitivač C postavlja pitanja subjektima A i B, od kojih je jedno ljudsko biće a drugo je ekstremno versatilan kompjuterski program.

Naravno, baš kao i u slučaju originalne postavke, stremi se ka situaciji koja će da minimizira hendikepe, ali svejedno, pre ili kasnije, serija pitanja će da zađe na teren u kom će mašina biti hendikepirana. Naime, pitanja tipa "koliko je 7.475,567 puta 4.287,578" bi silno hendikepirali ljudsko biće, otud će linija pitanja neminovno skrajnuti ka pitanjima tipa "da li preferišeš pržena ili kuvana jaja" ili  "sa kojim si roditeljom bio bliži, ocem ili majkom?"

Dakle, na duge staze, Turingov test stavlja AI u poziciju da bude... erm, recimo, ekstremno kreativna sa svojim odgovorima kako bi prošla test.

Ili, ukratko rečeno, Turingov test nije u stanju da dokaže AI inteligenciju, nego zapravo može jedino da dokaže da li je program postao dovoljno sofisticiran da laže.

E sad, problem nastaje ne samo kad se sposobnost laganja poistoveti sa inteligencijom, nego već onda kad se mašina "programira" da prihvati opciju da je laganje jedini način da uspe u izvršavanju zadatka.

Što dalje znači da upravo Turingov test zapravo pravi "rogue machine".

AI#2 primeri: u filmovima ih ima zaista dosta, najdirljiviji su svakako oni iz Blejdranera ali najimpresivniji je definitivno iz Ex Machina. Ali u romanima ih ima jako malo... 1. KSR, u 2312, kad Swan naiđe na onu trojku koja tvrdi da su AI klonovi, rafalno im uputi seriju pomalo trulih pitanja za čije odgovore ne može da proceni da li ih daju ljudi ili mašine, a onda izgubi nerve i izlema najsitnijeg od njih. 

Ako znate za neki, please feel free to share. 

[PTY]

AI#3


Još jedna od ranjivih tačaka Turingovog testa je nemogućnost prepoznavanja komunikacije bez razumevanja. Najilustrativniji primeri komunikacije bez razumevanja su, naravno, upravo ovde na ZS forumu    ali bitniji je ipak onaj zvani sindrom kineske sobe.

Ukratko, reč je o "konverzaciji" u kojoj ispitanik nema blagog pojma šta zapravo govori, nego prosto sledi određeni protokol u kom se izveštio, ali ispitivač to naprosto nije u stanju da prepozna, zato jer su odgovori na njegova pitanja naizgled smisleni.

U pitanju je simulacija konverzacije, kada ispitanik naprosto reaguje na upućeno pitanje/izjavu, bez da iza njegovih odgovora stoji ikakav čvrst mentalni koncept ili stanje. Kad ta reakcija nije moguća po samom protokolu, ispitanik onda reaguje na komunikativni obrazac ili putem zamene teze ili putem kvaziinteligentnog kontra-pitanja. U svakom slučaju, ponuđena komunikacija se čini smislena, zato što zvuči kao smislena, zato što ima taman dovoljno veze sa pitanjem da ponudi privid koherencije unutar okvira samog jezika.

Najimpresivniji primer je tu svakako Blindsight, Peter Watts.

U Blindsightu, ljudska posada presretne i danima razgovara sa ET inteligencijom Roršahom, pokušavajući da proceni kakvu on to vrst opasnosti predstavlja Zemlji. Cilj pregovora je da se posadi Tezeja dopusti da sleti na Roršah (Roršah nije brod u klasičnom smislu, nego je zapravo neka vrst tehnološki prepravljenog asteroida čije magnetsko polje raste zabrinjavajućom brzinom. I naravno, Roršah danima fino i učtivo razgovara sa posadom Tezeja, kulturno odgovara na sva pitanja, još kulturnije postavlja neka svoja, i, sve u svemu, konverzacija se čini sasvim normalnom, iako ne i bog zna kako plodonosnom, pošto Roršah svo to vreme i dalje ne menja svoju preteću putanju.

A onda jednom članu posade pukne film, što bi se reklo, i ona uputi seriju pitanja na čije odgovore Roršah jasno pokaže da svo to vreme zabravo nije imao blagog pojma ni šta ga se pitalo ni šta je on zapravo na ta pitanja odgovarao. Naprosto, Roršah je posedovao kritičnu masu podataka o zemaljskim komunikacijama, to od radio i TV programa na dalje, i na svako pitanje je odgovarao tako što je izabirao najplauzibilniji odgovor iz te mase podataka.

Dakle, dok god su pitanja Tezejeve posade bila smislena, Roršahovi odgovori su također izgeldali smisleni, ali kad mu je Saša uputila apsolutno besmislenu komunikaciju, Roršah je na nju reagovao koristeći potpuno isti protokol, nejmli – najplauzibilniji hit guglanja.   


Evo kako je ta konverzacija otprilike izgledala, skraćeno:


RORŠAH: RORSCHACH TO VESSEL APPROACHING 116°AZ -23°DEC REL. HELLO THESEUS. RORSCHACH TO VESSEL APPROACHING 116°AZ -23°DEC REL. HELLO THESEUS. RORSCHACH TO VESSEL APPROACHI
TEZEJ: Theseus to Rorschach. Hello Rorschach.
RORŠAH: HELLO THESEUS. WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
TEZEJ: Request permission to approach.
RORŠAH: YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY. SERIOUSLY. THIS PLACE IS DANGEROUS.
TEZEJ: Request information on danger.
RORŠAH: TOO CLOSE AND DANGEROUS TO YOU. LOW ORBIT COMPLICATIONS.
TEZEJ: Request information on low orbit complications.
RORŠAH: LETHAL ENVIRONMENT. ROCKS AND RADS. YOU'RE WELCOME. I CAN TAKE IT BUT WE'RE LIKE THAT.
TEZEJ:  We are aware of the rocks in low orbit. We are equipped to deal with radiation. Request information on other hazards.
RORŠAH: "Anytime between friends, right? Are you here for the celebration?"
TEZEJ: "We are here to explore. Request dialog with agents who sent objects into near-solar space."
RORŠAH: "First contact. Sounds like something to celebrate."
TEZEJ: "Request information about your celebration"
RORŠAH: "You're interested."
TEZEJ: "Yes."
RORŠAH: "You are?"
TEZEJ: "Yes."
RORŠAH: "You are?"
TEZEJ: "Yes."
RORŠAH: "You are?"
TEZEJ: The slightest hesitation. "This is Theseus."
RORŠAH: "I know that, baseline." In Mandarin, now. "Who are you?"
TEZEJ: "This is Susan James. I am a—"
RORŠAH: "You wouldn't be happy here, Susan. Fetishistic religious beliefs involved. There are dangerous observances."
TEZEJ: "Request clarification. Are we in danger from these observances?"
RORŠAH: "You certainly could be."
TEZEJ: "Request clarification. Is it the observances that are dangerous, or the low-orbit environment?"
RORŠAH: "The environment of the disturbances. You should pay attention, Susan. Inattention connotes indifference," Rorschach said.
TEZEJ: Request information on environments you consider lethal. Request information on your response to the prospect of imminent exposure to lethal environments.
RORŠAH: GLAD TO COMPLY. BUT YOUR LETHAL IS DIFFERENT FROM US. THERE ARE MANY MIGRATING CIRCUMSTANCES.


(tu ide mala pauza u kojoj brodski doktor zaključi da bi Roršah kao ljudsko biće svakako imao dijagnozu kliničkog sociopate - fast talkers, no conscience, tend to malapropism and self-contradiction. No emotional affect."

A na kraju Saša preuzme stvari u svoje ruke:

TEZEJ:  "Theseus to Rorschach. Open to requests for information."
RORŠAH: "Cultural exchange," Rorschach said. "That works for me. "Tell us about home," Rorschach said.
TEZEJ: We don't all of us have parents or cousins. Some never did. Some come from vats."
RORŠAH: "I see. That's sad. Vats sounds so dehumanising. "Tell me more about your cousins," Rorschach sent.
TEZEJ: "Our cousins lie about the family tree," Sascha replied, "with nieces and nephews and Neandertals. We do not like annoying cousins."
RORŠAH: "We'd like to know about this tree."
TEZEJ: "We usually find our nephews with telescopes. They are hard as Hobblinites."
RORŠAH: "You haven't mentioned your father at all," Rorschach remarked.
TEZEJ: "That's true, Rorschach," Sascha admitted softly, taking a breath— and stepping forward. "So why don't you just suck my big fat hairy dick?" 

[PTY]

A#4

Elem, uz ta dva velika hendikepa Turingovog testa (da inducira program na stvaranje fiktivne ljudske ličnosti; da ne razabire komunikaciju bez razumevanja) javlja se i treći – hendikep samog ispitivača.
Pronicljiviji ispitivač će možda i naslutiti kad mašina laže i/ili simulira konverzaciju, ali onaj manje pronicljiv baš i nema pouzdan način da to prepozna. Otud je ispitivač problematičan koliko i ispitanik.

U naporu da se konstruiše obrazac koji ne bi bio uslovljen ispitavačevim manjkavostima, koristi se The Winograd Schema Challenge (WSC, nazvan tako po autoru, Terry Winograd) koja stremi da eliminiše tri navedena hendikepa Turingovog testa, nejmli:


1. Deception - the machine has to create a false identity in order to pose as a human.
2. Conversation - a lot of interactions may qualify as "legitimate conversation" and yet not draw on intelligent reasoning.
3. Evaluation - different judges may come to different verdicts, and often the real result is inconclusive.


WSC barata sa pitanjima koja se ne mogu izguglati, odnosno, odgovor na njih se ne može "pronaći" u ogromnoj bazi podataka sa kojom će AI po logici stvari da raspolaže. Evo jedan primer:

a) The city councilmen denied the protestors a permit because they advocated violence.
b) The city councilmen denied the protestors a permit because they feared violence.
A Winograd Schema Challenge question:
Who [advocated/feared] violence?

Naravno, a) i b) odgovori su različiti, ali u oba slučaja bazirana su na zamenici. Winograd je ustanovio da ispravno tumačenje zamenica zahteva ne samo jezičko znanje nego i logičko razmišljanje, otud čovek neće imati problema da shvati na koga se "they" odnosi u obe rečenice, ali mašina će imati problema sa simetrijom.

Druga linija pitanja bi išla za ovim primerom:

The trophy doesn't fit into the brown suitcase because it's too [big/small].
What was too [big/small]?

Ili:
Joan made sure to thank Susan for all the help she had [received/given]. Who had [received/given] the help?

Ili, vrlo zanimljivija, takozvana "zato što" serija:
Jim yelled at Kevin because he was so upset. [Who was upset?]

Čak i sa serijom pitanja za koja naizgled nema 100% ispravnog odgovora postiže se statistička provera, u smislu da li iza njih postoji konceptualna jasnoća ili kontradikcije.

The large ball crashed through the table because it was made of XYZZY. What was made of XYZZY?
A)   the large ball
B)   the table




što se A#4 primera tiče, tu svakako prednjači Aurora, pogotovo zato što KSR koristi zapravo obrnut process: KSR upravo kroz primenu samog testa aktivira inteligenciju u Aurorinoj AI, koja bi bez te konkretne aktivacije ostala samo superkorisna mehanička naprava. smart, KSR.

[PTY]

korpus:

1   2001               A.I. the City by R. B. Anthony   
2   2001               A.I: Artificial Intelligence by Ernest Stableford   
3   2001               Ai Heaven by Grant Castillou
4   2001               And They Rose Up by Michael J. Lawson   
5   2001               Apokalypsis : Classical Greek to Reveal That Which Was Hidden by Martin S. Garthwaite     
6   2001               Ares Express by Ian McDonald   
7   2001               Black Hole Drive and Other Stories by W. Strawn Douglas   
8   2001               Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess 
9   2001               Colony VII by J. H. Long 
10   2001               Dead Wait by Ferrel D. Moore     
11   2001               Death Machine, The by Algis Budrys   
12   2001               Dervish Is Digital by Pat Cadigan   
13   2001               Diary of an Unwitting Explorer by Linda Anne Monica Schneider   
14   2001               Dream Chip, The by William Thien     
15   2001               Etma Pnikre by Norris Ray Peery   
16   2001               Eyes of the Calculor by Sean McMullen   
17   2001               Facing the Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross   
18   2001               G.E.E.N.E.E. in a Bottle by Theodore Ransburg, Patrick Codden   
19   2001               Gift of Change by D. T. Sanders     
20   2001               Great Ones, The by John Lang     
21   2001               Jacob's Ladder by Wilma A. Patrick   
22   2001               Keeper of the Kingdom by H. J. Ralles   
23   2001               Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks   
24   2001               Maelstrom by Peter Watts   
25   2001               Man over Mind: Control of the Galaxy Rests With the Minds--Until One Man Rises Against Them by Dean Warren     
26   2001               Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel 
27   2001               Mindlink by John Seymour 
28   2001               MotherShip by Tony Chandler   
29   2001               Old Guard by Keith Laumer 
30   2001               One Small Step by Susan Wright   
31   2001               Perdido Street Station by China Mieville   
32   2001               Plutonium Blonde, The by John Zakour, Lawrence Ganem 
33   2001               Rat2rap by Derek Smith 
34   2001               Reunion by Alan Dean Foster   
35   2001               Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds   
36   2001               Silicon Dreams by Martin H. Greenberg 
37   2001               Smoking Mirror Blues by Ernest Hogan   
38   2001               Star Blockade by Rick A. Mullins   
39   2001               Stargazer: Chronicles by Bob Hush 
40   2001               T2: Infiltrator by S. M. Stirling 
41   2001               Waking the Savior by Pat Everest   
42   2001               Your Future Day, at the Office: A Prophecy of Your Amazing Near Future by Douglas Kendall       
43   2002               Aztechs by Lucius Shepard
44   2002               Chances R by Lance Oren 
45   2002               Chimer by Stephen Willems 
46   2002               Command Performance by Linnea Sinclair 
47   2002               Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics and AI by Stan Gibilisco   
48   2002               Custodian by Tarry S. Ionta 
49   2002               Cyborg: The Man-Machine by Marie O'Mahony
50   2002               Dance for the Ivory Madonna by Don Sakers
51   2002               Days of Retribution by Michael J. Lawson 
52   2002               Delphinus Chronicles, The by R. G. Roane 
53   2002               Descending Circles: Ascending Earth by John Eric Ellison 
54   2002               Dragon Fire by J. A. Anderson 
55   2002               Dragon of Hope Island, The by Wentworth M. Johnson 
56   2002               Fallen Host by Lyda Morehouse   
57   2002               Firewall by R. J. Pineiro 
58   2002               Full Capacity by Emily A. Roesly 
59   2002               Ghosts by Rhiannon Lassiter 
60   2002               Goliath by Steve Alten 
61   2002               Great Escape, The by Ian Watson   
62   2002               Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang
63   2002               Inside the Rainbow by Eugene Goheen 
64   2002               Leaping To the Stars by David Gerrold   
65   2002               Light Music by Kathleen Ann Goonan 
66   2002               Machine Nation by Richard Evans
67   2002               Nanotech War, The by Steven Piziks   
68   2002               Prey by Michael Crichton   
69   2002               Return to Paradise by Tracy May   
70   2002               Shadows by Rhiannon Lassiter   
71   2002               Starsight Project, The by S. P. Perone   
72   2002               Stone by L. M. Weddel 
73   2002               Technogenesis by Syne Mitchell   
74   2002               Tranquility's Child by Gregory Urbach 
75   2002               Transcension by Damien Broderick
76   2002               Tyrant, The by David Drake, Eric Flint 
77   2002               Whole Wide World by Paul J. McAuley   
78   2002               You've Got Murder by Donna Andrews 
79   2003               Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan   
80   2003               Being the One by Jake Horsley 
81   2003               Berserker Prime by Fred Saberhagen   
82   2003               Berserker's Star by Fred Saberhagen   
83   2003               Cadre, The by Oscar L. Fellows 
84   2003               Click Here for Murder by Donna Andrews   
85   2003               Dark Matter by Greg Iles   
86   2003               Deathstalker Legacy by Simon R. Green 
87   2003               Duty and Destiny by Dennis J. Barton 
88   2003               First Strike by Eric S. Nylund 
89   2003               Flood, The by William C. Dietz
90   2003               Footprints of God, The by Greg Iles
91   2003               From the Shadows by K. B. Shaw 
92   2003               Gridlinked by Neal L. Asher 
93   2003               Hitting the Skids in Pixeltown by Orson Scott Card   
94   2003               Idlewild by Nick Sagan 
95   2003               Ilium by Dan Simmons   
96   2003               Jack Jacobs and the Doomsday Time Machine by Albert S. Abraham 
97   2003               Killing of Worlds, The by Scott Westerfeld 
98   2003               Mammoth Book of Future Cops, The by Maxim Jakubowski   
99   2003               Messiah Node by Lyda Morehouse 
100   2003               Phoenix Exultant  by John Wright 
101   2003               Prescience Rendezvous by Paul Collins
102   2003               Risen Empire, The by Scott Westerfeld   
103   2003               Rolling Thunder by Thomas Stone   
104   2003               Spin State by Chris Moriarty   
105   2003               Star Dragons by Mike Brotherton   
106   2003               Tales from the Crypto - System by Geoffrey Maloney
107   2003               Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines by David Hagberg   
108   2003               There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo 
109   2003               Totallyon by R. D. Peters 
110   2003               Tranquility Besieged  by Gregory Urbach   
111   2003               Zero Calvin by Brian J Cramer   
112   2004               A.i.s by Jack Dann, Gardner R. Dozois 
113   2004               Access Denied by Donna Andrews   
114   2004               Anu Factor by Ross Richdale   
115   2004               Blurred Line by Cavan Terrill 
116   2004               Death Match by Lincoln Child
117   2004               Deathstalker Return by Simon R. Green 
118   2004               Demon Headmaster and the Prime Minister's Brain by Gillian Cross 
119   2004               Doomsday Brunette, The by John Zakour
120   2004               Eve by Aurelio O'Brien 
121   2004               God In The Machine: What Robots Teach Us About Humanity And God by Anne Dr. Foerst 
122   2004               Heaven Engine by Albert Clarkson   
123   2004               Isaac Project by Joe Vadalma 
124   2004               Microchip Militant by Anushka Wirasinha 
125   2004               Nano by John Robert Marlow   
126   2004               Nature of the Beast, The by Shawn Corey 
127   2004               Neurolink by M. M. Buckner   
128   2004               Newton's Wake: A Space Opera by Ken MacLeod   
129   2004               Ordinary, The by Jim Grimsley 
130   2004               Past the Point of Delirium: A Collection of Science Fiction Short Stories and Poems from the Mind of by Chad Descoteaux     
131   2004               PeaceMaker by Dan Ronco   
132   2004               Plan of the Old One, The by Dr O. David West   
133   2004               Prometheus Road by Bruce Balfour 
134   2004               Reclamation by Wesley Belk 
135   2004               Smart-d by Kenji Siratori 
136   2004               Sunrise Alley by Catherine Asaro   
137   2004               Terminator Hunt by Aaron Allston   
138   2004               The Mcatrix Derided: Or Is That What They Want You to Think by Robertski Brothers   
139   2004               Tranquility Down by Gregory Urbach   
140   2004               Tranquility in Darkness by Gregory Urbach 
141   2004               Victory by Dennis J. Barton   
142   2004               Who Mourns for Majik by T. P. Norling 
143   2005               Ascent by Sean Williams, Shane Dix   
144   2005               Berserker Death by Fred Saberhagen 
145   2005               Building Harlequin's Moon by Larry Niven   
146   2005               Counting Heads by David Marusek   
147   2005               Cusp by Robert A. Metzger   
148   2005               Deathstalker Coda by Simon R. Green     
149   2005               Delete All Suspects by Donna Andrews   
150   2005               Enigma by Michael Jan Friedman       
151   2005               Hammerjack by Marc D. Giller   
152   2005               Human Interface by Jason Giacchino     
153   2005               Metallic Love by Tanith Lee     
154   2005               Old Twentieth by Joe Haldeman 
155   2005               Politicalization of Reality, The by Randy E. Smith   
156   2005               Radioactive Redhead, The by John Zakour 
157   2005               Recursion by Tony Ballantyne   
158   2005               Rogue Berserker by Fred Saberhagen   
159   2005               Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear 

[PTY]

160   2006               Alphanauts by J. Brian Clarke   
161   2006               Android's Dream, The by John Scalzi
162   2006               Armies of Memory, The by John Barnes   
163   2006               AZU-1: Lifehack by Joseph Picard   
164   2006               Blacktrion: Desolation by Colin Remedios 
165   2006               Brightest Day, The by Lew Fields   
166   2006               Capacity by Tony Ballantyne 
167   2006               Creative Destruction by Edward M. Lerner   
168   2006               Dare, The by Susan Kearney   
169   2006               Descent by Shane Dix, Sean Williams   
170   2006               Grey Moon over China, A by Thomas A. Day   
171   2006               H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education by Mark Walden   
172   2006               Hydrogen Steel by K. A. Bedford   
173   2006               In Fury Born by David Weber   
174   2006               In The Image Of God by David A. Lyons     
175   2006               Logos Run by William C. Dietz   
176   2006               Paragaea by Chris Roberson   
177   2006               Prador Moon by Neal L. Asher 
178   2006               Sentinel by Tony O'Reilly   
179   2006               Tommy's Crackers by Norah S. Bernard 
180   2006               Two Faces Of Tomorrow, The by James P. Hogan   
181   2006               Wake of the Nightshade by Steven G. Williams 
182   2007               Apocalypse Handbook, The by Alex Haynes   
183   2007               Better Than Chocolate by Bruce Golden   
184   2007               Brass Man by Neal L. Asher   
185   2007               Bridge, The by Euhal Allen 
186   2007               Darwin's Paradox by Nina Munteanu   
187   2007               Drone War, The by K. V. Johansen   
188   2007               Folding Infinity by Graeme S. Houston 
189   2007               Hidden Worlds, The by Kristin Landon   
190   2007               Hurricane Moon by Alexis Glynn Latner   
191   2007               Laptop: Cyber Murders, The by Daniel Parks       
192   2007               Medusa Incident, The by David Schleifer   
193   2007               Moon Age Daydream by Shaun Von Dragen   
194   2007               Narcissus by Don D'Ammassa   
195   2007               One Jump Ahead by Mark L. Van Name   
196   2007               Pawns: A Taste of Power by T. Russell Benedict   
197   2007               Pax Athenica by Geoffrey Greer   
198   2007               Postsingular by Rudy Rucker   
199   2007               Radio Freefall by Matthew Jarpe   
200   2007               Sons of Heaven, The by Kage Baker   
201   2007               Tesseracts Ten by Edo Van Belkom   
202   2007               Unleashing Janus by Ted David Harris 
203   2007               Web Of The Trident by Sharon Lee, Steve Miller
204   2007               Wine Red Silence, A by George L. Duncan   
205   2007               Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection, The by Gardner R. Dozois 
206   2008               Bio-Dome Project, The by Elizabeth LaCroix-Wagaman 
207   2008               Blasphemy by Douglas Preston 
208   2008               Cold Minds, The by Kristin Landon 
209   2008               Creeping Doom, The by Simon Vaughan   
210   2008               Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro   
211   2008               Going Under by Justina Robson   
212   2008               Heat Death: A Romance by Abyssinian J. Kelly   
213   2008               Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams 
214   2008               Line War, The by Neal L. Asher 
215   2008               Matter of Time, A by John Joyce 
216   2008               Mind Over Ship by David Marusek   
217   2008               Nano Comes to Clifford Falls: And Other Stories by Nancy Kress   
218   2008               Odin Chronicle, The by Michael Corbin   
219   2008               Quantum Sausage Machine, The by R. D. Hanson 
220   2008               Reciprocity by Les Whaley   
221   2008               Solaria by Fran Heckrotte   
222   2008               Steampunk by Jeff Vandermeer   
223   2008               Sunborn by Jeffrey A. Carver 
224   2008               Ultimate Computer, The by Lew Fields   
225   2008               Unholy Domain by Dan Ronco   
226   2008               Virtually Maria by John Joyce   
227   2008               Wreck of the Godspeed: And Other Stories by James Patrick Kelly   
228   2008               Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by John Joyce 
229   2009               Ballistic Babes by John Zakour   
230   2009               Chasing the Dragon by Justina Robson   
231   2009               Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald 
232   2009               Dark Reaches, The by Kristin Landon   
233   2009               Druid's Revenge, The by Dianna Hunter   
234   2009               Far Arena by Lynda J. Williams   
235   2009               From Beyond Space And Time by Victor Bertolaccini   
236   2009               Full Circle by Kirsten Beyer   
237   2009               Humble Giants: Destiny by Dave Rhodes 
238   2009               Inbound to Earth by Wayne J. Lutz   
239   2009               Messiah Rising by Nigel Bruton 
240   2009               Oracle Paradox, The by Steve Antczak   
241   2009               Overthrowing Heaven by Mark L. Van Name   
242   2009               Probe, The by Robert E. Karas   
243   2009               Sapphire Sirens, The by John Zakour   
244   2009               Siobhan: An AI's Adventure by Emma L. Haynes   
245   2009               Starduster 1993T by M. Meldrum   
246   2009               Third Claw of God, The by Adam-Troy Castro 
247   2009               Treason by Peter David   
248   2009               We Think, Therefore We Are by Peter Crowther   
249   2010               Anfora by Don Roth   
250   2010               Body Lost  by Paul Hagen     
251   2010               Bolos: Their Finest Hour by Keith Laumer   
252   2010               Brain Thief by Alexander Jablokov   
253   2010               Digital Domains: A Decade of Science Fiction & Fantasy by Ellen Datlow 
254   2010               Europa by J.A. Sanderlin   
255   2010               Heretics by S. Andrew Swann   
256   2010               Jump Gate Twist by Mark L. Van Name   
257   2010               Knights of Tomorrow by Joe Vadalma   
258   2010               Noise Within, The by Ian Whates 
259   2010               Oblivion Stone by James Axler     
260   2010               Phantom Of The Internet, The by A. Miller   
261   2010               Seed Seeker by Pamela Sargent     
262   2010               Slaves of Love by Stephen B. Pearl   
263   2010               Technician, The by Neal L. Asher   
264   2010               This Shoal of Space by John T. Cullen 

[PTY]

... a to sve samo u prvoj dekadi ovog veka... fascinantno. 

naravno, tu je sve na gomili: romani, serijali, teorija, antologije, zbirke...

[PTY]

Ray Kurzweil (da, da, znam...  ) u svojoj knjizi The Singularity is near skreće pažnju na neke zakonitosti po pitanju tehnoloških ciklusa, pa tako izdvaja i "false pretender" fenomen preuranjenog gedžeta koji pretenduje da zameni stariju i dobro ušančenu tehnologiju. Kurzweil ukazuje kako "false pretender" po pravilu nudi izvesni napredak, ali ima i velik broj mana po pitnaju funkcionalnosti i kvaliteta, što ga eventualno sahrani. Ipak, ostaje prepoznatljiv kao neka vrsta međufaze između stare (prevaziđene) tehnologije i njene nove (ili barem znatno usavršenije) verzije.

Kao naimpresivniji primer tu navodi primer fonografa, koji je od svog nastanka sredinom 19tog veka postao zrela tehnologija 1949te, kad je Kolumbija uvela longplejke. "false pretender" je u tom slučaju bila kaseta, koja je u ovom slučaju bila tek kratka međufaza do CD tehnologije.

Ima tu još primera, naravno, ali Kurzweil je zainteresovan za knjigu, pa tako kaže:

So where in the technology life cycle is the book? Among its precursors were Mesopotamian clay tablets and Egyptian papyrus scrolls. In the second century B.C., the Ptolemies of Egypt created a great library of scrolls at Alexandria and outlawed the export of papyrus to discourage competition.

What were perhaps the first books were created by Eumenes II, ruler of ancient Greek Pergamum, using pages of vellum made from the skins of goats and sheep, which were sewn together between wooden covers. This technique enabled Eumenes to compile a library equal to that of Alexandria. Around the same time, the Chinese had also developed a crude form of book made from bamboo strips.

The development and maturation of books has involved three great advances. Printing, first experimented with by the Chinese in the eighth century A.D. using raised wood blocks, allowed books to be reproduced in much larger quantities, expanding their audience beyond government and religious leaders. Of even greater significance was the advent of movable type, which the Chinese and Koreans experimented with by the eleventh century, but the complexity of Asian characters prevented these early attempts from being fully successful. Johannes Gutenberg, working in the fifteenth century, benefited from the relative simplicity of the Roman character set. He produced his Bible, the first large-scale work printed entirely with movable type, in 1455.

While there has been a continual stream of evolutionary improvements in the mechanical and electromechanical process of printing, the technology of bookmaking did not see another qualitative leap until the availability of computer typesetting, which did away with movable type about two decades ago. Typography is now regarded as a part of digital image processing.

With books a fully mature technology, the false pretenders arrived about twenty years ago with the first wave of "electronic books." As is usually the case, these false pretenders offered dramatic qualitative and quantitative benefits. CD-ROM- or flash memory-based electronic books can provide the equivalent of thousands of books with powerful computer-based search and knowledge navigation features. With Web-or CD-ROM- and DVD-based encyclopedias, I can perform rapid word searches using extensive logic rules, something that is just not possible with the thirty-three-volume "book" version I possess. Electronic books can provide pictures that are animated and that respond to our input. Pages are not necessarily ordered sequentially but can be explored along more intuitive connections.

As with the phonograph record and the piano, this first generation of false pretenders was (and still is) missing an essential quality of the original, which in this case is the superb visual characteristics of paper and ink. Paper does not flicker, whereas the typical computer screen is displaying sixty or more fields per second. This is a problem because of an evolutionary adaptation of the primate visual system. We are able to see only a very small portion of the visual field with high resolution. This portion, imaged by the fovea in the retina, is focused on an area about the size of a single word at twenty-two inches away. Outside of the fovea, we have very little resolution but exquisite sensitivity to changes in brightness, an ability that allowed our primitive forebears to quickly detect a predator that might be attacking. The constant flicker of a video graphics array (VGA) computer screen is detected by our eyes as motion and causes constant movement of the fovea. This substantially slows down reading speeds, which is one reason that reading on a screen is less pleasant than reading a printed book. This particular issue has been solved with flat-panel displays, which do not flicker.

Other crucial issues include contrast–a good-quality book has an ink-to-paper contrast of about 120:1; typical screens are perhaps half of that–and resolution. Print and illustrations in a book represent a resolution of about 600 to 1000 dots per inch (dpi), while computer screens are about one tenth of that.
The size and weight of computerized devices are approaching those of books, but the devices still are heavier than a paperback book. Paper books also do not run out of battery power.

Most important, there is the matter of the available software, by which I mean the enormous installed base of print books. Fifty thousand new print books are published each year in the United States, and millions of books are already in circulation. There are major efforts under way to scan and digitize print materials, but it will be a long time before the electronic databases have a comparable wealth of material. The biggest obstacle here is the understandable hesitation of publishers to make the electronic versions of their books available, given the devastating effect that illegal file sharing has had on the music-recording industry.
Solutions are emerging to each of these limitations. New, inexpensive display technologies have contrast, resolution, lack of flicker, and viewing angle comparable to high-quality paper documents. Fuel-cell power for portable electronics is being introduced, which will keep electronic devices powered for hundreds of hours between fuel-cartridge changes. Portable electronic devices are already comparable to the size and weight of a book. The primary issue is going to be finding secure means of making electronic information available. This is a fundamental concern for every level of our economy. Everything–including physical products, once nanotechnology- based manufacturing becomes a reality in about twenty years–is becoming information.

[PTY]

Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons.
—POPULAR MECHANICS, 1949


da, Kurzweil je veoma entuzijasticni futurista  :

As we will explore in chapter 5, the genetics (or biotechnology) revolution is bringing the information revolution, with its exponentially increasing capacity and price-performance, to the field of biology. Similarly, the nanotechnology revolution will bring the rapidly increasing mastery of information to materials and mechanical systems. The robotics (or "strong AI") revolution involves the reverse engineering of the human brain, which means coming to understand human intelligence in information terms and then combining the resulting insights with increasingly powerful computational platforms. Thus, all three of the overlapping transformations—genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics—that will dominate the first half of this century represent different facets of the information revolution.

ili, preciznije:

Setting a Date for the Singularity. A more modest but still profound threshold will be achieved much earlier. In the early 2030s one thousand dollars' worth of computation will buy about 1017 cps (probably around 1020 cps using ASICs and harvesting distributed computation via the Internet). Today we spend more than $1011 ($100 billion) on computation in a year, which will conservatively rise to $1012 ($1 trillion) by 2030. So we will be producing about 1026 to 1029 cps of nonbiological computation per year in the early 2030s. This is roughly equal to our estimate for the capacity of all living biological human intelligence.

Even if just equal in capacity to our own brains, this nonbiological portion of our intelligence will be more powerful because it will combine the pattern-recognition powers of human intelligence with the memory- and skill-sharing ability and memory accuracy of machines. The nonbiological portion will always operate at peak capacity, which is far from the case for biological humanity today; the 1026 cps represented by biological human civilization today is poorly utilized.

This state of computation in the early 2030s will not represent the Singularity, however, because it does not yet correspond to a profound expansion of our intelligence. By the mid-2040s, however, that one thousand dollars' worth of computation will be equal to 1026 cps, so the intelligence created per year (at a total cost of about $1012) will be about one billion times more powerful than all human intelligence today.

I set the date for the Singularity—representing a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability—as 2045.

The nonbiological intelligence created in that year will be one billion times more powerful than all human intelligence today.

[mac]

Ovde 10xx cps treba čitati kao 10^xx calculations per second.

[PTY]

uh, jeste, pogbila sam formatovanje negde usput... 


nego, strasno je to sa Hjugo nagradom, ali ipak, ono najbitnije je opstalo:


◾BEST NOVEL: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, Ken Liu translator (Tor Books)

 

[PTY]

http://youtu.be/KPlElPBaymw

[PTY]

noviteti ideceg meseca:


In the distant future, Surplus arrives in China dressed as a Mongolian shaman, leading a yak which carries the corpse of his friend, Darger. The old high-tech world has long since collapsed, and the artificial intelligences that ran it are outlawed and destroyed. Or so it seems.

Darger and Surplus, a human and a genetically engineered dog with human intelligence who walks upright, are a pair of con men and the heroes of a series of prior Swanwick stories. They travel to what was once China and invent a scam to become rich and powerful. Pretending to have limited super-powers, they aid an ambitious local warlord who dreams of conquest and once again reuniting China under one ruler. And, against all odds, it begins to work, but it seems as if there are other forces at work behind the scenes. Chasing the Phoenix is a sharp, slick, witty science fiction adventure that is hugely entertaining from Michael Swanwick, one of the best SF writers alive.
(ovo nije novo, reizdanje)


Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood-and solar system-very different from our own, from Catherynne M. Valente, the phenomenal talent behind the New York Times bestselling The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

Severin Unck's father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father's films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe.

But her latest film, which investigates the disappearance of a diving colony on a watery Venus populated by island-sized alien creatures, will be her last. Though her crew limps home to earth and her story is preserved by the colony's last survivor, Severin will never return.

Told using techniques from reality TV, classic film, gossip magazines, and meta-fictional narrative, Radiance is a solar system-spanning story of love, exploration, family, loss, quantum physics, and silent film.



The fiction of multiple award–winning author China Miéville is powered by intelligence and imagination. Like George Saunders, Karen Russell, and David Mitchell, he pulls from a variety of genres with equal facility, employing the fantastic not to escape from reality but instead to interrogate it in provocative, unexpected ways.
 
London awakes one morning to find itself besieged by a sky full of floating icebergs. Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure but violent purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse's bones—designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?
 
Of such concepts and unforgettable images are made the twenty-eight stories in this collection—many published here for the first time. By turns speculative, satirical, and heart-wrenching, fresh in form and language, and featuring a cast of damaged yet hopeful seekers who come face-to-face with the deep weirdness of the world—and at times the deeper weirdness of themselves—Three Moments of an Explosion is a fitting showcase for one of literature's most original voices.

[PTY]

Liptak o svom alt-history favoritu:




I've never really been one for alternate history—I've always been a history person, and something about the subgenre has always seemed a little superficial to me, a little too easy. The idea that changing one thing will completely change the future is dramatic, sure, but rarely are there singular points in history where the future can be so drastically altered by changing one thing, and even if such moments exist, it seems like hubris to suggest that we could easily pinpoint them. History isn't a stairway, it's a tapestry. One lost thread rarely changes the image.

All of that said, I love J. Gregory Keyes' alt-history quartet The Age of Unreason, even though it clearly violates the narrative sins I elucidated above. It grabbed me from the first book, Newton's Cannon, and never quite let go. The premise is a fun, fantastical one: instead of discovering the laws of physics, Isaac Newton discovered the laws of alchemy instead. He is tasked by Louis XIV to create a weapon to help France in its battle against England, a weapon that would devastate her enemies. Across an ocean, a young Benjamin Franklin searches for his own path to alchemy, and is pursued by an enemy from whom only Newton can protect him. What these two unleash together are changes that confront the order of the world.

Newton's Cannon is followed by three more books: A Calculus of Angels, Empire of Unreason, and The Shadows of God. Throughout the series, Keyes brings in a range of other historical figures, from Peter the Great to Blackbeard the pirate. By placing his alternate reality story within a fantasy context, Keyes frees himself from the constraints of known history without damaging too much our sense of disbelief that a few things playing out differently could so alter the course of the past (and future). What plays out is a wonderfully absorbing tale, an examination of the dangers of political power—especially when it's aided by magic.



The intersection of magic and political power has, of course, been examined before and since in any number of fantasy novels, but Keyes' series retains a particular charm. There's already something undeniably exciting about introducing alchemy into the world, our world, in place of another system of knowledge, and then you add to the mix scenes of Renaissance-era sorcerers calling asteroids down from the heavens to be used as weapons. In many ways, it seems to argue that science, and scientific thinking, is a sort of equalizer: it's understood and universal, calculable and measurable. Magic is another beast altogether: willful, malicious, unpredictable, and devastating when misused.

[PTY]

Another high action SF dystopia perfect for fans of Richard Morgan and Alfred Bester alike. The follow-up to the acclaimed Barricade this another short, sharp and kinetic SF thriller

Kenstibec is a Ficial - a genetically engineered artificial life form; tough, skilled, hard to kill. Or at least he was. He's lost the nanotech that constantly repaired him. Life just got real. Just like it is for the few remaining humans in this blighted world - the Reals; locked in a fight over a ruined world with the Ficials they created to make Utopia.

And now Kenstibec must take a trip to the pinnicle of our failed civilisation. The Steeple is a one thousand storey tower that looms over the wreckage of London. It is worshipped, feared and haunted by attack droids and cannibals. And the location of a secret that just might save Kenstibec's life.The only way is up.




"Barricade" by Jon Wallace was one of those reasons why it is always worth to give new authors a chance, even at a time when your favourite author has just published a veritable door-stopper that you are just gasping to read. To put it bluntly, Jon Wallace's debut was a proper statement of intent. An opening that promised a lengthy career filled with equally exciting rides. Needless to say, I was rather excited about "Steeple", a next installment in the series which promised more adventures with Kenstibec set in the dystopian madcap version of Britain that Wallace built around him.

For those who have missed "Barricade" (shame on you!), the main protagonist of the series is a slightly psychotic individual named Kenstibec. He's a member of the Ficials - a genetically engineered human who after failing to fulfill his true purpose works as a taxi driver driving around his enemies. Understandably, he's often a cynical and bitter character blessed with a wicked sense of humour. In "Steeple" Kenstibec is dealing with consequences of his actions and is dead set to save his own life after the tech that kept him alive is finally starting to fail. To do that, he must climb a towering hulk looming over London which, if the legend holds true, contains a mysterious treasure. A thousand storey tower is called Steeple, and Ken undertakes this desperate quest together with it associates Fate and Bridget. It's a mission filled with peril and quite unlike anything else he has encountered so far. His journey is filled with claustrophobic crawlspaces and dangerous impossible creatures such as another murderous Ficial and an occasional cannibal. Similarly to "Barricade", "Steeple" revolves around a journey. However, this time around, the story itself is rather more self-contained which is ultimately a good thing because it provides plenty of opportunity for character development and introspection without any need to sacrifice the action packet sequences.



"Steeple" is just like its predecessor an absolutely furious affair. It finished way too fast and too early for my liking but that is really not a serious complaint because "Steeple" is in almost everything superior to "Barricade". For starters, Wallace's Britain is finally showing its true colour. It is a strange place that only a twisted mind could think off. There is a hidden, new found depth in the overall setting and evident hints of a bigger picture that will probably reveal itself in the future. Even Ken's dark sense of humour comes with a fresh nuance to it so he's becoming more likable even as he's becoming more sinister.

To conclude, as was the case with "Barricade", the biggest problem with "Steeple" is the wait that you have to endure once you're done with it. Next one, please?

[PTY]

knjige u septembru:




Henry Lytten - a spy turned academic and writer - sits at his desk in Oxford in 1962, dreaming of other worlds.


He embarks on the story of Jay, an eleven-year-old boy who has grown up within the embrace of his family in a rural, peaceful world - a kind of Arcadia. But when a supernatural vision causes Jay to question the rules of his world, he is launched on a life-changing journey.


Lytten also imagines a different society, highly regulated and dominated by technology, which is trying to master the science of time travel.


Meanwhile - in the real world - one of Lytten's former intelligence colleagues tracks him down for one last assignment.


As he and his characters struggle with questions of free will, love, duty and the power of the imagination, Lytten discovers he is not sure how he wants his stories to end, nor even who is imaginary...






New York Times bestselling author William R. Forstchen brings a sequel to his hit novel One Second After. Months before publication, One Second After was cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read, a book discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at the dangers of EMPs. An EMP is a weapon with the power to destroy the entire United States in a single act of terrorism, in a single second; indeed, it is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warns could shatter America. One Second After was a dire warning of what might be our future...and our end. Now, One Year After returns to the small town of Black Mountain, and the man who struggled so hard to rebuild it in the wake of devastation-John Matherson. It is a thrilling follow-up and should delight fans in every way.





Anders Jensen is having a bad month. His roommate is a data thief, his girlfriend picks fights in bars, and his best friend is a cyborg...and a lousy tipper. When everything is spiraling out of control, though, maybe those are exactly the kind of friends you need.

In a world divided between the genetically engineered elite and the unmodified masses, Anders is an anomaly: engineered, but still broke and living next to a crack house. All he wants is to land a tenure-track faculty position, and maybe meet someone who's not technically a criminal—but when a nightmare plague rips through Hagerstown, Anders finds himself dodging kinetic energy weapons and government assassins as Baltimore slips into chaos. His friends aren't as helpless as they seem, though, and his girlfriend's street-magician brother-in-law might be a pretentious hipster—or might hold the secret to saving them all.

Frenetic and audacious, Three Days in April is a speculative thriller that raises an important question: once humanity goes down the rabbit hole, can it ever find its way back?




From one of the greatest writers of our time: the most spellbinding, entertaining, wildly imaginative novel of his great career, which blends history and myth with tremendous philosophical depth. A masterful, mesmerizing modern tale about worlds dangerously colliding, the monsters that are unleashed when reason recedes, and a beautiful testament to the power of love and humanity in chaotic times.
     Inspired by 2,000 years of storytelling yet rooted in the concerns of our present moment, this is a spectacular achievement--enchanting, both very funny and terrifying. It is narrated by our descendants 1000 years hence, looking back on "The War of the Worlds" that began with "the time of the strangenesses": a simple gardener begins to levitate; a baby is born with the unnerving ability to detect corruption in people; the ghosts of two long-dead philosophers begin arguing once more; and storms pummel New York so hard that a crack appears in the universe, letting in the destructive djinns of myth (as well as some graphic superheroes). Nothing less than the survival of our world is at stake. Only one, a djinn princess who centuries before had learned to love humankind, resolves to help us: in the face of dynastic intrigue, she raises an army composed of her semi-magical great-great--etc.--grandchildren--a motley crew of endearing characters who come together to save the world in a battle waged for 1,001 nights--or, to be precise, two years, eight months and twenty-eight nights.

[PTY]

The Moon wants to kill you. Whether it's being unable to pay your per diem for your allotted food, water, and air, or you just get caught up in a fight between the Moon's ruling corporations, the Five Dragons. You must fight for every inch you want to gain in the Moon's near feudal society. And that is just what Adriana Corta did.

As the leader of the Moon's newest "dragon," Adriana has wrested control of the Moon's Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family's new status. Now, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation, Corta Helio, surrounded by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana's five children must defend their mother's empire from her many enemies... and each other.




On Christmas Day in 1893, every man, woman, and child in a remote gold-mining town disappeared, belongings forsaken, meals left to freeze in vacant cabins—and not a single bone was ever found.

One hundred sixteen years later, two backcountry guides are hired by a history professor and his journalist daughter to lead them to the abandoned mining town so they can learn what happened. Recently, a similar party had also attempted to explore the town and was never heard from again. Now the area is believed to be haunted. This crew is about to discover, twenty miles from civilization with a blizzard bearing down, that they are not alone, and the past is very much alive.

[PTY]

Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the ultimate test in an utterly brilliant new novel that is as visionary as The Handmaid's Tale and as richly imagined as The Blind Assassin.

     Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their situation around—and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers. No one is unemployed and everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in . . . for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their "civilian" homes.
     At first, this doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice to make in order to have a roof over one's head and food to eat. But when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events unfolds, putting Stan's life in danger. With each passing day, Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.



Advances in science and technology no longer change how we live, they determine it. In the not-too-distant future, techno-scientific developments may make individuals stronger, smarter, healthier and more productive--but to what end? Addressing this question, speculative fiction has created an abundance of transhuman characters, protagonists with extraordinary strength, intelligence or abilities. Often they are antiheroes, openly rejecting--or rejected by--society and acting on immoral or extreme principles that challenge readers to approve, condemn, excuse or explain. This study explores the antihero of speculative fiction as a paradoxical blend of human and transhuman. These protagonists illustrate the dynamics among the individual, techno-scientific development and societal norms, and blur distinctions between human and machine, biology and technology, right and wrong. Fictional works covered include Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), Olaf Stapledon's Odd John (1935), Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (1956), William Gibson's Neuromancer (1986), Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen (1986-1987), Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy (Altered Carbon [2002], Broken Angels [2003] and Woken Furies [2005]) and Black Man (2008).





In October, Solaris will release The Sand Men by Christopher Fowler, which is being described as a contemporary thriller.

Here's the synopsis:



A brand new contemporary thriller from bestselling crime and horror author Chris Fowler.

In Dubai there's a new world of high-luxury resorts emerging for the super-rich – but at what price to everyone else?

Lea, Roy and their 15 year-old daughter Cara live in a gated community reserved for foreign workers. Roy has been hired to deal with teething problems at Dream World, a futuristic beach complex. In the oppressive heat, the wives appear happy to follow behind their husbands, cooking and arranging tea parties, but Lea finds herself a virtual prisoner in a land where Western women are regarded with indifference and suspicion.

At least there are a few friendly outsiders who don't enjoy the conformity of the ex-pat community – until one night, when the most outspoken one dies in a suspicious accident. It's the first in a string of terrible occurrences that divide the foreign workers. Lea's neighbours start to blame migrants, locals and even each other.

Lea is convinced that deliberate acts of cruelty are being committed – but is there a real threat to her life, or is she becoming paranoid? And what if the thing she fears most is really happening? What happens in a world where only the rich are important? Welcome to a future that's five minutes away, where rebellion against conformity can lead to the unthinkable...

[PTY]

Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin: I'm just writing for the beer money



The Three-Body Problem - a science-fiction book of the trilogy Santi written by Chinese author Liu Cixin - has caused a big splash on the Internet after it was announced winner of the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel on August 23.

The topic has been read over 8.6 million times on Sina Weibo, and generated a discussion that involved 190 thousand participants within ten hours after the news release.

Netizens were encouraged by the award and praised the novel, saying that this is an award that the book deserves.

"I read the first two books of the Santi series when I was in junior school, I didn't have money to buy it so I read it in the Xinhua Bookstore. I'm so happy that Chinese science-fiction has finally been recognized by the world," wrote Sina Weibo user Wukelili.

Zhang Yiyun, a Chinese psychologist with a follower of over 4 million, reposted the news and suggested embracing a bigger vision of the universe. "If we spend our limited life in daily hustle and bustle and turn a blind eye to the macro or micro worlds, it's like we never stepped out of our houses in the spiritual world," she quoted from the books.

But not all comments are so thrilled about the award. Weibo user Faye_Venus said that she doesn't think the book is that awesome, but "only that we couldn't find a better one in China."

The book, known for its brilliant imagination, successfully combined the exceedingly ephemeral with hard reality, all the while focusing on revealing the essence and aesthetics of science. It is a distinctly Chinese style of science fiction.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2015-08/24/content_21687177.htm

[PTY]

Welcome to Baghdad during the US invasion. A desperate American military has created a power vacuum that needs to be filled. Religious fanatics, mercenaries, occultists, and soldiers are all vying for power. So how do regular folks try to get by? If you're Dagr and Kinza, a former economics professor and a streetwise hoodlum, you turn to dealing in the black market. But everything is about to change, because they have inherited a very important prisoner: the star torturer of Hussein's recently collapsed regime, Captain Hamid, who promises them untold riches if they smuggle him out of Baghdad. With the heat on and nothing left for them in Baghdad, they enlist the help of Private Hoffman, their partner in crime and a U.S. Marine. In the chaos of a city without rule, getting out of Baghdad is no easy task and when they become embroiled in a mystery surrounding an ancient watch that doesn't tell time, nothing will ever be the same. With a satiric eye firmly cast on the absurdity of human violence, Escape from Baghdad! features shades of Catch-22 and Three Kings while giving voice, ribald humor, and firepower to to people often referred to as "collateral damage."

[PTY]

Nakon fenomenalnog uspeha Hugo nagrađenog The Three-Body Problem, željno očekivana druga po redu knjiga Trisolarisa kao da pati od klasične boljke središnje knjige u trilogiji: na ničijoj zemlji između već malko potrošenog gambita i predaleke završnice, The Dark Forest jednostavno ne uspeva da održi niti tempo niti zaokruženost impresivne prethodnice.




Istini za volju, to ne znači da je The Dark Forest slab roman, jer on to nije. Ali jeste prisutna izvesna promena u stilu i tonu jednako, promena koja sasvim priliči jednom nadasve prolifičnom piscu kao što je Cixin Liu, no koja se ipak nije dala očekivati na osnovu prve knjige. 


Prva knjiga nas je ostavila sa neminovnom invazijom i sofonima koji onemogućavaju ljudski progres na polju fizike i tehnologije uopšte. The Dark Forest glatko nastavlja tamo gde se po tom pitanju stalo, osvetljujući tmurnu situaciju iz nekoliko uglova: da, Zemlja ima 400 godina do invazije, ali zbog opsade sofona, izgleda da će malo šta efikasnog uspeti da za to vreme uradi. Sve glasnija struja eskapista nudi beg kao najsigurnije rešenje: potrpati glavninu najbitnijeg stanovništva na brodove i pobeći šta dalje od Zemlje, daleko pre no što se Trisolarci i približe istoj. Naravno, sofoni sa lakoćom sprečavaju taj plan na najefikasniji i najtragičniji mogući način. U naporu da osmisle odbranu koji sofoni neće uspeti da prepoznaju, zemaljske vlade biraju četvoricu strategičara u Wallfacer Project: ideja je tu bila da se iskoristi nesposobnost Trisolaraca da prepoznaju fenomen "netačne informacije", ili prostije rečeno - laganja. Među tom četvoricom je i Luo Ji, kojeg je Ye Wenjie ohrabrila da razvije svoju teoriju kosmičke sociologije, i on upravo time postaje centralni lik The Dark Forestzapleta. Naravno, deo ljudske rase koji se priklonio Trisolarcima spremno kontrira tom planu, smišljajući strategiju kroz svoju Wallbreaker ekipu, koja uz podršku sofona uspeva da eliminiše jednu po jednu Wallfacer strategiju. 



U kontrastu sa prvom knjigom, The Dark Forest ima izrazito manje plastične likove, što bukvalno znači da je Luo Ji jedini dovoljno pamtljiv, mada je i on prilično plošan i na momente neubedljiv. U istom kontrastu, The Dark Forest nudi zaplet koji je na momente toliko bizaran da naprosto ne uspeva da bude dovoljno uverljiv, čak ni uz ogromnu dozu suspendovane neverice kakvu palp ove vrste podrazumeva. Kao rezultat, naracija sve lakše skreće u stilski i književno naivan (a u nekim segmentima i poprilično traljav) pokušaj da se melodramom obezbedi čitalačka pažnja. 



Ipak, čak i uz te manjkavosti, The Dark Forest je veoma zanimljiva knjiga, možda ponaviše zbog svetonazora koji je, recimo i to, ipak proizišao u jednom sasvim drugačijem istorijskom i kulturnom okruženju. Čak i u poređenju sa najdesničarskijom strujom anglosaksonskog žanra (a ta je baš sada prilično u fokusu oko Hugo nagrade), The Dark Forest na momente uspeva da ih ubedljivo nadmaši na terenu nacionalizma i šovinizma uopšte. Taj autorov svetonazor se naprosto ne može sakriti, čak i da jeste bilo pokušaja u tom pravcu. (A verovatno nije, bar što se autora tiče.) 



Naravno, meni taj svetonazor niti je stran niti odbojan, ali biće zanimljivo videti reakcije svih onih koje je prva knjiga oduševila. 



Kako bilo, i The Dark Forest uspeva da jednoj dobro poznatoj žanrovskoj temi priđe na nesumljivo svež i neistrošen način, nudeći pri tom mnoge dovitljive i originalne pristupe. Jedan od njih je i vickasto rešenje Fermijevog paradoksa koje Luo Ji ponudi kao sasvim prosto i očiglednu činjenicu: "The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there's only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It's the explanation for the Fermi Paradox."

[PTY]

Gollancz has announced that they'll release Down Station by Simon Morden, a post apocalyptic dark fantasy, in February 2016 (UK). Check it out!


About the book

A small group of commuters and tube workers witness a fiery apocalypse overtaking London. They make their escape through a service tunnel. Reaching a door they step through...and find themselves on a wild shore backed by cliffs and rolling grassland. The way back is blocked. Making their way inland they meet a man dressed in a wolf's cloak and with wolves by his side. He speaks English and has heard of a place called London – other people have arrived here down the ages – all escaping from a London that is burning. None of them have returned. Except one – who travels between the two worlds at will. The group begin a quest to find this one survivor; the one who holds the key to their return and to the safety of London.

And as they travel this world, meeting mythical and legendary creatures,split between North and South by a mighty river and bordered by The White City and The Crystal Palace they realise they are in a world defined by all the London's there have ever been.

Reminiscent of Michael Moorcock and Julian May this is a grand and sweeping science fantasy built on the ideas, the legends, the memories of every London there has ever been.

[PTY]

Richard Paul Russo je jedan od onih tihih, nenametljivih pisaca koji postojano izbacuju odlične žanrovske romane, bez da se mnogo eksponiraju u fandomskom delu žanra. Dvaput dobitnik Philip K. Dick nagrade, Russo ostavlja utisak pomalo skrajnutog autora, verovatno zato jer niti aktivno bloguje, niti urednikuje antologije, niti se bilo kakvim alternativnim aktivnostima dokopava onog danas tako važnog žanrovskog lajmlajta. 


Russoova proza je žanrovski veoma fluidna, a tematski ozbiljna i iskrena, što rezultuje u fascinantnom amalgamu naučne fantastike sa horor i fentezi nijansama, suptilno uobličene u vrlo intenzivnu emotivnu karakterizaciju snažnih individualnih priča.




Moj prvi susret sa Russoom je Ship of Fools. Dobitnik 2001 Philip K. Dick nagrade, Ship of Fools je priča o Argonosu - generacijskom brodu koji tako dugo putuje međuzvezdanim prostorom da su ljudi na njemu već odavno zaboravili i da li im je krajnji cilj kolonizacija ili misionarstvo, a kamoli kuda su to zapravo originalno krenuli. U dugim vekovima brodskog putovanja, zemaljska tehnologija ih je odavno pretekla, teraformirajući mnogobrojne planete na koje Argonos ponekad svrati u nabavku. Na jednoj od tih planeta Argonos je zatekao jezive scene pobijenih kolonista a nedaleko same planete naišao je i na napušteni međuzvezdani brod. Ubrzo po pristanku na taj brod, stanovnici Argonosa otkrivaju ne samo da je u pitanju brod nezemaljskog porekla, nego i da je upravo njegova neobjašnjivo odsutna posada izvršila masakr nedužnih kolonista. 


Odani žanrovci vole da temi Prvog kontakta priđu i iz psihološkog ugla, ali daleko ređe uspevaju da pri tom ostanu i ozbiljni, bez guranja likova u groteskne, utopijske ili naprosto patološke pejzaže. Russo u tome uspeva bez očiglednog napora, kao da po tom pitanju i ne postoje opcije. Njegov fokus uvek ostaje na protagonistima, na njihovim grčevitim naporima da pronađu vlastitu svrhu, to u životu i misiji jednako. Otud je Russo u Ship of Fools neminovno i pesimista: za Russoa to je norma koja je ujedno i baza organskog intelekta, i on je secira u njenom najprirodnijem ambijentu – u religioznoj kontemplaciji. 



Argonos je originalno možda bio misionarski brod, i njegova životna filozofija je i dalje tome podređena: u veličanstvenoj katedrali broda, sveštenici se trude da pomire nepomirljive krajnosti, da nađu balans između duhovnih i materijalnih vrednosti, između dobra i zla generalno. Kao i inače u životu, oni najiskreniji su ujedno i najmanje uspešni, a oni najodaniji idealima su i najpodložniji dezintegraciji. Suočeni sa činjenicom da je smrt kazna za greh taman koliko je i nagrada za vrlinu, stanovnici Argonosa lebde u vrtlogu sopstvenog duhovnog pada, u haosu i korupciji beizlaza i beznađa. Russo prikazuje kumulativni efekat tih stanja kao jedinu stvarnost koju je čovek u stanju sebi da priušti. 



Sve u svemu, odličan roman iz pera neobjašnjivo skrajnutog pisca.

[PTY]

Svojedobno je Norman Spinrad u svom eseju "Imperator Svega" svojski obradio možda najkorišteniji žanrovski obrazac epske sage o borbi Dobra i Zla – skrajnutog Heroja, koji priču počinje kao naivni mladić, stiče mentora & misiju, razvija svoje moći do maksimuma, borbom krči sebi put to Sedišta Zla, usput stiče princezu i lojalne prijatelje, a onda otkriva svoj tajni identitet i, naravno, na kraju svojeručno pobeđuje Zlo. 


Naravno, Spinrad je tu fabulu radnje najpre secirao u njenom "Ratovi zvezda" najpopularnijem obrascu, koji je (onda i danas jednako) formula za ogroman procenat žanrovskog korpusa. Nije nikakva tajna da, kako je Spinrad rekao, police knjižara stenju pod količinom šunda proizvedenog po upravo tom konkretnom obrascu. Ipak, on dalje nalazi kako se isti taj kalup da otkriti i u žanrovskim delima kao što su Dina, Neuromanser, Knjiga Novog sunca, Zvezde moje odredište, glavnina dorsajskog ciklusa Gordona Diksona, Gospodar prstenova, Tri stigmate Palmera Eldriča, Gospodar svetlosti, Nova, Ajnštajnovski presek, knjige o rečnom svetu Filipa Hozea Farmera, Stranac u stranoj zemlji, Tri srca i tri lava, a da stvar bude još interesantnija, i u delima kao što su Knjiga o egzodusu, i Novi zavet, i Bagavad Gita, i legende o kralju Arturu, pa i Robin Hud, Zigfrid, Barbarosa, Musaši Murakami, i karijere Aleksandra Velikog, Napoleona, Džordža Vašingtona, Simona Bolivara, Tokugave Iejasua, Lorensa od Arabije i Fidela Kastra, a da i ne pominjemo knjige Atlas je slegnuo ramenima, Američki san, Grof Monte Kristo, David Koperfild, Čovek koji je mogao da čini čuda, i Supermena, i još mnogo, mnogo drugih istinski književno vrednih romana. Dakle, reč je o arhetipskoj priči koja prevazilazi rasne, kulturne, društvene, kontinentalne, vremenske i raznorazne druge barijere, a njena kakvoća ovisi ponajviše o estetici samog autora i, naravno, čitaoca kojem je namenjena.



Russo uzima taj obrazac u njegovom najprepoznatljivijem žanrovskom obliku i kroz njega daje klasičnu spejs operu u sebi svojstvenom žanrovski fluidnom formatu. Epska saga o izgubljenom dečaku, o njegovom surovom odrastanju, o naporu da pronađe mesto gde pripada, ili bolje – da pronađe sebe. 


U The Rosetta Codex, Russo toj standardnoj i na stotine puta ispričanoj priči daje ton i boju koja je unikatno njegova. Njegov Cole gaji daleko manje entuzijazma i za otkrivanje sopstvene prošlosti i familije kojoj pripada, a kamoli ikakva druga herojstva. Isto tako, Cole je uvek spreman da prizna kako on retko kad može i da prepozna granicu između Dobra i Zla, a kamoli da se na efikasan način bori protiv jednog a u korist drugog. Tamo gde su standardni "heroji" ovakvih saga puni energične odmazde i gneva pravednika, Cole je ambivalentan a ponekad možda i samo umoran od siline zahteva kojim se takva vrst glavnih junaka bičuje kroz narativ. U kompleksnom svetu u kojem Cole živi, dobro i zlo su veoma duboko isprepleteni, pa otud ni dobre namere ne rezultuju nužno i dobrim delima. 


Paradoks je da se upravo to jedno i jedino odstupanje od dobro utabane staze generičkog obrasca postavilo kao prepreka između odlične knjige i njenog prirodnog čitaoca. Većina osvrta na ovaj roman kao da zamera autoru što nije kategoričnije pokazao da dobro obavezno trijumfuje nad zlim, pravda neizostavno pobeđuje, heroj se uvek ženi idealnom Princezom i postaje Imprerator svega, i svi žive srećno od sad pa za vjeki vjekov ili bar dok ne dođe vreme da se iscedi nastavak. 


No, roman će se zasigurno dopasti svima koji mogu da izdrže autorovo traganje za književnom vizijom u žanrovskom svetu koji je (baš kao i onaj stvarni, uostalom) ekstremno kompleksan, pa otud i često ambivalentan.

[PTY]

oktobarska ponuda:



In a near-future world of exurban decay studded with big box stores, daily routine revolves around shopping—for those who can. For Zoë, the mission is simpler: live.

Last girl Zoë Zindleman, numerical ID 009-99-9999, is starting work at AllMART, where "your smile is the AllMART welcome mat." Her living arrangements are equally bleak: she can wait for her home to be foreclosed and stripped of anything valuable now that AnnaMom has moved away, leaving Zoë behind, or move to the Warren, an abandoned strip-mall-turned-refuge for other left-behinds. With a handful of other disaffected, forgotten kids, Zoë must find her place in a world that has consumed itself beyond redemption. She may be a last girl, but her name means "life," and Zoë isn't ready to disappear into the AllMART abyss. Zoë wants to live.




Casey Schillinge is a vivacious young woman on the verge of making her mark on the world. While backpacking, she is struck down by a tropical disease and suffers cardiac failure. But at the eleventh hour, Casey receives a life-saving heart transplant - and a rare second chance to begin again. Three years later, Casey has become a withdrawn shell of her former self. Still highly intelligent, she is estranged from her loved ones, afraid of open spaces and rides the line between legitimate and criminal work in software development. The worst of her troubles come in the form of violent night terrors; so frightening that she resorts to extreme measures to keep herself from sleeping. When she can take no more, she embarks on a desperate search for the source of her dreams. In so doing, she makes a shocking discovery surrounding the tragic fate of the donor whose heart now beats inside her chest. As she delves deeper into the mystery of her donor, she realizes her dreams are not a figment of her imagination, but a real life nightmare.



Medical science has found a way to remove diseases from the sick. The catch? They can only transfer the diseases into other living humans. The government now uses the technology to cure the innocent by infecting criminals. It is into this world that Talia Hale is born. Now sixteen and the daughter of a prime ministerial candidate, she discovers that the effort to ensure bad things happen only to bad people has turned a once-thriving community into a slum and has made life perilous for two new friends.




Science fiction and fantasy enjoy a long literary tradition, stretching from Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, and Jules Verne to Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, and William Gibson. In The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy award-winning editor John Joseph Adams delivers a diverse and vibrant collection of stories published in the previous year. Featuring writers with deep science fiction and fantasy backgrounds, along with those who are infusing traditional fiction with speculative elements, these stories uphold a longstanding tradition in both genres—looking at the world and asking, What if . . . ?
 
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 includes


Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, Karen Russell
T. C. Boyle, Sofia Samatar, Jo Walton, Cat Rambo
Daniel H. Wilson, Seanan McGuire, Jess Row
and others
 

[PTY]

     Luna: New Moon je najbolji roman Iana McDonalda. 





Iskrena da budem, nisam verovala da ću to reći ni za jedan njegov naslov posle Brazila, ali opet, to mi nije bilo ni toliko važno, jer jednom kad autor napiše takav roman, ja mu nekako i ne uzimam za zlo  ako ostatak karijere izdremucka na lovorikama. Srećom po sve nas, Ian McDonald ne misli tako.

Luna nudi milion i po ljudi u koloniji na Mesecu, u neo-feudalnom društvu kojim upravlja Pet Zmajeva, odnosno pet dinastija koje kontrolišu bazično rudarsku zbilju Mesečeve ekonomije. Luna izbliza prati najmlađu od njih, Corta Helio dinastiju: matrijarha Adrianu Corta i petoro njene dece.


Da, model podseća na onaj iz Kuma: Adrianinih četiri sina i jedna ćerka vrlo, vrlo liče na svoje filmske pandane, ali to samo u najboljem mogućem smislu te paralele. Isto tako, politika između dinastija vrlo, vrlo liči na "kapo režime" hijerarhiju u Kumu, ali opet, samo u najnajboljem mogućem smislu te paralele. Sve ostalo je McDonaldovo.


A to "ostalo" je maestralan i potpuno sumanuto izdetaljisan fenimenalno delikatan svet u kom je svaki ali baš svaki pomenuti pojedinac toliko verno i toliko plastično predstavljen da ga ne samo upamtite, nego maltene znate i njegovu težinu, visinu i boju očiju, taman kao da lično poznajete. Malo ko osim McDonalda može da uspe u tome, da vam sa jednim romanom proširi krug poznanika za jedno pedesetak ljudi koje silno ili volite ili mrzite, zavisno od toga kako se njemu prohtelo.


Za sve ostale, život na Mesecu je surov: sve košta i sve se mora platiti, to od gutljaja vode pa do udaha vazduha, i naravno, siromašni plitko dišu a nesposobni kratko žive. Luna je surov svet, ali ni izbliza surova koliko ljudi koji su je kolonizovali.
Ni izbliza surova koliko i sam McDonald, uostalom, koji je roman završio najbrutalnijim mogućim klifhangerom što prosto vapi za nastavkom, i to baš u godini u kojoj su se svi žanrovski teškaši sinhronizovano latili opsade čitalaštva zaista odličnim romanima.


Berba 2015-te će biti hajlajt decenije, tu sad više i nema sumnje, a Luna: New Moon je jedan od njenih najimpresivnijih romana.

[PTY]

In his ambitious and fiercely inventive new novel, The Lost Time Accidents, John Wray takes us from turn-of-the-century Viennese salons buzzing with rumors about Einstein's radical new theory to the death camps of World War Two, from the golden age of postwar pulp science fiction to a startling discovery in a Manhattan apartment packed to the ceiling with artifacts of modern life.

Haunted by a failed love affair and the darkest of family secrets, Waldemar 'Waldy' Tolliver wakes one morning to discover that he has been exiled from the flow of time. The world continues to turn, and Waldy is desperate to find his way back-a journey that forces him to reckon not only with the betrayal at the heart of his doomed romance but also the legacy of his great-grandfather's fatal pursuit of the hidden nature of time itself.

Part madcap adventure, part harrowing family drama, part scientific mystery–and never less than wildly entertaining–The Lost Time Accidents is a bold and epic saga set against the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.

[PTY]

E pa, nakupila se gomila odličnih stvari  :

Najpre The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, skroz opičena i ultrazabavna spejs opera, nekakav sumanuti hibrid Fireflya i Babilona 5, sa referencama na svaki bogovetni saj-faj uradak koji vam je ikad ostao u sećanju. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet je pokupio Kitchie nominaciju za najbolji debi roman, a ugledao je svetlo dana kroz kikstartet kampanju, da bi se na kraju izdavači bukvalno otimali o njega, tu ponajviše Harper Voyager i Hodder & Stoughton.





Onda je tu prva knjiga Carlucci trilogije, Destroying Angel, opet Richard Paul Russo. Prija mi njegov nenametljiv stil, iako je takvom konkretno hibridu kiberpanka i noar krimića odavno izbledela ona početna zavodljivost. 




Pa je tu Chasing the Phoenix, drugi nastavak Darger & Surplus sage, jednako sumanut i over-the-top koliko i prethodnik, ovog puta smešten u Kinu jedne moguće budućnosti. Genijalan je Svonvik, šta drugo reći nakon svih ovih godina divnog poznanstva 




pa je tu onda sumanuti Ričard Nikson u svetu modelisanom rukom Lavkrafta lično! Zapravo je u pitanju žanr za sebe, nekakav uber-weird/alternativna istorija štalijaznamšta sve ne, ali genijalno napisano, zaista. Jedno vreme čovek nije mogao da otvori internet a da se ne spotakne o neki hvalospev ovom romanu, i šta da se radi – zasluženi su potpuno. 

[PTY]

Od krimića tu je fascinantni debi roman žene koja je jedna od mojih omiljenih blogera - Sarah Ward.

Misterija stara trideset godina najzad se raspliće na način koji ujedno i dublje rasvetljava suštinske kulturne promene ne samo u UK.

Vrlo ambiciozan debi roman, vrlo angažovan i zanatski odlično isporučen, brižljivo tempiran i vrlo, vrlo emotivan. A to upravo i treba savremenom krimiću, koliko god da ja uživala u njegovoj kul mačo dimenziji. 




Ali ovo... ovo je ceo svet za sebe. Najozbiljnije.
Krimi zaplet, istorijski kurioziteti i – matematika. U formatu u kom jedno opslužuje drugo i proizvodi nešto treće. Genijalna knjiga, zaista.