Editorial Archive > 2006

Global warming isn't Science Fiction
01/12/2006. This is the opening line of a speech by British Prime Minister Tony Blair last month. It gave Uncle Geoff pause for thought. Think about it. How many Science Fiction stories have you heard or read about which centres on global warming? A cursory look only really revealed one obscure one and I'm not even sure if it looks at contemporary effects. As to SF films and TV shows, the results have been even slimmer.

Travelling at the speed of Net
01/11/2006. Speed is relative to everything else, says Geoff. Nothing is ever stationary. Although what we see depends a lot on how far it has to travel to get to you. That's not to say there aren't absolutes. Take the speed of light. If it travelled instantaneously we'd see the night sky in a different light...literally.

The ones who get left behind
01/10/2006. Thanks to everyone contacting me who contacted me last month after my editorial about my Mum who died in August. It really must have struck a nerve far more than my usual editorials so hope I can be excused something on a similar topic covering the aspect of grief and how it affects people.

Notes from the (video) revolution
01/10/2006. Excuse me, says Mark, if he gets a little nostalgic for the coming of this piece of technology and how it really changed the world of the technically-inclined cinema fan. Or one like him. VCRs did not come into common use until the mid-1980s and, in fact, he did not really rush to get one.

Thoughts on time travel
01/10/2006. Recently I watched the film The Time Machine again. That is one science fiction film that never ages. In part that is because none of it is set in the present. This film always sparked a disagreement between Evelyn and me about the nature of time travel. Assume the story were true. If today you went down into the cellar of the Time Traveller's house, would you see the Time Traveller there frozen like a statue or would you not see him there at all?

Augusta May Willmetts, 1920-2006. My Mum
01/09/2006. Life is measured in moments, says Geoff. The moment you are born. The moment you die. Moments between can vary a lot. Exams. Jobs. Marriage. Children. Victories. Losses. Turning points. You don't remember every day and night. You just remember the moments that were important to you. Happy and sad. This is one of his sad moments.

Power vacuums always fill
01/08/2006. This editorial is getting changed daily based entirely on the situation with Israel and Lebanon, says Uncle Geoff. It's one of those times where its impossible to stay within subject when there is a war escalating in the Middle East and the casualty rates rise so I hope you can forgive my concern for both sides. Let's hope any commentary will still have some meaning by the time

Against civilised warfare
01/08/2006. Nothing has done more to corrupt humanity than the attempt to civilise warfare, notes Scots science fiction author Ken MacLeod. Just War Theory is an utter perversion of the moral sense, a doctrine of literally mediaeval barbarism, invented by clerics to regulate wars between Christian kings. Its finest moral discrimination to date is that it's legitimate to kill a munitions worker on his way to work, but a crime to kill him on his way home.

The geography of Planet Beach
01/08/2006. There is a business near my house called Planet Beach. This name has always bothered me. You may see the name and leave it at that. I take it a step further. I start thinking about the mathematical meaning of Planet Beach.

SciFi Soccer
01/07/2006. Given the choice between football and watching paint dry, says Uncle Geoff, he goes for the latter. Seeing a tiny air bubble burst makes his day. Correction: make that slow-drying paint just to make it more exciting.

The real James Bond
01/07/2006. In a recent conversation I referred to James Bond as a super-hero, at least in the films. Not everybody agrees with me that Bond is a super-hero. He is supposed to be just very proficient at doing whatever he does. It has been a while since I have read the books. I am not sure what I say here applies to the books, but in the films I think that Bond is a super-hero and that his powers are luck and coincidence.

The Return of the Water Engine
01/07/2006. A friend has said that she recently had seen a news item talking about a water-powered car. She thought that she had seen the item on CNN news. At first I had wondered if it was an April Fools joke, but she had seen it in May, not on April 1st. My friend insisted that she had seen the story and she later pointed me to a reference to it. It did indeed seem to claim that there was a car with a water engine.

My Dudgeon
01/06/2006. There is a word you hear occasionally that really exemplifies a state of mind, says Mark. Do you like the word dudgeon? Do you know what it means? I think that may be a test of age. If you are young you probably have never heard of the word.

Science Fiction made me do it!
01/06/2006. How many of you have been inspired by your favourite SF or horror book, film or TV series to go out and repeat an action for real or blame what you've done on said things when caught? If you haven't then put your hands down. Also put your hands down if it was only at a convention in fancy dress, you're really a cyborg or proven alien (that includes a proper medical biopsy!).

Illegal Prime Numbers
01/05/2006. It has come to Mark's attention that there is such a thing as an illegal prime number. Well, there are all sorts of prime numbers. There are Mersenne primes and Fermat primes for example, but this was the first he had ever heard anyone refer to there being an "illegal" prime.

Be afraid. Very afraid.
01/05/2006. Should there be more cautionary science fiction tales, and, if necessary, add a bit of optimism while at it? Uncle Geoff investigates.

Speculation or Science Fiction Friction? (or when labels meet)
02/04/2006. There's been some recent talk about the labelling of Science Fiction, says Uncle Geoff. Old topic. Nothing learnt. Static subject. My turn to have a say on the matter. Oddly enough, this has little to do with the overall meaning of our genre. I think my definition that Science Fiction covers stories where one or more changes to reality has to be upheld throughout the story still stands.

Where I get my other ideas from
01/04/2006. A couple of weekends ago, Scots science fiction author Ken Macleod was a Guest of Honor at Boskone. He had a great time, and would like to thank all the good folks at NESFA who made it possible. He hasn't yet had time to write a con report, though he may yet. Meanwhile, here is his GoH talk, more or less as delivered.

What I did not like about Spider-Man II
01/04/2006. Now Mark realises that most of America liked the movie Spider-Man II, he feels he should get out his list of complaints about the second film before the third launches out into the world's cinemas.

A box is limited only by the size of the walls you give it
01/03/2006. An ability Uncle Geoff takes for granted, is being able to look at things from different perspectives and viewpoints or what is commonly called thinking outside of the box, or really outside his own personal mindset. A useful asset for any science fiction editor or writer.

Of mutant bread and Frankenstein
01/03/2006. Evelyn got a new kind of bread. It is called "Extreme Wheat Bread." Now most people would not give that a second thought. I am not most people. I am not sure what makes bread extreme. They show sweaty football players on the bag. Not a sight I like to look like over breakfast. That makes the bread experience not so much extreme as repugnant. I did notice that the bread seems to lead an unnatural life. This stuff can be weeks old and it still feels fresh.

Religion, ethics, and genetics
01/02/2006. Mark looks at the standard Sunday school view of history and the belief that nobody would be virtuous without a fear of God. But might any ideology - and a belief in morality is an ideology - have a genetic basis instead?

Don't do this at home!
01/02/2006. Kids have always played their favourite characters in their games, notes Uncle Geoff. When westerns were popular, gunfights at the OK Biscuit. Along came detective shows, it was cops and robbers. With Science Fiction, super-heroes and super-humans, the stakes just got a little higher especially when it could be enacted on TV and films. Fertile areas for games providing you didn't get too carried away with climbing instead of pretend shooting.

That only makes it worse (or reality should depend on the hand of the writer)
01/01/2006. What tends to distinguish Science Fiction from fantasy of any sort is the avoidance of using deus ex machina, says Uncle Geoff, a rough translation of which means 'the hand of god', for sorting out a story problem or solution. It's the sort of thing amateur writers do when not pre-planning a story and writing themselves into a corner without any viable, sensible or plausible solution.