Week of January 28-February 3

[mrissa]

Six rejections this week.

I am still dizzy today. I have hopes that it's getting better, though. Part of that may be the relentless optimism I always have, but part may even be data interpretation.

It is Not Warm here. The hinges and locks are frosted over on the doors. Supposed to continue this way tomorrow, so I will probably wear a bulletproof sweater to go out. Seriously, if you've tried on a real Norwegian ski sweater, you'll know what I mean here: they're so heavy and so tightly knit that they really do feel like armor. In them I look too Scando for words. Wait! I always look like that! Well, it just emphasizes the fact that I always look that way, then.

Whenever people spend lots of time going on about how SF is rigorous and fantasy is any old thing, I want to mention that I have to find the time to read more group theory for my next fantasy novel, only I'm not sure that people who go on like that know that group theory is math. Also, I think that if you're going to go on about how rigorous SF is, you should expect much pointing and guffawing at the Bits O' Crazy in your own published work. Just in general theory, mind. I haven't the time for pointing and guffawing in specific myself just now.

Comments

[sethb.livejournal.com]

I wonder what kind of book you'd learn Category Theory for.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If it turns out I am a truly wretched individual, possibly the same one.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks all around.

[ckd]

<snark>Yeah, it would definitely Not Be Good for a rigorous science fiction work to feature, oh, a spaceship pilot who is so good he can dodge lasers, or to ignore the minor mathematical fact that 2009 + 21 years is 2030, but 1970 + 2**31 seconds is 2038.

I mean, a serious SF writer would never make mistakes like those.</snark>

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Who are you kidding; you haven't shut off your snark mode in years.

Not that this is a complaint, mind.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you want to borrow one of the texts (or if you're just feeling too sane and want to cure that problem).

[landofnowhere]

That is awesome. I want to know more. :-)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks much, Seth. I'll definitely poke you about it if markgritter's collection proves insufficient.

[markgritter.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Ooh! Yeah, she needs to borrow a text! ;)

[ckd]

Perhaps the snark tag nests, which would just mean an increased snark level for the contained text.

[evangoer.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to think of "hard SF" novels that did not, at the time of writing, cheerfully and willfully violate at least one known law of physics. I think the last one I read that qualifies would actually be Carl Sagan's "Contact". Other than that I'm stumped.

[evangoer.livejournal.com]

Whoops, that was mangled. By "at the time of writing" I meant that the author could reasonably have been expected to know at the time they wrote the book that their plot was violating a law of physics.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about Timescape. I think he was trying pretty hard, at any rate. Tachyons were pretty new(ly thought about).