In Theory, there is no Practice.

Listening to: Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America I am about 25% through it, into Act 2 of 5. Regarding specifically the audio version of the book, I don’t really like the narrator, Scott Brick. He narrated Spin also. In both books, I find him very too dispassionate and almost dull. I am not sure this is the intent of the author. I like the stories much better than his narration. I am more sensitive to this because of a Neil Gaiman blog post on reading books aloud. OT, I may have already said this, but I love author read books, and Neil Gaiman’s Stardust and Neverwhere are in the top three. (Note to Self: list the best read books I have heard, especially books where the narration made the audio version BETTER than the written version).

Not long ago, I noticed a post from Instapundit about an interesting article that describes how a lot of new novels are moving away from expecting the singularity/transcendence of human kind. My initial thoughts are this is not new, per se. Off the top of my head, Planet of the Apes, Logan’s Run and the like have existed to provide a counter point to Foundation, Dune, and others.

Some interesting thoughts while writing this post:

• How utopian and dystopian SF view the singularity
• How post-Apocalytic SF views the singularity
• What kinds of apocalypse are referredto in post-Apocalyptic SF (plague, nuclear, peak oil, alien invasion)