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Vast (novel)
''Vast'' is a science fiction novel by Linda Nagata, part of her loosely connected "Nanotech Succession" sequence. Background The main characters of ''Vast'' are the crew and passengers of the ''Null Boundary'', who are fleeing from the alien Chenzeme. The Chenzeme, using the "cult virus" and other, more conventional, weapons have destroyed much of human-occupied space, leaving the inhabitants of the ''Null Boundary'' to attempt to discover why. While ''Vast'' is a standalone novel, there are links to ''The Bohr Maker'', ''Tech-Heaven'' and ''Deception Well'', primarily in the form of two shared technological innovations: advanced nanotechnology and "ghosts", a name given to electronically preserved human memories and personalities. Literary significance and reception The SF Site gave the novel a positive review, commenting on the balance between the relatively straightforward plotline and the complex character interaction. John Clute, in ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linda Nagata
Linda Nagata (born November 7, 1960, in San Diego, California) is a Hawaii-based American author of speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. Her novella ''Goddesses'' was the first online publication to win the Nebula Award. She frequently writes in the Nanopunk genre, which features nanotechnology and the integration of advanced computing with the human brain. Life and career Nagata was born in San Diego and moved with her family to Oahu, Hawai'i when she was ten years old. She earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa before moving to the island of Maui, where she still lives with her family. Nagata began writing after graduating from university, and published her first short story in 1987. She now publishes under her independent imprint, Mythic Island Press, LLC., which publishes e-books and trade paperbacks. She is perhaps most recognized for her ''Nanotech Succession'' series, whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' (1974) and ''Lucifer's Hammer'' (1977). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named him the 2015 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective fiction and adventure stories. His fantasy includes the series ''The Magic Goes Away'', rational fantasy dealing with magic as a non-renewable resource. Biography Niven was born in Los Angeles. He is a great-grandson of Edward L. Doheny, an oil tycoon who drilled the first successful well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field in 1892, and also was subsequently implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal. Niven briefly attended the Califor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghost Novels
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike forms. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a ''séance''. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter or spectre, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul. The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, though stories of ghostly armies and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biological Weapons In Popular Culture
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary information encoded in genes, which can be transmitted to future generations. Another major theme is evolution, which explains the unity and diversity of life. Energy processing is also important to life as it allows organisms to move, grow, and reproduce. Finally, all organisms are able to regulate their own internal environments. Biologists are able to study life at multiple levels of organization, from the molecular biology of a cell to the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals, and evolution of populations.Based on definition from: Hence, there are multiple subdisciplines within biology, each defined by the nature of their research questions and the tools that they use. Like other scientists, biologists use the scientific meth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanotechnology In Fiction
The use of nanotechnology in fiction has attracted scholarly attention. The first use of the distinguishing concepts of nanotechnology was "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", a talk given by physicist Richard Feynman in 1959. K. Eric Drexler's 1986 book ''Engines of Creation'' introduced the general public to the concept of nanotechnology. Since then, nanotechnology has been used frequently in a diverse range of fiction, often as a justification for unusual or far-fetched occurrences featured in speculative fiction.Bly, Robert W., 2005, ''The Science In Science Fiction: 83 SF Predictions that Became Scientific Reality'', BenBella Books, Inc., . Notable examples Literature In 1931, Boris Zhitkov wrote a short story called ''Microhands'' ( Микроруки), where the narrator builds for himself a pair of microscopic remote manipulators, and uses them for fine tasks like eye surgery. When he attempts to build even smaller manipulators to be manipulated by the first pai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantam Books Books
Bantam or Bantams may refer to: * Bantam (poultry), any small variety of fowl, usually of chicken or duck Businesses * Bantam Books, an American publishing house * Bantam Cider, an American cider company * Bantam Press, a British publishing imprint * American Bantam, a 1935 car company, formerly American Austin Car Company Military * Bantam (military), a soldier shorter than 5'3" in the First World War ** 143rd Battalion (British Columbia Bantams), CEF ** 216th Battalion (Bantams), CEF * Bantam (missile), a Swedish 1950s anti-tank missile * BAT Bantam, a British 1920s biplane fighter aircraft * Northrop X-4 Bantam, an American prototype small twinjet aircraft * Douglas A-4 Skyhawk light attack aircraft, nicknamed Bantam Bomber Places * Banten (town), also written as Bantam, a port town in Java, Indonesia ** Banten Sultanate, or Bantam, 1527–1813 ** Banten, current province of Indonesia on territory of the former sultanate * Bantam, Cocos (Keeling) Islands * Bantam, Connect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1998 Science Fiction Novels
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles. * January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. * January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. * January 17 – The ''Drudge Report'' breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives' impeachment of him. February * February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster (1998), Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car. * February 4 – The 5.9 February 1998 Afghanistan earthquake, Afghanistan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1998 American Novels
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles. * January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. * January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. * January 17 – The ''Drudge Report'' breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him. February * February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car. * February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). With up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Suns
''House of Suns'' is a 2008 science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. Connections to previous works The novel is set in the same fictional setting as Reynolds' novella "Thousandth Night", which appears in the anthology '' One Million A.D.''. Reynolds has stated ohis blogthat the longer work "does not attempt slavish consistency" with "Thousandth Night". (A number of characters killed in the novella make an appearance in the novel.) The novel was shortlisted for the 2009 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Retrieved June 14, 2013. Setting Approximately six million years in the future, humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, which appears devoid of any ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Redemption Ark
''Redemption Ark'' is a 2002 science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds set in the Revelation Space universe. It continues the story of Nevil Clavain begun in the short stories " Great Wall of Mars" and "Glacial". Plot The novel takes place around the planets Yellowstone and Resurgam, in two story lines which converge near the climax of the novel. Yellowstone The novel begins in the year 2605, where Skade has been tasked with investigating a Conjoiner ship that has returned to the Conjoiner headquarters, the Mother Nest. It is revealed early on that Skade is a Conjoiner woman who appears to be in touch with secret circles of control within the theoretically egalitarian Conjoiners society. In the ship, she discovers Galiana, the original founder of the Conjoiners, who left Conjoiner space decades previously on an exploration mission. In space, she encountered the Inhibitors, who have unleashed an agent into her ships which has taken control of it and killed her c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Preston Reynolds (born 13 March 1966) is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle University, where he studied physics and astronomy. Afterwards, he earned a PhD in astrophysics from the University of St Andrews. In 1991, he moved to Noordwijk in the Netherlands where he met his wife Josette (who is from France). There, he worked for the European Space Research and Technology Centre (part of the European Space Agency) until 2004 when he left to pursue writing full-time. He returned to Wales in 2008 and lives near Cardiff. Works Reynolds wrote his first four published science fiction short stories while still a graduate student, in 1989–1991; they appeared in 1990–1992, his first sale being to '' Interzone''. In 1991 Reynolds graduated and moved from Scotland to the Netherlands to work at ESA. He then started spending much of his writing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olaf Stapledon
William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures in Science Fiction''. New York: Routledge, 2010. (pp. 205–210) .John Kinnaird, "Stapledon,(William) Olaf" in Curtis C. Smith, ''Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers''. Chicago, St. James, 1986. (pp. 693–6). In 2014, he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Life Stapledon was born in Seacombe, Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, the only son of William Clibbett Stapledon and Emmeline Miller. The first six years of his life were spent with his parents at Port Said, Egypt. He was educated at Abbotsholme School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he acquired a BA degree in Modern History (Second Class) in 1909, promoted to an MA degree in 1913. After a brief stint as a teacher at Manchester G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
