perfidy

Ministry Crony EDog informs me that he will be honoring our beloved Perfidy in his blogday post. At the very same moment, he also, accidently, let me know that there is such a thing as blogday. With some careful, cautious research - namely going to blogday.com - I have teased out the following information:

• Blogday is one of those skirting-the-edge-of-insipid-happy-happy-joy-joy thingies.
• On Blog Day, you mention, and I presume link to, five blogs that you haven't before, or maybe not very frequently, and that hopefully aren't on your blogroll.
• The targets of your linkage should be informed of their unwilling participation.

Personally, that last seems to take some of the fun out of the whole exercise. Be that as it may. I have, as it happens, approximately five new blogs that I have been reading lately that I have not linked (no surprise there, I forget to link everyone) and which, as an added bonus, have a theme.

So here, for your reading pleasure, five science fiction writer blogs:

• First on the list is the one I have been reading longest. Charlie's Diary is the blog home of author Charles Stross, who just recently failed to win a Hugo. Happily, the novel that he thought deserved it won, so I guess that's something. Stross is, perhaps, my favorite writer of the moment. While he missed the opportunity to have the sort of influence on a young boy that Heinlein did for me, through his poor choice of birthday, he is the one whose books are stretching my brain right now. For some years, the singularity was the elephant in the room that is science fiction. People avoided talking about it, but nevertheless, its bulk affected the habits and seating arrangements. One could argue that much of the current wave of alternate sf is a reaction to the challenge presented by the singularity - how do you write about something that is by definition impossible to foresee? Stross is one of the relative few sf writers that has written directly at the singularity, and the results are impressive. Oh, and his blog's fun, too.
• Our next selection is Angel Station, the blog home of author Walter Jon Williams. According to his profile, he likes writing, game designing, kenpo, scuba diving, fantasy Iron Chef and long walks on the beach. He also has had a fascinating continuing series on his trip to Turkey that is well worth the reading. His novel Voice of the Whirlwind is one of my all-time favorites.
• Next in line we find Whatever, the blog of another author who failed to get a Hugo the other day, John Scalzi. (He did get the Campbell Award, so don’t cry for him.) Scalzi and out next contestant have had a running battle over the fate of the planet Pluto, which was entertaining if futile, and ultimately moot. Part of those shenanigans can be found here. Scalzi is a fun writer – I’ve read his two published novels, and they’re riproaring old school fun. You can find one of his novels, Agent to the Stars, for free on his website. It’s a great read, if uncannily similar to EDog’s NaNoWriMo novel, The Milkman.
• Pluto-hayta Scott Westerfeld has an entertaining blog, and one of these days real soon, now I’m going to read some of his books.
• Finally, we have Cheeseburger Gothic, the blog of Australian author John Birmingham. He has written a three book trilogy called the Axis of Time, where in a multinational task force from the year 2021 gets whipped back into the middle of the Battle of Midway, thereby causing a little confusion. I have read the first two, and have gone so far as to order the third from an Australian bookseller. Yes, I am paying an extra $15 in shipping just to avoid waiting til the books January US release. The story is fascinating, really. All the guns and ‘splosians and whatnot you could ask for, but also insightful bits about how race and gender iontegrated post modern warriors from the future would get along with the white bread mainstream society of the forties. Also, the enemies are clever, but still possessed of their tragic flaws. Well done stuff.

[wik] Of course, I would be remiss, and nearly was, in failing to mention that the hombre who started all this, EDog, is himself a science fiction author, though as yet unfairly and nigh on to tragically unpublished. You can see his stuff here, and if you email him and ask nicely he'll probably send you a copy of some of his stuff. I highly recommend The Milkman, mentioned above.