Now that the blog software seems to be working I’ve decided to post more frequently, rather than waiting for a full review of the books I’m reading. We’ll see if that draws any comments from my “fans”.
For what it’s worth, my four months of consignment of my books to the best local bookstore in the area produced one sale. Since the consignment was a 50-50% deal with the bookstore that was a net loss. However, chalk it up to marketing. Besides, since they bought The Fifth Prophet there is some hope the mystery reader will purchase the rest of the series.
A new series is exploding inside my marketing weary mind. It is probably uncontainable, but I do feel like a tree falling in the forest at times.
Monthly Archives: July 2014
Mathematics in Sci-fi
I’m reading Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide, a book full of philosophy/religion, ethics, and many other cool deep thoughts. Grego, the physicist, and his brother, Olhado, are in a prison cell working on a theory for FTL. Their sister, Valentine, enters to find Grego laying on a bed with his feet up on the wall, listening to music. Although it seems that this theory will involve “wishing makes it so”, I liked the following less “fantastic” line.
“Grego’s doing math in his head right now,” said Olhado, “so he’s functionally dead.”
The multiple meanings are intriguing. Grego is producing no output? And receiving no input variables either. Yet, live functions must be wriggling through his consciousness. Or does Grego’s math not involve functions at all, since they may involve a “wish” predicate? Does thinking mathematics make you non-functioning?
When Grego returns to “functional life” he goes on to describe “unreal realspace”, and the outside of the infinite universe. And off we go into the ectometaverse without seeing the multiverse?
Religion in Sci-Fi
Reading Xenocide by Orson Scott Card. “The gods are naked, and we must clothe them.”
In this part of the story Qing-jao, one of the godspoken, must discover the cause of the disappearance of the fleet. She can find no reason, except that the gods did it. But revealing that is a problem because only the godspoken are “allowed to see that they (the gods) are the cause of all that is and was and will be.”
Card has developed a system that merges scientific reality with religious belief. Now, what does he do with it?