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Sleep And The Soul (collection)
''Sleep and the Soul'' is a collection of ten science-fiction short stories by Australian writer Greg Egan, published in 2023. Contents Reception Reviews Russell Letson writes in the ''Locus Magazine'', to be "struck by how consistent Egan has been in his ethical and social concerns; by his relentless pursuit of philosophical questions; by the sometimes daunting sophistication of his mathematical, topological, and cosmological speculations; and by the surprising ways he turns and re-turns his imagination to those questions. Even after seven volumes of short work (and more than a dozen novels and novellas) these variations on themes never get old." Letson further writes about the title story in the ''Locus Magazine'', that it is "an intriguing piece presented as an alternate history where the Jonbar point is a biological change, not a historical one." He adds that "Egan’s logical working out of the consequences of his central idea is fascinating, and the story is involvi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Egan
Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Locus Award. Life and work Egan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from the University of Western Australia. He published his first work in 1983. He specialises in hard science fiction stories with mathematical and quantum ontology themes, including the nature of consciousness. Other themes include genetics, simulated reality, posthumanism, mind uploading, sexuality, artificial intelligence, and the superiority of rational naturalism to religion. He often deals with complex technical material, like new physics and epistemology. He is a Hugo Award winner (with eight other works shortlisted for the Hugos) and has also won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. His early stories feature strong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples that Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, migrated to Britain after its End of Roman rule in Britain, Roman occupiers left. English is the list of languages by total number of speakers, most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations) and the United States. English is the list of languages by number of native speakers, third-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish language, Spanish; it is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of the official languages in list of countries and territories where English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space exploration, time travel, Parallel universes in fiction, parallel universes, and extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial life. The genre often explores human responses to the consequences of projected or imagined scientific advances. Science fiction is related to fantasy (together abbreviated wikt:SF&F, SF&F), Horror fiction, horror, and superhero fiction, and it contains many #Subgenres, subgenres. The genre's precise Definitions of science fiction, definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Major subgenres include hard science fiction, ''hard'' science fiction, which emphasizes scientific accuracy, and soft science fiction, ''soft'' science fiction, which focuses on social sciences. Other no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Science Fiction
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the November issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction''. The complementary term ''soft science fiction'', formed by analogy to the popular distinction between the "hard" (natural science, natural) and "soft" (social science, social) sciences,) first appeared in the late 1970s. Though there are examples generally considered as Hard and soft science, "hard" science fiction such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation (book series), ''Foundation'' series, built on mathematical sociology, science fiction critic Gary Westfahl argues that while neither term is part of a rigorous Taxonomy (general), taxonomy, they are approximate ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful. History Stories revolving around scientific and technical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the list of countries and dependencies by area, sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse countries, megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and Climate of Australia, climates including deserts of Australia, deserts in the Outback, interior and forests of Australia, tropical rainforests along the Eastern states of Australia, coast. The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period, last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
This Is Not The Way Home (short Story)
"This Is Not the Way Home" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in the anthology ''Mission Critical'' edited by Jonathan Straham in 2019. It describes a rescue mission from the moon using a sky hook in lunar orbit. The short story also appeared in the anthologies ''The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 4'' edited by Allan Kaster in 2020 and ''The Year’s Best Science Fiction Volume 1'' edited by Jonathan Strahan in 2020 as well as the collection '' Sleep and the Soul'' in 2023. '' This Is Not the Way Home'' is also the title of the second studio album by Australian indie rock band The Cruel Sea from 1991, which might have been the inspiration for the title. Plot Aisha, who since childhood had dreamed about becoming an astronaut, and her husband Gianni win a honeymoon on a Chinese moon base. While they are on the Moon, every contact with Earth breaks, with a conflict between the United States and China being suspected, which wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crisis Actors (short Story)
"Crisis Actors" is a science fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan. It describes the journey of a denier of climate change. The short story was included in the anthology ''Tomorrow’s Parties: Life in the Anthropocene'' edited by Jonathan Strahan in 2022 and the collection '' Sleep and the Soul'' in 2023. " After Zero", another story from this collection, also deals with climate change. Plot Carl denies climate change and furthermore thinks that news about its devastating effects are staged with crisis actors. Determined to expose the false game, Carl travels into a region recently hit by a cyclone, but is only confronted with real suffering. Reviews Russell Letson wrote in the ''Locus Magazine'', that the short story "has a kind of inside-out intrigue plot" and the "tight point of view immerses us in Carl’s actions." Furthermore, he compared it to the short story ''Sleep and the Soul'' also appearing in the collection '' Sleep and the Soul'' and wrote about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
After Zero
"After Zero" is a science fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in the anthology ''Phase Change: New SF Energies'' edited by Matthew Chrulew in 2022. It describes the efforts to stop climate change, both from a scientific and sociological perspective. The short story was also included in the collection '' Sleep and the Soul'' in 2023. " Crisis Actors", another story from this collection, also deals with climate change. Plot In 2060, Latifa (also the protagonist from " Zero for Conduct") is pursuing a project to launch a plasma powered scattering device to the first Lagrange point between Earth and Sun. It is supposed reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth in an attempt to cool down its record-breaking temperatures caused by climate change. Her project competes for funding against another known as Time Portal, which aims to send four humans into the past to change history by using a rotating ring dragging spacetime with it (as described by the Ke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dream Factory (short Story)
"Dream Factory" is a science-fiction short story by Australian writer Greg Egan, first published in the ''Clarkesworld Magazine'' in April 2022. It describes the development of an app to watch the dreams of pets. The short story was included in the collection '' Sleep and the Soul'' in 2023. Plot In the near future, people put electrodes in their pet's brains to make them do tricks. James intends to expose this as nonsense and uses the cat Pawpaw to programm an app, which shows the dreams of pets. But instead of the world realizing, that they should not mess with their brains, the app goes viral after the recommendation of a famous pop singer. James then begins to work on a fake decoy app to undermine his own success. Reviews Victoria Silverwolf wrote in ''Tangent Online'' that Egan "creates unusually plausible speculative technology, while also demonstrating a profound understanding of the cultural impact of social media". She further adds that "subtle hints of a near future ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locus (magazine)
''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. It also publishes comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genres (excluding self-published). The magazine also presents the annual Locus Awards. '' Locus Online'' was launched in April 1997, as a semi-autonomous web version of ''Locus Magazine''. History Charles N. Brown, Ed Meskys, and Dave Vanderwerf founded ''Locus'' in 1968 as a news fanzine to promote the (ultimately successful) bid to host the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally intended to run only until the site-selection vote was taken at St. Louiscon, the 1969 Worldcon in St. Louis, Missouri, Brown decided to continue publishing ''Locus'' as a mimeographed general science fiction and fantasy newszine. ''Locus'' succ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seiun Award
The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fiction Convention. It is the oldest SF award in Japan, being given since the 9th Japan Science Fiction Convention in 1970. "Seiun", the Japanese word for "nebula", was taken from the first professional science fiction magazine in Japan, which had a short run in 1954. The award is not related to the American Nebula Award. It is similar to the Hugo Award, which is presented by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, in that all of the members of the presenting convention are eligible to participate in the selection process, though it is not a one-on-one comparison as the Hugo Awards are open to works from anywhere in any language, while the Seiun is implicitly limited to works released in Japan and written in or translated to Japane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locus Award For Best Novelette
The Locus Award for Best Novelette is one of a series of Locus Awards given annually by Locus Magazine ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. .... Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The first award in this category was presented in 1975. Winners Winners are as follows: accessed 4 March 2015 References {{Locus Award Novelette Short story awards[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
