Underrated Contemporary Science Fiction Writers

No matter the subject, science fiction genre should be looked upon with different eyes not just as a source of entertainment, but also as an inspiration to the technology we develop today, because you must know that the science fiction of today is the technology of tomorrow. 

Years ago the technology we have today was considered science fiction. Then the years of science fiction and alien abduction fever followed. The writers of those stories are long forgotten and the years of science fiction movies started. Being underrated those writers became screenwriters of today's shows. The changes will still happen and will turn maybe to living the movie yourself. Even so, there are many writers that remained faithful to the science fiction genre and offered some good reading for all that stumble upon their novels or who buys it on purpose. One of my favorite science fiction novel writers is David Bartell. I succeeded to interview him and get you an inside view. The following is his interview. " There are many different science fictional settings and sub-genres. I have to admit, I have a soft spot for good old-fashioned space exploration in which the wonders of the universe feature. Having a scientific background, I write a lot of hard science fiction that tends to be near-future. Some of this is cautionary, raising questions that we may find important in our lifetimes. Since deep space exploration is not likely in our lifetimes, I have branched into other sciences that are more pressing today, such as genetics - another big frontier. Space exploration and biology are closely related, and I have discussed both in my recent television appearance, and an upcoming one. My latest story is set in Larry Niven's Known Space universe, and is a hard science fiction space opera set in the distant future. This may be a new direction for me, since I have always loved these kind of stories. I have trouble naming a novel or two as the best of all time for two reasons. First, "best" is subjective, even for me. I may have a favorite for a time, but change my mind later. Also, your question asks what is the best writing. Well, some great SF books actually have pretty poor writing. I think that the best writers are not the ones I have read a lot of. However, I have always admired the prose skills of Arthur C. Clarke and Alan Dean Foster - both can write beautifully, though both have their shortcomings. I can't think of any of the old masters who were actually good writers, in the literary sense. Many modern writers are brilliant but don't necessarily write the kind of stories I like to read. I find them challenging - which is good! I also have to confess to having a historical preference for shorter fiction. I've read tons of shorts, and many fewer novels. But a few of my favorite SF and fantasy novels, for very different reasons, are: Lord of the Rings, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Midworld by Alan Dean Foster, Ringworld by Niven, A Clockwork Orange, The Amber Chronicles by Zelazny... Is SF underrated? Yes, it has been woefully so until about the last decade. To an extent this is deserved; early SF was rich in imagination, ideas, and extrapolations, but short in literary quality and relevance. For a variety of reasons I don't understand, mainstream literature has kept SF in a ghetto. One reason I do understand is the cult of fandom. When SF became popular, as with Star Trek, reaching a mainstream audience, it was easy to label it as a genre appealing to geeks and maladjusted teen boys. The fans, not caring about how they were perceived outside, began the circus of fandom, dressing up as aliens, playacting, etc. This made all of SF victim of undeserved ridicule. Popular SF, including Trek, Star Wars, and others have in some ways been overrated. They tend to be good stories but not great SF as such. A side effect might be that good SF is overlooked. I have always thought that some SF classics are overrated as well, such as Dune, and the movie Blade Runner. (I like them, but they just don't seem to me as great as they are made out to be. I may be in the minority there.) The Discovery Channel interview has had a positive effect on my reputation, as you might imagine. Viewers looked me up, but since I was on vacation, I had not updated my web page in time! I and two other interviewees showed a screening of the extended cut of that show at a convention - two hours of show and two more of discussion. High visibility, to be sure. It opens doors; I am currently working on another show, this time for National Geographic. Will SF be different in the future? That's a fantastic question, rather meta. Here's a question I have asked other SF writers (you can see Larry Niven's answer on my interview of him on YouTube.) What would SF be like after first contact with aliens? It would change everything. Suddenly aliens would not be SF any longer, but mainstream, and everyone will write about them. SF will no longer have a monopoly on that. We do see that SF shrinks as science catches up with it. Captain Kirk's jazzy communicator is now commonplace. We don't have starships yet, but we have a lot of other advances that were once the stuff of dreams. As science moves forward, the fiction surrounding it becomes mainstream. You also allude to the growing amount of SF in the media. I don't see screenwriters supplanting print writers for a very long time. They have very different talents, and write for very different media. A few years ago we worried that kids weren't reading anymore, and feared for writers. That all changed with Harry Potter, Twilight, and the glut of YA fiction out there. To be sure, fantasy is eclipsing science fiction these days, but that may change. But no, I don't see writers going away any time soon. -db " The next is about 3 novels that i consider also underrated. First is by David Bartelle and is actually a novelette and will appear in the Man-Kzin Wars XIII this year. The novelette, called Zeno's Roulette, is about a wormhole, a jinxian and the suicide mission he is sent to along with his girlfriend and a spy. They been sent to a Kzin recreational world by Puppeteer on a suicidal vendetta and to gather information about an exotic wormhole. William Gibson, the writer of Neuromancer is the next writer that is considered underrated. He was born in 1948 in South Carolina and spend much of his life moving arround USA. He ended up living with his mother in Virginia, from where he got his interest in science fiction. After moving to British Columbia he started writing, and never stopped since. One of his novels is called Neuromancer and became a little famous among the readers of this genre. The novel is about Case, a computer cowboy that put his consciousness into cyberspace and gathered information, secrets, data and logic and sold it to anyone that could buy his skills. He ended up back to the physical body after making the mistake of double-crossing and after finding out that the underworld cyber-space could offer him a second change, he also finds out what is the price for it also. The following author is Peter Hamilton. He was born in Rutland and in 1987 started writing. Living in Rutland Water with his family he is writing ever since and being productive. His first novel is called Mindstar Rising and it is about a new power source and the tension raises when the main character, Greg Mandel, is about to do his final test. The action happens is a world somehow similar to ours, a world thorn apart by the global warming and the free market of multi-millions companies. These are just 3 examples of this underrated genre, but there are other writers, less known then this ones. The genre will evolve along with the technology, but it will never disappear because humanity will always think of the future and the technology they can only dream of.

Fashion Bomb

           Eastern European Ethnic 

                         Fashion

        Romania is a less known country in the Eastern Europe and it seems that recently it has been discovered by the fashion world and it makes furors among the viewers.

          A french designer called Philippe Guilet figured that he will come with something extraordinary and shocking to the fashion community by getting the inspiration from Romanian folklore as he is known to be originated from here. I guess with his collection he tried to make it out for the country that he has origins in. For that he went and contracted multiple Romanian artisans and started from the old clothing style and turned them into modern clothes that are going to be next years fashion hit at the fashion week in Paris.

           The clothing he got inspired from are the: Romanian "ie" which is a blouse made out of in and hand sewed with colorful designs, the Romanian "cojoc" which is a furry natural leather also hand made with black or red designs, the Romanian "poale" which is the skirts that women used to wear, the "naframa" or "basma" used to be wore on heads by women also, "braul" from hard leather for men and very flourished one sewed by hand for women.

           The Romanian fashion is a huge inspiration and will continue to be since the clothes are very easy to wear and comfortable. It was about time that if no designer from Romania took an attitude and try to make Romanians proud outside their "brothers" thought of them an gave them a start.

          "We have produced something beautiful...Its a passport for Romania.", these are the designers words about his collection that he named "The Prejudice" and will only be on cat walk next year in Paris.

         The shoes with an interesting heel, inspired by the Endless Column by the Romanian sculptor G. Brancusi, made a huge impact on Romanian media. The wedding dress made by the designer is made from multiple hand made white decorations for furniture used to be placed in Romanian houses 100s of years ago and in some parts of Maramures and Moldova those are still used. The bolero that was inspired from the Romanian folklore is made from 1000s of beads hand sewed.

         Even the horse fashion from folklore was transformed into women clothes and with this creating some remarkable costumes. The Romanian holidays traditions were not forgot and the Easter egg paintings made by women here are also present in the collection. All the folklore still present in remote areas of Romania are present in his collection and all the culture known outside that is from Romania are found in a modern way in Phillippe Guilets collection.

The french designer took the last 5 years preparing this showcase and we all hope that he would not stop here and continue to be inspired by the Romanian folklore and artisan art. The news about his collection appeared all over the world and lots of critics want to be present at the showcase so they can have a first look at the collection. I truly believe that this is the new wave in fashion design.

The Cars We Will Drive Soon

               Concept Cars Design

      The cars we are used to drive today will become classics and maybe end up in a museum like the ones from 2 centuries back. The major car companies already propose new designs and sometimes new technologies. The new wave in car concept is all about comfort and less maneuvering, more technology and less emissions.

        The major car companies have some concept cars available even since 2005 and waiting new ideas from clients. They also didn't start a mass production yet and continue the mass production of they old models and keep the line of their previous production. Peugeot stood in the front line in 2005 when they opened a new age in car building, producing the car called Moovie.

       Peugeot released some other car concept and since then every year more companies release their futuristic designs. The next cars are from Peugeot who is the leader in domain, in my own opinion.

Peugeot Metamorph

Peugeot Moville

Peugeot OZone

 Peugeot Lion

Peugeot LoopPeugeot Reversed Tricycle

Peugeot RD

Another car company that offers multiple car designs is Audi. They also make the new cars friendly to people and environment.

Audi Quattroflex      

Audi CalamariAudi XXVLOAudi Reversed Tricycle

The cars proposed by the car designers also have an rather interesting way to fuel them, alternatives to the well known gasoline. These new cars run on common electricity, thronium, solar power, ozone, hydrogen, like the concept car from Cadillac called Thorium like the fuel it uses. This new methods of fueling make the atmosphere more breathable and since the emissions are low i would predict that even politicians will encourage the use of the new cars.

Cadillac Thorium      

The new wave in car sale could offer custom car designs and soon we might not see 2 similar cars that run on the street. But for this the car companies must change their entire company policy and enter a rather cruel world of competition.

The companies that offer at the moment concept car designs are the following ones. Some have a smooth feminine line and other have a somehow creepy design.

Ford Concept Car

Astrum Meera

Citroen 2CV

Isuzu FC-12

Namir Concept Car

Ferrari Concept Car

Fiat Concept Car

Green GT

Halycon

Hawk

Renault

Iomega

Jaguar Mark XXI

Mazda Furai

Volkswagen Ego

BMW Concept Car

And as a sub note i would buy one of these cars if I could afford it. These designs inspired by nature or sci-fi are going to be seen more and more on our roads because the future is closer to us then we imagine. 

view my portfolio:
coroflot.com/

UFO's were built first by romanians

Henri Coandă's UFO-The "UFO fever" finally got an answer

When I heard this news I thought that it is a joke on the internet. Then I did a little research and I realized this is as real as my hand.

        Henri Coandă was a Romanian engineer and he invented one of the first planes that ever flew back then.

        His first invention that is not a normal plane, called "Aerodyne Lenticulaire", was realized in 1932 and actually experimentally flew. From 1932 till 1956 the project was modified. Initially the machine was fueled by gas and it rise to the ceiling and stood there till the gas supply was cut off.

   In 1956 Henri Coandă published 2 aerodyne lens patents without mechanical moving parts. This device was powered by steam and based on the reaction principle.

       This new concept reached throughout the world and to the USA. In the '60 US Air Force contracted the Romanian inventor and the device was modified to suspend a man vertically. They were weighting 1 tone and were 5 meters wide and it had a debit of 500 kg/sec. The devices flew again.

The last of this kind from Henri Coandă's projects was in 1970 when he collaborated again with the US Air Force and created a device that suspended vertically a aircraft. The force of 4 UFO reach 10 meters up of  a fuselage assuring it's stability, but this device never flew officially.

       This sketch is the last work on this project and a model of this last one can be found in a Romanian museum in Bucharest called "Dimitrie Leonida".

       The UFO fever covered the earth and we can only assume that others then the Romanians had developed this kind of aircraft. 

 

 Today ARCA association is developing Henri Coandă's projects and participating in the Google Lunar X Prize contest and hoping that the launch of Romanian rocket Helen 2 will safely land back.

"Project Glass"

         GOOGLE

        GLASSES

 The already famous "Project Glass" from Google is making furores on the Internet and it is clearly going to become the number one gadget of the close future.
       On the Youtube, Google already posted a video that explains how the google glasses will work. It is as easy as puting them on your nose and talking, and they do everything for you. They particulary seem to ease the life in big cities.

         The google glasses are the first piece of augmented reality technology, that are giving time and resources to reach the wide world market. They allow you to connect directly to the Internet and give a phone call or take a picture or simply navigate thru the GPS in a city. You can buy a ticket to a concert or simply go to a section of a store. You can sing to your girlfriend a serenade or ask information about the schedule of a dinnery, bar, theatre, etc. You can ask any public information about the subways or buses. Basically it will give you any information you need and all you have to do is talk.

        To improve more the product they probed the targeted market and released the first pictures with the design that looks sci-fi like, comfortable and something that you can wear while walking in the city.

        The reaction from the other companies that produce such gadgets is still waiting to be released. As this product is already close be released on the market, producers like Sony, Samsung or Apple will have to keep up with the new wave and announce soon something similar or better.
       Till the Google glasses will be available on the market, there might be changes to the elements of the glasses like video, audio or to the buttons that the glasses require to function.
        There is an issue some people brought up and it is about the security. This is where we do not know anything yet. There might be the possibility that someone to access the glasses and see what you see or hear what you hear. Until this will become a issue to be aware of, let's enjoy thinking about the technology that makes our lives easier every day.

The Easter In Romania

           The 

       Easter In

       Romania

           Easter is the most important holiday in the Christian year. Catholics and Orthodox christians celebrate it usually separatelly, but the significance of the holiday is the same.
              As every modern holiday this one also has a history. In the Christian world it used to be a hebrew holiday. It marked the Exodus of the Chosen People, leaded by Moses, from Egypt. It was celabrated for years before the new formed religion adopted it as a holiday of it's own.
             In Europe most people were pagans at the time the Chriastians started to gain more grounds, so there was a need for replacing the pagan holidays with the ones that had a Christian significance. Easter holiday replaced the spring festival dedicated to the pagan godess Eostre, festival that was marking the vernal equinox. The holiday was approved by the Roman Emperor Constantine and the Council of Niceea in 325.
            The Easter holiday means for most christians the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the founder of the modern christianity. The events that happened cca. 30 AD are celebrated in the christian calendar and calls to a cleaning of the human soul, penitence and honoring the sacrifice Jesus did for the christians.
            In Romania people respect the spiritual importance of this holiday. Romanians keep very well their traditions which is a wonderfull one, Romania being at the confluence of two major continents and cultures, Asia and Europe.

            The traditions visitors may encounter in Romania durring the Easter holiday are the painted eggs, making the "cozonaci", "pasca", the lamb sacrifice and the going at the church durring the night before Easter.

             The going at the church from the Easter's Eve and until the Easter morning is a tradion Romanians keep since they became Christian Orthodox. They particullary go to the church to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ and to get the Light that will light up their homes, souls and the year. The priest also gives to the christians that go to the church "pasca", which is the blood and the body of Jesus, allusion to the Jesus's last supper.

            If Easter is a cleansing holiday for the adults, then for kids it's like every holiday, one of joy for them. In the Easter morning, romanian children go from door to door to recieve painted eggs and to wish to the hosts "Happy Passover !". In the afternoon they search all gardens for the sweets the Easter Bunny left over. 

            The young ones aren't forgotten eighter. The girls recieve visits from the boys that plash them with parfume, meaning that he is interested in starting a friendship with her. The girl responds to this by giving to the boy painted eggs and "cozonac", tradidionally made with grounded poppy seeds and grounded nuts.

           All contries have their own traditions and they are waiting for us to discover them and see how wonderfull every country from this Globe is. As Easter holiday is coming up in a week in Romania, I will take the liberty and wish you all a very "Happy Easter! Happy Passover Day !"