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Vernor Vinge Has Died at Age 79

As a sci-fi author, Vinge won Hugo Awards for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1993), A Deepness in the Sky (2000), and Rainbows End (2007). He also won Hugos for the novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002) and The Cookie Monster (2004). As Mike Glyer’s File 770 blog notes, Vinge’s novella True Names (1981) is frequency cited as the first presentation of an in-depth look at the concept of “cyberspace.”

Vinge first coined the term “singularity” as related to technology in 1983, borrowed from the concept of a singularity in spacetime in physics. When discussing the creation of intelligences far greater than our own in an 1983 op-ed in OMNI magazine, Vinge wrote, “When this happens, human history will have reached a kind of singularity, an intellectual transition as impenetrable as the knotted space-time at the center of a black hole, and the world will pass far beyond our understanding.” Read more

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The Forgotten History of Hitler’s Establishment Enablers

Ryback details, week by week, day by day, and sometimes hour by hour, how a country with a functional, if flawed, democratic machinery handed absolute power over to someone who could never claim a majority in an actual election and whom the entire conservative political class regarded as a chaotic clown with a violent following. Read more

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‘3 Body Problem’ Premieres on Netflix on March 21st

A young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history. Watch trailer

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You Probably Haven’t Heard of These Two Remarkable Fantasy Writers

We’ve all seen those headlines — you know the kind — that run something like, “The best American fantasy writer you’ve never heard of.” Who could that be, we wonder? Well, two possible answers to that particular question are Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986) and Avram Davidson (1923-1993). It’s a safe bet you haven’t heard of either of them. Read more

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‘James’ by Percival Everett

Percival Everett’s new novel amends Mark Twain’s classic tale [Huckleberry Finn] with the enslaved sidekick, Jim, at its center … What sets “James” above Everett’s previous novels, as casually and caustically funny as many are, is that here the humanity is turned up — way up. This is Everett’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful. Beneath the wordplay, and below the packed dirt floor of Everett’s moral sensibility, James is an intensely imagined human being. Read more

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Nation’s Top Poets to Gather for Robert Frost’s 150th Birthday

From March 20-24, 2024, San Diego will transform into a poetic hub where creativity, inspiration, and passion converge. This once-in-a-lifetime Sesquicentennial event will showcase some of the brightest stars in poetry, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy K. Smith, Ruth Lilly Prize-winner Allison Joseph, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Bruce Weigl, and Guggenheim Fellowship winner Jay Parini. Read more

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