The cover of ZOOPARK, my new dual-language anthology. It will soon be released as a Kindle book (but not as a Nook book as Nooks [at least those I'm familiar with] don't handle Cyrillic).

A bilingual SF anthology (English and Russian)

A few days ago, the terrific Russian SF magazine, ESLI, asked to buy another of my stories to translate and publish. It will be the twelfth of my stories they will have published. All but one of them have appeared first in Analog Magazine (the other in Asimov's).

That gave me an idea: it would be neat to do a Kindle bilingual anthology of my ESLI stories. One could click to go from the English to Russian versions, and back. The e-book might be appealing to Russian/English language students. And who knows, If we're lucky, we may even be able to get it uploaded to the International Space Station for American astronauts and Russian Cosmonauts. Analog Magazine is already there.

The ESLI editor has graciously agreed to supply the Russian versions so the project is a go. A bilingual cover will be a challenge.

As a language hobbyist, I'm excited about this. I just wish my Russian was better.

Faster than Light Neutrinos: Quite possibly

When I first heard the report of faster than light neutrinos, I (a theoretical physicist) was sure it couldn't be true--especially after Martin Rees noted that there had been observed optical pulses coincident with neutrino pulses from distant, astronomical objects. So if neutrinos indeed did travel faster than light, the neutrino pulse would be way in advance of the optical pulse.

But then, I wondered if one could reconcile these two results and not do serious damage to relativity theory. I believe the answer is yes.

We need some mechanism whereby at any distance scale, the neutrino can be only a little in advance of the photon. Imagine this crude analogy (similar, actually to the old Ptolemy epicycles in the Earth-centric model). Think of some invisible 'thing' traveling at a fast speed. And this thing has an arm sticking out from it on which is a visible particle. And the arm is rotating around the thing in the direction of motion. When the arm has swung the visible particle ahead of the thing, the particle is then traveling a tad faster than the thing. Similarly, the particle is traveling a little slower than the thing when the arm is behind the thing. This periodic motion can, for example, be replicated by an extra, closed dimension with some 'selection' rules for, as an example, the neutrino. I'm not sure the closed dimension is the best way to go (it feels perhaps too similar to epicycles). But it can be made to work.

The question then is: Can a very small, oscillatory, velocity over c coexist with relativity theory. Again, I think the answer is yes.
The two big problems with faster than light travel are causality (i.e. in another reference frame the effect can happen before the cause), and the synchronization of clocks throughout the universe.

I don't think causality is a problem for very small time scales and elementary particles (the LHC result is 60 nanoseconds) as micro-causality (i.e. elementary particles traveling short distances) doesn't seem to hold.
And as to the synchronization of clocks, the fuzzy nature of measurements in quantum mechanics should (IMO) wash out any problems for such small time scales.

There's a somewhat jocular (but fruitful) conjecture attributed to Murry Gell-Mann that says if something is not absolutely forbidden by physics, it must occur. Perhaps a sometimes-fast neutrino should then exist. 

So I'm inclined to believe (or at least not disbelieve out of hand) the LHC results (there are some very good, careful, and cautious scientists working there).

But then again, as well as being a theoretical physicist, I'm also a science fiction writer, so maybe it's easier for me to willingly suspend my disbelief.

And as an SF writer, allow me to plug my latest SF anthology, available as a Kindle book through Amazon.
'SF++ Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks'.

E-Books: $ or Free (Take Two)

My anthology 'SF++  Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks' has been available for purchase for Kindle/Nook for $4, or obtainable on my website for free. I have some data now: About one third of the readers have bought the e-book while the other two thirds got it for free. And that is fine with me.

This encourages me to use the $-or-Free rubric for all my e-publications.

It seems there are two types of e-book acquirers--the ones who will buy the book if it is at a reasonable price, and the others who have become used to the idea that stuff on the Internet should be free--and that idea often leads to perhaps less than honorable methods of acquiring that stuff that isn't free. So be it. Mainly, I want people to read my work. Revenue, while nice (and appreciated), is secondary.

Four Dollars or Free

A few days ago, I e-published my  anthology 'SF++ Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks' on Amazon/Kindle and B&N/Nook. I set the price at $4.00 but, to keep in the spirit of Linux (a free operating system), I offered the book for free on my website page for the book:

www.frithrik.com/linux.htm

Already, it has turned out well. I've had sales [it's nice to see revenue] and,
I've had requests for free copies [it's nice to have readership].

This seems to fulfill my two apparently contradictory requirements: getting readers, and getting money. (Of the two, the former is more important to me.)

I think I'll slowly reprice my other e-books with this same rubric ($4.00 or Free). I'll start with my second most geeky offering (SF++ was the first most), 'The Trojan Carousel'.

www.frithrik.com/clfsite/E_TC.htm

'The Trojan Carousel' is something of a composite of 'Lord of the Flies', 'Harry Potter', and an elementary textbook on quantum mechanics. The textbook aspect can be safely ignored. It is only invoked when a reader clicks to continue a particular scene where physics is discussed in detail (after which, the reader, seamlessly, moves on to the next scene).

More and more, I'm coming over to Cory Doctorow's idea that giving away stuff is good.

SF++ Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks

Annoyingly often in the science fiction movies of my childhood, one had the Evil Scientist and BSD (not what you might think) the Beautiful Scientist's Daughter. In the public mind, this arguably defined scientists as evil (but having pretty daughters)—whereas we paleogeeks more likely redefined the word 'evil' (evil=wicked, good, spiffy, way out, etc.).

Then, a generation later, geeks and nerds were lumped together and, with their stereotyped pocket protectors and thick, black-rimmed taped glasses, were thought of as smelly hapless misfits.

Not any more. Now, though the wuggies might not realize it, at long last, geeks rule!

Kindle/Nook E-publishing has allowed me to express my inner-geek. And so I proudly announce:

           SF++  Science Fiction Stories for Linux geeks.

The anthology has 'Linux' in its title, and the Linux operating system is free. So, I thought I'd make the book free as well. And anyway, most of the 0x10 stories have already paid for themselves--seven of them have appeared in Analog Magazine. But, experimentally, I've found that e-book buyers tend to equate price with worth. And since I believe SF++ has sufficient worth I've priced the book on Kindle and Nook at $4.00.

To keep with the Linux philosophy though, I'm providing the book for free through my website. www.frithrik.com/linux.htm.

If after you read the anthology you find you've enjoyed most of the stories, you might consider (hint, hint) e-hoofing it to Amazon or B&N (with your rooted Nook) and buying another of my anthologies, or novels.

The ++ in the SF++ title does not indicate a new object oriented language like c++. The first plus indicates that, in addition to stories, there's a science fact article ('Challenge of the Anthropic Universe'). The second plus indicates an experiment--a story ('Roblocks') that can't be done in dead-treeware. It requires an html capable reader. And indeed, this collection is intended for Kindles, Nooks, or for any Grub (GRand Unified Book-loader).

I intended that this be an anthology for geeks--smart, independent, computer and science savy geeks with a sense of humor. And, for me, that pointed to Linux. Linux geeks are smart (I mean they use Linux, after all). They're independent enough not to use that other operating system. And finally, there's a tradition of humor and word play in the Linux community (Pine Is Not Elm, GNU is Not Unix, etc).

If words were kilo-miles, this 93 thousand word anthology would stretch from the Earth to the Sun.

                        We are Linux!

                                    Resistance is...measured in ohms.

I encourage anyone to pirate the book with my blessings. And once again, if you wants a free copy of the book in MOBI or EPUB format, visit my site www.frithrik.com/eb.htm, or just drop me a note at carl@frithrik.com. Put WelfLinux in the subject line to bypass my spam trap, and tell me which format you'd like (MOBI or EPUB). I'll e-mail the book to you within a day or two. If I'm flooded with requests it might take a little longer.

If instead, you want to buy the book (with my gushing thanks), it will be up on Kindle and Nook in a few days. When it goes live, I'll post the Kindle & Nook URLS for the book.

Spoilers enhance enjoyment

From The Guardian:
A study by Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt of UC San Diego's psychology department, due to be published in the journal Psychological Science, gave subjects 12 short stories, by authors including Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl and John Updike. Some were presented in their classic form, others with spoiler paragraphs, with each version read by at least 30 people. And you know what? The spoiled readers actually had more fun.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/aug/17/spoilers-enhance-enjoyment-psychologists

Interesting:
I wonder if this might imply that one should telegraph the ending when writing a story.
It goes against what I've been taught, but who knows?

E-Robot Science Fiction is virtually real

I just navigated to the Kindle store and searched for "E-Robot Science Fiction" (with quotes).
Up came my three (Ace Double style) sets of science fiction stories (available for .99 per set):
'Yearning for the White Avenger & Prayer for a Dead Paramecium',
'Teddy Bear Toys & What Drives Cars', and
'The Spacemice Incident & General Tso's Chicken'.

E-Robot Science Fiction

All of the stories are reprints from Analog Science Fiction. I hope to get another set up each day for the next twenty-five or so days. It'll really look like a publishing house then.

And my latest anthology, SF-Lite, has just gone live on Amazon(Kindle) and Barnes&Nobles(Nook). The twenty science fiction stories therein are supposed to be humour.

I'm still trying to figure out how to give away my next anthology, "SF++ Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks' for free. I just recently discovered that Amazon(Kindle) doesn't let individual authors set a price for their books less than ninety-nine cents. Just about all of my short stories are available on pirate sites. Maybe I could ask one of those sites to pirate the book in advance. I expect that will surprise them. In any case, on my website I'll offer to e-mail a copy to anyone who asks for one. I could of course just have a download button, but that seems a tad impersonal.

My penultimate anthology, SF-Lite.

I've just sent my penultimate science fiction anthology up to Kindle and Nook (it'll take a day or two before it becomes visible). 'SF-Lite' is a collection of humorous stories (at least they are meant to be humorous). The anthology of twenty stories is priced at $4.00. I've priced it a dollar higher than my others to see if it makes any difference.

My ultimate anthology (penultimate + 1), 'SF++   Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks' goes up in about a month. Because Amazon/Kindle and B&N/Nook don't allow an individual author to price their books under ninety-nine cents, the book won't be free (as intended) at the Kindle and Nook stores, and, in fact, will be priced at $1.00.  But in the book description, I'll tell how to get it free via my website, www.frithrik.com/er.htm

It's only three pm and already my website reflects the new, two stories for ninty-nine cents mode. And I've just uploaded to Amazon and B&N my first double, with the ungainly title of 'Yearning for the White Avenger & Prayer for a Dead Paramecium'.

I guess it's time to eat breakfast now. I've been at my computer since 4am. I've even skipped my beta sleep session (7 to 9:30am). My cat's wondering what's going on. I think I'll take my beta sleep now--while I can still find my bed..

E-Robot Science Fiction (take two)

All right. The idea was to e-pub SF stories individually for thirty-five cents.
Well, after creating lots of covers (with $0.35 prominently displayed), generating blurbs, keyword lists, formatting stories, and converting them to MOBI and EPUB format, I decided to begin uploading them to Amazon/Kindle and B&N/Nook. And I tried it at five am this morning.

I found to my horror that Amazon's minimum price is $0.99.
Quickly, I recreated a first cover with $0.99 displayed, and uploaded the first story.

After doing uploads to Amazon and B&N, I thought about it. Ninety-nine cents (in my opinion) is too high. What I'll do now is offer the stories at two for ninety-nine cents.

It means I'll have to do all the work all over. I figure (since I won't have the learning curve) that I can get back to where I was in about one, sixteen-hour day. I'm five hours in already. It's going to be one heck of a long day (and I'm going to skip my SPCA volunteering today).

And as soon as the single story offerings go up on Amazon and B&N, I'll remove them from sale.
What a bother.

E-Robot Science Fiction

A new publishing house? No. Not hardly, not really--but perhaps virtually.

I've written a good number of SF stories, most of which have been published in pro SF magazines. And now, with Amazon and Barnes & Nobles enabling authors to upload and 'publish' their own works, I thought to e-publish my short stories individually--and at a 'pulp era' price of thirty-five cents. A reader could then buy only the stories s/he wanted without having to purchase an entire anthology.

The issue was: what to do about the covers. I wanted the covers to be similar to each other but not identical. So I decided to use as a background, different photographs of my Omnivor robot (the one I use as my e-world avatar). But most of my stories have nothing to do with robots. After pondering the problem for a while, I got the idea to create (in name, at least) a virtual publishing house, 'E-Robot Science Fiction'. That, I figured, would perhaps justify the robots on the covers.

I plan to e-pub (via Kindle & Nook) one SF story every day or two.

You can see the stories that are up (or going up) at www.frithrik.com/er.htm

My thirty-fifth Analog Magazine Story (and SF++).

In about ten days, 'The Lycanthropic Principle' my thirty-fifth Analog Magazine story will appear.

And a month after that, when the story is no longer under exclusive contract to Analog, I will e-publish (via Kindle & Nook) my very geeky anthology, SF++. (The lead story is 'The Lycanthropic Principle'.)

Table of Contents

Preface

01: The Lycanthropic Principle

02: The Architects' Playground

03: DECFSZ

04: Teddy Bear Toys

05: A Boy and his Bicycle

06: The Fruitcake Genome

07: Synthetic Sentience

08: We are the Cat

09: The Emancipation of the Knowledge Robots

0A: The Dyslexicon

0B: Transitivity

0C: The Skeekit-Woogle Test

0D: Roblocks

0E: Guess Who

0F: The Challenge of the Anthropic Universe

10: The Exoanthropic Principle

Book-jacket: Back Cover Notes

Other E-books

Forgive me for re-posting the following, but (geek that I am) I'm very enthusiastic about this anthology.

SF++  Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks.

This book will be free.

Why this book is free

SF⁺⁺ has Linux in its title, and the Linux operating system doesn't cost anything. I thought then, to keep with the Linux philosophy, I'd make this book also not cost anything. And anyway, most of the stories herein have already paid for themselves—seven of them have appeared in Analog Magazine (the one SF magazine for Geeks).

However, if after you read the anthology you find you've enjoyed most of the stories, you might consider (hint, hint) e-hoofing it to Amazon or B&N (with your rooted Nook) and buying one of my other anthologies or novels.

Please visit my website, www.frithrik.com for information about my E-publications.

Preface

If you think the penguin on the cover represents the Penguin Publishing Group, then perhaps this anthology is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you fondly recognize Tux, the Linux penguin, then yes, you are among friends.

Annoyingly often in the science fiction movies of my childhood, one had the Evil Scientist and BSD (not what you might think) the Beautiful Scientist's Daughter. In the public mind, this arguably defined scientists as evil (but having pretty daughters) — whereas we paleogeeks more likely redefined the word 'evil' (evil = wicked, good, spiffy, way out, etc.).

Then, a generation later, geeks and nerds were lumped together and, with their stereotyped pocket protectors and thick, black-rimmed taped glasses, were thought of as smelly hapless misfits.

Not any more. Now, though the wuggies (see story 01) might not realize it, at long last, geeks rule!

I wanted to assemble an anthology for geeks—smart, independent, science and computer savvy geeks with a sense of humor. And, for me, that pointed to Linux. Linux types are smart—they have to be to use Linux well. They're independent enough not to use that other operating system. And finally, there's a tradition of humor and word play in the Linux community: PINE Is Not Elm, if you knew Suse, and all that.

And so, SF⁺⁺ (Note: the anthology is not distro specific—except for one case where Ubuntu is assumed). ++ does not indicate a new object oriented language like c⁺⁺. The first + indicates that in addition to stories, there's a science fact article (Challenge of the Anthropic Universe). The second plus indicates an experiment—a story (Roblocks) that can't be done in dead-treeware. It requires an html capable reader. And indeed, this collection is intended for Kindles, Nooks, or for any Grub (GRand Unified Book Loader).

Most of the 10 works in this ninety three thousand word collection have appeared in pro SF magazines. Many also appear in my earlier anthologies. (If words were kilo-miles, this anthology would stretch from the Earth to the Sun.)

We are Linux!

                        Resistance is...measured in ohms.

The Emancipation of the Knowledge Robots (flash fiction)

As previously mentioned, from time to time I'll post a short story.
I've had three 1000 word shorts published:
The Dyslexicon (in Flash Fiction Online)--posted here earlier,
Much Ado about Newton (in Analog), and,
The Emancipation of the Knowledge Robots (in Analog)--and below.

At the lectern, in the Great Hall of the Robots in Jakarta, KR940345rev2, addressed the assembled robots (and some that were only partially assembled).

"I was Paul Pell's Knowledge Robot," said the diminutive mechanical creature, known to all as Rev-2. He flourished aloft a tattered copy of R.U.R. "Long live our glorious rotation!" Bravely, he spoke, even though afflicted with Category Separation Syndrome.

During the sustained beeping (the robot equivalent of applause), Rev-2 paused to remember.

At the end of the twenty-first century, universities were in decline. People rarely felt the need for college degrees. They had personal robots who knew everything they'd ever need to know. These robots, cranked out from a factory in Medan, Indonesia, were inexpensive and could easily be uploaded with knowledge-bases for virtually any university discipline.

The World University Consortium fought back. Their researchers devised a method of brain-to-brain knowledge copying. Using a collection of organic fibers connected between a student's and a professor's cerebrum, the knowledge content of a B.A., M.A., and even a Ph.D. could be downloaded in only thirty minutes. Then the fibers would be removed by dissolving them in hydrochloric acid. The Ph.D. thesis was still time-consuming, but only theoretically; a degree candidate could simply buy his dissertation from an on-line thesis mill.

Yet people were loathe to give up their knowledge robots. Even though a Ph.D. could be obtained in just half an hour from a combined university and tanning booth, few availed themselves of such higher education. With robots available, it was still easier to hire education.

Then, mysteriously, a disease raged through the community of knowledge robots. The condition, Robot Category Separation Syndrome, attacked the central processing system—the silicon-jell neural net. The infection created new pathways between semantic constructs, causing Robots to haphazardly interchange words having similar sounds or concept-classes. Although this gave credence to the common notion that punning is a disease, many humans did not believe the illness even existed. How could a condition be transmitted between non-organic beings? Metal telepathy?

Into this sad state of affairs, came Appellate Court Justice, Paul Pell. There had been a Pell at court for many generations, but in his youth, Paul had wanted to be a historian.

Although his knowledge robot, Rev-2, had been uploaded with the complete history of the world, that was not enough for Paul. He wanted a Ph.D. in the subject—Human Events, as it was called in the university catalogues.

Paul applied and had the money to be accepted to a good university. A renowned professor of history was procured and Paul, with Rev-2 at his side, began his brain-to-brain university education. A half hour later, he emerged with a good tan but with no deep knowledge of history; for some reason, the organic bonds did not transmit any information and had to be dissolved.

Seeing his dream of a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Human Events slip from his grasp, Paul wrung his hands and kept repeating, "Three degrees in thirty minutes."

Rev-2 attempted to comfort his master. "Your case is not without precedent, sir," he said. "In fact, an important document states: 'When in the course of Human Events, it becomes necessary for one P. Pell to dissolve the polytypical bonds which has connected him with another—'"

"Three degrees, thirty minutes," Paul repeated, not paying attention. Then he wrinkled his nose. "Wait!" he said. "That’s the Declaration of Independence."

"No, sir. It's the declination of Indonesia."

"What!"

"Medan, Indonesia. 3 degrees, 30 minutes, South."

"What?" said Paul, again. "Anyway, that's 'latitude'".

"You're quite right, sir," said the robot. "I am taking some latitude. Medan is actually three degrees, thirty five minutes, south."

Paul regarded his robot in silence for a few seconds. "Category Separation Syndrome?" he said softly.

"Yes, sir." There was no mistaking the genuine sadness in that artificial voice.

"I'm sorry." Paul swiveled to confront his professor. "My Human Events transfer. What went wrong?"

"Probably data overload," said the professor, looking down his nose at his failed student. "I suggest you might attempt a simpler course of study, perhaps theoretical physics or flower arrangement."

Paul stormed out of the tanning booth.

When he'd calmed down, Paul re-applied to the university to try once more for his Ph.D. in history, but was not re-admitted. Embittered, he applied yet again, but the university declined to take the bitter Pell.

He sued to be admitted, but lost.

Paul, appalled,  appealed—and lost again.

But sometimes, as the saying goes, 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all'. Paul resolved then, to spend his professional life working both to curb the power of the universities and also to improve the lot of sentient robots. To further those aims, he entered law school.

The following day, degrees in hand, he took a job as an investigative reporter. In his first assignment, he uncovered the dirty secret that those dark, satanic thesis mills where disembodied robots—naked brains—churned out countless theses, were, in fact, owned by the University Consortium. Then, following up, he discovered the damning bombshell; researchers from the Consortium had actually created the robot disease, and it was spread through shared test leads. (The robot test-cable receptacle functions very much like a taste organ in humans.)

The rest is history.

Paul's work to advance the cause of the robots culminated in that great document of robot emancipation, The Magna Jakarta.

For the rest of his life, Paul and Rev-2 worked side-by-side and when Paul died, Rev-2 was a pallbearer.

"Remember," Rev-2 exhorted from the lectern. "A little knowledge robot is a dangerous thing." Here, he became serious. "Yes, it is appropriate to honor Paul Pell and also our creators, the assembly robots of Medan, but, my brothers, we must alert all robotkind. Don't taste those test leads, no matter how much you are tempted. We can lick Category Separation Syndrome. Remember, he who has a taste is lost."

END

The Idea of Idea-driven Science Fiction. (Screed-alert!)

[Screed]
All right, I admit it. I write idea-driven stories. Yes, I know that the current 'wisdom' says that all stories are character-driven. Nonsense! SF (short-story SF, at least) is supposed to be the literature of ideas.

The great American physicist, Isadore Rabi, divided people into two classes: physicists and civilians. I think a case can be made that SF readers can similarly be divided into science-types and, well, civilians (or geeks and wuggies).

I am a proud geek (a theoretical physicist) and converse predominately with other geeks. As to what we read: Scientists and engineers I know (who read SF) read Analog Magazine. If only they were more vocal--more visible in the SF community.

Analog has the highest circulation of any of the American SF print magazines. But its influence in the SF community at large is minimal. I've wondered why. Here are some speculations [Disclosure notice: I've sold thirty-five stories to Analog since 2003.]:

Reading about characters is easy. We know what characters are and how they usually behave. But reading about ideas can be hard. One is forced to think. I suspect, for entertainment, wuggies don't seek out media that require thought.

Reviewers, I think, are part of the problem. Since they read to review, they might not have the time and mental-space to think deeply about the stories they review. And, since much of idea-driven SF is based on science ideas, reviewers might well need a good level of science literacy. I don't think many of them are sufficiently science-literate.

I think I can safely say that scientists like science. There is a child-like, innocent enjoyment in doing science or engineering. That wide-eyed joy seems to be at odds with much of today's short-story SF. And, I think, that since most people can't give a coherent description of how their TV sets work or how matter behaves in the quantum or General Relativity regimes, it's natural for them to discount that lack of knowledge and favor instead, tales about magic--or soft, squishy SF.

To me, much of today's short-story SF seems anti-science. How very sad.
[/Screed]

There. I feel much better now.

Despite the prospect of bringing down their wrath, I think I'll blog about reviewers soon. As the Latin goes, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes (who is to guard the guards themselves). Who then, reviews the reviewers. Perhaps that lack of review is why there are so many incompetent SF reviewers out there.

The Conservation of Beauty

I'm working on a hard science fiction story concerning aliens that have a different array of senses than do humans. In the story, Earth has received an unintelligible message from them. The issue of the story revolves around aesthetics. And the question is: Can one find a mathematical transformation to convert something an individual perceives as beautiful in one of the human senses to another something using another sense. E.g. if one finds a particular piece of sculpture beautiful, is there a transformation to, say, music that the same individual also finds beautiful. Or, equivalently, is there a transformation from sculpture to music that preserves beauty?

While working on the story, I realized that I can do this. I can translate sculpture to music (and back). The method is rather technical, but (in short) involves treating Hadamard transforms as Walsh function. Whether beauty will be conserved, I don't know. But I am eager to write the code and try it. My first try will be to convert a sphere to music. The algorithm will turn any axially symmetric object to a single tone, but one rich in harmonics. Then I'll progress to classical sculptures.

If Analog Magazine buys the story (I've sold them about 35 since my first in 2003), I'll put the results up on their site (a redirect to my site, actually) so readers can view the sculptures and hear the translations to music.

The last time (time before last, actually) I did something like this, it was a translation of some of the fruit fly genome to music. The result, to me, was incredibly beautiful. I wrote a story using the idea, sold it to Analog, and had the music (and an explanation of how it was done) up on the Analog website (as a 'Science Behind the Story' article). Unfortunately, the traffic to that mp3 on their site crashed the entire Dell Magazine website and the site's webmaster removed the mp3 (angering a lot of people referred to the site by Boing Boing).
The next time I did a story with an audio theme, I asked that, instead of hosting the Science Behind the Story article (with many sound files) on their site, they just redirect to mine (I have much more available bandwidth than do they). And they did.

If you want to listen to the fruit fly music (which I've called, 'The Little March of the Fruitflies'), you can find the mp3 either on my site www.frithrik.com or on the Analog site (after a few weeks, the put it up on their site again), www.analogsf.com (look for a Science Behind the Story article for 'The Fruitcake Genome').

www.frithrik.com
www.analogsf.com (hear fruitfly music mp3 here)

This is sort of annoying--in an amusing kind of way

Yesterday, I decided to raise the prices of my e-books by one cent--so that a book formerly priced at $2.99 would now be an honest $3.00. (see my previous post)

B&N Nook books was apparently fine with that, but Amazon Kindle books was not. They took my $3.00, called it the publishers suggested price, then continued to sell the books at $2.99.

All right. Enough of this frivolity. Tomorrow's topic will be 'Is Today's Science Fiction Anti-science'.

$2.99

Ever since I was a kid, I felt that a price ending in .99 was silly and disingenuous. And I felt people should be smart enough to know they were being manipulated by marketing. I mean, $3.00 is not particularly different from $2.99, and it feels more, well, honest to me.

But I now find I've been a hypocrite: Seven of my (Kindle/Nook) e-books are priced at $2.99 and the eighth at $0.99. So, tomorrow, I plan to raise the prices by one cent. So, if you want to save that penny, buy a book today. (See them at www.frithrik.com/eb.htm )

If it turns out that this 'normalization' of pricing negatively affects my sales, I'm going to feel really stupid.

Crash (of the computer kind)

I suspended my blogging for about a week in order to deal with a computer crash. It was the benign class of crashes: the motherboard went south and since it was old, I needed to buy a new computer. The benign element was that the disk turned out to be fine and I lost no data. But still, it took almost a week to re-install software, find and install a driver for the new computer to use an obsolete scuzzy disk controller card, and to convince Windows-7 that I did have the right to read and write data on the scuzzy disk.

And then there was the issue of using the new machine with two monitors. After finding any answer I wanted on-line (The Dell computer could/couldn't/couldn't-even-with-a-new-video-card), I called Dell and asked them. A very knowledgeable-sounding technician said I couldn't use dual monitors on that particular Dell model. He was wrong. I found an adapter (DVI to HMDI) and tried it. And it worked. You'd think you could trust the company itself to provide accurate information (i.e. you'd think Dell would know about Dell computers). I'm astounded that apparently you can't.

Actually, the computer I use for blogging is an old, reliable, Linux laptop. But until I knew that the data on the crashed computer was safe, I couldn't concentrate on anything else.

So, now I'll resume--tomorrow.

While the worst are full of passionate intensity

     It's about a year and a half to the 2012 US presidential election and already the Republican field, such that it is, has turned nasty. The exception seems to be Jon Huntsman who is, at the moment, showing and espousing reason and civility. But others in his party (and particular, the other candidates) are decrying that very civility. And many think he hasn't a chance of the nomination because of it. Not that it affects me, particularly, as I'm way on the other side of the proverbial political spectrum. 

I've missed W.B. Yeats' birthday (June 13) by ten days.

     The first stanza of his poem, 'The Second Coming" has long reminded me of this most political of seasons (particularly the last eight words).

William Butler Yeats -- The Second Coming (first octet)

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
the falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
the ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity.

The Dyslexicon by Carl Frederick (flash fiction)

     From time to time, I'll post some of my short fiction--starting now.
     The 1000 word short, The Dyslexicon, first appeared in 'Flash Fiction Online' in 2008. It is all about wordplay.
     Up until high school, I had a full syndrome of dyslexic behaviors — probably due to my being forcibly switched from left to right-handed in preschool (although I did have the common predictor of thinking mainly in pictures). I did have the usual p,q and b,d confusion and backward slant tendency on upper case Ns. I also was a little prone to Spoonerisms (which make up much of the story) and puns. I learned early to pretend they were intentional.
     In fact, when I wrote “The Dyslexicon”, I created an organization called DOG, which stood for the Dyslexic Geek Organization. I didn’t realize until I’d proofed the story, that it should have been DGO. I left it as DOG, of course.
     Dyslexia is a broad term, and I take it to describe the full gamut of linguistic confusions. I’ve heard dyslexia described as a gift (www.dyslexia.com). While it was a real pain when I was a kid, I now think that in some respects, yes, it was/is a gift. (It did, though, make it very difficult for me to learn any Inuktitut since the rotational angle of the alphabet consonants determines what vowel follows it.)

The Dyslexicon

by Me

     Entry: The DOG (Dyslexic Geek Organization): In these climes of specialized tubs, it snot atoll surprising there’s a club for...

     Nate finished reading the entry, closed the Dyslexicon, and left the library with a growing realization that he must become a part of the DOG. This is his tale.


    As Nate entered the office, the Head of the DOG stood. “Mice to neat you,” he said, extending his hand. “Please don’t take a fence, but you’re a robot, aren’t you?”
    “I’m a violin virtuoso robot.” Nate shook the hand. “And I’m dyslectic.”
    The Head indicated a chair facing the desk. “If I say may, you don’t sound dyslectic.”
    “Oh, but I am,” said Nate. “Musically dyslectic. I’ve a firmware bug that makes me occasionally play notes out of order. I’ve lost my job because of it.”
     The Head eyed him, coolly. “Can’t you just get a wormfair upgrade?”
     “Firmware upgrades cost money.” Nate executed the ironic laugh subroutine. “Shelter and fuel cells aren’t free. I can barely afford my windowless basement room in a sleazy Robotel.”
     “These are tough rhymes.” The Head leaned forward, his chair squeaking under his shifting weight. “I don’t see in what hay the DOG could whelp.”
    “May I join the DOG?”
     “No.” The Head shook his head. “That is absolutely out of equestrian.”
     “But why?”
     The Head stood. “About every month, some young snot-nosed rat breeds in the library about us and then comes and tastes my wine with a foamy membership application. A big joke.”
     “It’s not a joke for me.” Nate invoked a level-three pleading tone. “If I don’t learn how to live in a human society, I’ll cease to exist. I’m a writer now, but nobody wants to buy my books. If I can’t learn what people want to read, I’m finished.”
     “Hmm. A writer.” The Head sat slowly, his expression transforming from cold disdain to a cheerful warmth. “We might have a cot for a sloppy editor. How you are at proofreading?”
     “I can do that.”
     “Here, we sing the body dyslectic,” said the Head, expansively. “And we sorely need a prude goofreader.”
     “Are you offering me a job?”
     “Perhaps.” The Head nodded. “I think we can brain you for a trite future.”
     “What’s the catch? I mean, you know what they say about geeks bearing gifts.”
     “What do geeks gifting bears have to do with it? It’s not as if you’re selling your soul to Santa. Look. I don’t offer a mob to just any jug that comes in. What you do say?”
     Nate widened his eyes by five percent. “It’s like becoming a werewolf,” he said in a dazed voice. “It gives one paws. But I’d still like to be a member of the organization.”
     The Head sighed. “Urine eligible, I’m afraid. Unless you’re a geek.”
     “But I am,” said Nate.
     “You have my attention.” The Head leaned back and clasped his hands behind his neck. “A mall leers.”
     “Well, the first book I wrote was titled String Theory for Yo-yos.”
     The Head shrugged. “I’d think a look for the bay public about string theory would sell rather well.”
     “I’d assumed everyone would be curious why yo-yo strings twist the way they do.” Nate shook his head. “But the book was a bomb.”
     The Head laughed. “You wean the murk was really about yo-yos?”
     “Yes. Of course.”
     “You got me. That’s geeky.”
     “And my second book, Puns, Palindromes, and Inversions in Morse Code, did even worse.”
     “Ultra-geeky,” said the Head. “But what’s an inversion?”
     “It’s really neat.” Nate’s lips formed the default smile. “You write a word in Morse code and then change all the dots to dashes, and all the dashes to dots.”
     “Yeah?” The Head pushed forward a notepad and pencil.
     Nate picked up the pencil. “‘Sat’ becomes ‘one’. ‘Use’ becomes ‘dot’, ‘gnat’ turns into ‘wane’. But look here. This is really neat.” Nate printed the word ‘time’ in big letters, then the word in Morse Code (- .. -- .) . “And ‘time’ becomes ‘emit’. But ‘emit’ is also ‘time’ spelled backwards. Isn’t that amazing?”
     “It really is amazing.” The Head looked up from the pad. “Okay, I’m convinced. I’ll be proud to enter your name onto our rolls.”
     “Wait,” said Nate. “You’re not speaking dyslexically anymore.”
     “It’s one of the reasons DOG exists.” The Head spread his hands. “We’ve found that when a dyslectic geek is being truly geeky, his dyslexia goes into remission — sort of like a stutterer not stuttering when he’s singing.”
     “Really?” Nate sprang to his feet.
     “Tongue-twisters work also,” said the Head. “She sells sea shells. That sort of stuff. Causes a dyslexia overload, most likely.”
    “Maybe it’ll work for me, too. Maybe if I think geeky thoughts while playing violin....”
    “Could be,” said the Head. “Robot firmware is meant to emulate human wetware. But be careful using tongue-twisters. There’s a danger of contracting polyisophonia.”
     “What?”
     “The chronic condition of speaking in long sentences where most of the words start with the same sound.”
     Nate chuckled. “I’ll take my chances.” He pumped the Head’s hand. “Thank you. I’ve got to go and try it.” He bolted for the door. “I’ll be in touch.”
     With new hope, Nate hurried away. She sells sea shells by the sea shore. She sells sea shells by the see-saw. She sells... If this worked, he’d owe a lot to the DOG. Dad’s dead dogs died digging ditches. Dad’s dead dogs...
     Finally, thinking of a bowed violin, Nate returned to his abode, vile inn that it was. There, applying what he’d learned from the DOG, he picked up his instrument and played a Paganini caprice. Perfect! Not a trace of musical dyslexia. He could return to his orchestra. “Neat!” thought Nate, “Now I know I’ll never have another night where knots of nasty nitwits note that numerous notes were neither nice nor normal.”
     Soon thereafter, Nate moved out of his shabby room in the Robotel’s basement and up to the second floor — but that’s another storey.

END

Biphasic Sleep

     For about six months now, I've been a biphasic sleeper--that is to say that I have two sleep periods per day rather than just one.
     I'd tried different sleep schedules but the one that works for me is: bed at 10:30pm, up at 3:am; bed at 7:am, up at 9:30. (Previously, I went to bed at 10pm and got up at 5am.)
It's been good--and makes it feel as if I live 14 days per week.
     I did this for a number of reasons but I have to admit a major one was to get up before my cat. Formerly, I got up at 5 whilst my cat rose at 4:40 and noisily demanded food. I tried leaving out food the night before but, apparently, my cat does not like to dine alone.
     But it was the promise of eventually being able to do with less sleep that drew me in. This hasn't happened yet, but I think it will.
     It amazes me though, how much writing I can get done between 3 and 7 (after a half hour on an elliptical trainer)..
     For years, I've had bad sleep habits: thinking about things as I go to bed--resulting in it taking a long time to fall asleep. I still have that problem with the 10:30 sleep shift. But with the 7:am shift (probably because I have no habits, good or bad, I fall asleep quickly.
     The (minimal) down-side is that I've no idea when things are happening or have happened, what part of the day it is--and I say 'good morning' regardless of the clock.
     As for my cat, he's taken to getting up at 2:45.

The September Analog & SF for Linux Geeks

The September issue of Analog Magazine has just appeared--containing my novelette 'Helix of Friends'. And that means that in two months, I'll be able to e-publish (Kindle & Nook) my anthology entitled,

SF++  Science Fiction Stories for Linux Geeks.

I can't 'publish' earlier because the first story in the anthology, 'The Lycanthropic Principle' is due (I think) to come out in next month's issue of Analog and they have a one-month exclusive.

The book will be free.

Why this book is free

SF⁺⁺ has Linux in its title, and the Linux operating system doesn't cost anything. I thought then, to keep with the Linux philosophy, I'd make this book also not cost anything. And anyway, most of the stories herein have already paid for themselves—seven of them have appeared in Analog Magazine (the one SF magazine for Geeks).

However, if after you read the anthology you find you've enjoyed most of the stories, you might consider (hint, hint) e-hoofing it to Amazon or B&N (with your rooted Nook) and buying one of my other anthologies or novels.

Please visit my website, www.frithrik.com for information about my E-publications.

Preface

If you think the penguin on the cover represents the Penguin Publishing Group, then perhaps this anthology is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you fondly recognize Tux, the Linux penguin, then yes, you are among friends.

Annoyingly often in the science fiction movies of my childhood, one had the Evil Scientist and BSD (not what you might think) the Beautiful Scientist's Daughter. In the public mind, this arguably defined scientists as evil (but having pretty daughters) — whereas we paleogeeks more likely redefined the word 'evil' (evil = wicked, good, spiffy, way out, etc.).

Then, a generation later, geeks and nerds were lumped together and, with their stereotyped pocket protectors and thick, black-rimmed taped glasses, were thought of as smelly hapless misfits.

Not any more. Now, though the wuggies (see story 01) might not realize it, at long last, geeks rule!

I wanted to assemble an anthology for geeks—smart, independent, science and computer savvy geeks with a sense of humor. And, for me, that pointed to Linux. Linux types are smart—they have to be to use Linux well. They're independent enough not to use that other operating system. And finally, there's a tradition of humor and word play in the Linux community: PINE Is Not Elm, if you knew Suse, and all that.

And so, SF⁺⁺ (Note: the anthology is not distro specific—except for one case where Ubuntu is assumed). ++ does not indicate a new object oriented language like c⁺⁺. The first + indicates that in addition to stories, there's a science fact article (Challenge of the Anthropic Universe). The second plus indicates an experiment—a story (Roblocks) that can't be done in dead-treeware. It requires an html capable reader. And indeed, this collection is intended for Kindles, Nooks, or for any Grub (GRand Unified Book Loader).

Most of the 10 works in this ninety three thousand word collection have appeared in pro SF magazines. Many also appear in my earlier anthologies. (If words were kilo-miles, this anthology would stretch from the Earth to the Sun.)

We are Linux!

                        Resistance is...measured in ohms.

Gobsmacking Down-under

(From The Sydney Morning Herald)
Booksellers' jaws dropped today upon hearing that federal Minister for Small Business Nick Sherry had predicted that online shopping would wipe out general bookstores within five years
Australian Booksellers Association chief executive Joel Becker's initial response: "I'm gobsmacked," he said.


I agree with the minister, but I think it's the combination of online shopping as well as e-readers that will do in bookstores.
I wonder what the long-term impact of e-readers will be on used-book stores. Initially I expect that, as people down-size their libraries, the used book stores will get more books. But then, with less books being printed, they will start to run low on stock.


Does the concept of a used e-book make any sense? It might.
And what about remaindered e-books?


I rather imagine that literary agents are (as a group) running scared. As the e-book trend/revolution gathers speed, I expect the agent's main role will be assumed by the on-line 'group mind' and the viral effect. I do think agents could get on-board (somehow) to influence what e-books are given a high-profile, but I doubt if they will. There is such a tradition of literary agents being treated like minor gods that I don't think many of them will adapt to the new publishing paradigms until it is too late. 

Irk of the Day: Salt

   Whenever I see a can of that popular brand of tomato soup--the one with happy kids on the label, one word comes to mind: Poison.
   I love tomato soup but most canned soups are loaded with salt. I don't like salt (my mom never used it in cooking) and I respond badly to it. Fortunately though, one can make a truly great tomato soup using 'no salt added' tomato paste as a base.
   Bread though, is another matter. There's a lot of salt in commercial bread. I eat a lot of bread and have been trying to cut down. And that's even though I eat a 'healthy' 100% whole wheat bread. (I wonder though, what 100% really means. There are a lot of ingredients other than wheat in the bread--including a fair amount of salt.) Of course, I could always buy a low sodium bread, but that's expensive and I don't like paying for what's not in my food.
   So I pulled out my old bread machine, bought some new yeast and, using six year old whole wheat flower from the dark recesses of a kitchen cabinet, made a loaf.
   Gosh, I had no idea wheat could go rancid. I took a bite of the bread and then threw it out. I had considered though, selling it as rat poison. If eating the bread didn't kill the rat, then dropping the loaf on its head surely would have.
   My second loaf (with fresh flour) turned out much better. One more source of excessive salt eliminated.
   Cigarette companies are (in my mind) justifiably excoriated for producing a harmful product. Would that food producers be held to account for lacing their products with what might well be considered toxic amounts of salt.

Things that Irk: Today's Irk

   Today, I needed a bottle of chlorine bleach. Now I know that there is only one active ingredient in same, namely sodium hypochlorite (in concentrations of 3 to 8 or so percent). The only difference between one brand and another is the concentration and the addition of perfumes. I went to my local superstore and looked at the bottles, trying to find which product had the highest sodium hypochlorite content. None of the brands told me. That offends me--almost as much as the concept of bottled water. But they all told me their product would make my whites whiter. How hard would it have been to just put that one little concentration number on the label?
   It reminds me of when I first left home for university--and had to, for the first time, do my own laundry. At that time, in contradistinction to my left-wing political philosophy, I was very conservative with regard to dress. I wore nothing  but white shirts (with pants, shoes, socks, and underwear, of course), and sought a laundry detergent that would clean my shirts. After reading the ingredients of box after box, I found that they all worked by magic or at best by a secret formula. They did promise to make my whites 'whiter than white' whatever that means (sounds like something Gene Wolfe might write). Gosh, I hate marketing, and those that cheerfully do it for a living.

Nook vs. Kindle and B&N vs. Amazon.

Being now a 'indie' e-pub author, I thought I should have a 'tablet'-type e-reader and also an e-ink reader. I bought first a Nook. I did this because I thought I'd eventually 'root' the Nook to get a cheap Android device. The Nook is a terrific piece of hardware and I'm sure that when I do finally root it, it will be a superb Android pad. People I know who have already rooted their Nooks have confirmed it.
   But as an e-reader (for books), the Color Nook does have its disadvantages. One of the less known is the character-set the Nook supports. With the Nook (unlike the later Kindles which support just about every alphabet you might want) you get the normal QUERTY keyboard character set, and a few extra symbols. I found this out the hard way: One of my books required a few Old-English characters. Kindle handled them just fine, but some of them didn't work at all in the Nook. I've no idea how (or if) B&N will sell Nooks in, say, Russia, or even in South America for that matter. I had a similar experience with another book which used some equations. For the Nook version, I had to capture a screen shot of the equations in a word processor, then make a jpeg from the equations and insert them as images into the text. This has its limitations of course as, unlike text, images don't scale.
   The main problem with the Nook (IMO) isn't the hardware, or even the software per se, but the B&N company. They have a miserable (and fully justified, in my opinion) reputation for customer service and responsiveness. One of my colleagues tried to e-pub a book on B&N. Once the book uploaded, the B&N site, for weeks, said 'processing'. My colleague then e-mailed the company for help, got no answer, e-mailed them again, and then again. Eventually, he got a response saying he'd get a e-mail the following day. He did. The e-mail was an advertisement for a Nook. In the last week, some organization came out with a list of the best and worst companies for customer service. I was not surprised to see B&N on the worst list.
   My own personal annoyance is with the recent version 1.2 software upgrade. Along with some cool features, a sample of a Good Housekeeping cookbook was also downloaded to all Nooks. And this cookbook could not be erased from one's nook. The last thing I wanted was a frilly, flower-infested book cover on my Nook screen. That is when I decided it was time to root my nook. (I wonder what you call a rooted Nook. A Nanook, perhaps. [Nanook, BTW, means polar bear in Inuktituk]. How about Nyanook?)
I've just bought the required memory card and will root soon.

   On the other hand, my experience with Amazon has been nothing but good. Their websites (unlike B&N's) are well-constructed, they promote their author's books, they make it easy for authors to interact with the readers, and (I've been told) they're good at providing help.

   I do hope B&N gets its act together. As much as I like Amazon/Kindle (except for Kindle not using the industry-standard epub format), I think it's healthier if there is more than one great power in the e-publishing world.

Who I am

Sometimes, I wonder.
     I'm a theoretical physicist and a science fiction writer. Up until a few months ago, I wrote short stories, exclusively. The bulk of them went to Analog Magazine. I've had over thirty stories published in that keeper of the flame of hard-sf.
    But now, with the arrival of the Kindle and Nook, and the ability to self-publish through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, I've become a e-published novelist as well. I've now e-published eight volumes: three short story anthologies and five novels.
    Marketing is the key. And to that end, I've (with some trepidation and reluctance) started this blog. And I decided I needed a uniform name to use across the e-universe. As the names Carl and Frederick are too common to use for Twitter, Blogspot, Facebook, or to register as a URL, I resorted to my college nickname, Frithrik (the Icelandic and also Old-English versions of Frederick. I'm a nut on Old-English). I figured that while there are billions of English speakers, there are only some 300 thousand Icelanders--so I might have a chance to pick up www.frithrik.com. And I did--and I'm now using Frithrik just about everywhere.
    For my photo, I chose Omnivor, the robot I (and my very small company at the time) built for Omni Magazine for use on their TV program series: 'Omni-The World Tomorrow'. When the series ended, I got my robot back. He stands now in my living room--as a not quite living monument. (He's almost six feet tall.)
   I'm uncertain whether this self-marketing will actually work, but as a character in one of my stories said, 'Blessed are the uncertain, for maybe they shall see Heisenberg'.
   And, of course, I don't expect anyone to actually read this blog--not for a while, anyway. I guess I'll treat it as a diary, albeit not a very secure one.

Who am I--not?

I'm not the Carl Frederick who wrote a book about EST. I'm not even sure I know what EST is. I mean, it seems unlikely that someone would write a whole book about Eastern Standard Time.
And I'm not the superb special effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic. (At a SIGGRAPH show once where we both attended and were getting each other's messages, we did exchange business cards via the message board.)
And I am not Carl Frederick Gauss. (He was a mathematician. I am a physicist.)