Hope this can be considered an article...

Im not sure if book reviews can be considered for articles, but I love this book and it deals
with another popular science fiction concept: time travel.
The book itself is somewhat on the romantic side of things, not sure any of the guys would be interested but it's basically the story of a man who has something weird in his genetic makeup that makes him uncontrollably travel through time. It's the story of how he met his future wife when she was 5 or so, and continues to meet her throughout time until they sort of have a present together. He continues to time travel and we eventually discover there are more people like him. I thought it was a fantastic read, hadn't considered it science fiction until this class. :)

Question for Ted Chiang

Meredith somewhat asked my question, as a Communicative Disorders major (Speech/Language Pathology) the linguistics of the Heptapods interested me greatly. I too was wondering what you based their language upon. I have really enjoyed this book of your short stories, Story of Your Life has been my favorite because it deals with one of my favorite science fiction mediums; alien visitors to Earth. I love imagining what it would be like if visitors from another galaxy stopped in on us earthlings some day. Hopefully, they would be peaceful observers like the Heptapods!

Largest Known Astroid may be a Mini Planet

I was going through a website called www.sciencedaily.com trying to find something that interested me, when I accidently stumbled upon this article. Scientists believe that Ceres, the largest known astroid, may contain a layer of ice consisting of pure water. This astroid contains many similar characteristics to Earth and other rocky, terrestrial planets. It is quite possible that it may have more water then all the fresh water on earth. Although it is extremely smaller then all of our planets, it is interesting how it shares similar features with some of them.

Possible life in Space

I was reading through USA Today's website and came across a space related article predicting possible life on Saturn's moon Titan. Its a neat piece which explains that recent satellite photographs have shown that some sort of liquid is often present on the surface of this moon. This liquid may not be water, however the simple fact that it is there has lead scientists to wonder what exactly it is, and how it got there.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2005-09-18-titan-shoreline_x.htm

Question for Mr. Chiang

Mr. Chiang,
What inspired your work? Was it personal experience or things conjured up in your imagination? How did your ideas evolve to make you so renowned in the science fiction world?

CNN Science Article

While there is much more science than fiction in this article, it is important to think about science and where it will take us when thinking about science fiction. Science fiction has always taken us out into space and the great unknown, and this article is turning science fiction into science fact by announcing how NASA plans on taking man to the Moon and possibly Mars. If we do continue space exploration, what could this mean for the science fiction community? Would writers and thinkers be given new ideas and have more factual information to create even better fiction? It will be interesting to find out.

Question for Mr. Chiang

Mr. Chiang, where did your idea for the Heptapod languages come from? As an anthropology student, I am very interested in the linguistic aspects of "Story of Your Life." Did you base the languages on an actual group of people? For instance, the Quechua people of the eastern Amazon use mostly ideophones to communicate just like the Heptapods. When you were writing "Story of Your Life," was there a reason you did not create new "alien" words or did you feel that ideophones best expressed your vision for the story?

Most of your writing combines religion with technological and mechanical ideas. Are you interested in writing about social/political ideas?

Finally, just because I'm curious, what book are you reading at the moment?

Thanks for your time!
Meredith

Science Fiction Weekly

While surfing the web, I ran across this website for science fiction, entitled science fiction weekly, which is located on the site, http://www.scifi.com , (not sure if you can click on this link) which has lots of cool info about the magazine science fiction weekly. It posts articles and news blips online with lots of entertainment reviews, questions, and summaries. I thought it was interesting the the website considered The Exorcism of Emily Rose science fiction, as well as Tim Burton's remake of Charlie and the Chocalote Factory, which although I haven't seen, I wouldn't have pegged as Science Fiction. I think everyone should check out this site and if you get a chance click on http://www.scifi.com/sfw/current/news.html (news of the week) and enjoy all the latest updates on Science Fiction.

Question for Mr. Chiang

Mr. Chiang,
Science Fiction is a subject that many people enjoy, yet it is one of the most stereotyped topics out there. I was curious how you became interested in Science Fiction and where you get your ideas for short stories? Many authors say that they use their own personal experiences for stories and add certain twists to them. I would say I am not a Science Fiction buff or fanatic, but "Understand" was by far my favorite story in the book, and I was also wondering where you came up with that idea? Thanks for your time,
Sara McRay

Question for Mr. Chiang

Hello!!
When I was reading your story "Hell is the Absence of God," I was very saddened by the fact that a rapist was saved by seeing the light of heaven but that the main character was still sent to hell anyway, even though people thought that this was a definite means of salvation. I also thought it was interesting how he loved God in Hell now unconditionally even when he had never loved Him before. It was, however, an interesting twist, one that I wasn't expecting and I enjoyed that! I found my own interpretation, but I was wondering if perhaps you had some sort of societal commentary in mind behind this idea and what your own beliefs about organized religion might be. Perhaps there are certain aspects of today's "believers" that you dislike, or the way people approach relationships in general?
And in answer to the question the person had about the golem, it's an old Jewish myth--or perhaps belief? I'm not sure, but I know that dating way back they used to talk about rabbis making them to do household chores, and the "mystics", those people studying Kabbalah, still think that this exists. There are still people today who beleive that you can animate clay and dirt by placing a name in the back, and I believe a few websites online detailing how you can make one yourself. If that interests you you should check it out!!

Chiang Question

Mr. Chiang,

In the short story "Tower of Babylon" you describe heaven and earth appearing at opposite ends of the spectrum, yet in the story heaven and earth are wrapped around one another. Figures appear at opposite ends, though they are also side by side. Where did you get the idea behind the "seal cylinder?"

NASA unveils plan to get back to moon

It's been a year and a half since Bush's random pledge to get the United States back on the moon by 2020 and to Mars soon after, and NASA has finally divulged its plan to return to the moon at the tune of $100 billion.

As the story says, this plan isn't likely to get the friendliest reception in Congress, which is busy trying to cobble together enough funds for two wars and cleanup from one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.

Add to that the fact NASA is still clueless on how they can prevent launch debris from jeopardizing the safety of shuttle astronauts, and the space program has a steep uphill battle to get funding for this project.

I want to get Americans back on the moon, but given the timeframe for the plan, it disappoints me how limited our ability at space travel still is and likely always will be. I feel very unfortunate that we'll still be splashing around the edges of space for the rest of my lifetime.

Question for Mr. Chiang

Mr. Chiang,

I would like to pick your brain on the writing process. Do you start first with the idea or theme of your story and do the characters and plot snowball from that (as I would have to infer after reading "Understand" and "Hell is the Absence of God"), or do your characters ever just spring out and you find an overarching theme that connects them?

Sci-Fi Article

I saw this article, and it looked like something right out of a movie. These scientists are trying to find a way to simulate Mars on Earth (think along the lines of Bio-Dome). Apparently they believe that they will be able to form a human colony on Mars in about 20 years. This endeavor stems from the belief that people need new frontiers of exploration. Personally, I find the whole idea to be ludicrous, but that is just my opinion. I cannot rationalize or picture humans living like The Jetsons in this lifetime.