So…

I need something that is mildly convincing to explain the following scenario (mildly only, it’s far future and I can fudge quite a bit as the tech isn’t the main point): a combat drone incapacitates its targets through some kind of electromagnetic frequency that burns away specific areas of the brain. I need my targets to be upright and more or less mobile by the end, which is why I don’t want to fry away the entire brain/the body. Target can be as stationary as needed; drone can be assumed to have all kinds of nifty equipments that will enable it to generate any kind of wavelength (we’ll worry about miniaturisation later).

Basically, I need pointers, because I don’t really know how to start researching this…

Thanks in advance!

Illustration (click to zoom)

Isn’t it pretty?

Art courtesy of Richard Wagner (and many thanks to Andy Cox as always). “The Angel at the Heart of the Rain”, my sort-of-magical-realism piece about war and refugees, will be out in the May issue of Interzone. 

Very quick post as I’m still at Eastercon and the hotel internet is a bit overloaded…

Delighted that “Immersion” and On a Red Station, Drifting are both finalists for the Hugo (for best Short Story and Best Novella, respectively). The full list of nominees is below; among the many many friends I have on the ballot, I am utterly delighted to see Zen Cho is up for a much-deserved Campbell Award, that Ken Liu continues his unstoppable march to world domination, and that Strange Horizons , Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Clarkesworld are up for the award, which is awesome.

Not sure “delighted” is the word, actually. More like serious-time flabbergasted. I suspected something about “Immersion” due to the strong buzz [1], but I have to admit the second nomination was completely unexpected (and I’m still dazed that people actually read the novella–in a good way!). Many thanks to everyone who voted for them/mentioned them/reviewed them. I sadly won’t be at Worldcon because it’s way too close to my due date (and I strongly suspect the Nebula Awards will be my last transatlantic con for a bit–I have nightmare images of long-haul flights with young children 🙁 ). But wow.

(yes, still in shock, why do you ask)

(complete list of nominees below)
Continue reading →

Fried rolls

So… this weekend’s cooking experiments saw me invading the kitchen of my in-laws and making chả giò (fried rolls). It’s actually a lot more fun to have victims, er, helping hands I mean, to take on some of the work involved in making the rolls. Making the stuffing and wrapping the rolls is about 90% of the work, and for me alone it’s usually a good half-day’s work. Here we made short work of the 30+ rolls in under 2 hours; I understand now why making this (and making dumplings) is a communal activity!

We also got to try out my in-laws’ Philips Airfryer, which deep-fries food with a minimal amount of oil: in this case, the H kindly brushed all the rolls with frying oil (which was some work :p), and we then studied the problem of how to adapt the recipe to an Airfryer. First attempt was dumping rolls in the Airfryer basket and cooking them at 200°C for 20 minutes, flipping them once during cooking. This proved effective but time-consuming: the basket could only take 6 or so rolls, and 20 minutes is a long time when you’re already hungry. We then switched to an intermediate method: cook the rolls in a 200°C-oven for 20 minutes, until they just start to turn golden. Then dump them 6 by 6 in the Airfryer basket, and cook them at 200°C for 4 minutes on each side. Much, much more effective.

The final result doesn’t *quite* look like it’s been deep-fried, but I have to say it’s not too shabby, and the rolls tasted great!

(also, the H now wants us to do dumplings in the Airfryer. I think he enjoyed the entire thing a bit too much :p)

… because I need to be held accountable for actual word count…

“What is it?” Xavier asked.
Selene raised a hand to silence him–seeking the origin of the magic. Young, and desperate; she’d almost forgotten how that tasted, how bittersweet it all was, that mixture of bewilderment and pain that came just after the Fall.
West–in the ruined blocks that had been the Great Department Stores and the Great Hotels before the war, their names like a litany of what had been lost, the Printemps, the Galeries Lafayette, the Hotel Scribe, the Grand Hotel… West–where still stood the House of Lazarus. And, if she could feel it, so could every other Fallen in the vicinity; and perhaps their pet mages, too, if they had the right artefacts or were pumped-up on dust.
Needless to say, Selene did not approve of dust.
“We don’t have much time,” she told Xavier. “He’s in trouble.”

-Strange Horizons (Luc Reid) interviews Ken Liu

Many of my stories deal with the invisible bounds imposed on us by the legacy of history: colonialism, war, mass killings, power imbalances between different parts of the world and between different populations sharing the same space. These bounds infuse everything we experience and affect the fates of nations, peoples, families, and individuals. History is not just vast armies clashing on dark plains at night, but lived through by real men and women related to us. It is deeply personal.

In the West, I have detected a tendency to dismiss or minimize the effects of history on the present, as if history can be made irrelevant by a simple act of individual will. Such views, it seems to me, are signs of a perspective colored by the very privileges conferred on those who have been dealt a lucky hand by history.

-Sophia McDougall on Twenty-One tips to make your book better for new writers

-Glen Mehn reviews On a Red Station, Drifting

this novella would stand out in any crowded field: Complicated, layered, internal and external conflict work, here, and de Bodard delivers. As usual. Not that I’m jealous.

Hahaha yes, that one.

The H and I are pleased to announce our big collaboration for 2013–a little Snake baby! Expected release date: mid-September. We expect said collaboration to be a bestseller, at least with friends and family 🙂

Unfortunately, this means that my public presence activities for 2013 are going to take a severe hit. I’ve pulled out of a bunch of things and rescheduled a bit. Among the casualties are my BSFA interview in May, and WFC in November. However, to make up for it, I’ll be at the Nebula Awards Weekend, though I suspect at this stage of the process it’ll mostly involve sitting in the bar, drinking lots of water and eating a lot of food.

(in case you were wondering why I dropped out of sight since December–yes, that would be it. First trimester is no fun 🙁 ).

Since it’s gone public on the website, here’s my Eastercon schedule as it looks now:

Saturday, 12 noon, Main: “Non Western SF and Fantasy”

Anglophone writers and books by westerners still dominate the bookshelves, but Japan, China and India (to take three examples) also have thriving sff traditions. The panel look at the trends outside the Anglophone and western worlds. Rochita Loenen-Ruiz moderates Aliette de Bodard, Stephane Marsan, Sarah Newton and Gillian Redfearn.

Saturday, 17:00, Rowan, “Motherhood in SF and Fantasy”

Where are the mothers in our depictions of future societies and fantasy worlds? Very often absent or ignored. Our panel looks at the depictions of motherhood and asks what more we can do. Terry Jackman moderates Aliette de Bodard, Chris Beckett, Mike Cobley and Rochita Loenen-Ruiz.

Saturday, 19:00, Conservatory, “Get-Together”

Meet authors and get books signed

Sunday, 11:00, Rowan, “Why is the Future Drawn so White?”

When the protagonist of Justine Larbalastier’s Liar was whitewashed in the cover art, both the author and the internet were outraged and the cover was eventually changed. Yet characters of colour are still all too often absent or elided. How can we work to challenge this and why does it happen? Caroline Hooton moderates Dev Agarwal, Aliette de Bodard, CE Murphy, Tajinder Singh Hayer and Stephanie Saulter.

Sunday, 13:00, Boardroom, “Advice for Writers: Setting”

Practical experience and observations on writing believable and detailed environments. Darren Nash moderates Chris Beckett, Aliette de Bodard, Simon Morden and Gaie Sebold.

Sunday, 19:00, Main, “BSFA Awards/Loncon 3 update”

Award Administrator Donna Scott and Master of Ceremonies Paul Cornell, assisted by our Guests of Honour, present the BSFA Awards for 2012. They then hand over to the LonCon 3 team for a presentation and update on next year’s UK Worldcon. (I’ll be presenting the James White Award at the beginning of the ceremony)

Over at the Kirkus  blog, Ana and Thea from the Book Smugglers kindly review On a Red Station, Drifting. Aka wow.

This is an extremely political story in every sense of the word: on a macro scale of fighting for one’s beliefs in impossible situations and within the microcosm of the domestic, the individual—this dichotomy not really a dichotomy at all, as the micro and macro often intertwine in an inextricable tangle.

This is a beautifully realized story and the characters, plot, theme and writing are expertly crafted. My one regret is that I did not read it before we sent out our Hugo Award Nominations.

So… still well, still overwhelmed.

Progress was made on the novel (I have about half a plot instead of 2% of it); and words were produced. Will now resume watching The Killing (original Danish version) which has us quite unexpectedly enthralled. Have to admit I didn’t see how they could keep the plot going for over 10 episodes, but so far they seem to be doing swimmingly well at it. Part of the reason, I guess (and part of the reason why it feels so lived-in) is that the storyline takes the time to go over the various characters involved (the parents especially) and to show us the family struggling with grief and dark secrets and truths that repeatedly destroy them, which makes them feel all the more realistic, and is fertile ground for the writers to extend storylines by showing us the cost of crimes  (it’s also interesting to see that the investigation’s attempt to keep the family in the loop end up causing more harm than good). My sis wants to watch The Bridge next; I might steal her DVDs…

Next week I shall be at Eastercon, where I have a nice program shaping up (and will hand out the James White Award as representative of the jury, my first ever award presentation–kind of hoping my nerves won’t show too much 😉 )