favorite things...

there's only one thing I like more than reading...but I'm probably not writing about that here...primarily I read science fiction. Being an engineer and software jockey, that shouldn't be too surprising.

finally read all the titles by Charles Stross that I have (Timelike Dip, Accelerando, Glasshouse, OHMOS)...he's done more, but mostly short stories in the mags, and things under contract but not yet in print. See his FAQ for more info. a little bit of his writing is actually on his website.

Accelerando is absolutely amazing...wish I'd written it...the wild-n-crazy-idea density in this novel is almost off the scale, like nothing you've ever read. (it originated as a series of short stories) The funky ideas roll off (like the classic, oft-mentioned Heinlein "the door dilated", which was about the only time Heinlein tossed off something like that) at a pace you've never seen before. read the electronic version here.

All the stories I read have some inter-related flavor (incl use of certain phrases), they are all about "the singularity", a point in time (probably in the future, but perhaps the recent past, too) beyond which it is no longer possible to imagine what the future is going to be like, because the rate of change due to technological advances is so high that you are future-shocked continuously. Bring it on, I say--can't happen to soon.

Stross handles that all like it's a walk in the park. We are certainly approaching that time, I'd argue that it's this century, because we are basically progressing in terms of computing and biotech at an unbelievable speed, and the convergence of those two things is going to happen soon.

Timelike Diplomacy is only a little based on the singularity. Accelerando is ALL about it, OHMOS is differently based on it (mixing tech with the occult -- not hard to imagine, "sufficiently advanced tech = magic")

Stross has been a computer jockey, too...in the stories I read, he mentions two programming languages, one I consider scruffy in the extreme, the other my all-time favorite (and which I used to be *very* good with).

I haven't been this impressed with a new (at least to me) write since I discovered Peter Hamilton a few years ago.