Hard Core

Now, I know that not every Republican is a fan of the Charlie Daniels Band and Christian music. Nevertheless, the organizers of the Republican National Convention insist on presenting such acts to represent the cultural palate of the party. If Bush really is the uniter that he claims to be, then where’s the hip-hop? Where’s the speed metal and the nu metal and the SoCal punk? Where’s the jazz and the blues and ska?
And for God’s sake, where is the zydeco?
So much for creating a big tent.
Popular Science has an article about a dilemma facing sf writers. With the state of science evolving at breakneck speed, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to predict what a future world will look like. Personally, I’ve never been terribly interested in the plausibility of the science in science fiction. What captures my interest is how characters respond and interact in the context of the author’s imagined wonders. I don’t care that warp speed or time travel are scientific improbabilities. All I care about is whether the characters and their actions are believable. That’s why I usually don’t go for hard sf; the science may be solid but the characters and dialog feel stiff and underdeveloped. It feels more like reading a documentary than a novel.