Links

• A star went supernova with more than twice the mass needed to ultimately collapse into a black hole. But something weirder happened - the star became a magnetar
• Hermetic Art - The strange creatures of the Russian subway system.
• Plastic becoming part of the ecosystem - Plastic Accumulation in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre
• Post-apocalyptic Tokyo 
• Dave McKean at the Offset Festival last year.
• "The BBC’s extensive archives offer up a veritable literary treasure trove – some 40-odd British writers in their own words, including several notable writers from the SF&F stable such as JRR Tolkien, TH White and John Wyndham..."

Welcome to Chennai

I'm installed in my hotel, overlooking Mount Road in central Chennai. It's hot, busy, cacophonous and bizarre. Wealth and real poverty side by side, a modern thriving metropolis but one rooted in ancient cultures, its a mishmash of ideas, thoughts and voices. It's going to be an interesting year.

So far I haven't gone far. A quick trip to a shopping centre through the noisome streets and to the gym (where I made a friend of the trainer and he tried to kill through exercise - which I need to do everyday).

Tomorrow Madame Vin is going on her first visit to the office and I'll start my writing regime.

In the mean time, some links:

• A biomechanical world in this stunning video
• Supernatural is getting the Anime treatment.
• "Migrating Floating Gardens" by Rael San Fratello Architects.
• A 'Super Sad True Love Story' from Gary Shteyngart "we live in such a fast-paced society that the moment you want to write about something, that instant is gone. The only way to capture the present is to write about the future."
• The age of the book is coming to an end. 
• And now that I'm India for a year, Kate Griffin has made me a little home sick for Edinburgh.

I'll try to put up some photos tomorrow.

Busy, busy, busy - Wrong, wrong, wrong

Busy, busy, busy so here's some stuff to look at along with a few quick book reviews.

• A short Dr Who comic from Rob Davis illustrating the appeal of the Time Lord.
• Article about the advances in 3D printing. Soon you'll just fire one of these babies up and produce anything.
• Article about how not to get a dead person through an airport and on to a plane. Sounds like the start of a novel.
• Dialogue and how to keep it natural.
• An art gallery on your computer.
• Free music from Ithaca Trio.
• Free comics Sin Titulo, Power Out, The Guns of Shadow Valley, Bayou.

Right off to write to my MP (Alistair Darling for those interested) about the Digital Economy Bill and how it is wrong, wrong, wrong.

****

Comic protests that takes you around the world. Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption is a comic collective who take on some serious projects and present them in a sympathetic way. Some better than others.

A short from Warren Ellis, Aetheric Mechanics feels like one of those ideas he had and dashed of quickly before it vanished from his vast brain. It's short and blunt but as usual clever and well presented.

I love Tomine austere art work in Sleepwalk. Fine lines with deep blacks that remind me Charles Burns. Good story telling as well.

Solipsistic Pop collection no 1. Some good, some not so, but good enough so that I'll buy collection no. 2.

Flinch is another collection this time from Australia. Only a couple were brilliant but some good stuff from Tan as usual.

A dark noir thriller set in the mind. The Manual of Detection is a brilliant idea, cleverly executed by a new author worth looking out for. Think Kafka with Bogart in it. Well presented book as well which is nice to see.

****

Read this week:

Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption by various

Aetheric Mechanics by Warren Ellis

Sleepwalk and other Stories by Adrian Tomine

Solipsistic Pop by Various

Flinch by various

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry