Tomorrow Sage

Wolfram|Alpha¹ has been available to the general public for seven weeks now, allowing plenty of time to test drive it and uncover its strengths and weaknesses. What I’ve found is that it’s a surprisingly powerful tool for the science fiction writer.

Where traditional internet search engines like Google return a list of links that may or may not lead to the answer the user seeks, Wolfram|Alpha attempts to cut out the middle steps and deliver the actual answer directly to the user. Wolfram|Alpha really shines when you’re seeking specific factual information. Let’s look at a couple of examples of what might arise when conducting research for a science fiction novel.

47 Ursae Majoris b Wolfram|Alpha search

Extrasolar Planets
Assume I’m working on the next Nebula-winning novel and I’ve set the story on 47 Ursae Majoris b (an exoplanet I vaguely remember hearing about when it was discovered in 1996). I plug the planet’s name into Wolfram|Alpha and immediately get a wealth of information. I now know that 47 Ursae Majoris b is 45.86 light years from Earth and it is located in the constellation Ursa Major.² About the only thing it doesn’t tell me is whether the planet is inhabited. (Some things have to be left to the imagination of the writer!) (more…)

1. If you’ve somehow missed all the hype, Wolfram|Alpha calls itself a “computational knowledge engine.” It essentially is a new kind of search engine. Its ambitious goal is to provide all objective data in a way that allows users to crunch, convert, compute and compare that data. [↩]
2. In fact, Wolfram|Alpha provides a star map and tells me the exoplanet’s exact location in the sky based on the fact I’m in Milwaukee at the moment. [↩]

One of the more challenging areas of writing today is cross-genre speculative fiction, where (as one example) elements drawn from both fantasy and science fiction come together in a single story with a contemporary setting. Not only must an author create internally consistent fantasy elements (such as a dragon), those elements also must mesh seamlessly with the science and society of our modern world. Thus when an author succeeds at making everything work together in such a cross-genre piece, the payoff can be great.

Dragon Fountain Rue St. Michel, Paris

Sean McMullen’s¹ newest story, “The Art of the Dragon”, is one such successful genre-melding work. The story appears in the Aug/Sept 2009 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (F&SF). From the very first sentence, the reader is likely to be hooked: “I was there when the dragon first appeared — and ate the Eiffel Tower.” (more…)

1. Australian Sean McMullen has written both science fiction and fantasy. His debut novels — Voices In The Light (1994) and Mirrorsun Rising (1995) — were rewritten and combined for a publication in the US as Souls In The Great Machine (1999). More recently, McMullen has written a number of fantasy/cross-genre novels in his Moonworld Saga, including The Time Engine which was published in August 2008. McMullen also appeared in the April/May 2009 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction with the story “The Spiral Briar”. McMullen’s official web site can be found at: http://www.seanmcmullen.net.au/ [↩]

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (F&SF), currently in its 60th year of publication, is one of just a few remaining US-based magazines/digests in the genre.¹ A look at the upcoming Aug/Sept 2009 issue shows that even after six decades, F&SF is still a solid publication for science fiction and fantasy readers.

Cover of F&SF Aug/Sept 2009 issue Artwork by Cory and Catska Ench

It’s probably been 15 years since I read an issue of F&SF from cover to cover,² so the launch of TomorrowSage.com seemed a great excuse to reacquaint myself with the magazine.³ Overall the magazine matched my fond memories from years past, with over 200 pages of well written, thought provoking stories. Reading this issue of F&SF reminded me why I fell in love with science fiction and fantasy in the first place.

What Works
One of the things I most enjoyed about F&SF when I was growing up was the balance the magazine struck between columns and fiction pieces. That balance still feels right in this new issue — there are roughly 225 pages of fiction and 28 pages of nonfiction “Departments” as the magazine calls them. The bottom line is that if I’m buying a magazine of science fiction and fantasy, I want the vast majority of that magazine to consist of fiction. (more…)

1. Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction and Fact are the other long surviving digests that immediately come to mind. Realms of Fantasy, which previously announced it was ceasing publication after the April 2009 issue, was recently purchased by Tir Na Nog Press and is scheduled to resume publication in July. [↩]
2. This is a scary admission from someone who claims to be both a reader and writer in this genre. [↩]
3. Disclosure: The F&SF circulation manager provided a complimentary copy of the Aug/Sept 2009 issue for review. [↩]