#Analog Science Fiction & Fact

[savantefolle]

"Kuiper Pancake" published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact

Kuiper Pancake, my chocolate-hard SF short-story, is now out in the May-June issue of ANALOG ! I am proud of this, because this is one of my most fun, but still science-based stories, ever!  And, yes, another food-sounding title after Rare Earths Pineapple! Consult the table of contents (because they grace only one writer with the cover honors!) Ma nouvelle Kuiper Pancake vient de sortir dans le…

[yasbxxgie]

Fourteen years ago, during my first year of college, I sat in a creative writing class and listened as my teacher, an elderly man, told another student not to use black characters in his stories unless those characters’ blackness was somehow essential to the plots. The presence of blacks, my teacher felt, changed the focus of a story, drew attention from the intended subject.

This happened in 1965. I would never have expected to hear my teacher’s sentiments echoed by a science fiction writer in 1979. Hear them I did, though, at a science fiction convention where a writer explained that he had decided against using a black character in one of his stories because the presence of the black would change his story somehow. Later, this same writer suggested that in stories that seem to require black characters to make some racial point, it might be possible to substitute extraterrestrials—so as not to dwell on matters of race.

Well, let’s do a little dwelling.

Science fiction reaches into the future, the past, the human mind. It reaches out to other worlds and into other dimensions. Is it really so limited, then, that it cannot reach into the lives of ordinary everyday humans who happen not to be white?

Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Amerindians, minority characters in general have been noticeably absent from most science fiction. Why? As a black and a science fiction writer, I’ve heard that question often. I’ve also heard several answers. And, because most people try to be polite, there have been certain answers I haven’t heard. That’s all right. They’re obvious.

Best, though, and most hopeful from my point of view, I’ve heard from people who want to write science fiction, or who’ve written a few pieces, perhaps, and who would like to include minority characters, but aren’t sure how to go about it. Since I’ve had to solve the same problem in reverse, maybe I can help.

But first some answers to my question: Why have there been so few minority characters in science fiction?

Let’s examine my teacher’s reason. Are minority characters—black characters in this case—so disruptive a force that the mere presence of one alters a story, focuses it on race rather than whatever the author had in mind? Yes, in fact, black characters can do exactly that if the creators of those characters are too restricted in their thinking to visualize blacks in any other context.

This is the kind of stereotyping, conscious or subconscious, that women have fought for so long. No writer who regards blacks as people, human beings, with the usual variety of human concerns, flaws, skills, hopes, etc., would have trouble creating interesting backgrounds and goals for black characters. No writer who regards blacks as people would get sidetracked into justifying their blackness or their presence unless such justification honestly played a part in the story. It is no more necessary to focus on a character’s blackness than it is to focus on a woman’s femininity.

Now, what about the possibility of substituting extra-terrestrials for blacks—in order to make some race-related point without making anyone…uncomfortable? In fact, why can’t blacks be represented by whites—who are not too thoroughly described—thus leaving readers free to use their imaginations and visualize whichever color they like?

I usually manage to go on being polite when I hear questions like these, but it’s not easy.

Onward, then. Let’s replace blacks with tentacled beings from Capella V. What will readers visualize as we describe relations between the Capellans and the (white) humans? Will they visualize black humans dealing with white humans? I don’t think so. This is science fiction, after all. If you tell your readers about tentacled Capellans, they’re going to visualize tentacled Capellans. And if your readers are as touchy about human races as you were afraid they might be when you substituted the Capellans, are they really likely to pay attention to any analogy you draw? I don’t think so.

And as for whites representing all of humanity—on the theory that people will imagine other races; or better yet, on the theory that all people are alike anyway, so what does it matter? Well, remember when men represented all of humanity? Women didn’t care much for it. Still don’t. No great mental leap is required to understand why blacks, why any minority, might not care much for it either. And apart from all that, of course, it doesn’t work. Whites represent themselves, and that’s plenty. Spread the burden.

Back when Star Wars was new, a familiar excuse for ignoring minorities went something like this: “Science fiction is escapist literature. Its readers/viewers don’t want to be weighted down with real problems.” War, okay. Planet-wide destruction, okay. Kidnapping, okay. But the sight of a minority person? Too heavy. Too real. And, of course, there again is the implication that a sprinkling of blacks, Asians, or others could turn the story into some sort of racial statement. The only statement I could imagine being made by such a sprinkling would be that among the white, human people; the tall, furry people; the lumpy, scaly people; the tentacled people; etc., were also brown, human people; black, human people, etc. This isn’t a heavy statement—unless it’s missing.

From my agent (whose candor I appreciate) I heard what could become an even stronger reason for not using black characters in particular. Not using them in film, anyway. It seems that blacks are out of fashion. In an industry that pays a great deal of attention to trends, blacks have had their day for a while. How long a while? Probably until someone decides to take a chance—and winds up making a damn big hit movie about blacks.

All right, forget for a moment the faddishness of the movie industry, forget that movies about blacks are out. Movies, science fiction and otherwise, with a sprinkling of minority characters, but no particular minority theme, seem to do well. Yaphet Kotto certainly didn’t do Alien any harm. In fact, for me, probably for a good many blacks, he gave the movie an extra touch of authenticity, and a monster movie, even a good monster movie, needs all the authenticity it can get.

That brings me to another question I hear often at science fiction conventions. “Why are there so few black science fiction writers?” I suspect for the same reason there were once so few women science fiction writers. Women found a certain lack of authenticity in a genre that postulated a universe largely populated by men in which all the power was in male hands, and women stayed in their male-defined places.

Science fiction writers come from science fiction readers, generally. Few readers equal few writers. The situation is improving, however. Blacks are not as likely as whites to spend time and money going to conventions, but there is a growing black readership. Black people I meet now are much more likely to have read at least some science fiction, and are not averse to reading more. My extra copy of Dreamsnake has reached its fifth reader, last I heard. Movies like Alien, Star Wars, in spite of its lack, and Close Encounters, plus the old Star Trek TV series have captured a lot of interest. With all this, it’s been a pleasantly long time since a friend or acquaintance has muttered to me, “Science fiction! How can you waste your time with anything that unreal?”

Now to those reasons people aren’t as likely to give for leaving minorities out of science fiction. The most obvious one, and the one I feel least included to discuss is conscious racism. It exists. I don’t think science fiction is greatly afflicted with it, but then, racism is unfashionable now, and thus is unlikely to be brought into the open. Instead, it can be concealed behind any of the questions and arguments I’ve already discussed. To the degree that it is, this whole article is a protest against racism. It’s as much of a protest as I intend to make at the moment. I know of too many bright, competent blacks who have had to waste time and energy trying to reason away other people’s unreasonable racist attitudes; in effect, trying to prove their humanity. Life is too short.

A more insidious problem than outright racism is simply habit, custom. Science fiction has always been nearly all white, just as until recently, it’s been nearly all male. A lot of people have had a chance to get comfortable with things as they are. Too comfortable. Science fiction, more than any other genre, deals with change—change in science and technology, and social change. But science fiction itself changes slowly, often under protest. You can still go to conventions and hear deliberately sexist remarks—if the speaker thinks he has a sympathetic audience. People resent being told their established way of doing things is wrong, resent being told they should change, and strongly resent being told they won’t be alone any longer in the vast territory—the universe—they’ve staked out for themselves. I don’t think anyone seriously believes the world of the future will be all white any more than anyone believes the present world is all white. But custom can be strong enough to prevent people from seeing the need for science fiction to reflect a more realistic view.

Adherence to custom can also cause people to oppose change by becoming even more extreme in their customary behavior. I went back to college for a couple of quarters a few years ago and found one male teacher after another announcing with odd belligerence, “I might as well tell you right now, I’m a male chauvinist!”

A custom attacked is a custom that will be defended. Men who feel defensive about sexist behavior may make sexist bigots of themselves. Whites who feel defensive about racist behavior may make racist bigots of themselves. It’s something for people who value open-mindedness and progressive attitudes to beware of.

A second insidious problem is laziness, possibly combined with ignorance. Authors who have always written of all-white universes might not feel particularly threatened by a multicolored one, but might consider the change too much trouble. After all, they already know how to do what they’ve been doing. Their way works. Why change? Besides, maybe they don’t know any minority people. How can they write about people they don’t know?

Of course, ignorance may be a category unto itself. I’ve heard people I don’t consider lazy, racist, or bound by custom complain that they did not know enough about minorities and thus hesitated to write about them. Often, these people seem worried about accidentally giving offense.

But what do authors ordinarily do when they decide to write about an unfamiliar subject?

They research. They read—in this case recent biographies and autobiographies of people in the group they want to write about are good. They talk to members of that group—friends, acquaintances, co-workers, fellow students, even strangers on buses or waiting in lines. I’ve done these things myself in my reverse research, and they help. Also, I people-watch a lot without talking. Any public situation offers opportunities.

Some writers have gotten around the need for research by setting their stories in distant egalitarian futures when cultural differences have dwindled and race has ceased to matter. I created a future like this in my novel, Patternmaster, though I did not do it to avoid research. Patternmaster takes place in a time when psionic ability is all that counts. People who have enough of that ability are on top whether they’re male or female, black, white, or brown. People who have none are slaves. In this culture, a black like the novel’s main woman character would, except for her coloring, be indistinguishable from characters of any other race. Using this technique could get a writer accused of writing blacks as though they were whites in Coppertone, and it could be a lazy writer’s excuse for doing just that. But for someone who has a legitimate reason for using it, a story that requires it, it can be a perfectly valid technique.

More important than any technique, however, is for authors to remember that they are writing about people. Authors who forget this, who do not relax and get comfortable with their racially different characters, can wind up creating unbelievable, self-consciously manipulated puppets, pieces of furniture who exist within a story but contribute nothing to it, or stereotypes guaranteed to be offensive.

There was a time when most of the few minority characters in science fiction fell into one of these categories. One of the first black characters I ran across when I began reading science fiction in the fifties was a saintly old “uncle” (I’m not being sarcastic here. The man was described as saintly and portrayed asking to be called “uncle”) whom Harriet Beecher Stowe would have felt right at home with. I suspect that like the Sidney Poitier movies of the sixties, Uncle was daring for his time. That didn’t help me find him any more believable or feel any less pleased when he and his kind (Charlie Chan, Tonto, that little guy who swiped Fritos…) were given decent burials. Times have changed, thank heavens, and science fiction has come a long way from Uncle. Clearly, though, it still has a long way to go.

[infactforgetthepark]

[Free eBook] Energized by Edward M. Lerner [Science Fiction Technothriller]

Energized by Edward M. Lerner, a former scientist in the aerospace industries and Analog Science Fact essay contributor, is a standalone science fiction technothriller novel, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month for May, and was originally published in 2011 by Analog Science Fiction & Fact magazine as a featured serial and was later reprinted in novel form by Tor Books.

The story takes place in a near future where Earth's oil fields have been disastrously tainted by radioactivity, leaving the world in chaos as it scrambles to develop alternative energy sources, when an asteroid appears which may provide a solution to humanity's needs, if various competing groups don't succeed in sabotaging the project to build solar power satellites from its rich resources.

Offered DRM-free worldwide through May, available directly from the publisher.

Free for a limited time through May directly @ the publisher's special promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi bundle available worldwide in return for your valid email address; follow the instructions on the page to reset the suggested cart price to $0.00 during checkout)

There are two tie-in discount offers this month: one for Lerner's newly released non-fiction book Trope-ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind Science Fiction which is a guide for layperson readers and aspiring writers to understanding many popular SFnal features and their scientific roots and storytelling uses, which is offered for $7.99 (a $2 discount off its regular price).

The other is for a 3-book bundle of Lerner's backlist standalone science fiction technothriller novels, two originally published in 2008 and 2009 by Tor Books, and one of them a more recent work from Phoenix Pick Press, for just $7.99.

Description A geopolitical miscalculation tainted the world’s major oil fields with radioactivity and plunged the Middle East into chaos. Any oil that remains usable is more prized than ever. No one can build solar farms, wind farms, and electric cars quickly enough to cope. The few countries still able to export oil and natural gas—Russia chief among them—have a stranglehold on the world economy.

And then, from the darkness of space, came Phoebe. Rather than divert the onrushing asteroid, America captured it into Earth orbit.

Solar power satellites—cheaply mass-produced in orbit with resources mined from the new moon, to beam vast amounts of power to the ground—offer America its last, best hope of avoiding servitude and economic ruin.

As though building miles-across structures in space isn’t challenging enough, special interests, from technophobes to eco-extremists to radio astronomers, want to stop the project. And the remaining petro powers will do anything to protect their newfound dominance of world affairs.

NASA engineer Marcus Judson is determined to make the powersat demonstration project a success. And he will—even though nothing in his job description mentions combating an international cabal, or going into space to do it.

[babbleuk]

Can Computers Be Implanted in Human Brains?

The following is an excerpt from GigaOm publisher Byron Reese’s new book, The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity. You can purchase the book here.

The Fourth Age explores the implications of automation and AI on humanity, and has been described by Ethernet inventor and 3Com founder Bob Metcalfe as framing “the deepest questions of our time in clear language that invites the reader to make their own choices. Using 100,000 years of human history as his guide, he explores the issues around artificial general intelligence, robots, consciousness, automation, the end of work, abundance, and immortality.”

One of those deep questions of our time:

Instead of building a external general intelligence unit, would we instead augment our own brains with computing power? In this excerpt from The Fourth Age, Byron Reese considers the implications of direct interaction between computers and our brains.

Instead of building conscious computers, can we perhaps augment our brains with implanted computers? This doesn’t require us ever to crack the code of consciousness. We just take our consciousness as a given and try to add appendages to our existing intellect. This feels substantially less alien than uploading ourselves to the machine. You can imagine a prosthetic arm, for instance, that you control with your mind. In fact, you don’t really have imagine it, it already exists. Building more and more things that interact directly with the brain—say, an artificial eye—seems plausible. Eventually, could entire computers be fitted into the brain?

Elon Musk advocates a solution like this. He wants to create a neural lace for our brains, a way to directly sync our brains to the digital world. He explains:

The solution that seems the best one is to have an AI layer [added to your brain] that can work well and symbiotically with you. . . . Just as your cortex works symbiotically with your limbic system, your third digital layer could work symbiotically with you.

What Musk proposes is way beyond the brain-controlled prosthetic described at the start of this chapter. He is talking about your thoughts and memories comingling with digital ones. This would be where you think a thought like, “How long is the Nile River?” and that query is fed into Google Neuro (wirelessly, of course), and a quarter of a second later, you know the answer. If this ever happens, expect the ratings of Jeopardy! to fall off a cliff. In addition, the historian Yuval Noah Harari speculates on what else to expect:

When brains and computers can interact directly, that’s it, that’s the end of history, that’s the end of biology as we know it. Nobody has a clue what will happen once you solve this. . . . We have no way of even starting to imagine what’s happening beyond that.

There are many who say this can’t be done. Steven Pinker sums up some of the difficulties:

Brains are oatmeal-soft, oat around in skulls, react poorly to being invaded, and suffer from inflammation around foreign objects. Neurobiologists haven’t the slightest idea how to decode the billions of synapses that underlie a coherent thought, to say nothing of manipulating them.

Three breakthroughs would be needed to accomplish a meaningful merger of people and machines, and they may not be possible. First, a computer must be able to read a human thought. Second, a computer must be able to write a thought back to the brain. And third, a computer must do both of those things at speeds substantially faster than what we are presently accustomed to. If we get all three of these, then we can join with computers in a cosmically significant way.

The first one, a machine reading a human thought, is the only one we can even do a little. There are several companies working on devices, often prosthetics, that can be controlled with the mind. For instance, Johns Hopkins recently had a success creating a prosthetic hand whose individual fingers could be moved with thought. A male subject, who had his hands, was set to undergo a brain-mapping procedure for his epilepsy. The researchers built a glove with electronics in it that could buzz each finger. Then they placed a sensor over the part of the subject’s brain that controls finger movement. By buzzing each finger, they could specifically measure the exact part of the subject’s brain that corresponded to each finger. It worked! He could later move the fingers of the prosthetic with his mind. However, this would work only for his brain. For you or I to accomplish the same feat would require a similar procedure.

Another Johns Hopkins project involves making an entire artificial arm that can be controlled by the brain. Already, about a dozen of them are in active use, but again, they involve surgeries, and the limbs currently cost half a million dollars each. However, Robert Armiger, the project manager for amputee research at Johns Hopkins, said, “The long-term goal for all of this work is to have noninvasive—no extra surgeries, no extra implants—ways to control a dexterous robotic device.”

These technologies are amazing and obviously life-changing for those who need them. But even if all the bugs were worked out and the fidelity was amped way up, as a consumer product used to interface with the real world, they are of limited value compared with, say, a voice interface. It’s cool, to be sure, to be able to think “Lights on” and have them come on, but practically speaking it is only a bit better than speaking “Lights on.” And of course, we are not anywhere near being able to read a simple thought like that. Moving a finger is a distinct action from a distinct part of the brain. Thinking “Lights on” is completely different. We don’t even know how “Lights on” is coded into the brain.

But say we got all the bugs worked out, and, in addition, we learned how to write thoughts to the brain. Again, this is out in science fiction land. No one knows how a thought like, “Man, these new shoes are awesome” is encoded to the brain. Think about that. There isn’t a “these shoes are [blank]” section of the brain where you store your thoughts on each pair of shoes you own. But let’s say for a moment that we figure this out and understand it so well that we can write thoughts to the brain at the same speed and accuracy as reading something. This too is nice, but little better than what we have now. I can Google “chicken and dumpling recipe” and then read the recipe right now. There is already a mechanism for data from the eyes to be written to the brain. We mastered that eons ago. Even if the entire Internet could be accessed by my brain, that’s little better than the smartphone I already own.

However, let’s consider the third proposition, of speed. If all this could be done at fast speeds, that is something different. If I could think, “How do you speak French?” and suddenly all that data is imprinted on my mind, or is accessible by my brain at great speed, then that is something really big.

Ray Kurzweil thinks something like this will happen, that our thinking will become a hybrid of biological and nonbiological processes, and he even puts a date on it:

In the 2030s we’re going to connect directly from the neocortex to the cloud. When I need a few thousand computers, I can access that wirelessly.

It goes without saying that we don’t know if this is possible. Clearly your brain can hold the information required for proficiency in French, but can it handle it being burned in seconds or even minutes? There are some biological limits that even technology cannot expand. No matter how advanced we get, an unaided human body cannot be made that can lift a freight train. Perhaps it won’t have to be written to our brain, but our brain can access a larger, outer brain. But even then, there is a fundamental mismatch between the speed and manner in which computers and brains operate.

There is also a fourth thing, which, if possible, is beyond a “big deal.” If we were able to achieve all three of the things just discussed and in addition were able to implant a conscious computer or an AGI in our brains, or otherwise connect to such a machine, and then utilize it to augment our cognitive abilities, then, well, the question of where the human ends and the machine begins won’t really matter all that much. If we can, in fact, upgrade our reasoning ability, the very attribute that many believe makes us human, and improve it by orders of magnitude, then we would truly be superhuman. Or maybe it is better to say that something will be superhuman and that thing will own and control your body. There may no longer be a “you” in any meaningful sense.

It is hard to contemplate any of this given where we are now. The brain is a wonderful thing, but it is neither hard drive nor CPU. It is organic and analog. Turning the lights on with your brain is not just a simpler thing than learning French in three minutes, it is a completely different thing. Those who believe you will be able to learn French that way do so not because they have special knowledge about the brain that the rest of us don’t have. They believe it because they believe that minds are purely mechanistic and that technology knows no upper limits at all. If both of these propositions are true, then, well, even the sky is no longer the limit.

Despite the evident difficulty in merging computers and people, there are numerous projects under way to try to do some of the things we have just covered. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a project whose program manager describes as attempting to “open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics” by implanting a device in the human brain that can convert brain activity into meaningful electronic signals. The agency is dedicating $62 million to the effort as part of its Neural Engineering System Design program. And it is in no way the only one working on such a project. Several other groups, both public and private, are probing the limits of what is possible.

To read more of GigaOm publisher Byron Reese’s new book, The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity, you can purchase it here.

from Gigaom https://gigaom.com/2018/05/15/can-computers-be-implanted-in-human-brains/

[iraheinichen]

Day 233: Worked Out

Day 233: Worked Out

Imma be real wit y’all, I was NOT looking forward to working out this morning. But…I went anyway. And, it kicked my ass just as bad as I thought it would. And, I left happy that I’d gone :P

I do need to make a couple adjustments: namely to my diet. More food. I’ve gained almost no weight in the past three weeks. I have gained strength, but no mass. I’ll hit a ceiling very soon with what I can…

[savantefolle]

Les périls de l'écriture de hard-SF...

J'y explique l'inspiration pour ma nouvelle "Living on the Trap" (Analog Nov-Dec. 2023) Je préfère ma SF bien dure et croquante!

Dans la série les joies de l’écriture de hard-SF… mon article en anglais dans le blog d’Analog. J’y explique l’inspiration pour ma nouvelle “Living on the Trap” (Analog Nov-Dec. 2023) qui se passe sur un monde isolé, inspiré du système Trappist A. Il y a chez nous des villages éloignées et difficile d’accès où la pauvreté subsiste par manque de travail (quand le principal employeur a quitté les…

[infactforgetthepark]

[Free eBook] Qualify by Vera Nazarian [YA Science Fiction]

Qualify by Vera Nazarian, a Nebula Award-nominated author and publisher of the Norilana Books small press imprint, is the 1st novel in the The Atlantis Grail trilogy of dystopian YA science fiction adventure, free for a limited time courtesy of the author herself via StoryBundle.

This is offered to promote StoryBundle's The Sci-Fi SFWA Space Bundle, curated by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. (Humble Bundle also has an otherwise unrelated, but excellent and highly recommended ebook bundle, The Super Nebula Author Showcase 2018 presented by the SFWA containing backlist and newly-collected works reprinted by Open Road Media, Small Beer Press, Tachyon Publications, and more, featuring major authors and award-winners including Ursula K. Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, Jane Yolen, Octavia E. Butler, Tim Powers, Fritz Leiber, and many others for just $20 for 40 titles (fewer if you buy from outside the US, since some are unfortunately geo-restricted due to competing publisher rights).)

The series takes place in the near future of the 2040s, with an asteroid expected to hit Earth soon and the descendants of ancient Atlantis returned from space to help evacuate a small proportion of humanity, with a catch. This installment sets up the premise of the storyline, which is a Hunger Games-like sports competition for teens to qualify to escape the doomed planet and incidentally grant their other wishes before they leave, which one girl is hoping to win in order to cure her mother's cancer, but for the fact that she's an unathletic klutz.

Offered through May 31st at midnight Eastern Time, available DRM-free worldwide directly from StoryBundle.

Free for a limited time directly via @ the dedicated bundle promo page (DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundle available worldwide in return for newsletter signup with your valid email address, to which a download link will be sent; if you sign up for an account (no payment info required), they'll automatically add the book to your library to redownload whenever you like)

The tie-in bundle offer is for $5 minimum for 6 titles (including the 2nd-in-series), or $15 top tier for 18 titles total (including the freebie, and one of the books is a 3-novel omnibus). These appear to mostly be indie works by newer authors, but there are some backlist titles by authors Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (of the popular Liaden series), with a novel originally published in 2003 by the now-defunct Meisha Merlin, and Analog magazine reviewer Don Sakers, with a 2007 novel which continues a series originally published in the 1980s by TSR.

If you're interested in more SFnal works, StoryBundle is also offering The Myths and Legends Fantasy Bundle curated by Star Wars tie-in novel writer Kevin J. Anderson, which offers 5 titles for a minimum $5, or 13 total at the $15 top tier. There are a couple of backlist reprints from Jody Lynn Nye (a 1990 Ace novel), a collection from SFWA president Cat Rambo, and other offerings from Anderson himself and Nebula Award-winning author Linda Nagata, alongside a selection of newer authors' works, some from Anderson's own WordFire Press imprint.

NB: Unlike Humble Bundle, there doesn't seem to be a way to top up your pledge to get a higher tier, so please make sure of which one you want before committing, if you're interested.

Description You have two options. You die, or you Qualify.

The year is 2047. An extinction-level asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and the descendants of ancient Atlantis have returned from the stars in their silver ships to offer humanity help.

But there's a catch.

They can only take a tiny percent of the Earth's population back to the colony planet Atlantis. And in order to be chosen, you must be a teen, you must be bright, talented, and athletic, and you must Qualify.

Sixteen-year-old Gwenevere Lark is determined not only to Qualify but to rescue her entire family.

Because there's a loophole.

If you are good enough to Qualify, you are eligible to compete in the brutal games of the Atlantis Grail, which grants all winners the laurels, high tech luxuries, and full privileges of Atlantis Citizenship. And if you are in the Top Ten, then all your wildest wishes are granted… Such as curing your mother's cancer.

There is only one problem.

Gwen Lark is known as a klutz and a nerd. While she's a hotshot in classics, history, science, and languages, the closest she's come to sports is a backyard pool and a skateboard.

This time she is in over her head, and in for a fight of her life, against impossible odds and world-class competition—including Logan Sangre, the most amazing guy in her school, the one she's been crushing on, and who doesn't seem to know she exists.

Because every other teen on Earth has the same idea.

You Qualify or you die.

[savantefolle]

My Astounding Analog Companion interview

A fun Q&A session for the latest Hard-SF story, "Living on the Trap", published in Analog magazine.

Analog Science Fiction & Facts has a blog where the editors interview the authors. This is my Q&A session for the latest story, “Living on the Trap”, published in the Nov-Dec 2023 issue of this SF magazine. And yes, I put on this picture illustrating the perils of writing hard-SF ! Q&A With Michèle Laframboise TL;DR : A fun Q&A session about my latest Hard-SF story, “Living on the Trap”,…

[savantefolle]

Double publication in Asimov's and Analog SF magazines!

I am sharing this special milestone : my double publication in the July-August issues of Asimov's & Analog! #sciencefiction @asimovsf

Currently on sale in kiosks and specialized bookshops. I am sharing this special milestone with some trepidation: my double publication in the July-August issues of Asimov’s & Analog! *_* I am still reeling from the shock of reading my name on the Asimov’s cover. I did not expect the simultaneous publications in both summer issues of Asimov’s et Analog. As I was born in July, I considers this…

[savantefolle]

Deux publications américaines pour ma fête!

[savantefolle]

Le doux bruissement d'un contrat... (électronique!)

Avec l’acceptation par le magazine On Spec, je me sens comme le cheval Secretariat avec un triplé de magazines très difficiles d’accès!

Les contrat, comment on les signait, jadis… Je cours beaucoup, ces temps-ci, et je signe beaucoup aussi. Ah, le doux bruissement du papier en signant un contrat. Ils sont désormais électroniques, mais l’un d’eux est spécial… et il fut signé à la date montrée sur l’illu. Asimov’s a dit oui! C’est le contrat (électronique) de ma nouvelle accepté pour le numéro Septembre-Octobre 2021 du magazine…