Tag: Bruce Sterling

Mishmash – #RPGaDay 2017, Day 30

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August is RPGaDay month. Yep, a month solid of RPG-related posts, answering these questions: Today’s question is this: What is an RPG genre-mashup you would most like to see? Ah, well, now we’re in dangerous territory, since the stuff I’d most like to see is stuff I’m working on, yes, as in projects I want to write and pitch and sell and get out into the world. I won’t say anything about those because, unlike in fiction, I think in RPGs an interesting and unusual idea is actually worth something, even if execution still matters more than idea.  Also, a lot …

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Georgian England, The Developing World, Crime Prevention, and Internet Trolls

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Life in Georgian London was an alien sort of existence: it’s hard to wrap your head around it, though there is one analogy I’ve discovered for it that neatly says a lot about the things we take for granted… and also suggests something of our future, too. I suspect the unexpected key is this figure: Yes, our old friend… the internet troll.  I’d argue that, among other things, the Internet is pretty invaluable in keeping humanity acquainted with what it’s like to live in a lawless, unpoliced world. Which is the kind of world that people in the 1730s lived …

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Literary Sampling and Remixing: Sterling & Gibson’s The Difference Engine

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I’ve intended to get around to The Difference Engine for years on end, but never started in on it in earnest until this year, for reasons I can’t explain, really. I’ve had a copy all these years, but never quite gotten around to it. Anyway, I picked up an audiobook edition of the novel using one of my Audible credits, since I’ve been listening to audiobooks a fair bit while walking, or doing chores around the house, and I’m enjoying it immensely. I remember reading an interview with the authors in Science Fiction Studies many years ago, and being very curious about the method they …

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