Note to self

Even if the polity of asteroid city-states calls itself the Republic of Independent States, they probably won't refer to themselves collectively as the RISables.

And another thing about James White

The detail driving the plot of "In Loving Memory" - that the central government believes conflict between the various groups of humans can only be avoided if the particular adaptations of the colonies to their individual worlds is reduced to mere cosmetic exoticism - sure takes on a different flavour in the context of having been written in Belfast in the 1950s.

a poll

[Poll #1864300]

a poll

[Poll #1864300]

Mindwebs: The Worm

The Worm

This is sort of The Fog Horn meets Canada's Worst Handyman. Points for the attempt to deal with the issue on his own but it was clear early on how this would play out.

Why would a giant subterranean creature have eyes?

Mindwebs: Country Of The Kind

Country Of The Kind

This is a Damon Knight story from the 1950s, a fairly representative example of the alienated man [1] wandering alone in a world filled with beings that look like him but whose minds are completely alien. This sort of thing can easily turn into a Fans are Slans-style wank but not in this case [2].


1: Any examples from before, oh, 1970 where the protagonist is a woman?

2: Knight is the one who coined the toad theory of fandom, right?