No more singularities?

Blog - World Building

Written by Sofie
Monday, 17 June 2013 00:00

Hold onto your pencils, this is pretty revolutionary if the calculations hold: Quantumn Gravity has removed the need for a singularity at the centre of a black hole (always been a problem for physics because it physics says it has to be there, but can't explain what it does). They go on to further expand - quite seriously - into the idea of black holes as gateways to other universes/other areas of our own universe to solve the information paradox.

In this new model, the gravitational field still increases as you near the black hole's core. But unlike previous models, this doesn't end in a singularity. Instead gravity eventually reduces, as if you've come out the other end of the black hole and landed either in another region of our universe, or another universe altogether. Despite only holding for a simple model of a black hole, the researchers – and Ashtekar – believe the theory may banish singularities from real black holes too.
That would mean that black holes can serve as portals to other universes. While other theories, not to mention some works of science fiction, have suggested this, the trouble was that nothing could pass through the portal because of the singularity.

Now, this is all theory (not that that ever stopped anyone) and it hasn't yet been examined for the more complex black hole structures, but still fascinating nonetheless. Borderline science wish-fulfillment, really - we now have a theory to prove the existence of magic doors.

B&N Manipulating sales ranks

Blog - The Author Business

Written by Sofie
Tuesday, 11 June 2013 00:00

Hugh Howey of WOOL fame writes about B&N's not-so-subtle manipulation of their sales ranking. Quote:

I should point out here that many indie authors are expert at reading sales numbers from sales rank. We’ve shared enough data and collected our own as we move through the lists, so that even as the numbers required to hit certain rankings grows over time with the growth of e-books in general, you can tell when something is amiss. At this point, it was cause for alarm. But then a pattern emerged.
It turns out that two other authors have experienced the same thing and with the same number! Gail McHugh saw her book rise to #126 and go no higher. It appears that any flagged book, whether due to racy cover or racy content, is given a hard ceiling.

Gender roles and politics in fantasy

Blog - Writing Craft

Written by Sofie
Monday, 10 June 2013 00:00

Here are two articles that really should be read in tandem. First-off, Django Wexler has some fantastic points to contribute on the notion of creating female warriors in fantasy, and the prevalence of our western assumptions that all women were always and forever kept out of all fighting everywhere. (Hint: Ummm, no.). But it really must be read in the context of this piece: Your Default Narrative is not Apolitical, by Foz Meadows.

Judith Tarr on Escaping Stockholm

Blog - The Author Business

Written by Sofie
Tuesday, 04 June 2013 00:00

A fascinating article by Judith Tarr on how the world of publishing has changed since the heyday of the 80's, and the traps that well-established authors have been falling into. Worth a read even for newbies, because it helps frame the advice that these veterans give.

Connecting the dots - Amanda Palmer

Blog - The Writer's Life

Written by Sofie
Monday, 03 June 2013 00:00

And now we come to the portion of the year where I offer hopefully-interesting blog posts of links, resources and images with very little commentary for about two months, because all of these have been created in advance while I'm off at Odyssey.

To start us off, a recent post by maverick musicion Amanda Palmer, famous for her $1 million kickstarter campaign and generally revolutionary approach to making music and getting paid for it. She talks about being an artist in a commercial world. It's a long read, but a well worth it.