Jun
25
Episode 0024: Hard Sci-Fi
Filed Under Books, Interrogations | 1 Comment
After several dozen fruitless conversations with locals—most of whom have never heard of the Hoth system—I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that the Wampa ice creature does not make its home in the frozen Northern wasteland that is Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.1 This is just one of many myths that a thirteen-hour journey to the aforementioned peninsula has dispelled.2 My failure to find vast, wild herds of nomadic, bipedal reptomammals suited to be ridden as mounts over snow-covered plains is likewise disappointing, but for entirely different reasons.3
Meanwhile, back in an undisclosed location near Cleveland, Overlord Miller has been far from idle in my absence. I fully expect to find his new office chair behind my desk when I return, as he has been somewhat less than subtle with his hints that it lacks sufficient lumbar support and that the biometric security scanner “doesn’t like” his DNA.4 While not covertly rearranging office furniture, Overlord Miller has also managed to record a new podcast episode; one that features a guest who is neither a clone nor being “interviewed” against his will.5
Thomas “cmdln” Gideon hosts The Command Line , a podcast that—along with its accompanying blog—”explor[es] digital citizenry as a creator and consumer.” I take that first bit to mean we’ll all be rendered unto ones and zeroes before the interview is concluded, but I suppose it’s open to interpretation.
Promo: The Command Line, a podcast that is so two sentences ago.
Discussion: Technology in Science Fiction
- In the beginning there was Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, considered by some to be the first science fiction novel. Man meddled with forces beyond his ken and hilarity ensued.
- Sometime after the beginning6 there was Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a link to Thomas’ interview with Cory so you didn’t have to search for it? Yes. It sure would.
- Sometime after the beginning but slightly before, concurrent with, and then after Little Brother (and Cory Doctorow) there was Charles Stross (Glasshouse, Accelerando). There was also Greg Egan (Diaspora, Permutation City). To add to the confusion, there was also Vernor Vinge (Rainbow’s End, “The Coming Technological Singularity“). They all wrote books. Coincidence? I think not.
- Oh, and Richard K. Morgan (Market Forces; the Takeshi Kovacs novels, beginning with Altered Carbon), William Gibson (regarded by many as the father of cyberpunk) and Neal Stephenson (Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, Anathem).
- SPOILER ALERT! Spoilers for Neal Stephenson’s Anathem begin at approximately 20:10 in this episode. The Anathem discussion concludes at approximately 29:00.
Musical Interlude: Horizontal Asymptote by Nicole Campbell [wikipedia] – “A song about a line’s struggle to get closer to a horizontal asymptote with a fear of intimacy.”
More Authors
- Isaac Asimov (The Foundation series)
- Arthur C. Clarke (Childhood’s End, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
- David Louis Edelman (Infoquake, MultiReal)
- Robert Heinlein (Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land)
- Alastair Reynolds (Revelation Space, House of Suns)
- Rudy Rucker (The Ware Tetralogy, Postsinguarlity)
- John Scalzi (Old Man’s War)
- Robert Silverberg (Invaders From Earth)
- Bruce Sterling (Schismatrix, The Difference Engine with William Gibson)
- David J. Williams (The Mirrored Heavens, The Burning Skies)
- Walter Jon Williams (Hardwired, The Praxis)
Etc.
- Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine.
- Personal Effects: Dark Art by J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman
Lairkeeping
- Our theme music remains “Skullcrusher Mountain” by Jonathan Coulton, at least until the check bounces.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:17 — 38.7MB)
- Christmas is ruined. [↩]
- Another being that it is a frozen wasteland in June. Temperatures have averaged in the high seventies to low eighties over the past several days; not exactly the ideal place to hire sub-zero shock troops. [↩]
- The Secret Lair’s 1st Annual Arctic Polo Tournament has been postponed indefinitely. [↩]
- His neuroses gene is clearly not recessive. [↩]
- It’s an interesting concept, but I can’t see us taking this approach too often. [↩]
- At least 5,000 years. [↩]
Jun
14
Overlord Dispatches for 2009-06-14
Filed Under Memoranda | Leave a Comment
- Hessians? Did we order Hessians? And why is the tertiary storage warehouse filled with crates of Miracle Whip? #
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Popularity: 8% [?]
May
28
From Wikipedia:
The Middle Ages [...] are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century marked by the division of Western Christianity in the Reformation, the rise of humanism in the Italian Renaissance, and the beginnings of European overseas expansion.
One tidbit about the Middle Ages that Wikipedia curiously omits is that it was during this time period that we chose John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War for The Secret Library. Then came the Black Death—which was totally not our fault—and Overlord Miller’s subsequent flight to California. During the ensuing chaos, we lost track of time1 and a few things wound up slipping through the cracks.
That’s all been straightened out now, and at last we are able to present our discussion of Old Man’s War.
NOTE: The skeptical listener might be inclined to believe that we’ve switched your regular David Moore with Folgers Crystals a copy of David Moore’s consciousness that we’ve uploaded into a computer with a wonky vocoder. This is not the case. We were, in fact, experiencing some technical audio difficulties and Mr. Moore’s transmissions were not as clear and crisp as we’d have liked. Also, there simply is no such thing as a “regular David Moore”.
David Moore talks about Flex, which is not his ground-breaking new workout video.
Promo: The Command Line, a podcast exploring digital citizenry as a creator and a consumer.
Discussion: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.
- Spoiler Alert! Spoilers begin at approximately 10 minutes into the episode.
Promo: PodioRacket.com. What are you putting in your ears?
Not To Mention…
- Anathem by Neal Stephenson is a big, big book.
- John Scalzi has often been compared to Robert Heinlein.
- The Honor Harrington series by David Weber begins with On Basilisk Station.
- The Miles Vorkasigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold begins with Shards of Honor.
- The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper by Nathan Lowell begins with Quarter Share (available for free on Podiobooks.com).
Lairkeeping
- Our theme music is “Skullcrusher Mountain” by Jonathan Coulton, because “Kenesaw Mountain Landis” is about baseball and we are not.
- Our Secretary of Artistic Propaganda is Natalie Metzger, who may or may not be related to Captain Tortuga of the S.S. Isopod.
- We welcome the new Commandante of our Aerial Legions, David Moore.
- We also welcome our new Lair Physician, Dr. John Cmar, whose procedures are almost never covered by insurance.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:42 — 20.4MB)
- And David Moore. [↩]
May
27
Popularity: 20% [?]
May
24
Overlord Dispatches for 2009-05-24
Filed Under Memoranda | Leave a Comment
- @Nycteris It doesn’t matter how sincere you sound (or are), some indigineous sentient is bound to get on your case. I speak from experience. #
- Waiting for “future you” to come back in time and tell you how to resolve the temporal glitch is an unacceptable approach. Get back to work. #
- @The_Kingfish Any minute now… in reply to The_Kingfish #
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Popularity: 21% [?]
May
17
Overlord Dispatches for 2009-05-17
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- I am very disappointed with the projected completion date for the new subterranean annex. Using trained earthworms to excavate: ill-advised. #
- While we’re on the subject of Bad Ideas, whoever gave the goat opposable thumbs and a Sawzall and put it IN MY OFFICE is very, very fired. #
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Popularity: 25% [?]
May
10
Overlord Dispatches for 2009-05-10
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- @blob Is that volume as in decibels or volume as in cubic centimeters? If the former, we have our new “quiet room”; if the latter…tricky. in reply to blob #
- @blob Here’s a dumb question: what happened to all the…you know…STUFF that was on sublevels 33-72? in reply to blob #
- @blob The candy machine on sublevel 32 is the ONLY one with Reese’s Pieces, so this is important: is the black hole stable? in reply to blob #
- @blob So the black hole is just…gone. And what, if anything, now occupies the space between sublevels 32 and 73? Is it even a “space”? in reply to blob #
- @blob Send someone down to sublevel 32 to get me some Reese’s Pieces. When you’re comfortable with “someone” being YOU, we’ll call it stable in reply to blob #
- @blob Lesson learned: chew gum while attempting to isolate exotic particles. in reply to blob #
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Popularity: 28% [?]
Apr
24
Episode 0022: Engage Palladium Geek!
Filed Under Games | Leave a Comment
The overlords are joined by Chris Perrin, formerly of the Canon Puncture podcast, currently of Echoes from the Rifts® and Game Cryer. There is no sign of the fabled “third Chris” (or “fourth [K/Ch]ris”, depending upon which fables you subscribe to) but that is almost certainly not because the final Chris took a wrong turn while wandering unescorted through the well-lit halls of The Secret Lair and stumbled across an experimental, non-photosensitive grue. That sort of thing simply doesn’t happen around here.
Promo: Fried Green Zombies by John Allen at Podiobooks.
Discussion: The Hatfields and The McCoys (AKA, Traditional Gamers vs. Story Gamers)
- The Overlords tend to be Traditional Gamers. Everything is conducted in the dark through a hole in the sheet.
- Perrin plays both sides of the fence. “A plague,” says he. “A plague ‘pon both your houses!”
Games We Mention
- Spirit of the Century (Evil Hat Productions)
- Prime Time Adventures (Dog-eared Designs)
- Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing)
- Savage Worlds (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)
- Mutants & Masterminds (Green Ronin Publishing)
- Burning Wheel (Archaia Studios Press)
- Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast)
- Contenders (Prince of Darkness Games)
- The Storyteller System (White Wolf)
- WarHammer Fantasy (Fantasy Flight Games)
- Polaris: Chilvaric Tragedy at Utmost North (These Are Our Games)
- A Flower for Mara, Dirty Secrets, and Legends of Alyria (all by Seth Ben-Ezra)
- With Great Power… (Incarnadine Press)
- Inspectres (Memento Mori Theatricks)
Podcasts We Mention
- Fear the Boot
- Sons of Kryos
- Canon Puncture
- Voice of the Revolution
- Theory From the Closet
- Master Plan
- Dragon’s Landing
…And Other Stuff
- The Forge
- Scott Sigler. Wait. What the hell? How did he get in here?
- GenCon
- Origins Game Fair
- Ron Edwards (System Does Matter)
Song: “Rich Fantasy Lives” by Rob Balder.
Lairkeeping
- Follow us on Twitter.
- Join our forums.
- Our theme music is “Skullcrusher Mountain” by Jonathan Coulton. Backmasking? What backmasking?
Popularity: 39% [?]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:44 — 26.6MB)
Apr
21
Popularity: 41% [?]
Apr
19
Overlord Dispatches for 2009-04-19
Filed Under Memoranda | Leave a Comment
- How should we celebrate Overlord Miller’s return? http://is.gd/sp8s Please note that “Surprise Firing Squad” is not an option. #
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Popularity: 42% [?]
From the Forums- Re: EUReKAApparently (or so my inept lackeys report) the new episodes begin 9:00 pm on July 10 (2009, for the time travel impaired). […]
- Re: Episode 0023: Old Man's WarGlad you approve, Mr. Bradley. I've read Lamb several times, and yes, I do really enjoy it. I cannot wait to discuss on the show. […]
- Re: Whatcha Reading?Now I am reading The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World by Lawrence Goldstone.A book about the mysterious Voynich Manuscri... […]
- Re: Left 4 DeadWelcome to the 21st century, good sir. I hope to be on this evening, if you guys are around. […]
- Re: Left 4 DeadAnother night, another mad dash through Riverside, gunning down the brain-hungry horde...I've found that Left 4 Dead is a different game when I'm not following in the wake of an experienced player. For one thing, it takes me about twice as long... […]
- Re: EUReKA