Crazy Cool Sci-fi Covers: The Wanderer

I’m slightly obsessed with old science fiction books. I find the old stories charming but the real obsession comes from the covers. They’re often wild, wacky and bizarre. Spaceships, winged dinosaurs and scantily clad female aliens are all there – it’s like one of my more juvenile dreams.

One of my faves is this cover to Friz Leiber’s The Wanderer. Which cat owner hasn’t wished that their cat was looked a bit more like a girly, had breasts and was seemingly as big as a planet? It’s certainly the dream of a fair few male cat owners I know.

And what tell of the contents of the book? Well, although this book is supposedly a classic and is published by the reputable Penguin books – it is quite frankly a stinker. There is a tradition in sci-fi books of the cover having nothing to do with the story itself. Sadly in this instance the cover is an alarming representation of this “classic” piece of fiction. It’s giant cats with breasts causing havoc with the planet Earth. For God’s sake! The climax (literally) of the tale comes when the giant sexy cat makes beautiful love to the scientist hero. Blllurrrgggeeeee!!!!!! Thankfully both giant cat and scientist regret it the morning after.

Dark Star

I’m going through a bit of a phase of rewatching/reading sci-fi that I’ve got fond memories of. Often things aren’t quite as good as I remember. However I recently watched the little known, ubercheap sci-fi classic Dark Star (1974) and if any thing it has improved with (my) age.

Dark Star is John Carpenter’s first opus – his magus opus. Mr Carpenter is better known for horror such as Halloween and the brilliant Thing. Strangely through this, his first film is sci-fi comedy. Imagine a group of early seventies hippies stuck together space and the depressed, sniping they engage in. Throw in a vague cryogenically frozen captain, a philosophical bomb and the most brilliant ending of any film. Mix it up and serve with retro Star Trek like effects and a John Carpenter synthie soundtrack and you’ve got a cult classic. And the cost of all this – to you sir it cost $60,000 to make. Fabulous – I’ll have ten.

What really impresses is that it’s downbeat without becoming dystopian like the admittedly brilliant Blade Runner or Brazil. This gives it a very particular vibe – that I can’t recall been replicated in any other film. And if all that isn’t enough reason to watch then everybody must witness the beach ball alien which bizarrely was the inspiration for the much less beach ball like and far more scary 1979 Alien.

Star Wars Interviews

There’s all kinds of theories about how to get good programmers. You could separate Sheep from Goats with Jeff Atwood or experience the madness which is Interview 2.0 with extra riddles. Alternatively you could trust yourself to the force with Tech Splurge.

The methodology is simple but breathtakingly effective. When you contact a candidate with perhaps some direction to the interview or a pre-screening test simply append this simple line to the end of the mail

Use it wisely and only for good.

Any true geeky tech spod will immediately recognise the Star Wars-ness of the statement and will not be able resist replying in the same vain. So if the response is a boring old “Thank you for your response and I look forward to seeing you in due course” then I’m sorry you haven’t passed the test and we won’t be pursuing your application. However if the response is permeated with references to light sabres, X-wings and Princess Leila then you’ve found your ideal candidate. Employ immediately.

I’ve already done the ground work and test ran the phrase with developer colleagues and we are talking an impressive 100% hit rate. Every one of them replies with a Darth Vader image, a Yoda impression or some other Star Wars ephemera. It’s eerily effective.

Lab Lit

I’m a bit of a frustrated scientist at heart. Never mind that I spent my final year at University sulking over Petri dishes, leaving expensive reagents out of the fridge to spoil and breaking centrifuges. There is still a part of me that truly believes that my natural environment is in a lab surrounded by poisonous chemicals and glassware. So I was fascinated by the LabLit site.

As a may have mentioned before (ad nauseum) I’m a bit of a science fiction geek. So LabLit is a new concept for me. It’s fiction about science Jim but not as we know it. Lablit doesn’t concern itself about spaceships, killer robots and little green men. Rather it is literature with realistic depictions of science. Sometimes this is the same as science fiction but often it is not. It turns out that as a frustrated scientist my sci-fi faves are often also LabLit.

My lablit recommendations are

Contact – Carl Sagan. Lab coats, spectacles and radio astronomy
Timescape – Gregory Benford. Lab coats, environmental disaster and worried looks
Speed of Dark – Elizabeth Moon. Lab coats, clever maths and autism
Blood Music – Greg Bear. Lab coats, nanotechnology and quantum freakiness

And to prove I’m a well rounded individual (I’m not) here’s a lablit recommendation that isn’t sci-fi

Thinks – David Lodge. Lab coats, psychology and academic flirting

Dr Who and Gender Reassignment

It’s as seasonal as Turkey, Santa Claus and squabbling with relatives. The Christmas special of Dr Who is on BBC tomorrow and it should be a particularly special special since Mr David Tennant is stepping down from Timelord duties. So who will be taking his place in the swirling time vortices of BBC central? The smart money at the moment appears to be on David Morrisey with Robert Carlyle on the outside track. While these are both worth recipients of the keys to the Tardis I want to give a shout out for Tilda Swinton.

I truly believe Ms Swinton would be a timelord to remember. She played an excellently disturbed turn recently in Michael Clayton and her other worldliness is without question after her performance as the Angle Gabriel in the otherwise average Constantine. She is stylish, elegant and an excellent actress. So who could be better for the most important role of our age?

There may well be nay sayers who point out that Ms Swinton is in possession of an awkward set of XX chromosomes. I say being a lady of the female persuasion is no problem. Firstly, she is no stranger to androgyny. The aforementioned Angel Gabriel was a fella angel and the more seasoned Swinton watchers among you will remember Orlando - the entire premise of which was based on shifting sexuality. Secondly, this is science fiction. Someone changing gender a little bit is hardly beyond the realms of what goes on in the genre. So long as Dr Who doesn’t descend into Deep Space Nine levels of ludicrousness then that’s OK by me.

Furthermore Tilda meets the most important prerequisite for Doctorhood. She is British. Whilst I think that most Whovians would quite happy to accept a bit of gender reassignment during a regeneration – if the Doctor was to become more trans Atlantic then thousands of geeky sci-fi fans would recoil in horror. An American Doctor would be a step too far. It would see us putting down our Games Workshop bags, manning the barricades and throwing our shoes at George Bush.

Accelerando - Serialising Lobsters

I make no apologies about being a sci-fi geek. Being a software geek pays the bills so I think I deserve a bit of extra-curricular sci-fi geekiness. In that vain I just have to recommend Accelerando by Charles Stross – it drips with geeky goodness.

I can’t begin to summarise the plot – all I can do it assure you that the book positively fizzes from page 1. Not enough, you want more of a reason to buy, read and adore this lovely tome. OK

1. Mr Stross is was a computer scientist amongst other things and it the first sci-fi book that I’ve read to really have that embedded in it. At the start of the book sentient lobsters get serialised and sent up a data stream – Fab.
2. One of the main characters is a cat. It total catches the animal’s don’t give a damn attitude – double Fab
3. Charlieboy Stross comes from my hometown, Leeds. I have a LOT of regional pride soooo – Triple Fab.

If I had to categorise it then its cyberpunk without the noir elements and it’s actually well written unlike other so called cyberpunk classics i.e. everything I’ve ever read by William Gibson.

IT Demographics and Logan’s run

I have a few baseless theories about the IT workplace – here’s one.

Logan’s Run is an old sci-fi film starring Michael York and the much loved (by me anyway) Jenny Agutter. The basic premise is that in a post apocalyptic society youth is prized above all else. So much so that when a citizen reaches 30 they are executed. And don’t try to run off because Michael York will don his leather pants, run after you and shot you to bits. Ouch!

I’ve often thought that software development must work in the same way. When you reach a given age, probably about 40, you’re taken quietly into a room for a bit of professional development and quietly exterminated. What else can explain the lack of older developers in a profession that’s been going in strength for 30 years or more.

Ok, there may be other explanations.

1. Lot’s of people leave the profession after 5-10 years. The plasterer that did my dining room was an ex-IT worker. I think he was happier with his trowel.


2. People get rescued into management/project managers etc…. But there aren’t that many management positions.


3. People go into related position because the rate of change in IT is too much. I’ve known a few testers in that position. There are undoubtedly IT trainers in the same position.

Alternatively maybe Michael York is stalking the older members of the profession. Beware of blond actors in leather pants everyone.