Published inAdam’s NotebookHow I Define “Science Fiction”[The original 2017 publication of this post, in a now defunct blog, carried this headnote: “I’m just back from the Edinburgh Book Festival…Jan 93Jan 93
Published inAdam’s NotebookDante and Clive (Live)I re-read some Dante, in part because I was kicking around the idea that Tennyson wrote his Maud on Dantean lines (you can read the post…Dec 3, 20241Dec 3, 20241
SubstackshipsThings are quiet around here now, because I’ve started a Substack and that’s where I’m posting the kinds of things I used to post here…Nov 27, 2024Nov 27, 2024
Published inAdam’s NotebookThe Stream of Consciousness‘Consciousness flows. A “river” or a “stream” are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let…Oct 22, 2024Oct 22, 2024
Published inAdam’s NotebookMartial 1.35: Two TranslationsMartial’s epigram doesn’t have a title, but we could, if we wanted, call it ‘A Poem Needs A Cock’. Here it is, and my literal translation…Oct 16, 2024Oct 16, 2024
Published inAdam’s NotebookMatthew Arnold, ‘Requiescat’ (1853)Strew on her roses, roses, And never a spray of yew! In quiet she reposes; Ah, would that I did too!Oct 14, 2024Oct 14, 2024
Published inAdam’s NotebookA Table of Green FieldsI love the phrase ‘a Table of green fields’. Indeed, I have inserted it more than once into my fiction. I talk a little about why I love it…Oct 12, 2024Oct 12, 2024
Published inAdam’s NotebookBrave New WorldI’ve undergone, speaking personally, something of a volte face with respect to the role SF fandom, and more specifically that fan-labour of…Oct 7, 20241Oct 7, 20241
Published inAdam’s NotebookSome Saturns‘Saturn,’ says Ross Anderson, ‘is the best planet.’Oct 2, 2024Oct 2, 2024
Published inAdam’s NotebookDavid Gilmour, ‘Luck and Strange’ (2024)Irrelevant preamble: on only one occasion in my life have I been in the same room as David Gilmour. In 2018 Polly Samson was inducted as a…Sep 28, 20241Sep 28, 20241