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Tales of Geek, Music, Media, Urban Myths, Folklore & the Weird by Charles Christian
​includes Weird Tales Radio Show podcast

Monday Motivational Message: Sarcasm Alert!

31/7/2017

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New Weird Fiction on the Grievous Angel: The Psychic Fish Hates You

30/7/2017

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Into the well-weird today with new flash fiction from Addison Smith and his tale The Psychic Fish Hates You – you can read it HERE
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Holiday ideas: visit the steakhouse pentacle of doom

29/7/2017

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Colson Whitehead on why writers write science fiction & fantasy

28/7/2017

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And the winner is...
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Last night saw The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (pictured left) win the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award for best science fiction novel of the year – and Urban Fantasist's Charles Christian was present at the award ceremony at Foyles Bookshop in London. (Of course he was there, he was one of judges for the Award! https://www.clarkeaward.com/award-winners/the-award-juries/)

Colson is currently in China and, as Star Trek-style transporters are still in the realm of science fiction, he was unable to attend in person but he did send this acceptance speech – which is wonderful because it perfectly encapsulates why writers write science fiction and fantasy...

"Way back when I was ten years old, it was science fiction and fantasy that made me want to be a writer. If you were a writer, you could work from home, you didn't have to talk to anybody, and you could just make stuff up all day. Stuff about robots and maybe zombies and maybe even miraculous railway lines. Fantasy, like realism, is a tool for describing the world, and I'm grateful that a book like The Underground Railroad, which could not exist without the toolkit of fantastic literature, is being recognized by the Arthur C. Clarke Award." ...Colson Whitehead

Other things to note about last night's award...

* This year (2017) is the 100th anniversary of Sir Arthur's birth in (December 1917) – he died in 2008.

* This year was the 31st year the Award has been made – the first winner in 1987 was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

* Although this year's shortlist might appear to be very diverse in terms of subject matter, as the chair of the judges Andrew M. Butler pointed out, all the novels focus on humanity and the triumph of the human spirit against adversity (even if in some instances the humanity in question is that of an artificial intelligence).

* Colson Whitehead has also won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Prize, and been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for this novel. In addition, former President Barack Obama said The Underground Railroad was the last book he read while he was still in The White House – a fact that prompted Award director Tom Hunter to comment last night it was also "the last book to be read by an American president"!

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All six shortlisted novels

Colson Whitehead adds Arthur C Clarke award to growing prize haul

Fresh from being nominated for the 2017 Man Booker prize, Colson Whitehead's alternative history of slavery in the US, The Underground Railroad, has won the UK's top honour for science fiction, the Arthur C Clarke award.

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Russia to build autonomous AI powered missile: anyone recall the movie Dark Star?

28/7/2017

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Russia is building an AI-powered missile that can think for itself

en.wikipedia.org Today's most advanced weapons are already capable of "making decisions" using built-in smart sensors and tools. However, while these weapons rely on some sort of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, they typically don't have the ability to choose their own targets. Creating such weapons is now Russia's goal, according to the country's defense officials and weapons developers.

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Folklore: I'm not saying we are a superstitious lot in East Anglia but...

27/7/2017

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​I'm not saying we are a superstitious lot in East Anglia who still follow the Old Ways and practice sorcery but these poppets were on sale at a street market in Bungay on Sunday...

And here's the spell to go with it:

​Little one, I made you 
and now I give you life
I name you (person's name)
Her/his body is your body
Her/his breath is your breath
Her/his passion is your passion
Her/his blood is your blood
Though separate you were
Now you are one
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Tech Throwback Thursday: is this an early form of Cyberpunk?

27/7/2017

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Is that a cyberpunk in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me? Not sure what is going on here but they seem to be happy dancing the Peppermint Twist or something! 
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Australia to see first Cyborg Rights lawsuit?

26/7/2017

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No, this is real news, not a fake news story to promote the upcoming Blade Runner movie... The good people at Sydney Criminal Lawyers report that Australia may soon get its first "Cyborg Rights" lawsuit after a "biohacker" implanted the chip from a public transport travel card under his skin. Read embedded story (includes video) for all the details and ramifications...

Australia May See Its First Cyborg Rights Case

You might remember Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow from his interview with Sydney Criminal Lawyers earlier this year. In that interview, Meow talked about biohacking, a DIY movement aimed at democratising science. Biofoundry, the community lab Meow's's opened in Redfern, is designed to do just that.

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New Fantasy & Sci-Fi Poetry on the Grievous Angel: Dolls & Androids by Deborah Davitt

25/7/2017

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​We've self-editing androids and abandoned dolls for you now in two new poems – Inhuman Nature and Dolls – by Deborah L. Davitt. You can read them both HERE
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I love tofu salad but does anyone want that last donut?

25/7/2017

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New post and cartoon by Tom Fishburne on why 80% of new product & service launches fail within six months of launch despite going through focus group vetting: there's a gap between what people say and what they actually do...

the problem with focus groups

"The correlation between stated intent and actual behavior is usually low and negative," HBS Professor Gerald Zaltman wrote in his classic textbook, How Customers Think. Year ago I took Zaltman's class as a student and it made an impact on me.

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    This is Urban Fantasist

    Barrister and Reuters correspondent turned writer, award-winning tech journalist, radio presenter, podcaster, blogger, storyteller, and sometime werewolf-hunter Charles Christian is here to inform and entertain you with tales of writing, radio, geek, tech, media, music, urban myths, folklore, the weird​ and anything else that intrigues him. The site also has links to all Charles Christian's books including fiction, nonfiction, and the latest reviews. Plus links to his weekly Weird Tales and Smart Radio shows.

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  • Home
  • Weird Tales Radio
  • Charles Christian Bio
  • Charles Christian Books & Reviews
  • * Fiction
  • * Non Fiction
  • * Poetry
  • The Grievous Angel