science fiction

I am excited, and honored, to report that I've been asked to be a Guest of Honor at the 2010 Penguicon, a combination science fiction convention and Linux and open source get-together all rolled into one. This isn't as strange as it sounds. Linux, including free and open source software, tends to be quite popular with the science fiction crowd. Conversely, it isn't hard to find a Linux user who digs science fiction.

Did I mention I'm going to be Guest of Honor? :-)

Penguicon 2010 takes place at the Troy Marriott from April 30 th to May 2nd of, you guessed it, 2010.

This is a great time to be a fan of science fiction and fantasy. Tonight (September 24, 2009), on ABC television, a new series called FlashForward will be broadcast to a waiting world. The series is based on the 1999 novel of the same name by my great friend, Robert J. Sawyer. Here's the quick intro: for mysterious reasons (aren't they always), everyone in the entire world, all 7 billions human beings, suddenly black out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. During this blackout, they see visions of themselves and others, one year into the future. 

Of course, the blackout brings unimaginable disaster as planes crash, multi-car pileups occur, people die on the operating table, and accidents of every kind take place as everyone loses consciousness. So beings FlashForward, a series that ABC is promoting as the successor to the immensely popular, LOST. If you can't wait for FlashForward to air tonight, you can check out this 18 minute sneak peak, which contains just enough to get you totally and utterly hooked.

FlashForward is the latest of reasons why it's great to be a science fiction fan in today's world. When I was 9 years old (in 1969), shortly after my family moved to Ontario, I discovered a show that blew me away. That was Star Trek. I have to tell you, at 9, I had already started the march toward science and technology geek. To my young mind, the idea of spaceships and travelling to other worlds only made sense, having watched the march of the space program on television, but Star Trek was something else. This was entertainment that seem made for me! It was different, painting a future that I assumed was just a matter of time, probably somewhere around the time I would reach my parents' age.