Ken MacLeod's comments.
The title comes from two quotes:
“Work as if you lived in the early days of a better nation.”—Alasdair Gray.
“If these are the early days of a better nation, there must be hope, and a hope of peace is as good as any, and far better than a hollow hoarding greed or the dry lies of an aweless god.”—Graydon Saunders
The order of reality has now been saved by Barnes and Noble, so feel free to get on with the reality of ordering.
Elswhere, Solaris Rising: the New Solaris Book of Science Fiction, in which I have a short story titled 'The Best Science Fiction of the Year Three', has just been released, and is available on Amazon in the UK, the US, and Canada. There's already a favourable review at Locus Online (along with a likewise favourable review of Technology Review: Science Fiction.
(Pic and links via Richard Salter, a fellow contributor.)
Hi, Ken, Not to kvetch, but as a certified Midwesterner, no yank would say "Fancy a coffee?/Fancy a glass of wine?" as the protagonist in "The Best Science Fiction of Year Three" did. "Fancy" isn't used that way here, and it would take most yanks a few seconds to figure out what was being asked. Lee
I think Lee overstates the case. A lot of Americans would understand what you were talking about. It's less certain they would actively use the phrase, but there is plenty of linguistic creep. People over here say things now they would not have said even 15 years ago because of movies, TV, etc. It's like saying a British/Irish/Indian...etc person would never adopt American slang either in general speech or in emphatic or parodic speech. To speak to Lee's midwestern-ness, I am guessing "want to come with?" was more confusing to "standard" Americans than "fancy a cup?," though both expressions have gotten more currency recently.
@ Privatiron, All I can say to address your point is to repeat: most yanks would understand the unfamiliar phrase, but it would take a second or two to for them to process it. As to linguistic creep, maybe that holds for real yanks (New Englanders - yeah, we say that instead of New English), but in the Midwest most linguistic creep is from Spanish.
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest (of the USA), and have used the "fancy a... " phrase for as long as I can remember. Of course it could have something to do with being raised on BBC productions borrowed from the library.
In any case, I enjoyed the story greatly. Looking forward to your next novel!
Hi, Ken,
Not to kvetch, but as a certified Midwesterner, no yank would say "Fancy a coffee?/Fancy a glass of wine?" as the protagonist in "The Best Science Fiction of Year Three" did. "Fancy" isn't used that way here, and it would take most yanks a few seconds to figure out what was being asked.
Lee
By
Lee Gloster, at
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 9:52:00 PM