Watching Recommendation: Orwell Rolls in his Grave at Brenda Cooper

Watching Recommendation: Orwell Rolls in his Grave

April 25th 2008 at 8:04 pm

I watched Orwell Rolls in his Grave, a documentary made in 2004 about the media. What curious science fiction writer could ignore that title, right? The pointer I got to it was from Mark Anderson, of Strategic News Service, who is one of the brighter thoughtful futurists I know. It turns out that’s is a movie that everyone should see. A divided argumentative independent media is a critical arm of democracy. And we’re losing it. Media is VERY consolidated, and that consolidation in increasingly global. Diversity in ownership is almost zero. AOL/Time Warner and Rupert Murdoch own much of both the ways we get our messages and the content of those messages. If the big telecoms win in the Network Neutrality fight (and we lose the wildness and neutrality of the Internet, which just let me watch a bunch of homemade ads for Obama and earlier let me watch homemade video on Youtube) we will have almost no unapproved messages left.

How awful.

I want to hear messages people don’t want me to hear. That’s whay I read science fiction.

Watch the movie. Orwell Rolls in His Grave. By the way, the movie is a little scary, at least as much as information can be scary. But the creepiest part of watching it for me is that when I talk about things like this movie, I feel like maybe Big Brother is watching somewhere.

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Books

Reading the Wind by Brenda Cooper

"Brenda Cooper's newest novel is a feast of character and concept. She depicts the devastation of war on microcosmic and macrocosmic levels, and even more so, the driving motives of young men and women caught in deadly conflict. Cooper is a master explorer of the interaction of society and individuals. She probes the psychology of her genetically enhanced characters with both rare depth and fidelity to scientific plausibility. Moral conundrums drive the plot in this unforgettable narrative. Don't miss this compelling work by a major new talent." - Mary A. Turzillo, An Old-Fashioned Martian Girl.

"Brenda Cooper tells a tale of a powerful brother and sister in a fight for their lives, offering insights along the way into the nature of courage and the hunger for community that burns in every human being. This is a lively book, full of colorful images and a memorable cast of human and animal characters, a worthy successor to The Silver Ship and the Sea." - Louise Marley

Available in July, 2008, from Tor Books.

The Silver Ship and the Sea by Brenda Cooper

"The first solo novel by Larry Niven's Building Harlequin's Moon (2005) coauthor portrays the thoroughly convincing human colonial society on Fremont, a dangerous planet rife with vicious predators, frequent earthquakes, and falling meteors....Distinctive characterizations, well-limned interrelationships, and the vividly realized Fremont contribute to an exciting coming-of-age story with a strong message about the evils of prejudice." - Sally Estes, Copyright American Library Association.

Mass Market Paperback, July 2008.
Included by Booklist as a "Best Adult Book for Young Adults."

Building Harlequin's Moon by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven

"Fans of both hard and softer, psychological SF will welcome veteran Niven and newcome Cooper's well-written tale of a 60,000 year layover in space, in which physical challenges of world building are matched by the social challenges of collaboration among disparate groups." - Publisher's Weekly

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I am a writer, public speaker, and a futurist. I'm interested in how new technologies might change us and our world, particularly for the better, and in global warming. Learn more.

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