And Thus I Refute M John Harrison

princeofcairo points to an amazing world-building page concentrating on variations on the Earth. A while back I was holding an inflatable Earth globe and idly wondering what would happen if the poles were on what is currently the equator; Chris Wayan has done the modelling.

And why the title? Because MJH recently blogged on the topic, and was very scathing about it indeed. Now, I am aware that what he was really tilting at was the obsessive need of some authors to seemingly write an encyclopaedia of their proposed setting lest they forget what kind of tunic a middle-age serf would wear, but I rather suspect he might disapprove of this sort of exercise too. Yet I find it fascinating, and perusing some of Wayan's pages I am immediately struck not just by story ideas but by the very sense of wonder that so many people consider to be in the DNA of good sf.

The 'great clomping foot of nerdism' is still welcome to park itself here.