Daily archives: September 3, 2012


Introducing Peter Irwin Kyle

P.I. Kyle (he likes to be called P.I. when we talk about his professional achievements) is the latest addition to Spinneyhead’s publishing arm.  Whilst you won’t be seeing any of his work for a couple of months, P.I. already has a couple of projects under way.

P.I. is our science fiction and fantasy author, and some of his stories will bounce back and forth between the two genres. At present he is working on the first tale of Kam the Wanderer, a steely thewed adventurer in the Conan mould who shall be discovering the strange devices, abandoned cities and bizarre creatures left behind on his world by the Ancients. Mr Kyle’s other project is an updating and expansion of the Heavensent tale which was serialised here on Spinneyhead several years ago. The dieselpunk tale should become a three novella long alternate technothriller taking place on a planet with one giant continent split by a massive mountain range.

That’s enough about P.I. for now. I’ve got to go and lock him in the cellar and force him to keep typing.


A few pointers to future weapons tech 1

Just a few things I spotted this morning which could be coming to a battlefield, or thriller, near you one day.

Mind controlled quad-copters.  These are being developed to give the wheelchair bound a new view on the world, and maybe provide other tools to make their lives easier, but mind interfacing weapons have long been a sci-fi staple, so you know someone out there’s developing this technology with entirelyy different types pf blades attached.

Using Android phones to call in airstrikes.  Okay, the article rubbishes the idea, so it’s unlikely to be used practically.  But as a plot device it is quite cool.

BAE’s Striker helmet gives fighter pilots ‘X-ray vision’.  Just the latest iteration of the move to a completely UAV air force?


I’m leaving my MP3s in my will

Bruce Willis is ‘considering iTunes legal action’ against Apple, so that he can own, and do as he wishes with, the content he’s paid them for.

The issue of ownership of digital products has been around for years, and iTunes’ licencing has long been contentious, but most of us have just carried blithely on buying songs and stuff and expecting to be able to keep them forever. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased anything from iTunes, so I’m safe from this particular problem.  My MP3 purchases have been from emusic and Amazon’s MP3 store, which I believe are more realistic about DRM and all the other stuff that makes life hard for customers.  Most of my music, however, has been ripped from CD, a process I’m about to start all over again as I convert them to the higher quality FLAC standard.