NASA is calling for suggestions for a “catchy, easy to say” name for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, otherwise known as GLAST.
The article stipulates that “Any suggestions for naming the telescope after a scientist may only include names of deceased scientists whose names are not already used for other NASA missions”, and that each [...]

It just came down the wire today that Sean Williams’ novel Saturn Returns made the final ballot for the Philip K. Dick Award. The full list includes work by Elizabeth Bear, M. John Harrison, and others. The Dick Award, apart from being the cause of irrepressible jesting, is for the best work of science fiction [...]

Happy Cephalapodmas to all our readers!

While Garth Nix has been working on his new novel, A Confusion of Princes, he has also been developing the background as a massively multiplayer online game (MMORG) called Imperial Galaxy using Facebook as its running platform. The novel is due out in 2009, but you can explore Nix’s universe now. Imperial Galaxy is open [...]

Terry Dowling’s collection Basic Black tied for Best Collection with Glen Hirshberg’s American Morons at the International Horror Guild Awards. Other winners were Conrad Williams, Norman Partridge, Paul Finch*, Stephen Gallagher, William Sheehan and Bill Shafer, Subterranean magazine, Lewis Trondheim, S.T. Joshi, Aeron Alfrey, and John Picacio, while Ramsey Campbell was honoured as a Living [...]

Talking Squid favourite Shaun Tan, creator of The Red Tree, The Lost Thing, and artist behind The Rabbits, took away the Best Artist trophy at the World Fantasy Awards banquet in Saratoga Springs, New York. As the award is for the 2006 calendar year, this would appear to be the judges’ response to Tan’s outstanding [...]

My 2007 Snapshot was facilitated by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Darkest secrets revealed!

I, too, have been snapshot by Kathryn Linge.

According to the blog of marine biologist Kevin Z., now that all species of the squid genus Moroteuthis have been reclassified as genus Onykia, someone has the unenviable task of explaining this to the squid. Hence the new pastime of squid wrestling.

Photo courtesy of Alaska Fisheries Science Center

Upgraded to 2.2. Talking Squid gone. Gone, I tell you. Conniption activated: hyperventilation mode. Realised need to reactivate plugins for Squid to appear. Reactivated plugins. Talking Squid back, oh joy oh joy! Conniption downgraded to mild pique.