It's a great year for geeks: Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Avengers, Mad Max, Terminator

As I've previously mentioned, I signed up in recent months to write a book for the academic publisher Springer on, basically, the topic of science fiction and moral philosophy. That will include discussing many books, stories, movies, TV series, comics, etc., from a point of view grounded in a knowledge of moral philosophy (though also grounded in my knowledge of the genre and my skills/training as a literary critic).

Like all my projects, this one will require some rigorous, difficult thinking. I don't expect it to be at all easy to deliver a manuscript at the standard I aim for. There will be ups and downs. Let's face it, though, the research is going to be a lot of fun!

I'll be reading more works of prose fiction, watching more movies and TV episodes, etc., than is normally the case for me in recent years, and I'll be able to use this blog as my sandbox as I get some initial thoughts down about what I want to say. I also expect to write here about much material that won't end up being discussed in the book, since I'll need to cast my net widely to sort out just which works actually will be discussed there.

This is going to be a great year for geeks in the sense that we can look forward to many high-profile SF (and related) movies, among them new instalments from the Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Avengers, Mad Max, and Terminator franchises. The last of these is especially dear to my heart, as I once wrote some tie-in novels for the world of the first two Terminator movies... but all of them are going to be worth seeing. I plan to review them all here, along with much else that I'll be reading, re-reading, watching, re-watching, and so forth.

Back to basics

I'm planning to take this blog back more to its original conception. One change I'm making from the original conception, though, is that I'm disabling comments.

I've been scratching my head on and off for a few years now about this blog. At one point it was quite popular, though by that stage it had moved away from its original purpose. It then needed to be a lot more popular to suit its changing role, and that never really happened. I think I was happiest with it when it was just my weblog and sandpit. So that's the direction it will move in.

By and large, the discussions here were always civil, thoughtful, and useful. All the same, moderating can take a lot of time and energy, which I've decided I don't have left over from other projects. So I'm more likely to write stuff here - perhaps even some interesting stuff that a few people might want to read - if I don't have to worry about providing yet another discussion forum on the internet.

Green light for new book from Palgrave Pivot

I've been given the green light from Palgrave Pivot for a small academic monograph with the working title: The Mystery of Moral Authority. I'm jumping the gun slightly in announcing this, but I hope to sign a formal contract in the next few days quite soon.

I already have a good draft of the manuscript, but I'll be putting in some more work to meet the publisher's formal requirements (house style, etc.), get it down to 45,000 words, and generally make sure I'm happy with it. If all goes well, expect to see the book published (primarily as an e-book, but with print on demand available) in about six months.

I'm excited, of course. Palgrave Pivot is a quality publisher - actually a specialist academic imprint of Palgrave Macmillan, which is part, in turn, of the large Macmillan Group. At the same time, a small book of this sort will enable me to set out my views on some fundamental issues in moral philosophy in a way that's concise and to the point, but still allows room to develop some detailed arguments.

I'll be attempting to do justice to a range of philosophical views, while criticising them. These will include some that are often dismissed quickly: my approach is to look at the strongest versions of, say, moral relativism, I can find, attempting to identify what their attraction might be and what grains of truth they might contain. Often I see writers attack vulgar or weak versions of philosophical theories that they dislike, which does little for intellectual progress (or even for conveying what serious theories are on offer).

The Mystery of Moral Authority will also serve as a manifesto for my own positive account of morality and moral philosophy. Don't expect me to spell that out here (if I could do so in a blog post, I wouldn't need to write a book!). Still, to give a hint of the direction, the manuscript currently states that moral error theorists are the closest thing to my "tribe" among proponents of various contemporary approaches to metaethics.

Book contract signed with Springer - Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination

ICYMI (and I probably haven't made enough fuss about this), back in November I signed a contract with Springer to write a book entitled Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination: Visions, Minds, Ethics.

The manuscript is due for delivery in late 2016, which implies a publication date some time in 2017. That's quite a long time to wait to see the book in print, but not such a long time for me to write it (while dealing with some other projects that are under negotiation). I'll be spending a lot more time than has recently been the case getting back to reading science fiction novels and stories, watching SF movies, etc. I'm sure writing the book will be hard work, as always, but the research should be fun.

Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination will be part of Springer's new Science and Fiction series.

Toes, meet water

So, quite a lot has been happening in my own life. Perhaps time to make some short posts about this, if only to catch up. I still don't expect to be returning to serious blogging (frequent long posts on serious topics, etc.) any time soon, but at least I might be able to catch up a bit.

Also, with a relevant book contract signed (I've revealed this before, but will blog separately about it), I hope to get back to reading/watching a lot more science fiction (and related popular culture) this year, so I might be getting back to writing more reviews and comments about SF/pop culture. I'm especially aware that this is going to be a big year for movies in that respect, with the new Avengers, Star Wars, Terminator, Jurassic Park, etc., movies scheduled.

Returning to this site

Over at Skeptic Ink, I wrote a farewell post announcing that (and why) I have left the Skeptic Ink Network. As explained there, it is all amicable, and I remain a friend of the network. The issue is mainly that I will not be blogging frequently for the foreseeable future. There are numerous other priorities, for the moment, that squeeze out blogging - not least, writing, editing, researching, seeing through publication, promoting, etc., my own books.

However, don't expect to see a lot of action here for now. If I ever do get back to more regular/or frequent blogging, I'll announce it, of course (here and elsewhere).

Remember to follow me on Twitter, if you don't already, where I am @Metamagician.

I'll redact the previous post on this site accordingly to minimise confusion.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Moving

I have moved its activities over to the Skeptic Ink Network, run by John Loftus and Ed Clint.

This is the link for The Hellfire Club for you to use, bookmark, and send to others.

[Redacted: 19 February 2015. As announced last week, this I have now officially moved back to this site. The reasons relate to other priorities and workload issues that make it unlikely that I will be able to post frequently or regularly for the foreseeable future. That makes it inappropriate to stay on a blog network where I can't pull my weight. I remain on good terms with Ed Clint (the site owner) and the network more generally.

Skeptic Ink will retain an online archive of my posts made there during the two years that it hosted a version of this blog.

For now, other projects of mine will need to be my priorities, not least my own books. When and if I do return to frequent or regular blogging, I'll announce it here and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, don't forget to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as @Metamagician.]

My top 10 posts of 2012 from Talking Philosophy - a personal selection

This list is not based on number of views or on feedback, but simply on my own personal likings and current whim. So there is no confusion, this is merely my top 10 of my own posts. It would be interesting to prepare a personal top 10 of all posts at Talking Philosophy in 2012.

Furthermore, I'm going to go light on posts about free will and determinism. I wrote a lot of them, and I (can't help but) think that the quality was quite high. However, I'll err on the side of variety and include (at number 1.) only my opening remarks in that particular lengthy debate.

My personal top 10 are, in order of appearance:

1. Jerry Coyne and Sam Harris on free will

2. Modern art and its alleged evils

3. What is a sexual image?

4. Is nice nihilism enough?

5. The Selfish Gene in The Guardian

6. Sam Harris on the Innocence of Muslims affair

7. Why can’t men shut up about abortion?

8. Freedom of religion and the contraceptive mandate (Missouri court case)

9. How can you say that if you’re an error theorist?!

10. Gaukroger, religion, and the rise of science

My ten most popular posts of all time

These are not necessarily my favourites - some are, but some rather cursory posts also make the list. Still, it's interesting to see what posts have struck a chord or incited a reaction over the years, and they do tend to have good threads attached.

Here we go, without further ado, as a New Year special, my ten most popular posts of all time:

1. Shallow, smug, arrogant; pot, kettle, black

2. Avengers movie

3. What you can't say about Islam - the backlash against Elizabeth Moon

4. More rubbish about "shrill" atheists - this time in The Daily Mail

5. Why this was never an atheist blog

6. Interpreting Deuteronomy - with sophisticated theology

7. Some Saturday supervillainy: Zeus vs the Hulk

8. Sunday superstuff - Marvel's first gay wedding: Northstar and Kyle

9. Islam and "Islamophobia" - a little manifesto

10. "The next step is to prohibit religious expression" - really?

Sunday supervillainy - Amazing Spider-Man #700

I don't get creeped out easily, but even I am creeped out by this. Amazing Spider-Man #700 ends with a scene where Dr. Octopus is apparently about to rape Mary Jane Watson. Dr. Octopus has taken possession of Spider-Man's/Peter Parker's body and has access to all his memories. As readers, we know that Peter and Mary Jane still love each other, despite having broken up some time back (there was that whole "deal with the devil Mephisto" story, etc., etc.), and despite all the bad shit they've been through together.

Now, despite (on top of those other "despites") how oddly "Peter" has been acting, Mary Jane seems to be up for getting back to together with him. And Dr. Octopus seems like he wants to take advantage of the situation.

Ugh! Just no. I really hope that this is a fake-out and that Mary Jane is going to be revealed as too smart for what has been set up here and/or that Doc Ock, usually a relatively sympathetic villain, is going to be revealed as not that evil. Even if it does prove to be a fake-out, I'm going to be shaking my head at this development.