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I recently read the Jump 225 Trilogy by David Louis Edelman consisting of Infoquake , Multireal, and Geosynchron. and found them more interesting, but think the author was uncertain how to wrap up the series, which left me a little unsatisfied at the end.

If you want hardcore sci-fi, try Alastair Reynolds and his Revelation Space series.

Try Alastair Reynolds' "Revelation Space" Trilogy - Revelation Space, Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap. I recently read The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi and have just started Infoquake (review) in the Jump 225 Trilogy by David Louis Edelman with "Multireal" and "Geosynchron" to read next. Not SciFi, but I also recommend anything by Matt Reilly - I started with "Ice Station" - or James Rollins - I started with "Subterranean".

Maybe Clouds Have Feelings, Too by Kandi

The evening starts out quiet
As quiet as ever could be
But suddenly a stormy night
Becomes a reality
The clouds dump out tons of rain
And it falls so very fast
Then suddenly its clear again
And you see the moon at last

Theres so much mystery about the sky
About its ever changing moods
But most people dont realize
Maybe clouds have feelings, too.

When theyre sad, they cry,
And it falls on us as rain
When theyre happy, theyre white
And the tears stay away

So next time you look outside
And the sky is no longer blue
Dont get mad, just understand
Maybe clouds have feelings, too.

http://www.sffworld.com/authors/k/kandi/poems/maybe.html

I just wanted to add some culture to the inevitable flame war.

Both Curt Schilling and R. A. Salvatore are former/current/long-time Everquest players. I'm very excited to see what they come up with.

...Neal Stephenson is a key contributor to the Linux kernel...

You mean the Finux kernel (read at the end of the article)

How about Moving Mars?

Less "hard" SF to consider - The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester, Nova by Samuel R. Delany. Maybe even Peter F. Hamilton (start with The Reality Dysfunction), if you liked Stephenson.

I think Legacy of Heorot would make a kick-ass movie.

Why don't they name materials better today?

you wouldn't even have to change isles in the book store.

You have isles in your bookstore? You must be from Xanth...

I'm noticing that the majority of slashdot is dead set on converting this happless, deluded fantasy addict towards pure SF.

The only fantasy series of moderately recent vintage I've enjoyed in Terry Pratchett's discworld series. I suppose one could jump on the JK Rowling bandwagon-- but those are for kids, and thus don't have the literary merit of say, "Beastmaster of Gor".

Stephenson is good--I don't think he's done much fantasy-- except, of course, "American Gods". I liked "Zodiac", but that's not exactly fantasy.

And, no, I will not name the 26 books in the Gor series. I haven't read a single one...

See this list for the discworld series.

...and unfortunantely we will not be venturing into space until it is commercially viable to do so.

It could be, right now. Some people are already paying millions of dollars for a seat in the ISS, more would shell out a few tens of thousands for a suborbital parabolic flight, which a few companies are working towards. "Real" access to space is currently viewed as "way too expensive" because it's the way NASA does it, and people use it as a reference. It's not the technology, see Rand Simberg's recent column, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Technology.

As for why NASA (and some other government agencies) does it that way, beyond the near-mythical "why have one when you can have one for the price of two", the previous one, Pork Versus Vision, could be interesting. Or Stephen Baxter's "Voyage", which describes an alternate reality in which the US go all the way up to Mars as early as 1986, but (as opposed to this documentary) with a realistic view about politics. (You want Mars? OK, scrap this Space Shuttle thing, Apollo 15-20, and you have just enough Saturn V rockets for a single mission; what more do you want? A space station? Get real, Vietnam is expensive, we need the money for serious things!)

Am I the only person disturbed by the fact that Gibson was born in 1948, SFFWorld Another Another etc. ?

Also, there is no mention that William Gibson died.

Either, this is another canadian sci-fi enthusiast, with the same name as the William Gibson that wrote Neuromancer, or, Someone's trying to pull a fast one.

Sorta cool (but better for fantasy than sci-fi IMHO) is the discussion forums at sffworld.com -
http://www.sffworld.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Ultimate.cgi

There's a lon g excerpt online.

I have to throw in my favorite Alan Turing story. During the war, he was sent on a secret mission to the US. Since his work was very sensitive, he was ordered to take no documents on the trip. Turing being Turing, he interpreted this order quite literally -- he left behind his passport and identity papers. Imagine the reaction of an Immigration officer approached by a Brit just off the boat, with no proof of identity, claiming to be on a secret mission....

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