Redshirts ARC Winner + Other RS News
Posted on April 26, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 31 Comments
Yesterday’s Redshirts ARC contest is over. The word I was thinking of was “abundant,” which no one got. However, Dave Danielson did guess “absurd,” and since that word shares the first two letters in common with “abundant,” I hereby declare him the winner.
Dave, send me an e-mail from the e-mail address you used to comment from, put your mailing address in there and I’ll send it along right away. And congratulations!
Also, if you didn’t win, don’t panic. I’ll have a few more of these in the next couple of weeks.
In other Redshirts news:
1. The official Redshirts tour is in the final planning stages — we’re just waiting on a couple of confirmations — and it’ll be a fifteen (or so) stop tour which include some cities I haven’t been to before. Expect the final Redshirts itinerary to go up here next week.
2. Redshirts is included on io9’s Summer Beach Reading list (along with Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell, Blackout by Mira Grant and Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan, among others), and the folks there had nice things to say:
This is the Scalzi novel we’ve all been waiting for — one in which his wry wit and his clever insights into human weirdness could be deployed to the absolute best effect.
Yeah, that’s a keeper quote. And “insight into human weirdness” is going on my resume, under “Special Skills.” Because, hey. It is.
As special skills go, that one’s pretty impressive.
I also noticed Gollancz is going to publish Redshirts in the UK this Fall.
Austin is very nice this time of year. And we have hills already built into our backyards. Just sayin’…
The Mad Hatter:
Where did you see this?
I’ll keep entering, because it is close enough that Redshirts is right on top of my list of “books I’d wade through a sea of my fallen rivals to read” right now. But, I’ve got so much stuff to read before June, so I’m fairly well resigned to the wait. It’s only 6 weeks from this past Tuesday after all. Also, have you seen what else is coming out in June? I really need to get to my TBR pile.
Hopefully one of those cities is a city near me. If it is I’ll be there. I will not be so silly as to specifically ask yet, since you likely don’t know for sure, and you’ll tell us when you can.
“Insight Into Human Weirdness” would be a great band name..
An abundant number is a positive integer n for which
s(n) = sigma(n) – n > n.
where sigma(n) is the divisor function and s(n) is the restricted divisor function. The quantity is sometimes called the abundance. The first few abundant numbers are 12, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, … (Sloane’s A005101). Abundant numbers are sometimes called excessive numbers.
There are only 21 abundant numbers less than 100, and they are all even. The first odd abundant number is 945 = 3 x 3 x 3 x 5 x 7.
That 945 is abundant can be seen by computing
s(945) = 975, and 975 > 945.
https://oeis.org/A005101
I remind you that this WILL be in the Number Theory 101 Final Exam.
Searched my notes and both my texts for Intro to Number Theory and could not find a single reference to that sequence. If this is a clever reference to search algorithms, it escapes me.
When will Redshirts be available on audible.com ?
Cannibalistic Space Marmot is about the same as abundant. I should have won!
A slightly less technical version of Jonathan’s post:
One classification of positive integers divides them up into deficient, perfect, and abundant numbers. If you sum up all the positive divisors of a positive integer number, and that sum equals twice the number itself, that number is perfect. For instance, 6 is a perfect number since its positive divisors are 1, 2, 3, and 6 and 1+2+3+6 = 12 = 2*6. [They’re pretty rare and they get big fast.]
A deficient number has that sum of divisors less than twice the number (for example, 5 has divisors 1 and 5 and their sum, 6, is less than 10 = 2*5) and an abundant number has that sum greater than twice the number. Jonathan’s first example of an abundant number, 12, has divisors 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 and their sum is 28 > 24 = 2*12.
Your contest was both unfair and dangerous. First, I don’t think that people should be penalized just because they cannot afford a time machine. Time machines are luxury items, which few can afford. Conversely, mind reading, both a free and a common trait in the population, is a justifiable condition upon which to base your contest. Secondly, enticing a bunch of rich people to travel back to the same point in time is just asking for trouble. Everyone knows that if too many people travel back to a singular point in time, it will cause a rift in the space/time continuum.
In order to be fair to your audience, may I suggest that you post a time at which you will be thinking of your word? In such a circumstance, everyone can take a moment from their day to read your mind and then race to comment on your blog site. You do run the risk of your head exploding from the many theta waves, and although we would all be indescribably devastated about such an outcome, it would only be one person effected and not the entire world.
Thank you for your time.
Let me just say that my answer was “peas.” I believe we can all agree that peas go no where alone. In fact, they are in abundance. One could say they are abudnant. I think you can see where I’m going here. The winner, where no one guessed abudant, should be the one whose guess represents the spirit of your word. And what is more abundant than peas? Same first two letters? Pfft. This explains a lot.
So what bryan is saying, is give peas a chance.
Or, you know, an ARC.
John, clearly you were thinking “antediluvian”. To NOT have been thinking “antediluvian” is to doubt my undoubtable psychic powers. I hearby announce that i intend to NOT buy a copy of Red Shirts until it is commercially available. So THERE!
(someone won and it wasn’t me… how anti-climatic!)
I saw it here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Redshirts-John-Scalzi/dp/0575134291/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335465657&sr=1-1
Your holding that book like your about to play it like a ukulele
Abundant???
I think House is right, it really never is “lupus”.
The Mad Hatter:
I haven’t yet signed a contract with Gollancz for Redshirts, so it’s interesting they’ve listed it.
Congratulations to Dave Danielson.
John, are you sure the word you were thinking of wasn’t ‘dog’? Dogs are abundant in your household. . . .
Yet another Redshirt news: the German edition is announced for December … and Heyne is breaking with the “Spaceship & Lasers” design, simply using the original cover.
no spaceship and lasers on a German scifi book?? that’s just wrong!
I maintain the word was “chrysanthemum.” I reject your reality and substitute my own.
I still say ‘ensign’, but I don’t expect an ARC for that.
Since there will be no DRM, would an ARC winner be allowed to request an ebook version?
Just curious ;).
“I haven’t yet signed a contract with Gollancz for Redshirts, so it’s interesting they’ve listed it.”
Self-assured. Confident. Proactive. Can’t be bogged down in petty details. Places to go, people to see. Please move over to the slow lane.
JReynolds – If the word was ‘dog’, the cats would kill him in his sleep, or worse.
I’m going to a Brazilian beach soon, but Redshirts still won’t be released. Damn you.
@ Brian Broyles: Like the classic bumper sticker says: “Envison whirled peas!”
Unfair! I clearly won with my guess (“historical”). I demand a recount! The certifier of this contest was corrupt! I’ll take this all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to!
Sorry, I was channeling Al Gore there for a moment.
You know, if you had been wearing a red shirt with a yellow collar in that picture, and held the book just a smidge lower, we wouldn’t have been sure that you were holding a book at all!
Thank you, John. Can’t wait to read Redshirts! As I said in my e-mail, winning is a bit absurd but I now feel abundant.