In the course of the last day I have been observing, and engaging with, an ongoing Twitter discussion (see: Dystopia2009 and MarkKohut) as to which Thomas Pynchon novel should be recommended to Pynchon newbies. This might sound like a question of little import: just read the damn stuff.

This is a quick post to point out that I will be speaking at the University of Sussex's contribution to International Open Access Week on the 20th of October 2010. Alongside a host of other speakers, I will talk on the pros and cons of Open Access publishing and how it can help with your research.

Another post plugging a conference I am involved with, I'm afraid!

FIRST FICTIONS Festival and Academic Conference Update: 2011-01-18 9-12th June, 2011 Please note the date of the festival has now changed to: 19-22 Jan 2012 Confirmed delegates include: Kate Mosse, Jackie Kaye, Elleke Bohemer, Michael Prodger, Bryan Cheyette, Scott Pack, Nicholas Royle and Isabel Ashdown.

One of the most tedious aspects of establishing a uniquely themed Open Journal or Open Conference Systems site is in getting the CSS to work as you would like.

Just a quick publicity post to advertise a workshop I am running at the University of Sussex on the 15th of September from 11.30-13.30 on the use of Open Journal Systems to establish new, open access, academic e-journals. The workshop is open to all Sussex postgraduates and faculty and merely requires a registration email to m.eve@sussex.ac.uk Looking forward to seeing some of you there.

UPDATE 2013-06-30: I'm afraid that I've had to remove the below files as my host thinks they are a virus. Great. Anyway, this method has easily been surpassed by now. This is a break from my customary blog posts on Thomas Pynchon and my university research to present a sample of one my other research interests in the realm of computer science and information security.

I have just read the disturbing case publicised by Arianna Bove in which, she alleges, Semiotext(e) essentially plagiarised her work on Foucault's translation of Kant's anthropology. While I have not verified the claims and am in no capacity reiterating them myself, I would like to bring this to the attention of anybody considering purchasing the Semiotext(e) edition.

The following constitute a preliminary note-taking/synoptical exercise undertaken for my own benefit, but shared in case anybody finds them useful. I should probably highlight that I have not read all of Žižek's work and would in no way consider myself an expert. Slavoj Žižek's appearance last night at LSE was, as usual, a spectacular mix of fiery political polemic fused with the humour and outrageous showmanship for which he is famed.

Courtesy of Mr. Duncan Stringer, my birthday yielded me a T-Shirt with the Tristero post horn and a card with one of the following images on it. Obviously, I assume that Thomas Pynchon will receive, from some well-wishing acquaintance, a photoshopped card of one of my mugshots. My navy days with Thomas Ruggles Pynchon was originally published by Martin Paul Eve at Martin Paul Eve on June 22, 2010.

09:00-10:30 Session IX  chair: Sascha Pöhlmann Paweł Stachura (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), Literary Spaces in Pynchon, Strugatskie, and Dukaj This was one of the more... intriguing papers, although I have enormous concerns and reservations regarding the methodology herein.