University of Vienna Professor of Physics Anton Zeilinger is working on quantum experiments that demonstrate the influence of observers in shaping reality. He believes physicists have only scratched the surface of something much bigger and says, “Maybe the real breakthrough will come when we start to realise the connections between reality, knowledge and our actions.”

Zeilinger and others working in the field have shown that widely separated particles can somehow have quantum states that are linked: by observing one, the outcome of the other is affected. But as New Scientist magazine says, “No one has yet fathomed how the universe seems to know when it is being watched.”

Read the full account of questions that keep physicists up at night at the New Scientist site.

Things may soon start to get interesting.

Courtesy of Warren Ellis, the first item relating to the previous blog post, herewith known as “the pattern”.

For your consideration: the Daily Telegraph is reporting a British policeman had a close encounter of the third kind at a crop circle near the standing stones at Avebury in Wiltshire. His description of the figures he observed – more than six feet tall with blonde hair – is of a recurring type which UFO watchers have christened “Nordics”.

The police officer said: “They ran faster than any man I have ever seen. I’m no slouch but they were moving so fast. I looked away for a second and when I looked back they were gone.

”I then got scared. The noise was still around but I got an uneasy feeling and headed for the car. For the rest of the day I had a pounding headache I couldn’t shift.”

So: crop circles, aliens and standing stones – that ticks three boxes all at once. More to come…

If you haven’t heard of the 2012 meme gathering pace around the world, you will soon, thanks to a new movie by Roland Emmerich. According to various sources, December 21 2012 is supposed to be either a) the end of the world as a result of a collision with a comet or asteroid/a collision with a rogue, unidentified planet/a geomagnetic reversal/a black hole/some as-yet-unidentified source or b) the end of the world as we know it, caused by a shift in human consciousness, or perhaps, a spiritual awakening leading to a long foretold golden age.

Part of this belief is based on the Mayan Long Count calendar, which, according to some academics, comes to an end on December 21 (or 23) 2012. An End, with a capital E. Typically of the academic world, there is no firm agreement on this, with some saying the calendar actually ends 4.134105 × 10 to the 28th years in the future. Which is what is commonly known as “wiggle room”.

But it’s not just the Mayans. A similar prediction lies in the myths of the Hopi Native Americans, in the I Ching, some say in a code hidden in the Bible, and in the writings of the philosopher Terence McKenna, who created a formula which predicted a singularity of infinite complexity on December 21 2012, when everything and anything imaginable will occur simultaneously. Which seems to happen in my office on a regular basis.

All New Age Nonsense, some say. Well…it doesn’t matter. Much to the annoyance of my arch-rationalist friends, things which don’t exist can often have a greater effect on the world than things that do. If enough people believe we are approaching a time of “spiritual awakening” or “consciousness change”, they will make that happen. Altering patterns of behaviour. Becoming, say, more environmentally-minded. More socially aware, or politically aware. Then, 2012 becomes a focal point for changing the world. Putting it right.

On the other hand, maybe all these predictions are right.

For that reason, I’m going to be documenting here anything and everything which might relate to this. Strange events, odd coincidences, political and environmental acts, UFO sightings, religious phenomena, scientific advances and anything else which might take my interest. Who knows – a pattern might appear – or not? And as anyone who has read my books knows, I’m very interested in hidden patterns.

I’m interested to hear of any links, sightings, bizarre occurrences – personal or global, acts of activism, and transcendence, which may or may not fit into this. You can sign up for my forum and leave a message there, or DM me through that site.

I think we can have some fun with this.

Age of Misrule launches in France in November with the first volume, World’s End (although my Gallic cousins are calling it Age of Chaos – fair translation, I think), under the Orbit France imprint. And to prove that the French, as always, have excellent taste, they have opted to use John Picacio’s covers from the Pyr editions.

Oh, yes, and as you can see from the cover, World’s End is now The Endless Night.

Following on from The Death of a Thousand Lashes post below and a discussion on Lou Anders blog, I’ve contributed to SF Signal’s latest Mind Meld on Speculative Fiction and Mainstream Acceptance. You’ll also find contributions from Gene Wolfe, Ian McDonald and various other genre luminaries.

I’ve done an interview with the incisive Shaun Farrell for his highly-regarded podcast, Adventures in SciFi Publishing. I talk about The Silver Skull, my forthcoming Elizabethan spies vs Faerie novel, the Age of Misrule, how I plot and write books, writing for TV and much more.

You can find the podcast here.

If most reviews say more about the reviewer than what’s being reviewed, consider the Amazon One-Star review. These are generally a breed apart. A one-star review essentially says the work has such little value it should never have been released on the public. As a psychological road map, it’s invaluable. Take a look at these, all from Amazon. Grammar, writer’s own.

HERMAN MELVILLE – MOBY DICK

I have read a lot of books in my life but this was the most miserable reading experience I ever had. There was absolutely no story. It was all about fishing… If you want to be a sailor this might be the book for you but personally I think it is a colossal waste of time. – ONE STAR!

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE – COMPLETE WORKS

Shakespeare may be a genius, but cmon, this is the worst reading material i have ever seen. – ONE STAR!

CHARLES DICKENS – GREAT EXPECTATIONS

after reading this book i think dickens would benifit from very low expectations. and by that i mean a lot of people will be returning this book and giving bad reviews. all the classics always in my opinion, are very bad – ONE STAR!

Booker Prize-winner A S BYATT – POSSESSION: A ROMANCE

Frankly, I would rather read the terms of my home and auto insurance policies than read this book. – ONE STAR!

CHARLOTTE BRONTE – JANE EYRE

I enjoy classic Victorian era romance , and this by far is the worst book I have ever read. – ONE STAR!

J D SALINGER – THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

It’s not that it was above my head, it was just plain old poorly written in my humble opinion. The grammar was beyond horrible. I think my 10 year old son could’ve done a better job. – ONE STAR!

JOHN STEINBECK – THE GRAPES OF WRATH

I should have known that a book you can buy togehter with Cliff’s Notes is going to be boring. I read “East of Eden” and thought it was great. I was hopeful that “Grapes of Wrath” would be just as good. No luck. It’s dull as heck. – ONE STAR!

EMILY BRONTE – WUTHERING HEIGHTS

The book is filled with nasty, disgusting, wicked, cruel people. Every single person, and yes, ESPECIALLY NELLY, hateful, jealous, manipulative, lying, conniving, nasty Nelly, every single one of them are foul. – ONE STAR!

DANIEL DEFOE – MOLL FLANDERS

I had to read this for a book club, and a fifth of the way into it, I began to wish I were blind, so I wouldn’t have to continue. – ONE STAR!

F SCOTT FITZGERALD – THE GREAT GATSBY

If I wanted to read about lame, rich, full of themself people going to parties, I’d pick up People magazine. – ONE STAR!

ERNEST HEMINGWAY – THE SUN ALSO RISES

If you liked Sienfeld but thought it was to funny, this book is for you. A book about nothing, that takes 200 plus pages to get there. – ONE STAR!

The Telegraph is reporting that a new translation of the Bible will mean the very fundamentals of Judeo-Christianity will have to be reconsidered.

According to respected Old Testament and Hebrew scholar Professor Ellen van Wolde who re-analysed the original Hebrew text, the Bible was mis-translated. Instead of “In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth”, it should read “God separated the Heaven and the Earth”. God did not create Earth – it was there before, which is in line with many of the ancient texts on which the Bible was based.

According to van Wolde, the belief was that before God created man, there was only a world of water filled with darkness swarming with sea monsters. Very Lovecraftian. This is going to cause a few headaches for those Creationists who have extrapolated forward from the point of earth-creation in Genesis to suggest the planet is only a few thousand years old.

According to the Telegraph, Prof Van Wolde added: “The traditional view of God the Creator is untenable now.”

A “second Stonehenge” has been discovered, next to the River Avon and allegedly linked by a processional route to the “actual” Stonehenge. Archaeologists say this newly discovered circle was composed of Welsh bluestones.

The recent discovery is bringing about a major re-think of the entire site. (Thanks to CharlieFarlie of the forum for the link.)

Every week I get a bundle of emails asking how to get hold of the out of print The Dark Age titles. From May 2010, I get some respite when Pyr publishes new editions, with a new essay from me about how these three books tie into the “trilogy of trilogies”.

There are three new covers from artist John Picacio too, who did the US Age of Misrule covers. The ones on Amazon are roughs. I’ll post the final ones here when they’re available.

And if you would like to pre-order…:

The Devil in Green

The Queen of Sinister

The Hounds of Avalon

Over at Tor.com, Pyr editor Lou Anders tells you everthing you need to know about Age of Misrule Band and the SFF/music crossover.