Archives
My daughter’s impression of science fiction
My daughter Alice, who's seven, recently took it into her head to draw this picture representing my career as a science fiction writer: a spaceship, stars, an alien and a book:I think I should put it on my letterhead.How many hours can you waste…
...exploring the Museum of Online Museums?Here's just one small, randomly chosen selection of the available links:The Virtual Museum of Vintage VCRsCollection of Peach Box LabelsThe 8-Track ArchiveThe German Hosiery MuseumThe Virtual Typewriter MuseumMuseum of Corporate NecktiesMuseum of Vintage HandbillsVintage Transportation Letterhead CollectionThe Tarot and Playing Cards MuseumThe Vintage Board Game CollectionCover art for Terra Insegura!
DAW just sent me a sneak peek at the cover art for Terra Insegura, my next novel, due out in May. The cover's by Hugo Award-winning artist Stephan Martiniere (who was also nominated for a World Fantasy Award this year). It's completely different from the Steve Stone-created cover of Marseguro, but I like it!Now I REALLY have to finish those revisions...Things I Found in my Mother-in-Law’s House: Souvenirs
Notes for this week's CBC radio segment of Things I Found in My Mother-in-Law's House.UPDATE: Listen to the actual interview!****Souvenirs seem to have some strange mesmeric power over travelers. You visit a place with beautiful scenery, a long and fascinating history, great restaurants and a vibrant night life, and somehow you decide the best way to remember it is to buy a dish towel.But hang on to those souvenirs long enough, and they become interesting in their own right.So, Ed, that’s a very odd collection of objects you’ve spread out on the table here. Is that really a cream pitcher in the shape of Winston Churchill’s head?...Willett of the Day: Patrick Willett, Artist
Patrick Willett is an artist in New York State whose work includes watercolors, pen and ink and photography.He started painting and sketching as a child, and was especially drawn to nature and portraiture. In an article at BuffaloRising.com he says, "Creating art is very therapeutic for me, my work involves the healing and renewing aspects of nature as well as the sense of place that we all share. I am especially fascinated with the reclaiming by nature of the materials that we choose to build with...Where I live in the Northeastern United States, there are many hulking, rusting monuments to another ...Surprised by joy
Over at my main website I've got quite a few arts columns archived from my brief stint as a columnist for inRegina.com. A lot of them were about long-passed events, but a few are more general, and every now and then I may pop one up here, like I did the column about art and gibberish a few days ago.Having just read C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my daughter (and looking forward to reading her Prince Caspian in advance of the movie version), this column from 2000, which references Lewis, came to mind...***South of Saskatoon on Highway 11, just before you dip into the valley ...Set art free from gibberish!
Thus asks Ann Althouse:Why do museum curators post such nonsensical texts on the walls next to the artwork they want us to take seriously? It's a question I've asked myself: here's the arts column I wrote on this topic a few years ago.***Visual art and the text that explains it are uneasy bedfellows, I firmly believe. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, but a visit to far too many art galleries today either leaves me in a state of suppressed fury or with a severe case of the giggles. It has nothing to do with the art (although, of course, art can have those same effects); instead, it's brought on by the text that accompanies the art. "The ...What lies beneath
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast.The house in which I live was built in 1926. Over the years, as we discovered recently when we had the walls of a couple of rooms repainted, several layers of wallpaper and paint have accumulated.Peeling back those layers is a bit like going back through time (and reveals quite a bit about the decorating sense of the original owners). And really old buildings sometimes have much more exciting things to find beneath the current paint and plaster than old wallpaper.Archaeologists in France examining a 12th-century church, for example, recently discovered an ancient mural beneath five layers of plaster.Buildings ...Insect art
Mike Libby takes real insect carapaces and puts tiny mechanical working in them, producing these stunning, if slightly creepy, works of art.I think they're fabulous, but then, I'm a little weird. (Via io9.)A digital restoration of the Mona Lisa…
...can be found here.Whether this is a completely accurate representation of Leonardo's painting as it originally appeared is impossible to know, of course, but one thing is certain: it didn't always have the dim, yellowish appearance we associate with it today.
Edward Willett is a Subscribe to my weekly science column for free!
Advertisement
Donate
Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
Facebook
Flickr
GoodReads
RSS
Twitter
Email
