Archives
The end of an era: no more science columns
Way back in 1989, when I was communications officer of the Saskatchewan Science Centre, I began writing a science column. It appeared in the free-circulation weekend paper published by the Regina LeaderPost, the Sunday Sun, and I also did a version of it on CBC Radio's Afternoon Edition, hosted by Colin Grewar. At first, the column quite often focused on something related to events at the Science Centre; so, when we had an exhibit on memory, I wrote a column about memory (and also wrote Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star, but I digress). When I left the Science Centre to become a full-time freelancer in 1993, I took the column with me. It kept running in the Sun and on CBC, but ...I’ve now got an author’s page on Amazon!
Author Central, the author's service on Amazon, is still in beta, but it's expanding, and I've now got my own author's page. Check it out! It's a great place to find all my books listed in one hand-dandy location. Be the first on your block to collect them all! (Hey, that approach works for toy-stuffed breakfast cereals...) It also echoes these blog posts. Which means you could be reading this post on Amazon, and discover a link to the page you're already reading...hopefully this will not result in an endless recursive loop, collapsing down to a black hole from which you will never escape. Someone click the link and find out for sure!A mini-review of Marseguro…
...has shown up at the blog Strategist's Personal Library. Here's the most important bit: All of the characters here have well thought out motivations and there's excellent characterization. I liked that even the protagonists are flawed in some way. This isn't black vs. white there are shades of gray. Lots of ethical decisions to be made by individuals. Recommended. Nice!Recent Futurismic posts
My posting at Futurismic continues to be sporadic, but I do manage a few, and it does tend to be where I put the science-related stuff (except for my column) I used to post here. Here's a round-up of my most recent Futurismic stuff: Do newspapers have a future? Is Twitter a threat to morality and ethics? A cure for honey bee colony depopulation syndrome (a.k.a. colony collapse disorder)? I think, therefore I Tweet Best way to clean up the environment? Make everyone richer. Internet to be an "unreliable toy" by 2012? A drug to help recover "lost" memories?Welcome to the new, improved edwardwillett.com!
For a long, long time I've wanted to consolidate the bulk of my web activities under my main domain name, edwardwillett.com. After experimentation and thought, I finally decided WordPress was the logical way to go...and that I needed professional help. (No wise cracks, please!) At just about the time I came to that conclusion, Justine Larbelestier's new site went live. I liked the look of it, and she seemd pleased with the service she had gotten from PagedMedia, which specializes in writers' sites. So I contacted Stephanie Leary there and we began the process of designing the new, improved, edwardwillett.com. And now, just in time for the launch of Terra Insegura, here it is! It's much cleaner and ...A round-up of my recent Futurismic posts
Here are links to what I've posted over at Futurismic in the last month or so:Never mind Darwin: hockey players as religious iconsChessmen that debate every moveYou are reading Futurismic. You find a post about how you imagine the events described in narratives…A new use for social networking technology: examining patentsAre religious skeptics bound for demographic doom?Thought-controlled wheelchair developed in ItalyFear-free living through pharmaceuticalsMy recent Futurismic posts
I've managed to post more regularly to Futurismic in the last little while, so I thought I'd provide some links to what I've recently put up over there, should you be looking for more cool-tech-and-science blogging:Life-size telepresence robots make their appearanceUniversal Robots take over the world…on stageMIT researchers create cheap "sixth-sense" ubiquitous computing deviceCheaper to give away Kindles than print the New York TimesInvestigating the science of fictionFermi Paradox solved?Does the future of the novel lie with the cell phone?...I’m Number Six!*
It's not exactly earth-shattering, but I was still tickled today to discover (thanks to an automated Google ego-search) that my main website, edwardwillett.com, is ranked sixth by Alexa in Arts>Literature>World Literature>Canadian>Authors.I'm just behind playwright Norm Foster (whom I got to see performing in one of his own plays in Kincardine, Ontario, the summer before last), and just ahead of a Lucy Maud Montgomery site.I'd love to think it's because I'm such a popular author, but actually it's because there are almost 20 years worth of science columns at the site. You can hardly search for anything science-related without finding one of my columns somewhere in the mix!Oh, and if you're ...Hasenpfeffer immortalized in song
You might think it's hard to work Hasenpfeffer into a song lyric (except, of course, for the theme song to Laverne and Shirley), but John Anealio at Sci-Fi Songs has managed it, as one line in a tribute song about the recent The SF/F/H Book Reviewers Linkup Meme started by John Ottinger at Grasping for the Wind (which I posted about here).Take a listen and check out the lyrics at Grasping for the Wind (The Linkup Meme Song).I'm thrilled to be included!(And actually, as you'll see, Hasenpfeffer was hardly the hardest thing he had to work in to his lyrics...)A new review of Lost in Translation…
...has popped up at the blog Bibliophagic. Brazilian blogger Adiel Mittman gives it four stars out of five (and says it reminded him of Asimov's Foundation series!) but he does have some thoughtful caveats.A few highlights:This book is a good read. The author’s idea of translators is an interesting one...If translating between human languages is not easy, what can be said about translating between languages from different species?...When reading this book, more than once Asimov’s Foundation series came to mind. Asimov created the Mule, a man who had thought-projecting abilities, in order to insert an unpredictable element to stand in the way of the Foundation’s plans, and also described the people from the ...
Edward Willett is a The Shards of Excalibur, Book 1: Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel, coming in October 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….
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
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).
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.
