Archives
I wish I were James Lileks
Who, you may ask? If so, well, you've got a lot of catching up to do. Go here, and explore. I'll wait. <thumb-twiddling>Dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum.</thumb-twiddling> Back? OK, now I'll explain. I discovered Lileks several years ago now, when someone pointed to the original Interior Desecrators portion of his website, where he made hilarious fun of the horrible interior design notions of that most regrettable of decades, the 1970s. I worked my way through everything he had posted on his site, and soon became a regular reader of his daily Bleat, which was a kind of daily journal very much like a blog before anybody had really heard of blogging. I soon noticed ...The conspiracy of inanimate objects
I have come to the inescapable conclusion, over my half-century of life, that there exists, within the world of inanimate objects, a conspiracy; a conspiracy to make my life as inconvenient as possible. Let is examine the evidence. Cables tangle when I'm around, and wrap themselves around other objects that fly off shelves or out of drawers when the cables are pulled, crashing onto my foot. Objects leap out at me so that I either trip over them or stub my toe on them. Walls lean in as I walk by, so that I run into corners and doorways. Ice creeps around on sidewalks when I'm not looking, positioning itself ...And we’re off! 2011 and beyond…
So...Happy New Year! If you're going to build readership on a blog, you have to post regularly. Everyone knows that. I know it; you know it. And periodically I've attempted it, never with any great success. But you know what? Hope springs eternal, and with the start of a new year, I've got another chance to do several worthwhile things: lose weight, write more, and blog more...beyond simply plugging my latest book or pointing out reviews. I read quite a few blogs, political blogs, science fiction blogs, science blogs, and more. Perhaps I would get more readers if I were to focus on one particular topic land stick to it. But my interests ...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?...
Edward Willett is a Subscribe to my weekly science column for free!
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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.
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