Archives
It’s past your bedtime!
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2011/01/Its-Past-Your-Bedtime.mp3[/podcast] Ah, New Year’s. A time for resolutions, typically focused on living more healthily. Apparently the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, not trusting us to do it ourselves, has decided to make our resolutions for us: it’s started 2011 with a series of stories lecturing Canadians on how unhealthy their lifestyle is, and started something called the “Live Right Now” initiative. Yes, apparently determined to live up to its nickname as “The Mother Corp.,” CBC is telling us to eat our vegetables, quit watching TV and go outside and play, always wear clean underwear in case we’re hit by a truck (OK, I may have made that one up) and, most motherly of all, to “Go to bed, it’s past your bedtime!” Apparently a CBC poll ...Montreal WorldCon Day…um, what day is it again?
And so the World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal winds down. We were at the convention centre at 10 a.m. for me to give a reading with Alison Sinclair and Heidi Lampietti...but the only person to show up was there to hear Heidi, and Heidi, it turned out, had to stay in the dealers' room because she had no one to look after her table there. So after waiting a few minutes, we adjourned. And that was pretty much it for me, con-wise, except for saying good-bye to people. (Typically what happens is you say good-bye to someone, and then you end up seeing them half a dozen more ...My review of Globe Theatre’s production of Doubt, A Parable
This is the review I've sent to CBC's Afternoon Edition and is more or less what I'll be saying on the radio this afternoon (probably about 4:10 p.m., though I haven't heard for certain). As they say, check against delivery! *** Globe Theatre is closing out its mainstage season right now with Doubt, A Parable, a Pulitzer Prize-winner recently made into a movie. Edward Willett was there last night for the opening performance and joins me now. First, Ed, tell us, have you seen the movie? No, I haven't, so the story-though I vaguely knew what it was about-was completely fresh to me. I may check out the movie now, though. Well then, let's forget the movie. Tell us about the play. Doubt, A Parable, ...My review of Globe Theatre’s Mesa
Here's my review of Globe Theatre's latest mainstage production, Mesa. This is the script I've sent to CBC. Check against delivery today at 4:13 p.m. on the Afternoon Edition.Globe Theatre’s lastest mainstage production is Mesa, by Calgary writer Doug Curtis. It’s a play that takes the audience along on a road trip from Calgary to Mesa, Arizona. Edward Willett took the journey at the opening night performance last night and joins me now.Since we’ve still got snow and ice on the ground, Ed, a trip to Mesa sounds pretty appealing. How does the road trip in the play come about?Well, it’s s trip that one of the characters, Bud, played by Sheldon ...My CBC review of Wingfield’s Inferno
Here's the written version of my review for CBC's Afternoon Edition today of last night's opening performance of Wingfield's Inferno at Globe Theatre.As they say in the political-speech-writing-biz, "check against delivery."***Globe Theatre’s latest mainstage offering, Wingfield’s Inferno, opened last night in Regina, and Edward Willett was there to see it.Q. So, Ed, for those who aren’t familiar with this whole series of Wingfield plays, maybe you can explain the basic premise.It’s pretty straightforward: to quote the plays’ website, the Wingfield plays are “about city stockbroker Walt Wingfield who quits the rat race to buy a hundred acre farm in ...If they’d asked me…
...to be one of the poets at the CBC Poetry Face-Off I attended last Friday, at which all the poems were based on the word "flight," I've been wondering, what would I have written?Something like this, probably...FLIGHTThey asked me to write about flight.I wonder, can this be quite right?I sit in my chair--I'm going nowhere--No flight. No, I just sit and write. Right?I'm sure I could have beaten the actual winner, Robert Currie. What's the Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan got that I ain't got?Besides the ability to write decent poetry, I mean.My review of Globe Theatre’s Sexy Laundry
Last night I attended the opening of Globe Theatre (Regina's professional theatre-in-the-round)'s latest mainstage offering, Sexy Laundry, directed by Ruth Smillie, in order to review it for CBC Radio's Afternoon Edition today. Here's the script I sent them. (It's not really a transcript, because I didn't read this word for word, but it's the gist.)Short version: I enjoyed Sexy Laundry very much.***Q. So tell me, Ed, was there laundry, and was it sexy?A. There was laundry...but only in the metaphorical sense, not in the literal sense. And certainly sex plays a central role.Q. Metaphorical laundry centered around sex? Maybe you’d better tell us what the play is ...Things I Found in my Mother-in-Law’s House: The Medicine Cabinet
Notes for today's CBC radio spot...***It’s a bit of a cliché: the guest who can’t resist poking through his host’s medicine cabinet, just to see what’s in there.Well, Ed Willett isn’t a guest in his own home but he sometimes feels like it, because it’s full of odds and ends that have collected over the 70 years it’s been in his wife’s family.Ed has been exploring the nooks and crannies of his mother-in-law’s house for the past few week, and this week he did, indeed, dig into the medicine cabinet. I joined him earlier today to see what he’s found.That’s quite the collection of bottles, tins and boxes you’ve got ...Things I Found in my Mother-in-Law’s House: Vices
Notes for this week's CBC column (which you can listen to here):Ed Willett has been exploring the recesses of the house that has been in his wife’s family for 70 years...and this week has uncovered shocking news: people in the past used to smoke cigarettes.Also, they were known to drink alcohol on occasion.I joined Ed in his house this morning to examine the evidence.Ed, I know you don’t smoke. So what’s with all these lighters and cigarette cases?Smoking was once much more socially acceptable than it is now, so even if you didn’t smoke (though Sam Goodfellow, my grandfather-in-law, did), you had to have the paraphernalia of smoking in ...Another "Things I Found in my Mother-in-Law’s House" online
You can listen to this week's "Things I Found in my Mother-in-Law's House" online here.
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
