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Belated Saturday Special from the Vaults: Sonnet Sonnet
Delayed once more by festive cheer, I make my first post of the year! *** How serious are you, my poet friend, About the craft to which your heart aspires? Do your words borrow pain, and seek to lend Unto the world the vision it requires? Do you object to light verse as a waste Of energy best spent on grander things? Do you desire to scale the heights and taste The clear, sweet air where lofty language rings? To don poetic glory like a bonnet, My friend, I think that you should write a sonnet.Bless me, Father Rhysling, for I have sinned…
Inspired by the column about science fiction poetry I wrote today for the next issue of the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild's magazine Freelance, I have done something I rarely do, and committed the act of poetry; specifically, the act of science fiction limerick. An unpublished writer of rhyme Travelled three hundred years back in time. He stole from a poet Who, unborn, didn’t know it. Plagiarizing the future’s no crime! I apologize to any and all actual poets in the audience.From Squid to Eternity
Margaret Atwood (in)famously referred to science fiction as "talking squids in outer space," a remark to which I would take great umbrage if not for the fact that my DAW novel Lost in Translation contains a character, Karak, master of the Guild of Translators, described thusly: Free of the watersuit and its exoskeleton, his shape was nothing bipedal at all; his almost globular, iridescent body, from which writhed six locomotive tentacles and six manipulators, moved through the water with boneless grace, gill-slits pulsating below the fringe of feeding-tentacles that encircled his beak. It seemed odd to hear perfect home-planet S’sinn emerging from that alien mouth. For all intents and purposes, then, Lost in Translation ...Steamed-Rice Mommy’s Coming to Town
While looking for something entirely different in my computer files (The Mixed-Up Files of Edward C. Willett, which would be a great title for a book if someone hadn't already kind of gotten there first), I came across this audio recording from a couple of years ago, when my daughter was seven. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Willett Duo with their rendition of "Steamed-Rice Mommy's Coming to Town," inspired by the gripping real-life saga of...supper. It provides 100 percent of your dailycuteness requirement! Click to play: Steamed Rice Mommy's Coming to Town (The photo: Me and Alice, of course.)What’s in a name, continued
Well, the final bio for my alter ego, Lee Arthur Chane, is rather staid compared to the fanciful flights of fancy I could have indulged in. In fact, it's my own bio, just tweaked a little to emphasize the fact that Chane is going to be known (hopefully) as a fantasy writer: Born in the mystical mountains of New Mexico, taken on an epic journey from there to the wide-open and oddly named land of Saskatchewan as a child, familiar with both blazing heat and bitter cold, Lee Arthur Chane might have been destined to be a fantasy writer. But in his personal quest to become one, he’s also studied journalism in ...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 ...The 2009 Ig Nobel Prizes
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/10/Ig-Nobels-2009.mp3[/podcast] The 2009 Ig Nobel Awards for “research that first makes you laugh, then makes you think,” given by the scientific humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, were presented last Thursday at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre. And I think I must begin with the Public Health Prize, which went to Elena N. Bodnar, Raphael C. Lee, and Sandra Marijan of Chicago, who on August 14, 2007, received U.S. patent #7255627 for a “Garment Device Convertible to One or More Facemasks.” What that patent title doesn’t tell you is that the “garment device” in question is a brassiere that can be turned into two face masks, one for the wearer of the brassiere (presumably) and the other for a needy bystander of the brassiere ...Be safe out there!
It's Terra Insegura launch day. Please don't get trampled in the mad rush by thousands of screaming fans into bookstores in search of a copy. Oh, wait. I'm confusing myself with Stephanie Meyer again.The album cover meme
This fun little exercise popped up on Facebook, but I decided to do it here (and leave off the "tag everyone you've ever met" or similar instructions; I don't tag). But feel free if you think it looks like fun.To make your band's album cover, do the following:1 - To get the name of your band, go to Wikipedia and hit “random” or click here. The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.2 - To get your album title, go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations" or click here. The last ...The hazards of bad jokes
How often have you heard someone say, “I just can’t tell a joke?”How often have you then heard the person who made that self-deprecating claim attempt to do just that?According to recent research, if you truly believe the former, you should stick to your guns, because telling a bad joke in a social situation can actually be hazardous.And by bad jokes, we’re not talking about dirty jokes, racist jokes, or ethnic jokes. We’re talking about jokes that just aren’t that funny. Specifically, in fact, this joke:“What did the big chimney say to the little chimney?”“Nothing. Chimneys can’t talk.”It was this joke (discovered by Googling “bad jokes”) that Nancy ...
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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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