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Potholes
It's spring in Regina, and we all know what that means: snow is melting, water and funny-looking guys in shorts are running, and the potholes are in bloom. Everyone knows that Regina has a pothole problem, and for once, what "everyone knows" is right. But don't blame the city. Especially, don't blame Harlan Ritchie, Manager of Roadways Engineering, or Dennis Lawrysyn, Manager of Roadways Maintenance, because they're the ones who gave me information for this column. It's not their fault! (The potholes, that is, not this column.) Our roads are built on thick, gooey clay. Gooey clay is gooey for one reason: it traps and holds moisture. Potholes occur for one reason: moisture trapped and held ...Wood
"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" asks the familiar tongue-twister, to which the reply would have to be, in parts of southern Saskatchewan, "Not much." The prairies just aren't known for their abundance of trees. Northern Saskatchewan, however, is an entirely different matter. My continuing travels around the province on the Prairie Opera school tour have now taken me as far north as LaRonge, where a woodchuck could chuck wood to his little heart's content, and still have lots of wood left over. But just what is it the woodchuck would chuck? What is wood? Well, of course, wood is what the trunk of a tree is made ...Glue
Since I only wear glasses late at night when I take out my contacts, for the past couple of years I've been making do with an old pair of frames broken in two places: the nose piece and the right earpiece. I must have glued them back together a dozen times, but the repairs never last. Most glues hold just long enough for me to put the glasses back on your nose and start walking, then let go. Although this offers me an opportunity to improve my hand-eye coordination as I attempt to catch the separately descending pieces, it is an otherwise unrewarding experience that I would happily forego. So ...Plastic
I vividly remember a science fiction book I read as a kid about the destruction of civilization by a new strain of bacteria. It didn't kill people: it ate plastic. Electronic equipment disintegrated, clothes dissolved, airplanes fell apart, buildings burned--modern society ceased to function, so dependent had it become on plastic. If our ancestors lived in the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, we live in the Plastic Age. Alexander Parkes invented the first synthetic plastic, celluloid, in 1856. This mixture of cellulose nitrate and camphor substituted for ivory in billiard balls, combs and piano keys. Early motion picture film was also made of celluloid, but its extreme flammability meant that more than one early movie house went ...Glass
There's a window above my desk through I'm watching a cold wind blowing leaves down the street. It's not blowing in my face, however, thanks to a very special material: glass. Glass is an "amorphous solid"-- its molecules don't form a strict pattern, like the molecules of steel or granite, but are jumbled together like more like the molecules in a fluid. You might think of glass as a very stiff liquid. Glass consists primarily of sand, heated with other materials such as soda and limestone to about 1,300 degrees Celsius. The additional materials lower the melting point of pure sand to a temperature achievable with a wood fire....
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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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