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Song of the Sword recommended in Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
Song of the Sword got a nice mention in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix today. In a feature called "Read aloud for holiday wonders," Beverley Brenna writes: Favourite books for the holidays can be divided into two categories: older titles that withstand the test of time, and contemporary reads that more closely reflect today's reading audience. Literacy research advocates reading aloud to children as the single most important thing a parent can do to support reading development, and the good news is: there's lots of titles available that interest adults as well as children, a far ...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 ...The Nipawin Journal reports on my reading there last week…
...and I have to say it's one of the best articles of this sort I've seen anywhere. Thanks to the reporter, Joel Cherry! (Oh, sure, there's one instance of the dreaded "one-T Willett" misspelling of my last name, but if I worried over much about that very common typo I'd go crazy.) The story begins: The term freelance was first used by Sir Walter Scott to describe a medieval mercenary warrior, (a "free-lance") in his novel Ivanhoe. The freelance would fight for whoever needed him. Science journalist, biographer, critic, singer, actor, and Aurora-award winning author of science fiction and fantasy Edward Willett is a freelance if ever there was one. Oct. 20 the Regina-based writer paid Nipawin a visit, ...The end of an era: my science column leaves the newspaper
Roughly two decades of writing a science column that appeared in print in Regina came to an end today when I received a letter from the Regina LeaderPost that said:It is with regret that I inform you today that effective March 11, 2009, we will no longer be in a position to publish your Science column.Because of new financial and space restrictions imposed by our parent company, Canwest Publishing, we have been forced to readjust our freelance copy for the daily Leader-Post. Unfortunately, your column is one of the items our editor-in-chief has chosen to give up.I first began writing the column late in 1990, I believe, when I ...My preview of the New Music in New Spaces concert…
..., coming up Sunday afternoon at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, is in today's LeaderPost. An excerpt:Sunday's concert will feature (Jeremy) Buzash and Eduard Minevich on violin; Jonathan Ward on viola; Amelia Borton on cello; Pauline Minevich on clarinet; Cecile Denis on harp and David McIntyre on piano. Titled "A Sound Vision," the concert will premiere five new works."Transplants" is a new electroacoustic work by Elizabeth Raum, for soundscape, video projections and solo clarinet. It's described as "a reflection on the immigrant experience, interpreted through analogies with transplanting flowers."The second piece, a new work by Jason Cullimore, also features projections, which is particularly appropriate since on Feb. 14 the MacKenzie will ...My preview of Trio Frontenac is online
My preview of this Saturday's concert of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, featuring Trio Frontenac, is in today's LeaderPost.It begins:Trio Frontenac, featured in Saturday's Regina Symphony Orchestra Mosaic Masterworks concert at the Conexus Arts Centre, may be based in Quebec City, but it's definitely got Regina roots.To begin with, violinist Darren Lowe and cellist Blair Lofgren, now concertmaster and principal cello of the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec, respectively, are former members of the RSO (Lowe was RSO concertmaster during 1975-1976, while Lofgren played with the RSO during the 1990s.)And the third member of the trio, Lowe's wife, pianist Suzanne Beaubien, has been a guest performer with the RSO and other local musical ...I preview The Stampeders…
Classic Canadian rock band The Stampeders ("Sweet City Woman") plays Casino Regina on Saturday: my preview is in today's LeaderPost.Here's an excerpt:Remember Art Linklater's Kids Say the Darndest Things? Members of the veteran Canadian band The Stampeders, which plays Casino Regina on Saturday night, have heard a few doozies of their own from the younger members of their audience."You were louder than the Tragically Hip" was one, but the weirdest was: "We thought it would be great to see you before you die.""It's great what they say," guitarist Rich Dodson says, and that's a good attitude for him to have, because The Stampeders wouldn't still be playing together after almost ...I’m a Santa expert!
No, really, that's what it says in the headline to this story, written by Vivian Song for Sun Media, in which I'm one of several theorists quoted in an in-depth examination of the latest scientific thinking regarding the amazing feats of Jolly Old Saint Nick.This appeared in the Winnipeg Sun, but it'll probably be showing up in other Sun Media papers around the country.(UPDATE: I've now found links to the same story in the Toronto Sun, St. Catharine's Standard, 24 Hours Vancouver, the Sarnia Observer, the Edmonton Sun, the Calgary Sun, the Ottawa Sun, and, oddest of all, the Vancouver Quadra Conservatives website. Not bad!)A ...A preview of Saskatchewan Express
My preview of Saskatchewan Express's December show Deck the Halls, Broadway Style is in today's Regina LeaderPost. It begins:Saskatchewan Express does a December show in Regina every year, but it doesn't always do a Christmas show.This year, it is, and it opens tonight at the Shumiatcher Theatre in the MacKenzie Art Gallery."I went through pages and pages of Christmas music, trying to find something that was a little different, and something that everyone recognized," says Carol Gay Bell, Saskatchewan Express's artistic director."I hope we've come up with a happy combination."Read the whole thing.I make the news in Meadow Lake!
The Meadow Lake Progress has posted an article about my visit to that community the weekend before last for a library reading. It's a good article, although I wouldn't take the quotation marks around what I supposedly said very literally...You can read the whole thing here, but here's how it starts:Regina-based science fiction author Edward Willett isn’t your average writer. Actually he’s not average at all.The literary dynamo and actor stopped by the Meadow Lake Library during the evening of November 15. He did a reading from one of his books, but also interacted with the crowd and answered questions.Willett has ...
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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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