Archives
Talk about your low-emission automobiles…
...this one runs on compressed air.Not only that, it's on the verge of production.Something else I should have had on my fictional ocean planet:
A 127-mph submarine!Something like this, I did use in my new novel
A staple of underwater adventure movies since at least the original Thunderball is now available for anyone who wants one...and can even be used in a pool. The Seadoo Sea Scooter Dolphin has handles and a propeller: you just hold on, and it pulls you through the water. It's designed for use by anyone, in the ocean, lake or pool.According to New Launches:It won’t drown me either, if I release its soft start trigger it will automatically cut off and will float to the surface. The buoyancy chamber allows me to set ...Now you can buy your own submarine
It's amazing how stories like this leap out at me since I wrote a novel set on an ocean world:The world's first personal submarines have been launched with a price tag of £65,000. Dutch designers claim the subs will make owners feel like they are "flying through the water". The one-seater version is 9ft long, and the 11ft model seats two. Owners who really want to impress can get go-faster stripes and custom paint jobs. ...Who needs a helicopter…
...when you could have a boat like this?Another cool surface vessel I shoulda put in my new ocean-world SF story.Here’s something I wish I had put in the new book:
The Proteus "spider-like go-fast boat."Driver distractions
With summer officially here and school officially out, the roads will soon be full of people driving to and from the beach, the cottage and/or grandma’s house. Just in time, new research has appeared that sheds new light on how drivers can best keep their minds--and, as a result, their cars--on the road. First, some figures. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey in the U.S. last year found that the majority of drivers engage in at least two of 12 distracting behaviors on some driving trips: 81 percent reporting talking to other passengers and 66 percent reporting changing radio stations or looking for CDs or tapes. Nearly half reported eating or drinking while driving, while ...Rise of the aircar
It’s almost summer, that time of year when millions of vacationers develop whole new vocabularies as they curse the slow-moving RVs behind which they’re stuck. What they need is a car that can fly, a.k.a. an aircar, a staple of science fiction stories since at least the 1930s, but something that hasn’t gotten off the ground...yet. Nevertheless, as a recent story in Technology Review points out, new technology may soon make it a reality. The biggest problem with the aircar dream has always been the fact that ordinary drivers would presumably be at the controls (scary thought). But today’s powerful computers, combined with navigational technologies such as the Global Positioning Satellite system and advanced collision-avoidance ...Trains
Trains have been on my mind lately, partly because I just completed a two-day trip from San Francisco by train, but also because trains have been in the news lately: Montreal's Bombardier was in hot water over cracks in the suspensions of Amtrak's high-speed Acela trains, McLean's magazine recently ran a front-page story on rail travel, and locally, there's increasing talk about the possibility of train service returning to Regina after an absence of several years. Trains, of course, are the very symbol of 19th century industrial civilization. It's probably fair to say that without rail travel, neither Canada nor the United States could have cohered as nations, and North America would instead be populated by several smaller countries. But ...Challenge Bibendum
Will we be driving gasoline-powered cars 10 or 20 years from now? Judging by the 2001 Michelin Challenge Bibendum, some of us will, but many won't. The Challenge Bibendum (Bibendum is the real name of the made-of-tires Michelin Man) offers manufacturers an opportunity to demonstrate alternative-fuel vehicles in real-world conditions. This year's challenge drew 27 production cars and 18 prototype cars. It included a critique of the vehicles' design at the Automobile Club of Southern California, a performance test at the California Speedway in Fortuna, and a 430-kilometre drive to Las Vegas. Several different power sources were used. Six cars in the competition didn't use an alternative fuel at all--they used gasoline. Technological improvements ...
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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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