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Book sites
Here's this week's CBC Web column...***Books make great Christmas presents...at least, the right book does. But with so many books out there, how do you find the good ones?Well, the World Wide Web is a good place to start. There are hundreds of good book sites on the Web. In fact, there are scads of them. Mountains of them. Cascades of them...(to paraphrase Cogsworth from Beauty and the Beast talking about the Beast’s library).A good place to start is BookSpot, which is, in its own words, “a free resource center that simplifies the search for the best book-related content on the Web. Featured sites are hand-selected by BookSpot.com editors and organized ...Witches and vampires and ghosts, oh, my!
This week's CBC Web column...Download the audio version.*****Orange leaf bags with grinning jack-o’-lantern faces cover the lawns. The drugstore shelves are groaning under the weight of grinning skulls, leering witches, and dancing robot mummies, and you can hardly buy groceries without getting a dangling plastic bat caught in your hair.That must mean Hallowe’en is just around the corner, and what better time to delve into some of the darker, spookier corners of the World Wide Web?There are a deluge of devilish delights, a cornucopia of creepy confections and gobs of ghoulish goodness to be found online, if that sort of thing appeals to you. If, on the other hand, you’re put off by the merest mention of magic, monsters, ...Gadget blogs
Today's CBC web column...I love gadgets. I wrote my last novel on a gadget, my Pocket PC cell phone, using a fold-out wireless keyboard. The only thing that keeps me from drowning in gadgets is that I can’t afford them all. But I can do the next best thing, and read about them on the Web.I think my favorite gadget site would have to be Gizmodo. As of this morning, this site had photos (and in some cases video) of: a Jacuzzi party atop 15,711-foot Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps; outrageous audio equipment (such as a $350,000 amplifier, a $100,000 turntable, a $13,000 power cord, and wooden tweeters—um, that’s a kind ...Memory? We don’t need no stinkin’ memory!
I've occasionally referred to my Pocket PC and, by extension, the Internet, as "my other brain."Turns out I'm not alone:Almost without noticing it, we've outsourced important peripheral brain functions to the silicon around us. And frankly, I kind of like it.Yeah, me too.Weather on the Web
Here's this week's CBC Web column...Audio version here.*****The weather is perennially fascinating. We check the forecast first thing in the morning. We check the weather in cities we might be visiting on business or vacation. And northerners heading south for a bit of sun pay particular attention to the hurricane forecasts.Once upon a time, the only source of weather information was your neighbour’s big toe that always acted up when it was about to rain. But these days, there’s more weather information than you can shake a rain stick at on...where else?...the World Wide Web.I have no idea how many sites are devoted to the weather, but simply Googling “weather forecasts” turns up well over a million hits. I ..."You swollen-headed political dwarf, such a provocation will be regarded as a declaration of war!"
Behold the North Korean Random Insult Generator.Guess who’s one of the new bloggers for Futurismic
Why, that would be me, thanks.What is Futurismic?I'll let them answer that:Futurismic is a website for people interested in the future and the effects of science and technology on the present. Futurismic comes in three parts: the blog section consists of short, well-written, opinionated introductions to content that exists elsewhere on the Internet. The columns section covers the same ground in more detail. Blog and column entries content include scientific advances; new technology and technological products; news about technology companies; descriptions of people impacted by technology; emergent cultural or social phenomena; or political issues that couldn’t exist in the absence of any of the above. In addition to its core focus, content may delve into tangential issues at the ...Surfer, know thyself
This week's CBC web column...Download an audio version.****The forecourt of the ancient Greek temple of Apollo at Delphi bore the inscription “Know thyself.”These days, we find out about ourselves the same way we find out about everything else: we go on the Internet.For example, in recent weeks I’ve learned where I fall on the political compass, which Star Trek character I am, which Hogwarts house I belong to, and various things about my personality that must be well-hidden because I don’t recognize them at all.And I learned all these things through some of the many—tens of thousands, if not millions—of quizzes available on the web.I ...The real health-care crisis…
..."Internet-Induced Hypochondria."Return of the popular search list: spider goats still rule!
I haven't done this for a while: here are the top 15 searches among the last 4,000 visitors to edwardwillett.com, with links to the pages on my site they have led people to...and, yes, even though it's been weeks since I posted such a list, spider goats continue to rule the roost!spider goatsspider goattime perception how to make french friesgolf technology ball scuffingbattle suitanimal intelligencehygiene hypothesis cat allergy cureplant communication animal emotions choosing a matepermathrinhow long does skunk smell lastAlthough skunks still make an appearance, I am ...
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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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