…and other April Fool’s “stories” are at Locus Online. Apparently it is not an April Fool’s story, however, that here has been a correction to the Hugo Award nominees I listed recently: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest has been replaced on the long-form dramatic presentation ballot by Pan’s Labyrinth.
Category: Blog
Another Edward Willett
I just discovered that I share a name with one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen (you have to register with the Dayton Daily News to follow that first link, by the way; if you do, you’ll see Edward Willett of Yellow Springs, Ohio, is mentioned as one of the other pilots from the Dayton area …
BIblical illiteracy at the CBC
From a story about a controversial new Victoria production of the George Frederic Handel oratorio Samson that casts Samson as a suicide bomber in 1946 Jerusalem, we get this nugget about the original story: He (Samson) is chained in the temple by the Philistines and forced to witness a sacreligious act. He pulls down the …
Hugo Award nominees announced
The Hugo Awards, for those who don’t know, are roughly equivalent to science fiction’s People’s Choice Awards. Nominees are nominated and voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention, and the Hugo Awards Ceremony is always a centrepiece of said convention, which this year is being held in Yokohama, Japan. Here are this …
I must be a real writer!
A while back Andrea Bellerive, the daughter of a friend of mine, chose me (me!) to focus on for an Authors’ Fair at her school, St. Pius X, here in Regina. I popped by this afternoon to see the finished result, and was quite thrilled. (My apologies for the poor quality of this photo–I only …
The civilized way to fly
I love airships, and I’m not alone. Award-winning children’s author Kenneth Oppel, for example, obviously loves them: his recent novels Airborn and Skybreaker are set in an alternate world where airships, not airplanes, rule the skies. Canadian science fiction writer Karl Schroeder must love them, too: his novels Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce, …
Another review of Lost in Translation…
…though not technically a “new” review, since it’s a review of the hardcover edition. Nevertheless, I missed it until now. It’s by Don D’Ammassa: The only previous work I’ve read by this author was some young adult fantasy, so I was curious about this science fiction novel for more mature audiences. Humanity and an alien …
How realistic are combat computer games?
Here’s an interesting interview on that topic with Dr. Malcom Davis, a lecturer in Defence Studies with the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London. Dr. Davis says current games certainly have some realistic elements, but: I think that consumer military simulations are never going to be totally realistic because ultimately people don’t really die …
This sounds promising…
“UBC Researchers Find New Superbug Weapon for Near-empty Antibiotics Arsenal“:The team found that a peptide, or chain of amino acids, they have dubbed innate defense regulator peptide (IDR-1), can increase innate immunity without triggering harmful inflammation, and offer protection both before and after infection is present. *** “Antibiotics are now under threat because of the …
A better alternative to Wikipedia?
I hope it works out. As I like to say (and I don’t think I’m the first), “Wikipedia is a very useful tool. Sometimes it’s even right.” Here’s the nascent rival: Citizendium. It’s Wikipedia with real names…and experts.
Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home…
…you’re stinking up my wine: Ladybugs may look pretty but they also have a dark side. In some places, the polka-dotted insects have become a nuisance by invading homes and crops, including some vineyards. To make matters worse, the bugs produce a foul-smelling liquid that, besides irritating homeowners, can be inadvertently processed along with grapes …
A "new" book by J.R.R. Tolkien due out this year
It’s The Children of Húrin, begun 89 years ago, left unfinished (like so much else) when Tolkien died in 1971, and now painstakingly recreated from Tolkien’s manuscripts and notes by his son, Christopher. This story from The Independent, though, has a terrible title: “Tolkien Jr. completes Lord of the Rings.” The Children of Húrin takes …
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