Yesterday I posted about the death of Lloyd Alexander, author of the Chronicles of Prydain, one of my favorite all-time young adult fantasy series. Today I discovered this gorgeous website about Prydain. (Via Kids Lit.)
Rotating skyscrapers
Not just a great name for a rock band, rotating skyscrapers (that’s a video link, by the way) are an interesting new form of architecture that would drastically change the skyline of any city where they were built (because each floor can be slowly rotated independently) and improve that city’s energy efficiency (because the wind …
A big step toward the hydrogen economy?
It sounds promising, at least: A Purdue University engineer has developed a method that uses an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen from water for running fuel cells or internal combustion engines, and the technique could be used to replace gasoline. The method makes it unnecessary to store or transport hydrogen – two major challenges in …
Why am I confident the universe is teeming with life?
Because we keep finding it on Earth in even the most apparently inhospitable places…like the Rancho La Brea tar pits.
Lloyd Alexander dies
Lloyd Alexander has died. From SF Scope: Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 30 January 1924, he was a children’s fantasy author for half a century (though he did also write several adult novels). He won the 1970 Newbery Award, and was a National Book Award Finalist, for The High King. His books include three well-known …
Mentors and mentees mingle at McNally Robinson
Some time ago I was selected to be one of the mentors for the Saskatchewan Writers Guild‘s first Online Youth Mentorship Program. I enjoyed it very much. I worked with three young writers, Danita Stallard of Estevan, James Waldner of Biggar, and Arnav Jatukaran of Regina. I had at least one face-to-face meeting with all …
What a setting for a science fiction story!
A Neptune-sized planet made of hot ice and shrouded with steam, orbiting a star just 30 light years away. More important than its fictional possibilities, of course, is the fact that it seems to have a lot of water, albeit it in ultra-dense, ultra-hot solid form. A little further out from its sun, and it …
SCORE one for efficiency
This being hockey playoff season, everyone is talking about scores. In the hope I might be taken as something other than a science geek, I thought I would, too. So let me tell you what the score is regarding SCORE–the Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity. SCORE is a joint research project by four U.K. …
Ain’t it the truth…
A great quote posted at About Last Night which seems particularly apropos since I’m in the throes of rehearsing Oklahoma! (I’m playing Jud) with Regina Lyric Light Opera: “Modern kids are raised with the understanding that people don’t spontaneously burst into song at crucial moments in their lives. And isn’t that a horrible thing, to …
To keep his community theatre alive…
…a U.S. police officer stole a Canadian writer’s play. A long-time community-theatre-type myself, I can understand the panic when it looks like an organization may go under. But that’s no excuse for plagiarism.
A great literary event in Saskatoon yesterday…
…will be blogged about soon. Watch this space! (Er, well, watch this blog. This particular space will scroll down as I continue to post. But you know what I mean.)
The Nebula Awards…
…have been handed out. These are the awards nominated for and voted on by active members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, which would include me (finally!) this year, although I’m ashamed to say I didn’t vote (I simply hadn’t read enough of the nominees)… Novel: Seeker, by Jack McDevitt (Ace, Nov. …
My latest live walk and vlog
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