[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/06/Hotel-Room-Germs.mp3[/podcast] Ah, vacation time! Relaxing by the beach or in the mountains, retiring at night to a filthy hotel room, crawling with germs… Wait, what? Okay, that might be a slight overstatement of the hygienic challenges of hotel rooms, but the fact remains that hotel rooms are, ultimately, public spaces, inhabited by hundreds of different …
I wrote two author biographies for Enslow Publishers’ Authors Teen Love series. One was on J.R.R. Tolkien, and the other on noted SF/fantasy writer Orson Scott Card. The former was easy because he was long dead and had been written about a great deal, the latter harder because he’s very much alive and hasn’t been …
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/06/Seeking-for-LIfe-in-all-the-Wrong-Places.mp3[/podcast] “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it,” was never actually said in the original series of Star Trek (in fact, it’s from The Firm’s popular parody song “Star Trekkin’”), but it still sums up the notion that we might not recognize extraterrestrial life when first we encounter it because it’s so different …
The Helix War is a first for me, being an omnibus of two previously published books, Marseguro and Terra Insegura. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in the way of reviews, except I figured there wouldn’t be quite as many of them. And, so far, that’s certainly been the case. But there have been …
For two or three years, several years ago now, Globe Theatre ran something called “On the Line: A Freefall Through New Work.” Authors submitted scripts, which were given a staged reading. Below is the first script I ever submitted. It was a blast seeing it given life by the actors! Oh: the following contains scenes …
I’m writing this on June 4, the eve of one of the rarest events in the solar system: the transit of Venus. In astronomical jargon, a “transit” is what happens when a smaller body passes in front of a larger one relative to an observer…in this case, us. The Sun, Venus and Earth actually line …
I’ve done quite a bit of writing for various historical sites around the province. Here’s something I wrote for Cumberland House a few years ago. I’ve never been there to see how it was use! Oh, and in case anyone is wondering…yes, the science column will return. It’s been on hiatus while I experimented with …
My 2007 book Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw, published by Red Deer Press, is just what it says: a collection of 10 walking tours (eight in Regina, two in Moose Jaw) that take you past a number of homes and commercial buildings of historical or architectural interest, with a brief description of each. …
Ford, for reasons best known only to itself, continues to provide me with the opportunity to drive media cars a they come through town. Which is how, in the past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to drive a Ford Edge Limited and a Ford Fiesta SES. Both fine vehicles, but both quite different. And …
I know, I know, I call these things “Saturday Specials” and here it is Monday. But I have a good excuse: I spent the weekend in Saskatoon at Dance Power, the dance competition in which my daughter and her studiomates from Class Act Performing Arts Studio were competing (they did extremely well!). The competition was …
This is the short story my 10-year-old daughter Alice (that’s her in the picture–she’s the one on the right) entered in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Book Week 2012 Writing Contest for Kids & Teens. She didn’t win or get an honorable mention, but I still think it’s pretty good. (It’s also possible she was …
Chapter One of a YA novel I hope to finish someday…The City Must Die (that’;s an entirely fictitious cover). Why is it unfinished? Well, because I sold Masks instead, I guess. But reading this over again for the first time in months, I realized I really want to write this one. There’s actually a different …
