Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Ten Best Books of 2007

According to the New York Times Book Review these are the ten best books of the last year. You know, I haven't read any of these. I'm surprised Michael Chabon's new book isn't on this list. I thought for sure I had read a best-of-the-year book when I finished that novel. Last year I hit two, this year none.
Tolkien on Beowulf

Found this nice passage in an essay at Salon.com about how much the new Beowulf movie stinks.

"It is, Tolkien writes, not a primitive poem, but a late one. The pagan world is already past, but the poet still celebrates its vanished power. The fact that a poem written more than a thousand years ago was itself looking back at a lost world gives the poem an uncanny double resonance to the modern reader: "If the funeral of Beowulf moved once like the echo of an ancient dirge, far-off and hopeless, it is to us as a memory brought over the hills, an echo of an echo.""

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The letter I mentioned (link fixed)

Here is a link to the letter I mentioned earlier. I get a letter published every few months. It makes me feel important.

The link should work now. The page won't be up for long. It should get archived soon and then my name will live forever in the Charlotte Observer archives. Impressed yet?

Saturday, November 24, 2007

The exercise

Jake, the exercise we worked on was taking five people you know and taking a characteristic from each person to create a unique character. That is what we were working on when I received the call about the break in from my roommate.

I did see that Colbert dropped his "campaign." I think he got all the publicity out of it he wanted. I think the whole thing was done just to see where it went and I'll wager he was a little surprised by all the hubbub surrounding his joke.

By the way, if you look at the Thanksgiving Day paper you will see a letter in the Charlotte Obsever Forum by little ole me.

Friday, November 23, 2007

ok, several things, 1) i stopped writing my original story for multiple purposes, 2) did you hear that Stephen Colbert was denied by the Democratic party of South Carolina?, 3) could someone please tell me what's up with the writers' strike? i have only vague ideas about why it's happening..., and 4) hope you guys had a happy thanksgiving!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Galaxy Garden

Have you heard about the guy in Hawaii that made a garden in the shape of galaxy?

Friday, November 16, 2007

Howdy

Sorry about last night, guys. I hated to leave. Writers Night is my favorite day at work. Someone busted the back window, unlatched it and crawled in and stole my Xbox 360, a bunch of DVD's and forty dollars out of my roommate's room. I'm pretty sure it was an ex-neighbor that was evicted last month. He was on the property yesterday and I gave his name to the cops. We think he stole some stuff from us this summer but we never had any real proof.

I hope you guys completed the exercise last night. If you did, please post them here. I'd love to read them.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Meeting tomorrow

Don't forget, youngsters, we are meeting tomorrow at the Morrison Library at 6 pm. See you there.

Monday, November 12, 2007

The Creation Museum

Science fiction author John Scalzi has a photo essay on his Flickr page about his trip to the Creation Museum. It's excellent and funny.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Next Meeting

To answer Mitchell's question, the next meeting will be on the third Thursday of November, November 15th. Hey, that's a week from today. Time flies.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Human Clock

I've been on a roll today. I have a great idea for our next meeting. We can use the white dry-erase board and create a couple of entries for the Human Clock. I did a couple of times about three or four years ago and I'd love to do a couple more.
For those that like to draw...

Have you seen those blogs where super nerds use their DVD players and their PC's to stitch together backgrounds from old animated movies? Pretty cool stuff.
The Woman who broke Isaac Asimov's heart

I just found out today that Michael Swanwick is blogging. He has an interesting story about a woman he met.
Just out of curiosity - since the library will be closed on the fourth Thursday this month (that day being Thanksgiving, in case you were unaware), I was wondering when the meeting would be instead, or if there will even be a meeting. I ask purely in the interests of ascertaining whether or not I'll be able to attend.
Moon video goodness

Interested in seeing the first video of the moon shot with a high definition camera? You can view it here.

Alien abduction lamp

I want this.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Another Connie Willis interview

I haven't read it yet but I am sure it's worth reading. Going to go read it now...

From the interview...

Connie Willis' favorite SF short fiction:

"The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
"Homecoming" by Ray Bradbury
"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
"The Menace from Earth" by Robert A. Heinlein
"One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" by Shirley Jackson
"Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov
"Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler
"Surface Tension" by James Blish
"Vintage Season" by C.L Moore
"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett
"A Saucer of Loneliness" by Theodore Sturgeon
"Computers Don't Argue" by Gordon Dickson
"We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick

Ed says:
Menace from earth by Heinlein is a good one. Nightfall is a classic and Bloodchild is another great one that I have read. I remember reading A Sound of Thunder and really feeling that the story felt contemporary and real to me.

I see she mentions Zenna Henderson. I am not familiar with that author. Have any of you read or heard of Zenna Henderson?

Thursday, November 01, 2007

All-Time Champs

Would you like to see a list of authors who have one the most total Hugos and Nebula awards for best science fiction novel?