Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
A quick programming note: Mr Man and I have a little time off and we’re hoping to have some fun and be a bit spontaneous with our scheduling. In service of that goal, it’s time for a short series of posts featuring quotes! And pretty pictures!
“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”
― Ralph Ellison
No matter where you are or what you do, I hope you can take a moment to enjoy these last days of summer.
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Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, science, Thoughts on August 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Here’s an interesting puzzle: How Do You Send a Warning 1,000 Years into the Future? – Now I Know
Think back to what the Earth was like a thousand years ago — the year 1,015. Almost everything would be foreign to modern eyes and ears — even the language would be incomprehensible. For all intents and purposes, humanity from a millennium ago may as well be an alien species (culturally, at least) with similar DNA, which simply happens to have lived on the same planet we do now.
How do we communicate with people so far removed from our own language, culture, and assumptions? It’s a great question, whether you’re thinking about the safest approach to nuclear waste disposal or contacting aliens.
In order to keep the people of the future safe from the radioactive goop created today, we need a way to tell them to watch out. And more likely than not, very few aspects of today’s society will be around to do that. Even a sign warning travelers of potential dangers would be insufficient — who among us could translate runes from the Middle Ages?
(My mom, that’s who, but point taken.)
What particularly interests me about these proposed solutions (an Atomic Priesthood dedicated to perpetuating knowledge through myth? color-changing cats?!) is that they seem to have skipped over the most obvious approach. How to conjure the fear of death, to warn people away, and to alert the future not to what is there, but what will happen if it is disturbed?*
This is a plague panel from the early 17th century. If you saw this on a house, would you go in or turn and run the other way?
In the end, the U.S. Department of Energy plan opted to go with warning signs in multiple languages illustrated with images of people in pain. Still, I wondered, what’s wrong with the classics?
Another odd writer thought, brought to you by an odd writer.
* Also, the real problem seems to be the gap between exposure and untimely demise. If you break into a tomb and die immediately, that sends a pretty strong message. And no one has to tell people not to build on an active lava flow, but a peaceful-looking mountain with fertile soil close to the bustling port of Naples and the dynamic town of Pompeii (circa 78 AD)? What’s not to like?
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, Writers, writing on August 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Apologies for the delayed announcement, but in case you were looking at the clock and idly wondering, “Who do you suppose won the Hugos this year?” I am here to help!
The awards are announced at the annual Worldcon, and this year it was held in Glasgow. I’ve never been, but it sounds like a lovely, storied locale.
Right, ahem, the envelope please!
2024 Hugo Award Winners | Glasgow 2024
Best Novel
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)
Best Novella
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)
Best Novelette
“The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)
Best Short Story
“Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, May 2023)
Best Series
Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
See the above link for the complete list of winners.
I haven’t read all of these yet but I do love the feeling of having good stories waiting in the wings.
/rubs hands with glee!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf39, creativity, editing, genre fiction, perfectionism, Thoughts, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on August 21, 2024| 2 Comments »
Consider this: when you over edit something, you polish off the edges that made it unique and vibrant. A little polish is good, but not too much. Nobody wants a diamond polished into a ball bearing. They want something unique. Something sparkly. The world is full of uniform ball bearings. Be a flawed diamond.
— David Hankins, award-winning writer, author of Death and the Taxman, and all-around good duck
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Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, astronomy, supermoon on August 20, 2024| 1 Comment »
Last night there was a dramatic super blue moon. If you missed it, try looking up tonight, it should seem almost as impressive.
Supermoon Blue Moon 2024 — Top photos from around the world | Space
And if clouds or smoke block your view, not to worry! The next three full moons will be super, too.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, fantasy, genre fiction, history, inspiration, Robin Hood, sword and sorcery, Thoughts on August 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
So, here’s the thing: I don’t really like the Middle Ages. I feel a little bad about that because if you have a History degree it seems like you are obligated to keep an open mind about even the worst centuries, but it’s true. The Middle Ages are very much middling in my book.
Is this bias a result of the (relative) lack of historical records, the goofy headgear, or the whole Black Death, Inquisition, feudal lords fighting over tiny territories, and “Bad Times All Around” vibe that so many of those centuries have?
Well, maybe.
However! While reading an interesting article on a medieval herb garden (as one does), I realized that the era was into some of the things that I am into: the many uses of plants, bookbinding, woodturning, weaving, dyeing, and a wide variety of handmade hacks designed to moderate the vicissitudes of life. (The fantasy genre also owes a lot to that time period, and to be fair the bycocket, or Robin Hood hat, was pretty cool.)
So, yeah. It’s possible that I might have a touch of the medieval in me. Which goes to show that I shouldn’t rule out whole swaths of history, or people, or things. (Except the Plague, I continue to be very much down on pandemics. For, you know, reasons.)
So while I’m never going to be a fan of petty monarchs, famine, uncertain hygiene or strict class divisions, the next time the topic of the Middle Ages comes up, I’ll do my best to keep an open mind.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, inspiration, persistence, Thoughts on August 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”
— Earl Nightingale
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, summer, Thoughts on August 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on August 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Where did my imagination take root? In a yellow-brick house on a quiet country road, filled with bright windows and built-in bookshelves containing a wide range of genres, including science fiction and fantasy.
I remember that house well, not least because a friend recently sent me a listing for it on a rental site. It was odd to see the rooms looking so empty, with none of the life that still populates my memories. Even so, it was good to visit the house again.
And to remember what it was like to look out at the old willow shading the little creek behind our house, and dream.
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Posted in Entertainment, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, NASA, science, space, Thoughts on August 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The folder where I keep post ideas is filling up with space stories. Many of them are about Mars, but let’s start with something a little closer to home and go more than 250 miles above Earth to the International Space Station.
NASA’s site has lots of info and fun facts like these.
Did you know that the ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000? That you can track its position live? Or that the station’s live/work space is larger than a six-bedroom house?
Sounds like the place is downright homey. And that’s a good thing, as Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two astronauts who have been stuck at the ISS due to problems with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, will no doubt attest.
How Two Stranded Astronauts Are Camping Out in Space | TIME
Williams’ and Wilmore’s short stay may now not be over until February—stretching an eight-day mission to an eight-month one….
Initially, they were to spend most of their eight days aloft working in the Starliner—checking its communications, life support, power, and other systems. But they long since finished up that checklist and have instead been assisting the rest of the crew with science experiments and maintenance chores, including such unglamorous work as repairing a urine processing pump.
That sounds super fun (actually, it kind of does), but it’s not all work up there. Are they staring out the viewport at Earth, pointing out their house sixteen times a day? Competing in the Space Olympics? (Not a thing, as far as I know, but astronauts do have to exercise two hours a day to maintain muscle mass and general health.) Have they used their spare time to compose a space-themed version of the Gilligan’s Island theme song? (Did I ask AI to do this? Maaaaaybe. But if I did, it wasn’t very good.)
Speaking of television, perhaps they’re catching up on their favorite shows. Did you know that astronauts can binge-watch just like the rest of us?
Every TV Show Astronauts Can Watch on the ISS Right Now
There are, of course, space-themed shows like Hulu’s The First with Sean Penn from 2018, the critically acclaimed alt-history drama For All Mankind, and the Trump-era comedy Space Force. Other new series include Book of Bobba Fett, The Crown, and the cooking show Chopped. Other sci-fi series include Andor, Star Trek Discovery, Firefly, and Battlestar Galactica.
Still no word on who gets to hold the remote.
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J.R. Johnson 
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