Category: Uncategorized
-
Retro-Review: Hellstrom’s Hive
Hellstrom’s Hive is a novel by Frank Herbert, better known as the creator of Dune. He wrote it in 1972, inspired by a somewhat obscure film by David Wolper called The Hellstrom Chronicle. I haven’t seen the movie, but I gather it’s an odd combination of a nature documentary about bugs, coupled with some alarmist narration by the fictional…
-
My Worldbuilding Talk
Last weekend I spoke at the North Amherst Public Library branch about how to do science fiction worldbuilding, at a session organized by the estimable Steven Brewer for the Straw Dogs writing workshop. You can see Steven’s account of it here.
-
My PhilCon Schedule
Next weekend, November 21-23, I’ll be a guest at Philadelphia’s long-running science fiction convention, PhilCon, held once again at the Doubletree Hotel in scenic Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Here’s my schedule if you want to stop by. FRIDAY, November 21 6:00 p.m. — Science Fiction Games: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!: A panel…
-
Happy Lepanto Day!
Today marks the anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, a fight between the allied Spanish and Italian navies and the Ottoman Empire. It took place in 1571, at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece, and was the last great naval battle fought by oared galleys. The battle was a surprise upset —…
-
New Digs
Welcome to my new Web site! I blogged using the Typepad platform for nearly two decades, but they’ve decided to shut down so I need a new host. Let’s hope WordPress lasts longer. I’m shifting my domain name to this site, and if I can manage it I will move all my archived material as…
-
The Worldbuilding Index
This is a master index to the Notes on Worldbuilding series. It’s a bit better than just searching for the Worldbuilding tag. Notes on Worldbuilding 1: Real and Not-Real Worlds Notes on Worldbuilding 2: Why? Notes on Worldbuilding 3: The Future! Notes on Worldbuilding 4: Stars! Notes on Worldbuilding 5: Planetary Systems Notes on…
-
Ecological SF
I've been re-reading Frank Herbert's Dune after seeing the stunning new film version by Denis Villeneuve, and I noticed something which I found hilarious, in my usual contrarian way. Consider the two factions struggling for control of the desert planet Arrakis: On one side you have the villainous Harkonnens, fortified in the spaceport city of…
-
Why Caesar?
In European civilization, I think it's a true statement to say that the most famous historical figure, second only to Jesus, is Julius Caesar. He's been hero-worshipped more or less continuously since he led his army into Gaul — except for one unfortunate incident involving sixty or so of his political rivals and a lot…
-
Ozblogging: Tik-Tok of Oz, Part 5
Betsy Bobbin et al appear before Tititi-Hoochoo the next morning to hear his decision. Fortunately for them, the Jinjin is a Reasonable Authority Figure and thus is willing to overlook their involuntary passage through the forbidden Hollow Tube. (Why an all-powerful Jinjin never thought of simply closing the Tube, or piling up some logs and…
The Cambias Digression 