The Cambias Digression

Notes and thoughts on everything from what I had for breakfast to the fate of the Universe.

  • A Curious Omission

    Dr. Kelly and I went to see Denis Villeneuve's new version of Dune a couple of weeks ago. It was good — the director has shown himself in the past to be a skilled and faithful adapter of science fiction stories to the screen. Good acting, beautiful visuals, a good score . . .  But…

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  • Building A New World

    My first foray into teaching worldbuilding went so well I'm doing it again — only more so. This Saturday (November 6) the Pioneer Valley Writers Workshop is offering the first of a two-part online course I'm teaching. It's called "Building the Iceberg," and is all about science fiction worldbuilding. In session 1 we'll be looking…

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  • Mysteries of the Bride

    Last week a much-reduced Crack Team of moviegoers went to the endearingly ramshackle Greenfield Garden Cinema to watch a special showing of the original The Bride of Frankenstein. It's still my favorite of all the classic Universal black-and-white monster movies. Maybe The Invisible Man is in the same league, but the rest of the pack…

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  • Auction Action!

    Today the Friends of Deerfield are launching an online auction to raise funds for Deerfield's 350th anniversary celebration in 2023. Items for sale include antiques, sports memorabilia, gift cards, and artworks. But my readers may be especially interested in the books. We've got signed collections of first editions by Western Massachusetts SF and fantasy authors:…

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  • The Day of Gold

    Fall in New England is famous for its beauty. People come here from all over the country to go "leaf-peeping" in the countryside. In Deerfield we're ready for them with scented candles, artisanal baked goods, microbrews, maple candy, fossils, crafts, and restaurants. But when does Fall begin? On September 22 I heard a radio host…

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  • Captain Opposite

    I've noticed an interesting approach to writing genre characters, one which also applies to roleplaying games and other media as well: take an iconic character and make up someone who is as opposite to that character as possible. When Michael Moorcock wanted to write a "sword and sorcery" epic, he didn't make his main character…

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  • AlbaCon 2021!

    It takes more than an endemic to keep Albany's long-running SF convention down. AlbaCon 2021 is going on tonight and through this weekend, but only in virtual form. I'll be there, participating in four events: At 10:00 a.m. on Saturday the 18th I'll be part of a panel discussing "No One Goes to Space Anymore."…

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  • Food Bragging: Harvest Edition

    When you belong to a farm share, you get the vegetables in season, and you get as many as the farmers have produced. This means one must learn to deal with huge waves of vegetables, often more than can be eaten in a week. We're just past peak sweet corn season, so we're still getting…

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  • The Zydeco Operation

    The Godel Operation comes to Acadiana! On Wednesday, September 22, I'll be doing a reading and signing at southwestern Louisiana's premier book shop, Beausoleil Books of Lafayette, from 6 to 8 p.m. The event is free and all are welcome. Come on down and hear some of the adventures of Daslakh and Zee in the Billion…

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  • A Chilling Analysis

    This article, "The Good Death — Cancel Culture and the Logic of Torture," by Christopher Van Eecke takes a look at the phenomenon of online Twitter mobs and their fetish for destroying lives and inflicting public humiliation on people. He finds a useful — and disturbing — parallel in the public torture and executions of…

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