The Cambias Digression

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

  • Notes on Time Travel Stories

    Time travel has been a fixture of science fiction ever since a young Englishman named H.G. Wells wrote his first novel, The Time Machine. Wells wasn't the first person to write about time jumps — Mark Twain did it in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court — but before Wells it was always treated…

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  • PhilCon 2023!

    Once again I'm heading south to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, for the venerable PhilCon, the Philadelphia region's long-running science fiction convention. Naturally, I'm not just going as a paying attendee, but as a participant. Here's my schedule, and if you happen to be in southern New Jersey this weekend, swing by! Friday, November 17, 6:00…

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  • Some Notes on Alignment

    Get your tires rotated every six months. Oh, wait: I mean Dungeons & Dragons alignments. We all know the famous three-by-three grid, right? You've got Lawful Good in the upper left, with Lawful Neutral below it and Lawful Evil at the bottom. The middle column has Neutral Good at the top, True Neutral in the…

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  • Art and Storytelling

    Should the visual arts tell stories? Or strive for simple abstract beauty? The answer of course is "yes" to both. Just as music has room for both fugues and ballads. Here's a good essay by Aidan Harte — sculptor and animator — touching on the neglect of story in contemporary art, and how he's trying…

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  • The Subsurface Agency Wants YOU!

    Geoff Manaugh is an interesting writer — his book A Burglar's Guide to the City is something everyone should read — and he has a fascinating blog called BLDGBLOG. The most recent post (as of this writing) is about some ambitious projects to do large-scale surveys of the subsurface environment using ground-penetrating radar, sonar, and…

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  • New Paradigm Required

    Forgive the interruption in service. Regular blogging has resumed. I've noticed something about the way cities are portrayed in most comic books — and in the superhero movies based on those comics. What I noticed is how old-fashioned the cities are. Whether you're looking at Batman's decaying Gotham City, Superman's bright and thriving Metropolis, or…

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  • Save the Date!

    We're holding a "Fantasy & Science Fiction Festival" to benefit Deerfield's Tilton Library — and everyone's invited! When: October 8, 2023, from 3 to 5 p.m. Where: The Deerfield Community Center, at 16 Memorial Street in Old Deerfield. What: Meet local authors, watch a panel discussion about libraries in fiction and real life, listen to…

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  • Culinary Notes

    This is the weird time of the culinary year. This coming week I'm going to be canning summer tomatoes . . . and making a pudding for Christmas. New England's late growing season means you get all the summer produce right about the time it starts getting too chilly to sit outside and enjoy it.…

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  • Albacon 2023

    Albany's long-running science fiction and fantasy convention is back up to full speed this year, with an impressive guest lineup, a full schedule, and a nifty hybrid live-plus-online format. As always, I'll be there — I said I'd be at their disposal for one full day, Saturday the 10th — and they're getting the most…

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  • Island of Lost Games: Fading Suns

    It's been a while since we visited the Island of Lost Games, but there are still a few old and obscure titles on my shelf to explore. Today's game is 1996's Fading Suns, by Bill Bridges and Andrew Greenberg. It's probably the most well-known and successful of the Island's titles, but it never did manage…

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The Worldbuilding Index