The Cambias Digression

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

  • Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 4

    Dorothy and her traveling companions camp for the night after visiting the Fuddles, and we get to see the Wonderful Wizard do some actual wizarding. Agent Diggs is evidently a quick study, for in just a year of Glinda's tutoring he has mastered some pretty impressive magic. He's still a humbug at heart, though. His…

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  • An Old-Fashioned Science Fiction Gathering (Day 2)

    On Sunday the 27th, most of the participants rose early (since both the Hartwell and Cambias households involve young children who think that sleeping past 7:30 is "late"). We breakfasted at one of the inns in Westport called The Inn In Westport, then gathered again at the bookstore to watch David Hartwell interview Gregory Benford.…

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  • An Old-Fashioned Science Fiction Gathering (Day 1)

    Over the weekend of May 25-27 I was a guest of David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer at their bookstore in Westport, NY. The occasion was a "mini-con" devoted to Hard Science Fiction. The headliner on the card was Gregory Benford, who inspired the theme of the weekend with his famous remark about writing Hard SF…

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  • Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 3

    Since Aunt Em and Uncle Henry have come to Oz for good, it only makes sense for them to see some of the country. Accordingly, Dorothy, the Wizard, Em and Henry, Omby Amby (the commander of Oz's all-officer Army), Billina the Hen, and the Shaggy Man all set out aboard a wagon drawn by the…

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  • Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 2

    Ozma uses her magic to summon Dorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry right into her throne room. They are, understandably enough, completely freaked out by the sight of such an opulent room crowded with strange beings — including a gigantic lion and tiger. Dorothy reassures them that they're perfectly safe before either one can drop…

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  • Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 1

    The Emerald City of Oz (1910) was L. Frank Baum's sixth Oz book, and marks a major departure from the stock plot he used in the previous three stories. Where all the books after Land of Oz involve Dorothy traveling to Oz and having adventures en route, Emerald City permanently installs Dorothy and her family…

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  • Out For Pizza: Epilogue

    What did we learn from this trip? 1. Plan for bad weather. Even if it seems highly unlikely, plan for it anyway. We went to the driest, sunniest part of Italy, and got rained on. Next time I travel, I'm definitely bringing a sweater and some form of rain gear. Packing my sweater this time…

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  • Out For Pizza, Day 7

    Our final day was spent traveling. We got up at 4 a.m. but were unable to savor the brief silence on the streets of Naples because we had to get in a cab and tear off to the airport to make our flight to Milan. I slept most of the way, but did wake in…

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  • Out for Pizza, Day 6

    On the final day of our visit, we got breakfast, paid our bill, and dragged our bags through the drizzle down to Sorrento's harbor for the boat ride to Naples. It wasn't quite as dramatic as the previous day's voyage, for which we were grateful. The weather was maddeningly changeable: sun one minute, showers the…

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  • Out For Pizza, Day 5

    After our visits to Pompeii and Herculaneum we wanted to see some of the actual art treasures from those cities, all of which were taken away in the 18th and 19th centuries as the sites were excavated. Most of the good stuff is nearby, at the National Museum of Archaeology in Naples. Accordingly, we got…

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