Reblogging: The Lost World of Socotra: The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth

I thought this article by Ancient Origins — and especially the photos — is very cool. In my own sci-fi, I strive for unique but believable new flora and fauna. Sometimes good examples are right here on Earth…

Dragon's Blood Trees, Socotra Island, Yemen

3 SEPTEMBER, 2017 – 19:03 APRIL HOLLOWAY

The Lost World of Socotra: The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth

The landscape of the remote island of Socotra looks so foreign that it could almost pass as an alien planet. Its native flora is so rare and unique that the island looks like something out of a science-fiction movie. But Socotra is very real, and is home to over 1,000 unique species of fauna and 825 rare species of flora , including varieties of plants that have been on earth for over 20 million years.

See the entire article and their amazing photos at the Ancient Origins site…

Peter Gabriel and one view of his 27 Best Songs

I wanted to share a great article I came across about Peter Gabriel and 27 of his most notable songs. Gabriel and Genesis are just two of the many influences on my writing and creative thinking.

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The Best Sci Fi books…from Hays, Kansas?

My first attempt at a novel was a dystopian science fiction story while I was in 7th grade in Hays, Kansas. It focused on the Junior High students and our coming challenges as we were to be protected from a cataclysm that would wipe out society before were were to restart humanity. Probably not the best sci fi book plot of all time.

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A writer’s life… And raccoons, deer, hawks, owls and spiders

This morning, while I was sitting on the deck doing some writing, our dog (Trevose — named after the street we lived on in Singapore, where we adopted her from the humane society) and a buck had a conversation through our back fence.

Moments before, a huge owl had been sitting on a limb not far above where the buck was standing in this picture. And there used to be a famiy of hawks that lived in a nearby tree, but they seem to have departed about a month ago. We have a couple hummingbird feeders, but there seems only two that frequent them. And we have a squirrel with a black head and a brown body that crosses the deck from time to time. There is a downside…

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Why the Population Bomb bombed

This book came up in a discussion I was having earlier today. Published in 1968, and an eventual bestseller, The Population Bomb asserted that within 10 – 20 years the world would be wracked by starvation and wars for food.

In my early teens in the ’70s I lived in a small town in western Kansas surrounded by literally an ocean of wheat that farmers were going broke producing because the world had too damn much of it. So I could not reconcile the dire warnings of “The Population Bomb” and the reality around me.

At least until the famous “bet”.
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James Gunn and the role of Science Fiction

I grew up reading Analog Science Fiction magazine. In fairness, it is more accurately Analog Science Fiction and Fact, but I always did better with the fiction part than I did the fact part.

Later in life, while earning my MA in Creative Writing, I had the chance to study under James Gunn at the University of Kansas. Gunn has published a number of science fiction novels over the last ~50 years, but he is probably better known in the sci fi community as a historian of science fiction and has published a number of books to that end.

I took three or four classes from him, and I spent some time chatting with him in his office, which was as you would imagine it: Stacked high with paperbacks on every flat surface, he was staring into the small screen of his antiquated computer. He eventually chaired my thesis committee.

As luck would have it, he came to our wedding. For a wedding gift — in typical Gunn fashion — he handed me a couple of his most recent paperbacks.

He is the author of the guest editorial in Analog this month and has written an interesting article on the role of science fiction with some focus on Star Trek and Star Wars. Check it out.

Science Fiction, Aliens…and Mama Bears

Aliens has long been one of my favorite Sci Fi movies. It is not great movie making, and it is not great Science Fiction. But it is a great action flick with lots of worthy special effects and various thrills. There is more than that, though, and it comes to a head when Ripley shouts out at the alien: “Get away from her you bitch!”

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Lonely Hunter…interrupted

Six weeks ago I was on the verge of sending my manuscript to my editor, but I had a few interruptions: My older twin daughters (yes, we have two sets of twins) graduated from high school and we had to visit the colleges they are going to for orientations, we moved to a new house (which was a ton of physical work, and I aggravated an old collarbone injury), my boss (and friend) was fired and I’ve taken on a bigger role at work, and my wife and I have both had to travel for various other reasons.

I saw some of this coming, so I decided to take advantage of the pause to have two more beta readers go through the manuscript. Both are accomplished readers with keen and critical eyes, and both are preparing to publish their first novels. I finally had some time today to look at their feedback in detail…

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Giveaway: KindleFire

My yearly giveaway for 2017 for my subscribers is now over. Sharon from Michigan was the lucky winner. Thanks for all the entries! Signup if you would like to be invited to enter the 2018 giveaway.

I will notify all my subscribers of the next one. 🙂

Just wanted to let everyone know I’m giving away a KindleFire. You will also get an ARC (Advanced Review Copy) in a few months of my forthcoming military science fiction novel, Lonely Hunter. I expect to publish it later this summer. When you enter to win the Kindle Fire, be sure to forward the link to your friends to increase your chances of winning.