Filed under: Book Conservation, Connections, General Musings, Government, Science Fiction, The Prisoner, Wales, Writing stuff | Tags: book conservation, craftsmanship, jim downey, Open Culture, Patrick McGoohan, Portmeirion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, The Prisoner, The Village, video, Wales, writing
A small excerpt from the current chapter I’m writing:
“Explain,” said Darnell.
“Simple: however hostile you are to the government, you still love your country and don’t want to see it harmed,” said Smith.
“We’re not asking you to do anything in support of the government,” added Jones. “However, if you hear of something which might be a threat to the people of America, please let us know.”
Darnell sipped his wine, looked out over the estuary below the terrace. The image of Patrick McGoohan racing across the sand flats, trying to get away, came to him. He looked up. “Hear something? Why should I hear something?”
Why yes, that scene is set in Portmeirion. 🙂
The writing continues to go well, though I occasionally have small crises of confidence, panic attacks over the thought that I have anything to say. Ah, well, it’s part of the process, and you just have to set those fears aside and get on with the story as best you can. I think that this is where my training and work as a book conservator comes in handy — I understand tackling jobs which at first seem to be too much, to be beyond my skill level. Because when you break them down into small steps, they’re manageable. I don’t have to write the whole novel; I just have to write the next scene.
Jim Downey
PS: Completely unrelated, but do yourself a favor — go read this, and watch the embedded video. Trust me.
Filed under: Connections, Fermi's Paradox, Humor, Preparedness, Science Fiction, Space, Survival, YouTube | Tags: Baen Books, blogging, Communion of Dreams, Fermi's Paradox, Gordon R. Dickson, humor, jim downey, Science Fiction, space, spoilers, video, writing, www youtube
The following post contains spoilers regarding Communion of Dreams. In fact, it contains such spoilers that I’m going to put it after a break, so that you have to actually scroll down to see it. For anyone who hasn’t read Communion of Dreams, you’ve been warned.
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I’ve been asked many times what comes after the end of Communion of Dreams. The answer to that is tied up with questions of just exactly why there is a “barrier” around our solar system, which has been hiding any and all indications of extra-terrestrial life/intelligence/civilization from us.
Let’s just say that I have my own … ideas … on the subject. Which I may or may not someday explore/make public. We’ll see.
But of the many possibilities, this is one very viable explanation. And it’s pretty well done:
Jim Downey
PS: The classic Gordon R. Dickson short “Danger—Human!” also deals with much the same idea.
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Bad Astronomy, Feedback, Health, Hospice, Humor, Kindle, Marketing, Phil Plait, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Slate, YouTube | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Australia, Bad Astronomy, blogging, Brazil, care-giving, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, humor, Japan, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, optical illusion, pareidolia, Phil Plait, promotion, Science Fiction, Slate, video, www youtube
Via Phil Plait, another wonderful illusion:
Plait has the full explanation (and a number of other links worth checking out), but here’s the critical part:
The key to this whole thing is the way your brain sees perspective, specifically convex and concave shapes, coupled with its uncanny ability to pick a face out of patterns (called pareidolia). Your brain wants to interpret the dragon as a face, and faces are convex: The sides of the face curve away from you (when you look at someone’s face, their nose is closer to you than their ears).
Definitely worth checking out!
Quick note about the promo results: 175 copies of Communion of Dreams were downloaded, including first-time downloads in Japan and Brazil! Her Final Year had a total of 63 downloads, and before the promo started someone in Australia bought a copy. I should be used to this by now, but I still really get a kick out of the fact that people around the world are reading both books.
Thanks, everyone!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Astronomy, BoingBoing, Connections, Fireworks, Galaxy Zoo, Humor, Religion, Saturn, Science, Science Fiction, Society, Space, Writing stuff, YouTube | Tags: astronomy, beer, black holes, BoingBoing, brewing, corvids, crows, explosions, Galaxy Zoo, humor, jim downey, Saturn, science, Science Fiction, space, St. Cybi's Well, video, wine, writing, www youtube
Some quick links, none of which really warrant a full blog post.
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Wanna be a black-hole hunter? Sure you do! The Galaxy Zoo folks have just launched a new project you should check out:
Black holes are found at the center of most, if not all, galaxies. The bigger the galaxy, the bigger the black hole and the more sensational the effect it can have on the host galaxy. These supermassive black holes drag in nearby material, growing to billions of times the mass of our sun and occasionally producing spectacular jets of material traveling nearly as fast as the speed of light. These jets often can’t be detected in visible light, but are seen using radio telescopes. Astronomers need your help to find these jets and match them to the galaxy that hosts them.
We live in the glorious future, where beer concentrate is a real, practical thing!
For fans of craft beer, enjoying a decent brew while hiking or camping away from the car usually involves lugging around heavy cans of beer, which can turn a lovely trek into a grueling slog through the woods.
But now the folks at Pat’s Backcountry Beverages have created a solution – their new Brew Concentrates come in featherweight 50ml packets and can be reconstituted with carbonated water (courtesy of their trail-ready 16-ounce carbonator bottle).
Well, actually, the past wasn’t so bad in some ways, either …
When you think of illicit substances that are shipped in brick form, wine probably doesn’t come to mind first. And no, boxed wine doesn’t count. During Prohibition, however, drinkers got around laws that banned alcohol by dissolving bricks of grape concentrate in water and fermenting them into wine.
Of course, conscientious makers of grape bricks didn’t want to contribute to bad behavior, and responsibly warned buyers that, “After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it would turn into wine.” The makers of the Vino Sano Grape Brick even dutifully indicated what flavors one’s careless handling of grape bricks would result in: burgundy, sherry, port, claret, riesling, etc.
And a friend had to share this:
Via BoingBoing, this vid of a crow using a jar lid as a snowboard.
And also via BoingBoing, a bit of explosive seasonal fun:
I’ll leave it at that for now. I need to get back to work on St. Cybi’s Well. (Oh, and if you’re interested, I often post snippets from daily writing on the Facebook page, just for fun.)
Jim Downey
Filed under: Bad Astronomy, Humor, Phil Plait, YouTube | Tags: Bad Astronomy, blogging, humor, jim downey, optical illusion, Phil Plait, video, www youtube
Via Phil Plait, this completely delightful series of illusions:
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Bad Astronomy, Feedback, ISS, Kindle, Marketing, Music, NASA, Phil Plait, Promotion, Science, Science Fiction, Space, YouTube | Tags: Amazon, Bad Astronomy, blogging, Communion of Dreams, feedback, ISS, jim downey, Kindle, music, NASA, Phil Plait, promotion, reviews, science, Science Fiction, space, video, www youtube
Yeah, what Phil said:
Stop whatever you’re doing (unless you’re performing brain surgery) and watch this astonishing and enthralling time-lapse video, showing the Earth from space using photographs taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station
Ahh …
Oh, there’s a new review up for Communion of Dreams. Here ’tis:
I rarely read sci-fi anymore, but this reminds me of the best I read when I was younger. There’s a lot of background on the worlds the author is creating, followed by a resolution to multiple problems in the worlds. I truly enjoyed it.
If you’ve read the book and haven’t yet gotten around to posting a review, please consider it. It’s a little thing that does more than just massage my ego — it helps others have some idea what to expect from the book. And every so often I do things like give away nice hand-bound copies of the book . Thanks.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Blade Runner, Connections, movies, Music, Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott, Science Fiction, YouTube | Tags: Anders Ramsell, art, Blade Runner, blogging, jim downey, movies, music, Philip K. Dick, Ridley Scott, Science Fiction, video, watercolor, www youtube
Wow:
I am staggered by this thing: a 35-minute “paraphrasing” of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner from 12,597 animated watercolor paintings. It’s beautiful and insane—who would do this? A really big Blade Runner fan, I guess.
That fan is Swedish artist Anders Ramsell, who hand-painted each of the thousands of 1.5 by 3 cm paintings that make up the film, then synced them up to audio from the movie. The results are moody, and dreamily gorgeous.
Judge for yourself:
For me, this presentation/interpretation works, because it fits so perfectly with the theme and style of the movie. Very impressive.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Architecture, Humor, Travel, YouTube | Tags: AIA, architecture, blackberry cobbler, Claysville Store, food, Hartsburg, humor, jim downey, Katy Trail, reviews, travel, video, www youtube
Among other things, my Good Lady Wife is the exec of the local chapter of the AIA. And last night they had their annual awards dinner.
Now, you might think that such an event would be formal and fancy. But that would be ‘big city’ thinking. This is where it happened:
No, I’m not kidding. Here’s another pic:
It’s the Claysville Store, just off the Katy Trail at mile 150 outside Hartsburg.
Here’s a nice little video about the place:
Here it is from the Trail:
And here are a couple of images taken from the Trail while I was wandering around:
And:
So, if you find yourself on the Trail, or in mid-Missouri sometime and are looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, give them a look. Excellent, simple fare. Limited menu, and hours.
But man, the blackberry cobbler was delicious.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Ad Astra, Apollo program, Art, Astronomy, Bad Astronomy, Heinlein, Man Conquers Space, movies, NASA, Paleo-Future, Phil Plait, Predictions, Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Science, Science Fiction, Slate, Space, Space X, tech, YouTube | Tags: Apollo, art, blogging, Destination Moon, Grasshopper, jim downey, Lunar Module, Moon, movies, NASA, paleo-future, Phil Plait, predictions, R is for Rocket, Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, science, Science Fiction, space, Space Shuttle, SpaceX, STS, technology, video, www youtube
I grew up reading stuff like this:
And even had a really cool metal rocket based on the images from Destination Moon which one of my relatives made and gave me. For the longest time those sleek rockets landing and taking off again (what NASA calls ‘Direct Ascent‘) defined what space travel meant, and I loved watching early launches which hinted at Things To Come.
Then space technology advanced, and I got a little older. Rockets were no longer cool. With all the wisdom and knowledge of a 14 year old, I dismissed the idea that anyone would want to use them for anything other than lobbing other things into orbit, and even at that they would be soon surpassed by more efficient and reusable shuttles and aerospace vehicles.
I’m glad not everyone was so easily distracted:
Welcome back to the future of my youth.
Jim Downey
Filed under: BoingBoing, movies, tech | Tags: animation, BoingBoing, Bot & Dolly, jim downey, technology, video
Unsurprisingly, the last couple of days have been darker than they could have been.
But life goes on. And so I want to share this, via BoingBoing:
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 