S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 60

Huskies Win Their First Game of the Season

As I tweeted last night:



Last night the University of Washington Huskies took on the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights. The Huskies won, but for a while it looked like they might not.

Last year when the Huskies played Rutgers, it was a blow out. The Huskies put in second stringers in the second half of the game. Rutgers scored 3 points in the entire first half. The final score (with second and third stringers playing most of the second half) was 13-48. That game was at Husky Stadium so a friendly crowd and home-field advantage probably helped.


Last night's game at Rutgers was nothing like that. The Huskies' first series they went three and out. Then the Scarlet Knights scored a touchdown on their first possession. For most of the first half the Huskies struggled with missed throws and penalties. At the end of the first quarter, Rutgers led 7-3. The one highlight of the first half was a punt return by Dante Pettis that he ran in for a touchdown in the second quarter. That was his sixth career touchdown from a punt return, tying the Pac-12 record.

The Rutgers stadium was a hostile environment. The home crowd was mean. They would boo and hiss and cheer when bad things happened to Huskies. They didn't applaud when an injured Husky walked off the field as would be the norm in college football and the NFL.

The second half was much better. Quarterback Jake Browning settled down and got into a rhythm. He made two touchdown throws. The final score was 30-14. It might have been less but the officials basically gave Rutgers a touchdown in the fourth quarter that they didn't earn (the player was down before the ball entered the end zone). Yes, they would have been on about the half-yard line and might have made a touchdown anyway. But they might not have.

The AP Poll doesn't come out until Tuesday due to the Labor Day holiday. So we won't know until then how this will affect the Huskies' ranking. This was a prime-time Friday night game so probably more people were watching it than your typical Husky game.

Next week the Huskies play the Montana Grizzlies at Husky Stadium. The Grizzlies are an FCS team (too small to be bowl eligible). I'll be at that game on about the 40-yard line and 8 seats up from the field. I'm assuming the Huskies are going to do better than they did this week.

But at least they won last night and are 1-0 on the season.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with M.L Ruscsak and J. T. Bishop

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers M.L Ruscsak and J. T. Bishop.
M.L. RuscsakM.L Ruscsak

Born In 1982, a native to Lorain Ohio, M.L. "Melisa" Ruscsak grew up living with her grandparents Frances and James Lasure. She attended Clearview High School as well as Lorain County J.V.S. While in J.V.S she attended the Culinary Arts program graduating in 2001.

In 2011 near tragedy struck as Melisa's health began to decline. By summer of 2011 she would need to use a cane to get around. Suffering a stroke she required a craniotomy where she suffered her second stroke. Leaving her with a partial impairment of her speech, and weakness on her right side.  After surgery she would need to learn not only to walk again, but speak as well as recognize the alphabet.

In 2003 she welcomed the addition of her daughter Chyenne. Who inspired her to start to put her dreams to paper. A story she wrote after her daughter's birth, although not published, became the stepping stone to everything else she would eventually write.

Two years later in the fall of 2013 after a divorce, she would meet the man who would push her not only to fight to regain her physical strength  but to put her creative mind to work. No longer allowing her to dwell on what she could no longer do but what she could.

In December of 2014 they would marry. With determination Melisa would walk down the aisle without the need of a cane.

A year later she would begin to write the "Of Lite and Darke" series, dreaming to see this work through to publishing, even if she would need to publish it herself.

In 2016 she would see her dream come true. With her daughter as her editor "Of Lite and Darke" was born.

M.L.'s Book

The New Reign (Book One in the "Of Lite and Dark" series)

M.L.'s Links:

Website
Facebook
Twitter

J.T. BishipJ. T. Bishop

Born and raised in Dallas, TX, J. T. Bishop began writing in 2012. Inspired by a video that theorized the meaning of the end of the Mayan calendar, J. T. began the "Red-Line" trilogy. The video surmised that the earth was the central hub of activity for extraterrestrials thousands of years ago. J.T. didn’t know whether that was true or not, but it did spawn an idea. What if those extraterrestrials were still here? Two years and a lot of work later, the first three "Red-Line" books were complete, but she’s not done. The "Red-Line" saga develops as she continues to write new books.

J.T.'s Books:


Curse Breaker

High Child

The "Red-Line" Trilogy Boxed Set

J.T.'s Links:

Website
Facebook
Twitter

From today's program:   Solar Eclipses are Not Forever.

Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.

A Hobby

Back to the 52-week blogging challenge and this is the last one! The prompt for today is "One hobby I'd like to start."

This is a tough one because my hobby used to be writing and I've turned that into my job. My other hobby is watching movies and I still do that.

I used to drive cars fast on a racetrack. But that got too expensive so I gave it up. It wasn't the entry fees but the wear and tear on the car (tires and brakes, mostly). Although it was the most fun I've had with my clothes on.

I'm not a crafty person. I can't work with wood or anything such as that. So building things as a hobby is out for me.

Probably the hobby I most need to start is jogging. Or at least walking. Help my health, help me lose weight. The probably I've always had with exercise is 1) it's boring and 2) it often hurts. But if you get into the habit of it, it becomes a habit. Makes sense.

What hobby would you like to start? Comment below! Really, I don't bite.

An Interview with Brandon Lawson about His EDEN'S END Web Series

Brandon LawsonToday we're interviewing Brandon Lawson about his horror/science fiction web series Eden's End.

What is Eden’s End about?

Eden’s End follows the journey of Gabriel who’s an angel, and his human friend who hunts down supernaturals who harm humans. They’re daily jobs come to a halt, when several supernaturals and humans come into pursuit of a powerful entity known as Eden which has the power of creation and destruction. Now Gabriel and Roy must race against these people to find Eden before it falls into the wrong hands.

When will the show be out, and where?

We are expecting to release it sometime this Fall, and the episodes will be on YouTube. At first, the entire pilot will be released, and afterwards the episodes will be broken up into segments.

Being independent, how is Eden’s End being made? 

In terms of funding, we have set up an Indiegogo page that will help gather funds for the production of the entire season 1 for the show.

What are the recent successes for leading up to the show? 

So far we have released a concept trailer and a short film that kind of serves as a sneak peek to the show. They both have been received well especially on Facebook where the concept trailer has over 11k views, and the short film has gained over 20k views and has been shared by a popular movie trailer page. Will are also submitting the short film to film festivals.

What is your role in the web series? 

I am one of the screenwriters for the episodes. I have help to write the pilot, along with our concept trailer and short film of the web series.

Why did you want to write for the series? 

My brother’s friend approach me because my brother told him how I wrote stories. I like to write, and this was a way for me to expand on my writing since I was already writing short stories for my website, I wanted to add to it.

What is your experience in writing? 

I have been writing creatively for 2 years. I have written 22 fictional short stories which I posted on my website. Their genres range from crime, horror, science fiction, and more. I have also written a few movie articles. 1 of my short stories have been published in my college’s magazine. On top of that I am currently working on a science fiction book of short stories which I plan on putting out on Amazon sometime next year.




Links:
Youtube channel for the show:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg_Riw1VM-sYALWOvLe8xtQ
Facebook page for the show: https://www.facebook.com/edensendtv/
Instagram page for the show:https://www.instagram.com/edens.end/
Indiegogo page:https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/eden-s-end-horror-science-fiction-web-series#/
Brandon's website:https://www.bwlawson.com

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Douglas Robinson and Joshua Gayou

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Douglas Robinson and Joshua Gayou.
Douglas Robinson

Writer of Silently book Series.  He also has a book publishing company Silently Publishing www.silently-publishing.com

Robinson is a Christian; he received Baptism in Bible College.  Robinson became obsessed with vampires; the thought of someone being a vampire or becoming one troubled him greatly.  He set out to learn everything there is about vampires and then began to pray for their souls.  He began writing these storylines because he cares what happens to them and what happens to you when you find out people like this really exist.

Robinson changed the spelling of Vampire to Vampyre in order to change the perception between a real life vampire and a fictional one.  Vampyric people are physically changed blood-drinking human predators.

Douglas's Books:

Silently Comes the Night 

Rites of Passage

Douglas's Link:

Website


Joshua GayouJoshua Gayou

The short version is that I’m a 38 year old engineer in the aerospace business, specializing in broadband satellite communication systems.  I’ve worked in the aerospace industry for sixteen years, having started as an embedded software engineer developing instrumentation systems for rotary wing aircraft glass cockpits.  I’ve always had a talent for writing and the ability to communicate in written form has been an asset in my career (good engineers aren’t always gifted communicators; the activities utilize different portions of the brain and not everyone has all their areas equally developed, if you take my meaning).

Though I’m an engineer, that was not my focus in college; I have bachelors and master’s degrees in Computer Information Systems.  I fell into aerospace engineering rather by accident, which is a bit of a funny story.  Apparently, it impressed the guy who was interviewing me that I was a carpenter before I went to college.  It’s funny what seems to resonate with people.

Outside of all that, I managed to marry my high school sweetheart (Jennifer) and we have one son (Anthony, named after my father).  They are my two favorite people on this planet, when the wife isn’t assigning work for me to accomplish and when my kid is able to keep from doing hair-brained, ten-year-old stuff.

The long-winded version can be found here: http://joshuagayou.wordpress.com/home/



Joshua's Book:

Commune Book One

Joshua's Links:

Website/Blog
Facebook
Twitter

From today's program: The Great American Eclipse, My Story

Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET/ 3:00 PM PT, or in archive here.

The Eclipse

Photo Credit: Lynn D. TownsendOn August 21st I traveled to Madras, Oregon to see what has been called "The Great American Eclipse." I choose Madras because it's relatively close to where I live (about 280 miles by car), it was near the center of totality, and being in Eastern Oregon, the weather should be good (I made my plans in April, way too soon for weather forecasts).

The Eclipse

There are two ways of thinking about being in an area of totality of an eclipse: the Moon is covering the sun or the Moon's shadow is passing over you. Most people think of the former. But the latter is a useful model, too.

The Moon first touched the Sun's disk at about 9:06 AM. The Moon took so long to cover the Sun that it was nearly impossible to watch constantly unless you have very strong neck muscles. So I'd check every few minutes. We were in the penumbra of the Moon's shadow.

The ambient light appeared to stay the same for most of the eclipse but this is more because our eyes adjust. You can see plenty well outside on a sunny day and inside with light bulbs. But outside is much much brighter (this is why cameras need a flash for interior pictures). But with the Sun about half-covered and looking like a fat crescent moon, the temperature started to drop. A breeze picked up making it almost cool.

As more and more of the Sun disappeared behind the Moon, it did grow dimmer, almost looking like a cloudy day. The temperature kept dropping but not uncomfortably so. We were deeper in the penumbra.

Then the sun disappeared behind the Moon. We were in the umbra of the shadow. For us, that was just after 10:19 AM. The sky and ambient light was like just after the sun set but in all directions as on the horizon you could see outside the umbra of the shadow of the Moon. But the best part was the Moon/Sun combination itself as the Sun's corona became visible. It was lovely and awesome as the dark circle of the moon was surrounded by shifting white light (see picture above). It was magical and other-worldly. It didn't feel like something real. Yet it was, amazingly real.

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the star Regulus.

Totality lasted just over two minutes. The first sign that it was over was a bright spot on the edge of the Moon. This is the sun coming through the mountains of the Moon and lets you know it's time to look away.

Nearly everyone present started applauding. I was wondering who they were applauding.

Then the Moon just as slowly as it covered the sun, uncovered our star. It grew light out and warmer almost immediately. Within a few minutes, unless you looked at the sun (through eclipse glasses), you'd never know there was an eclipse still happening.

The Good

Seeing the eclipse, probably the last one in my lifetime near where I live, was wonderful and I'm so glad I got to see it.

And Sunday night I had a really good steak at a restaurant in Bend, Oregon (about 40 miles south of Madras).

Where we were was near the airport. Starting about ten minutes after totality ended, airplanes started departing the airport. Mostly private jets. They would be about 10 minutes apart. This went on for at least two hours.

The Bad

The Oregon Solar Fest put us (and about 1,000 other cars) in a farmer's alfalfa field. It was dusty. In the morning it was like a car-alarm symphony as people kept setting off their car alarms. There were so many people there cell service just died. They organizers didn't have enough bathrooms (portapottys) set up. I waited an hour and 10 minutes once (after that I went in the trees) and my wife waited over two hours. My car is filthy inside and out from being in the dusty field.

I slept only three hours the night before the eclipse in an over-priced motel room.

The Ugly

Organizers said that there were about 100,000 people expected to show up in Madras, which is a small town of about 6,000 residents. There are three main roads out of the city, all two-lanes. It took us five hours to get to the backup on the road going north. According to Google Maps, the drive home should have taken about four hours. It took 15. After not sleeping for for over 24 hours (after three hours sleep), I pulled over and took a nap by the side of the road before I fell asleep driving. I saw taillights whenever I closed my eyes. We got home about three in the morning. The next day I was still exhausted.

Conclusion

Even with everything, it was amazing and so worth it.

Huskies are Number 8!

The AP college football poll came out Monday. I was sort of busy with the eclipse, so I didn't see the poll until yesterday.

The University of Washington Huskies are #8 in the pre-season poll. Last year they didn't even start out as ranked (i.e., in the top 25 of the poll).

However, they ended last year at #4 so they dropped a bit since then.

The only other Pac-12 teams that are ranked are USC (#4), Stanford (#14), and WSU(!) at #24.

The Huskies don't play USC in the regular season but do play Stanford and (of course) WSU. Most predict we'll meet USC in the Pac-12 championship game.

The football season starts September 1st when the Huskies take on Rutgers. Go Dawgs!

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Anna M. Aquino and Leisa Ebere

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Anna M. Aquino and Leisa Ebere.
Anna M. AquinoAnna M. Aquino

Anna M. Aquino is a super fabulous woman of God, wife, and ninja mom of two daughters.  As a writer and guest minister, her passion is to encourage others to fulfill their own destinies.  Often referred to as a preacher and a comedian rolled into one, she believes laughter is one of the best ways to get people to think. She is the author of many works including Cursing the Church or Helping It, Confessions of a Ninja Mom, An Ember In Time and A Marriage In Time.  She has been interviewed on places such as TBN, The Gospel Channel, and many radio shows. She has also written articles for well-known sources like Charisma, Ministry Today and the UK’s Keep The Faith Magazine. While she and her family do travel for ministry, Anna is based out of Central Ohio.  If you would like to connect with her then please contact her online at anna@annamaquino.com, Twitter: annamaquino, Instagram: AnnaMAquino33, and Facebook: annamaquino2.

Anna's Books:


A Marriage in Time
An Ember in Time

Confessions of a Ninja Mom (non-fiction)
Anna's Links:
Website Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn
Leisa EbereLeisa Ebere

Leisa Ebere, was originally born in San Francisco, California and now resides in Gravesend in the UK. She is married with three children and one grandchild.

Leisa has been writing poems and stories since the age of twelve and was inspired to write Crows and Angels, her new novel, by the stories her grandmother told her, of her ancestors settling in the Dakota Territory.

Leisa grew up on a horse ranch in the Northwestern United States and is 1/16 Sioux Indian by birth; and has a special place in her heart for Native Americans. Her aim is to tell their side of the story through her writing.

Leisa's Book:

Crows and Angels 

Leisa's Links:

Blog
Facebook


From Today's Program: Will Mini-Fusion Rockets Power Interstellar Flight?
Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT, or in archive here.

What Makes Me Laugh

Time once again for the 52-week blogging challenge. And today's prompt is "What Makes Me Laugh."

Lots of things make me laugh, like a funny television show. Probably my favorite sitcom of all time is Frasier . It was intelligent and funny.

Funny movies make me laugh, but good funny movies are hard to find. Lately "funny" moves tend to be aimed at teenagers with puerile humor to match.

People make me laugh. Not derisively, but with joy at how funny people can be, often without realizing it.

And bad jokes make me laugh, the cornier the better. Here's one of my favorites:

"How warm is the inside of a tauntaun?

Luke warm."

What makes you laugh? Comment below.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Mark J. Engels and R.L. Akers

Today one the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Mark J. Engels and R.L. Akers.
Mark J.EngelsMark J. Engels

Boyhood interests in trains and electronics fostered Mark’s career as an electrical engineer, designing and commissioning signal and communications systems for railroads and rail transit agencies across the United States. Along the way he indulged his writing desire by authoring articles for rail and transit industry trade magazines. Coupled with his long-time membership in anime, manga and anthropomorphic fandoms he took up writing genre fiction. Growing up in Michigan, never far from his beloved Great Lakes, Mark and his wife make their home today in Wisconsin with their son and a dog who naps beside him as he writes.

Mark is a member of Allied Authors of Wisconsin, one of the state's oldest writing collectives. https://allied-authors.org/our-members/mark-engels/

Mark's Book:
Always Gray in Winter
Mark's Links:
Website Facebook Twitter Deviantart
R.L. AkersR.L. Akers
R.L. Akers loves stories. He loves hearing them, loves telling them, loves embellishing them, and loves forging them from raw materials. He is convinced that every person who ever lived has an interesting story, and he's only met one person in his life who came close to proving otherwise.
Holder of an undergraduate degree in computer science and a master's degree in business administration, Akers has worked in software development as well as non-profit fundraising and publicity. His love for children has led him in the past to be a foster parent and a coordinator of the K-5 ministry at his church, and he currently invests time each week in the lives of local high schoolers. His interests include graphic design, orchestral movie soundtracks, and anything remotely creative.
Akers lives in West Virginia with his wife and the four children he loves most in this world. Visit Akers online at his blog, RLAkers.com, where you can find short stories and information about upcoming novels. Make sure you also check out Isle-of-Atlantis.com, Gryphens.com, and OrbitalDefense.com

R.L,'s Books:

Atlantis: Twilight of Mankind
Prometheus Rebound

Prometheus Revealed
R.L.'s Links:
Website Blog Facebook Twitter
From Today's Program: Einstein's Impossible Experiment Done.
Listen to today's program at 6:00 PM ET/ 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.