S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 73

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Sophia Martin and Holly Gonzalez

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Sophia Martin and Holly Gonzalez.
Sophia MartinSophia Martin

I'm half-French and half-American, and lived in France for 6 years when I was a teenager. I now live in Mount Shasta. I work as a social studies teacher and have my MA in American History. I'm married and have three little boys. In addition to writing my novels I also make my own book covers, and occasionally create book covers for others.

Sophia's Books:


The City Darkens

After the Fall

The Gamble and the Grave

Sophia's Links:

Website/Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

Holly GonzalezHolly Gonzalez

Holly Gonzalez is a speculative fiction writer and visual artist with a love for all things science fiction. She’s self-published a novel and various short stories, including several works on Wattpad. Her current projects include Ruby Descent--a retro-futuristic sci-fi novel about a sabotaged space elevator, a decopunk occult drama titled Beauty In The Bones, and a weird western/dark fantasy series set during the California Gold Rush. More information can be found on her website at http://hollygonzalez1.wordpress.com

Holly's Books:


Memoirs of the War

Merely This and Nothing More

Nemesis

Holly's Links:

Website/Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Wattpad
Goodreads
Pinterest

From Today's Show: Volcanoes Recently Erupted on Venus.

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

Places I'd Like to Travel

Back to the 52-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is "Top Five Places I'd Like to Travel." Only five?

I had to think about this to narrow it down. One is Northern Italy. It looks just beautiful with the lake country and the Dolomites (that's a mountain range, part of the Alps). Also in Northern Italy is the Ferrari factory in Maranello and I'd like to make a pilgrimage there. They also have a cool museum with many classic Ferrari cars. As you know, I like cars.

Plus the wine and the food are supposed to be amazing in Northern Italy.

Second place I'd like to visit is (and I'm cheating here) Asia, specifically Japan, South Korea, and China. I've always enjoyed Asian culture and history. I'd like to see Tokyo, Seoul, and the Great Wall of China.

Third place I'd like to go is Australia. See Sydney. the outback, the Great Barrier Reef. Except the spiders might keep me away.

Fourth place I'd like to visit is DisneyWorld again. I just love that place.

Fifth place I'd like to visit is the UK. Most of my biological heritage comes from the British Isles. Visit Wales and London and Stonehenge and learn about where my ancestors came from.

Where would you like to visit?

UW Huskies Likely out of Playoff Contention

The CFP Rankings came out yesterday. I forgot to check them until this morning. And, after their loss to USC last weekend, the University of Washington Huskies are now #6 in the CFP rankings. You have to be #4 or better to make the playoffs, and they were #4.

Interestingly, Ohio State jumped up to #2 from #5. Clemson and Michigan both lost last weekend, but they didn't drop out of the top four. All those teams are 9-1, just like the Huskies. Alabama (10-0) is still #1.

Other Pac-12 teams in the CFP are Colorado at #10, Utah at #12, USC at #13, WSU at #22, and Stanford at #24.

There is a slight possibility if UW wins their last two games, including the Apple Cup against WSU, then wins the Pac-12 Championship game, they might move back up into the playoffs. But Ohio State, Clemson, or Michigan would probably have to lose another game.

Star Trek: TOS

In honor of Star Trek's fiftieth anniversary, I watched all 69 episodes of the original series plus the first pilot, "The Cage." I finished Monday.

I watched them on Netflix and those versions have new special effects that I address here. Now I want to talk about the show.

In the Futurama "Star Trek" episode (which every fan of Star Trek has to see) Fry says "You know, sixty-nine episodes, about thirty good ones." Which is so very true. Especially since the third season was, with new producer Fred Freiberger, full of stinkers. (Freiberger later did the same vandalism to the last season of Space 1999.) There are only two good episodes in the third season: "The Enterprise Incident" and "The Tholian Web." And two of the worst episodes ("Spock's Brain" and "Turnabout Intruder") are in the third season.

Watching the original Star Trek, which was made in the 1960s, I'm surprised at the sexism. For a show that broke racial boundaries, it was still stuck in the 60s as far as sex goes.

But another thing that surprises me is that from this beginning, Star Trek has lasted 50 years and spawned four other series (if I counted right), and thirteen movies (if I counted right). And CBS is starting a new Star Trek series. They will show the first episode on broadcast but to see the rest you have to buy their streaming service. Which sucks. But I'm surprised because Star Trek is not that good. Clunky episodes, uneven writing, awful special effects (cheesy even by the standards of the day). I guess we were all so thirsty for science fiction, any science fiction, that we embraced what was really a pretty mediocre show.

I'm glad I revisited Star Trek. I hadn't watching these episodes since I was a teenager and would watch them when I got home from school on my family's Zenith. But even then I learned to identify third season episodes (blue opening credits) and know this wasn't going to be the best episodes.

I'm glad Star Trek spawned all the entertainment is has (even if I don't care for the J.J. Abrams reboot). I'm just surprised it did.

Mars

The National Geographic Channel has a new series called Mars . I believe it's a limited run series meaning it will go on for so many episodes then stop. (It looks as if there are going to be six episodes total, looking at the website). I watched the first episode this morning after DVRing it last night (it's on while I'm at my Toastmasters meeting).

It's an impressive series. It combines a science fiction story of the first humans to travel to Mars (in 2033) along with documentary about the efforts being made today to get those humans there. For example, I did not realize Elon Musk formed SpaceX for the goal of getting humans to Mars.

The story/science fiction part is very well done with good special effects (these days, that's a given with CGI) and in the short time they were given (maybe half of the hour-long show) developed the characters fairly well. I assume we'll get to know them better as the show progresses.

And the documentary part is very interesting. I feel bad because I haven't been keeping up on advances in space for the past few years. This has helped me catch up on what's happening, at least in the pursuit of getting to the red planet.

I really have no complaints about the show. It's very good. You should check it out. Apparently if you missed the first episode, you can stream it here. Or maybe here.

It was Fun While It Lasted

I was right to worry.

Yesterday was a bizarre day in college football.

Number 2 (CFB Rankings) Clemson lost to an unranked team

Number 3 Michigan lost to an unranked team

And #4 Washington lost to USC, who was ranked #20.

Yes, my beloved University of Washington Huskies lost after going 9-0. They are now 9-1 overall and 6-1 in conference.

There are only two unbeaten teams in college football down. That's #1 Alabama and #21 Michigan State.

It's going to be interesting to see how the CFB rankings come out on Tuesday. And how the AP poll rankings come out today (in about 30 minutes from this writing). But I'm afraid Washington's hopes for a playoff berth have been eliminated. Or, maybe not since Michigan and Clemson lost. We'll have to see on Tuesday.

Since the Washington State Cougars beat California yesterday, they are 7-0 in conference (8-2 over all) they now lead the Pac-12 North Division. Washington is in second place. This means the Apple Cup will be huge. If Washington wins (assuming they beat Arizona State next week), they are the Pac-12 North Champion. If WSU wins (assuming they beat Colorado next week), they are the Pac-12 North Champions. But I do think WSU is going to have a challenge with Colorado.

Last night's game against USC, the Huskies were simply out-played. USC has been getting better and better this year and they have a very good quarterback. The Huskies put a strong defense and worked hard on offense, but it wasn't enough. Not at all. They lost 26-13.

I used to say if the Huskies could be at least 8-4 on the regular season, beat Oregon, beat WSU, and win their bowl game, I'd be happy. Well, they've done two of those so far (they are 9-1 and beat Oregon). It's all coming down to the Apple Cup. Should be a good game.

UPDATE: Washington is #7 in the AP Top 25 Poll. WSU is 20. And USC is back in the top 25 at 15.

I'm a Little Worried

I'm a little worried about today's game between the University of Washington Huskies and the USC Trojans.

At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much to worry about. The Trojans are 6-3 overall, 5-2 in conference which, in the wild Pac-12 South Division puts them in second place under Colorado. The Huskies are, of course, 9-0 and 6-0 in conference. Also, the game will be played in Husky Stadium in Seattle, so the Huskies will have home field advantage (which is huge).

But looking deeper into USC's record, there are some troubling bits. One: they have won five games in a row before this game. And two: one of their losses was to Alabama, the number one team in the nation. The other two were to Stanford and Utah. Utah is a tough team. Of course, the Huskies beat them, but it was a hard-fought game.

Finally, the past two games the Huskies have played almost lackadaisically, as if they think "we're too good to get beaten." That's why California was able to score on them early in the game last Saturday. Sure, the Huskies came back to win it big. But if they do that with USC, they could lose. So I'm hoping the Huskies go out there ready to fight for victory.

The game is at 4:30 Pacific Time on Fox. It should be a good game.

The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Alexander Galati and Angela B. Chrysler

Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome writers Alexander Galati and Angela B. Chrysler.
Alexander GalatiAlexander Galati

Alexander Galati began writing fiction when he was seven, with his first story about a chicken having its first day at school. But aside from writing, Alexander also embraces his athletic and musical side. He excels in the piano and achieves well in sports, and now he’s decided to continue his hidden skill that is writing. At fifteen, Alexander began writing Amadon Outside, his first published work.

The world for Amadons Outside was inspired by a game he and his cousins used to play together when they were young. Within a few weeks, he had created a storyline around this world in his mind, forming characters as he went along.

In the game he played, creatures were their friends. In his story, the creatures are not their friends.

Alexander's Books:

Amadons Outside
Amadons Forest of the Ghosts
Alexander's Links:
Website Website Facebook
Angela B. ChryslerAngela B. Chrysler
Angela B. Chrysler is a writer, logician, philosopher, and die-hard nerd who studies theology, historical linguistics, music composition, and medieval European history in New York with a dry sense of humor and an unusual sense of sarcasm. She lives in a garden with her family and cats.
Angela's Books:
Dolor and Shadow (Tales of the Drui Book #1)
Fire and Lies (Tales of the Drui Book #2)
Broken
Angela's Links:
Website/BlogFacebookTwitterYouTube (Hosts live book readings)
From Today's Show: Mysterious Pulses May Be Signs of Alien Life (seriously)
Listen to today's show at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT, or in archive here.

My Family

Back to the 52-week blogging challenge. Today's prompt is "Meet My Family."

I could do this two ways. One is "Meet My Dysfunctional Family" where most of us are on some sort of psychotropic drugs. Or Two is "Meet My Family, ain't they grand?"

My nuclear family consists of my wife whom I've been married to for nearly 35 years. We have three sons, all in their 20s and all at various stages toward being independent. One has a job in Portland, Oregon, one is in college (still), and one lives in our basement and delivers pizza for Dominoes. He likes to play Dungeons and Dragons with friends on his days off.

My mother, who got remarried in September, lives in the same town as I do. As do my older brother and sister. My father also lives here. He lives alone in his own house. Growing up in a small town in Idaho, we used to make fun of families that all lived in the same town they grew up in. Now we all live in the same town. But in our defense, it wasn't the town we grew up in.

Like all families we have issues. But unlike a lot of families, we don't spew them out on Facebook.

Nor in blogs.

What's your family like?

My Election Wrap-Up Post

Damn, I'm glad that's over!