S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 75
October 23, 2016
Huskies are #4!
The biggest news this week for the University of Washington Huskies is that #2 Ohio State lost to unranked Purdue. This knocked Ohio State down in today's AP Poll to #6. And that moved Michigan from #3 to #2, Clemson (who had a bye this week) from #4 to #3, and the Huskies from #5 to #4. This is likely the Huskies' highest rating since sometime in the 1990s.If they can maintain that ranking (i.e., not lose to somebody) they have a good chance of going to the FBS playoffs competing for the national title.
As for their game against Oregon State yesterday, they won 41-17. They were brilliant the first half of the game, zooming out to a 31 - 0 lead in front of a home crowd.
But in the second half they played as if they didn't care, allowing Oregon State to score those 17 points. Even quarterback Jake Browning, who is in Heisman Trophy contention, wasn't hitting receivers with the precision he normally does.
As happens a lot in Husky games, Browning came out in the fourth quarter (with about nine minutes left) and second stringers started playing.
Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Colorado beat Stanford who, since losing to the Huskies, have been fading fast. Colorado is now ranked at #23 in the AP Poll.
Utah beat UCLA, which moved them from #19 to #17 in the AP Poll. Those are the only other two ranked teams in the Pac-12 this week.
Washington State beat Arizona State in Tempe, which is not easy to do. I'm almost surprised WSU isn't ranked but that first-game lose to an FCS team probably keeps them out of the top 25.
While the Huskies are 7-0 (their best record for a long time, probably the 1990s), and 4-0 in conference, the WSU Cougars are 5-2 but also 4-0 in conference. That puts them squarely in second place in the Pac-12 North behind UW.
The Pac-12 South has the Utah Utes in first place at 7-1 and 4-1 in conference. The Colorado Buffaloes are right behind them at 6-2 over all, and also 4-1 in conference. The big California schools (USC and UCLA) who normally dominate the Pac-12 South have to contend with being behind upstarts Utah and Colorado.
Next week the Huskies play Utah in Salt Lake City. This will probably be the toughest test yet for the Dawgs. And could be a preview of the Pac-12 championship game. The Huskies will have to contend with the elevation with is over 4,000 feet there while they are used to playing at near sea level.
Unfortunately, I have a meeting all day that Saturday. I will DVR the game and maybe watch it Sunday if I can keep from seeing/hearing the score. That means no social media. That'll be tough.
October 22, 2016
Author Appearance in Wenatchee, WA.
I will be at the Pybus Market in Wenatchee, WA today from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM selling and signing books including my latest, Treasure of the Pirate Planet. Come by and say "hi." I'd love to see you and talk to you there.The address for the Pybus Market is 3 N Worthen St. in Wenatchee. Turn right on Orondo from Wenatchee Ave. to find it.
This is a multi-author signing.
October 21, 2016
The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Richard Keller and Trey Dunham
Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we welcome writers Richard Keller and Trey Dunham.
Richard KellerRichard KellerRichard Keller is an author, speaker, talk show host, and owner of Wooden Pants Publishing. He started his life as an avid science fiction reader to the point he tried to get through Dune in one sitting while still a tween. His first writing experience was for his third grade teacher and his first short story, a terribly bad rip-off of Knight Rider was submitted when he was 12. Richard has written over two thousand pieces in newspapers, magazines, and online over the last several decades. His science fiction series, Saunders’ Savages, features an oversexed and wealthy CEO of an intergalactic corporation who moonlights as the leader of a pay-for-hire army.
Richard's books:
Coffee Cup Tales 2 – Extra Foam
Paradise Not Quite Lost
Authors, and the Zombies they Emulate
Richard's Links:
Website
Blog
Trey DunhamTrey DunhamTrey Dunham is a writer, speaker and storyteller with a proven ability to attract and motivate audiences.
He is the author of several books including: From a Gun to the Plow (New Hope Publishers, forthcoming, with Steve Finn), Strangers and Aliens: Thoughts on 1 Peter (CreateSpace, 2013), We’ve Never Seen Anything Like This: A new Look at the Gospel of Mark (CreateSpace, 2014), The Meaning of Technology: A Theology of Technique in Jacques Ellul (CreateSpace, forthcoming), and Loophole: A Novel (CreateSpace, 2015, with Jason Hostetler, movie rights optioned by JC Films). He has been blogging on spiritual, family and personal topics at TreyDunham.com since 2009 His published poetry has won awards from literary groups at Denison University.
Dunham wrote and delivered sermons regularly to as many as 3,000 people, as a teaching pastor at one of West Virginia’s largest churches. He quadrupled the size of the church’s campus ministry to over 200 students in his eight years there. He opened a popular Fair Trade coffee house as a satellite ministry near the West Virginia University campus. The café became a hub for service projects and social-justice events Dunham organized, drawing hundreds of students into volunteer projects for local charities. In 2010, he led a team to plant CityChurch in Morgantown, WV.
For four years, Dunham told the story of SustainU, a maker and marketer of recycled, natural-fiber clothing manufactured exclusively at U.S. plants. As the startup’s marketing director, he helped drive a thirteen-fold sales increase to $2 million. He used Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and press releases to generate positive coverage for SustainU in The New York Times and other metropolitan and local media.
Dunham, who holds a doctoral degree in Technology Education, has taught and spoken before a wide variety of audiences. He has travelled and lived around the world, heading a mission in the jungles of New Guinea and overseeing a hospital-construction crew in the Himalayas of Nepal. He has presented his research at two international conferences of scholars in his field. And he has led hundreds of campus Bible study groups in deeply personal discussions about faith, and finding meaning. Over the years, he has counseled dozens of singles and dating, engaged, and married couples.
Dunham lives in Morgantown, WV.
Trey's Books:
Catch for Us the Foxes
Jesus and the City
The Beams of Our House
Trey's Links:
Facebook Twitter
From Today's Show: Maybe Alien Life Runs on Cosmic Rays.
Listen to today's show at 6:00 PM ET/ 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.
October 19, 2016
The Final Frontier
I've been watching Star Trek the original series on Netflix in honor of the show's 50th anniversary. But the episodes on Netflix aren't entirely original. Somebody replaced all the cheesy 1960s special effects with modern state-of-the-art CGI effects. And they've been having way too much fun. They've put rings around planets, showed a small asteroid hit a disabled starship and break apart, and other changes. The most blatant were probably in the episode "The Galileo Seven" which, for old Star Trek, was heavy on the special effects.And I can't decide how I feel about it.
I hate when they colorize films. To me that destroys the director's original vision. But with Star Trek, in the 1960s they were limited by technology and money and probably time. I admit, I remember the special affects looking pretty bad (every planet looked the same, except a different color, for instance). But every now and again I find myself trying to remember how they did a certain special effect originally. I wish they'd give you a choice, old effects or new ones.
At least the people who did the CGI are reasonably faithful to the original effects. For instance, in the Doomsday Machine, the machine is still a lumpy conical tube (it was originally a windsock dipped in concrete) but it looks black and menacing and not quite so, well, cheesy.
So, I'm conflicted. I like the new special effects, except I wish I could see the old ones.
October 16, 2016
Huskies Still Number Five!
My beloved University of Washington Huskies had a bye this week, so there's no game to talk about.So what else happened in the Pac-12 and the Top 25?
In the Pac-12, The WSU Cougars beat UCLA in a soggy game in Pulman. The final score was 27 - 21.
That gives the Cougars the same conference record as the Huskies (3-0) but their overall record is 4-2 whereas the Huskies are 6-0. That also puts WSU solidly in second place in the Pac-12 North after the first-place Huskies.
The Nike Ducks (last place in the Pac-12 North) didn't lose yesterday. They, too, had a bye.
The Pac-12 South Division is wide open. The Utah Utes are still on top with a 6-1 record (3-1 in conference). But the Colorado Buffaloes (!) are in second place with a 3-1 conference record and a 5-2 overall record. Utah beat Oregon State yesterday. Colorado beat Arizona State.
The Pac-12 championship game might be Washington vs. Utah. A preview of that game will be on October 29th when Washington plays at Utah. Unfortunately, I will miss that game due to a previous commitment. I might DVR it and try to avoid learning the score but I won't be able to watch it until Sunday.
In the top five teams in the top 25 (Washington is #5), Michigan (#4) also had a bye. But Clemson (#3) had to go into overtime to beat unranked North Carolina State. That dropped them to #4 and moved Michigan to #3. Washington stayed at #5 (unfortunately).
And #2 Ohio State had to go into overtime to beat #8 Wisconsin. But they are still #2. And Alabama is, of course, still #1.
The only other Pac-12 team in the top 25 is Utah which moved up to #19 from #21.
This was Week 8 of college football. So we are half-way through the season. Should be exciting to see what happens in the second half. Go Dawgs!
October 14, 2016
The Speculative Fiction Cantina with Jamie Wyman and DT2
Today on the Speculative Fiction Cantina we are pleased to welcome Jamie Wyman and DT2.
Jamie Wyman
After a misspent adulthood pursuing a Music Education degree, JAMIE WYMAN fostered several interests before discovering that being an author means never having to get out of pajamas. (However, she can eat/spin fire, tell you a lot about auditioning to be a Blue Man, and read/write in Circular Gallifreyan.)
Jamie also works as an editor. In addition to freelance work, she works with sci-fi/fantasy publisher Dragon Moon Press.
As an author, Jamie’s favorite playgrounds are urban fantasy, horror and creepy carnival settings. You can find novels, novellas, short stories and flash fiction by Jamie in a variety of places. Start looking here. Jamie also writes articles for Cracked.com.
When she’s not traipsing about with her imaginary friends, she lives in Phoenix with two hobbits and two cats. She is proud to say she has a deeply disturbed following at her blog. Send chai.
Jamie's books:
Uninvited (coming October 18th)
Unvieled
"The Case of the Tattooed Bride" (short story in an anthology)
Jamie's Links
Website
Blog
Patreon
DT2 (David Taylor)DT2David Taylor II (DT2) is an award winning author, playwright, songwriter and producer. His latest book, Lucifer: Soldiers, Serpents and Sin – Book 1 is an internationally best-selling book. He has created an entire story world called The Realm from that first book and continues to expand it through the book’s companion website, www.SecretsofTheRealm.com
Taylor writes sci fi, fantasy, Christian fiction, and Children’s Literature.
He is a co-composer for the smash hit theater production, Eye of the Storm:The Bayard Rustin Musical, nominated for 3 Black Theater Alliance awards.
In 2015 his book Wayward Pines:Survival, from the hit Fox TV show of the same name, broke top 10 in the Amazon best seller list and is currently still there.
He is also the author of the new children’s favorite, Diary of a Chocolate Midas.
He is the proud father of two, as well as a lover of football, pizza, and a good glass of lemonade.
DT2's books:
Lucifer: Soldiers, Serpents and Sin
Wayward Pines: Survival
Diary of a Chocolate Midas
DT2's Links:
Website Blog Facebook Twitter YouTube From today's show: New Dwarf Planet Found.
Listen to today's show at 6:00 PM ET / 3:00 PM PT or in archive here.
October 13, 2016
Treasure of the Pirate Planet
The sequel to
Treasure of the Black Hole
has been released!Treasure of the Pirate Planet is now available in paperback and Kindle (it's so new, it hasn't merged yet on Amazon).
. . . if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
Rick Bailey is living a nice, quiet life on the planet where he retired, enjoying the money he found in the Treasure of the Black Hole. Without warning, he is arrested for helping his former lover, Jil, break out of prison where she was serving a 20-year term for murdering an alien. Hoping to clear his name, Bailey goes after Jil. But the slime-bed mate of Jil's victim is also after her.
Now, Bailey's only hope for saving Jil is to find a treasure buried on a planet over ran with cannibalistic pirates. He teams up with a Core Empire Intelligence Corps officer, but she might have motives of her own. Can Rick save Jil and keep himself out of the clutches of the Core Empire that wants to vivisection him, the police who want to jail him, and the alien who wants vengeance for his brother's murder?
This exciting novel is the second book in a planned "Treasures of Space" trilogy.
Get your copy today in paperback or Kindle (Also available at Barnes & Noble).
October 12, 2016
Grandchildren
Back to the 30-day Blogging challenge and this is the last one, and it's a hard one, for me, at least. The prompt is "One thing you're excited for."Hell, I'm 56 years old. My health is deteriorating. My writing career has never taken off. What am I excited for? Not much.
But at the moment I'm just living day to day, doing my freelance work and trying to write fiction (which I'm still not having much luck at. And NaNoWriMo is coming and I don't even know if I'll participate this year. I have zero ideas for a novel to write.
Maybe grandchildren, if my sons will get on the ball and produce some (preferably after getting married to a nice girl). My older brother has grandchildren but he's older than I and his kids are older than mine are (his youngest is a little older than my oldest). So maybe I'm excited for grandchildren. If I ever get any.
October 10, 2016
University of Washington Huskies Still #5
As I said yesterday, the AP top 25 college football poll was delayed until this morning. So here's what happened:First of all, the University of Washington Huskies remained at #5. It's going to be hard for them to get much higher. The top 6 teams all have 6-0 records. One of the top four teams (Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, and Michigan) would have to lose for the Huskies to move up.
Stanford fell off the top 25 poll after their loss to Washington State. I was a little worried that might lower the Huskies in the poll as people realize Stanford is not as good as they thought they were when they were #7 and the Huskies beat them badly.
The Colorado Buffaloes also dropped off the poll after their loss to USC.
And the Utah Utes beat Arizona and moved up to #21 from #24. So they are the only other Pac-12 team in the top 25.
So week seven is done. The Huskies have a bye next week then they face Oregon State who beat California this week.
October 9, 2016
The Huskies are Dominating the Pac-12
On November 14th, 2015, the University of Washington Huskies lost to the Arizona State Sun Devils in a game in Tempe, Arizona.That was the last game the Huskies lost. They have now, as of last night, won nine games in a row.
This season, except for the close Arizona game (their first away game and first conference game), they have scored 40 or more points on every opponent.
And they are 6-0 this season (3-0 in conference) with the best record in the Pac-12.
Finally, after last night's game, I don't know if there's a team in the Pac-12 that can defeat them. They may go 12-0.
What happened last night? The Huskies, #5 in the AP poll, decimated the hated and un-ranked University of Oregon Ducks by a score of 70-21.
This was supposed to be a tough test for the Huskies. They have lost before this game 12 in a row against the Ducks. They were playing in front of a very motivated crowd at Oregon's Autzen Stadium.
But the Huskies dominated from the beginning, staring with an intercept on the first play for scrimmage in the game. Toward the end of the game (as has been happening a lot with the Huskies), the starters were pulled out and the second string players went in. Even then, the Huskies scored a touchdown and stopped a Duck goal line stand to keep them from scoring late in the 4th quarter.
It was an amazing game to watch. And it was wonderful to finally beat the damn Ducks.
The Huskies are currently ranked #5 in the AP poll. It's going to be tough for them to go much higher as the 1-4 teams are also very good. We'll have to see. Unfortunately, the poll has been delayed until Monday due to hurricane Matthew.
Also around the Pac-12, Washington State beat #15 Stanford 42-16. It will be interesting to see if Stanford drops out of the AP top 25 poll.
USC beat #21 Coloradeo. That probably will drop Colorado out of the top 25.
Number 24 Utah beat Arizona. That may move them up a bit.
And Oregon State, the doormat of the Pac-12, beat California in a high-scoring squeaker.
