Matthew Alan Thyer's Blog, page 40

End a Fantasy

Yesterday, after much hemming and hawing, I was able to close a chapter in my life that had been holding me back. Since I was a kid I’ve had this idea lodged in my noggin that has driven me to do some very nutty things. For a long while the narrative went something like, “Yeah go to far away planets and drive/fly all over them in explorer fashion.”The early imagery of Battlestar Galactica fueled this fantasy more than anything else. Watching the Landram roar across some anonymous Southern Cal...

This May Become a Regular Thing

So, it came and went. That special day when we’re all supposed to get together and remember those who selflessly gave so much for our benefit. And now with Veterans Day safely behind us for another year we can go back to worrying about the President quoting scripture. Or better yet we can just natter about how morally corrupt we’ve become because wecannot feel comfortable in ourown skinwhen someone wishes us“Happy Holidays.”

Still a Thing

Nothing ever changes, does it? For one brief moment in t...

This Might Help

This morning I made my way around to an article I’ve been meaning to read. It’sa piece on Slate about authors, most of them recognizable names, that went back years after publishing and reviewed their own work. The author of the article,Three Things You Learn When Famous Writers Reread Their Old Books,Katy Waldmansums up her take on this activity differently than I would. But I would point out, we can agree on one thing; that the notes in the margins reminded usthat everyone who writes, regar...

Lola’s Reviews has a new interview with me

As part of Sci-Fi November Lolita of the Netherlands has an author interview up with your’s truly. She’s asked me some fun questions about writing short and long form and there’s a lively discussion going on in the comments section.

So fun times, I’m hoping to expend the conversation into the area of bicycle infrastructure and cycling for utility. Come chime in.

Because We Can’t Rest

“By forces seemingly antagonistic and destructive Nature accomplishes her beneficent designs – now a flood of fire, now a flood of ice, now a flood of water; and again in the fullness of time an outburst of organic life….” —John Muir

Stop Thanking Me

Here in The United States of America it is Veterans’ Day, a public holiday held on the anniversary of the end of World War I (November 11) to honor US veterans and victims of all wars, and I’m staying in because of it. Today is the day all good citizens are supposed to remember those who served and defended our country in its many times of need. We’re supposed to honor and even venerate these people that made various sorts of sacrifices so that we mightlive good, meaningful, potentially happy...

Simmer Down Now

Okay, now that that last post is out of my system it’s time to simmer down. And there is good news, today Aral and I realized that Planes Search and Rescueis available to rent or buy on iTunes. Booyah, AC/DC Thunderstruck. Aral is bouncing on the couch singing TS. I am cleaning, thinking of new and interesting ways to hurt characters in my latest story, dropping our lighting load by an order of magnitude (more on that later), and cooking something scrumptious.

That and it is blowing outside. T...

Limited Exposure

Way to go America, you done fucked this goat rodeo. On electionnight I was vaguely aware of the fact that some percentage of America voiced their dissatisfaction with the symptoms of this modern life by knowingly and voluntarily voting for more of the cause.

The morning after election night, while taking A-bear to school, I listened to someone opine that this election cycle was not an election on the issues of the day, but a referendum on the performance of the President and his policies. If t...

Voting is Sexy

Certainly, this was done ages ago.As is usual for me I did my bestto vote for everyone. I-594 got a YES and a NO on I-591. Anything sponsored by Tim Eyman was refused after I figured out which of the choices would actually shoot him out of the air. My ticket wasn’t straight, but it was decidedly weighted toward people who’ll leave fossil fuels in the ground and make clean energy a priority.

Chime in on the comments, how did you vote?

“The Shale Revolution is Real”

Tomorrow all those people with whom you disagree are going to their nearest polling station. This is their last ditch effort to crap in your air. They will show up in droves so that they can carry loaded guns into public places and buy them by the boat load without a background check. They want to turn your government into their everlasting shill.

Are you tired of being called a “radical environmentalist” because you simply like to hand your kids a biosphere that hasn’t been transformed into a...