Matthew Alan Thyer's Blog, page 53

Where is Our Compassion?

FeetForBrains:

Hope you don’t mind Amy, but this get’s a reblog. Way to go!

Originally posted on The Practical Free Spirit:

I am not in a good mood right now.

I have spent the last few weeks dealing with my landlord and his real estate agent, both of whom act like they’re doing me huge favors by, say, not illegally breaking my lease or being willing to pay for professional cleaners to clean their property before their open house event. No acknowledgment is being made of the fact that I am the per...

Excellent Article on Forbes

Oh yes, please strip away the mystery. Really enjoyed this article. Plan on reading it again, and then maybe one more time just to make certain the meaning sinks in.

Michael J. Sullivan, author of HOLLOW WORLD gives some excellent advice for indies as well.

Run a Giveaway– Sullivan gives away advanced reader copies (ARCs) of his books on Goodreads up to 6 months before the book is available in print. This gives the books more value to contest winners who read them before the general public. “I...

Promise of Blood

Taniel “Two Shot”

I realize that I’m way behind the 8-ball with review. PROMISE OF BLOOD premiered almost a year ago and I’ve already pre-ordered the audio version of the second in the trilogy. You’ll have to forgive me. I’ve been busy. Raising children, staying healthy, writing my own books and all that.

Here’s the deal though, there’s no excuse. Brian McClellanaccomplished a wonderful juxtaposition with this tome of a novel, and his narrator Christian Rodska has the moxie to pull the reading...

Very Cool Experiment (For Backpackers)

This article just showed up in my PLOS one feed. WATER FILTRATION USING PLANT XYLEMseems like chaff science enough until to calculate how much weight you put into your backpack to accomplish this simple purpose. The abstract pretty much tells most of the story, but the whole article is worthy of a read.

Effective point-of-use devices for providing safe drinking water are urgently needed to reduce the global burden of waterborne disease. Here we show that plant xylem from the sapwood of conifer...

Good Morning, Here’s Some Wow

Way back in the late 70′s and early 80′s Robert Jarvik designed and built the Jarvik-7 artificial heart. I can recall how Star Trek it seemed when news reports ofAlfred Lord Tennyson extended life came to us over the television. Pretty amazing, it was likeSteve Austin was coming to life.

PopSci just did an article about a membrane pacemaker called THIS PACEMAKER MEMBRANE CAN KEEP A HEART BEATING PERFECTLY. Right there, is the ability to transcend morbidity. Transhumanism?

An Opinion

Today, io9 put up a blog post “10 BOOK SERIES THAT WOULD MAKE EXCELLENT TV SHOWS” and it got me to thinking. Top on their list of possibilities is Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. A personal favorite of mine, one that I go back to time and again, and re-read because it is just that good.

Thisambitious, huge seriesis nothing but political conflicts and complex worldbuilding, with a huge dose of philosphy thrown in. The first colonists land on Mars and debate the ethics of terraforming the p...

I Give You ON THE LEFT FOOT

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you ON THE LEFT FOOT. A short story as wild and wonderful and full of weeds as I could manage in about 7,000 words. Write what you know? Write what you don’t know? Well I did both. Take a look. Enjoy. It’s cheep. It’s Saturday. You’ll likely want more. I’m writing.

Backcountry ranger Jack Isen has had a bad year. Once school gets out he is anticipating some time alone, working the back country of the Flat Tops Wilderness. Something strange happens and he finds much...

Interview with Author Jason Gurley

Talented illustrator and amazing author, Jason Gurley has had an excellent premier year. He opened the anthology FROM THE INDIE SIDE with an excellent piece THE WINTER LANDS that I thoroughly enjoyed. It took me back to late nights, sitting in front of a tiny black and white Zenith watching Tales from the Dark Side and I, for one, would love to see the Winter Lands become something much larger.

Jason and I sat down and exchanged some ideas and I got his take on a lot, everything from the genes...

Children are Barbarians

If you’re not a parent, you can skip this one. You probably won’t get it and you’ll likely sneer at me through your computer. After today, I don’t need any more sneers, so feel free to move along. If you’re a parent, the kind of person that gave birth or participated in the birth giving process, please stick around. Below you will find self-deprecating admissions that will probably amuse you just a very little.

Fisher Towers, Onion Creek on the right

Yesterday, I must have been high on fumes fr...

I’ll Be Going Back There

Something like summer today, oh yeah! Aral and I went down to the valley for some breakfast, coffee, company, and network-not-offered-by-CenturyLink. We left the house early, but the sun came up this morning and meant business. I needed four wheel drive to get down the drive.

Click on Image for full details

After spending some time at our new favorite cafe/bakery we took off for Rabbit Valley. Past Mack is a small patch of BLM land that extends south from Interstate-70 to the Colorado River. Wh...