Mark Cantrell's Blog, page 40

Culture: Digital Technology Illuminates Dark Age Texts

 Out of time comes the magic of manuscripts

 

Dead minds will speak again thanks to a collaboration between the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France as they digitise 800 illuminated manuscripts, writes Mark Cantrell, but in our desire to understand the present will we read too much between the lines of the past?

 

BOOKS are time machines, said the late cosmologist, Carl Sagan: open up some ancient tome, and it provides a channel through which the minds of...

Blog: Time Waits For No Morlock

  Read a book and make a dream come true

Where did all the time go? Mark Cantrell ponders the strange temporal reality in his novel Silas Morlock...

REMEMBER what Einstein had to say about relativity and time? Well, this has nothing to do with any of that, so put down that beautiful blond, whoever she (or he) happens to be, and pay attention. This won't take long. Relatively speaking.

 

I want to talk about the temporal relations of Terapolis. So, deep breath. Time isn't the same in...

News: Science Lays The Foundations For Silas Morlock's Macabre City

 [image error]Could Genetically Modified Bacteria Grow The Cities Of Tomorrow?

 

Researchers are looking to use genetically modified bacteria to grow the foundations for new buildings. It's like something straight out of his novel Silas Morlock, writes Mark Cantrell

 

WE'RE a far cry from the organic bio-engineered architecture prevalent in Terapolis, the foreboding world city in my novel, Silas Morlock, but a team of scientists are almost literally preparing to lay its foundations.

 

In...

Arts: Theatre Talent Is Coming HOME

 All of Manchester is but a stage

 

A Manchester theatre is opening its doors to talent with a new development programme it says will allow theatrical types at all stages of their career the opportunity to practice and expand their skills.

 

HOME is offering a variety of ways for theatre-makers to develop their skills, with a package that features one-off skills workshops, long-term development residencies, and regular opportunities to showcase work, whether it is new or in progr...

Blog: A Good Book Can Take You Anywhere

 Careful how you go

 

A good book can get you into some situations you'd much rather avoid.

 

The other day I had a reminder of this simple truth.

 

Reading is an immersive experience. Worlds await us as we dip into the pages and find ourselves carried away, but if we're not careful the real world can take us its own merry way, as we lose ourselves in literary journeys.

 

So I found myself onward bound to London this week, courtesy of a good book.

 

My mind was elsewh...

FILM: From Motor Car To Movie Crew

 Hooray for... Dagenham?

 

Here's one for movie industry buffs out there, writes Mark Cantrell. Long known as a centre for motor manufacturing, now Dagenham Council and the Mayor of London want to shift gear and drive the borough to a motion picture future

 

DAGENHAM has done with cars. Now it seems the borough's political bigwigs have caught the movie bug and want to bring a little Hollywood magic home.

 

So move over Pinewood and Elstree – lights, cameras, action! ...

FICTION: As Mankind Perishes, The Last Dolphin Sings...

The Dolphin's Song

 

Flash Fiction By Mark Cantrell

Copyright © January 2015

 

WHEN the world turned to dust, the last dolphin left the dying sea to crawl onto the beach of eternity. There she began to wail a lament for all of humanity's follies.

 

The creature, crippled outside of her watery home, nevertheless defied the crushing weight of her own flesh and dragged herself forward on her fins. 'Swimming' sand, she came to rest at the furthest reaches of the lapping waves and th...

WEIRD SCIENCE: How Long Will It Take A #Vampire To Drink You?

Fancy a pint? Bela Lugosi is bled…

EVEN vampires can’t change the laws of physics – well, fluid dynamics – it seems.

 

A group of students at the University of Leicester’s Department of Physics & Astronomy say they have figured out just how long it would take a vampire to drain an average human’s blood. Well, some of it, at least.

 

What’s more, they’ve even written up a paper on the matter. You’d think they’d have their...

ARTICLE: Curse Of The Right First Time

An overdose of criticality

By Mark Cantrell

 

ONE of these days I’ll figure out how to switch off.

 

No, I’m not talking about relaxing, well not exactly, but stepping out of this world and into the ‘zone’. That’s the place where the state of consciousness alters when the muse is in full flow – at least until the inability to power down the critical faculties crashes me back down to Earth.

 

When the words flood the screen there’s a kind o...

BLOG: Brexit Blame Game Grips Sinking Britain

Now it’s all over bar the screaming

Brexit has revealed what sort of country we are – and it isn’t pretty – but we only have ourselves to blame. We were too relaxed about rampant inequality, writes Mark Cantrell

 

BRITAIN is a divided and troubled country after the Brexit vote – but that’s nothing new; it was already coming apart long before David Cameron ever decided to play Russian Roulette with the future.

 

True, the noxious campaign has inflict...