David Lee Summers's Blog, page 4

Join the Revolution

Independence Day is right around the corner. I hope you’ll have a good day with friends and family. For the holiday, I enjoy a nice cookout and the opportunity to watch a good fireworks show. I’ve had to work some nights at Kitt Peak National Observatory for Independence Day, but I’ve still managed to catch fireworks shows on some of those nights. We don’t shoot off fireworks from the observatory, but from our mountaintop vantage point, we can see fireworks shows in several of the surrounding ci...

Surviving Prostate Cancer – Year One

It’s been just over a year since I had a radical prostatectomy to deal with prostate cancer. I recently had my one-year check up with my surgeon and all indications are that I’m doing extremely well and, so far, all indications are that the cancer is gone for good. The most challenging part of the process was the first month of surgical recovery. After that, I did have several months of physical therapy. I’ll spare you the details, but if you are facing all this for yourself, I do strongly recom...

The Witching Hour

Anyone who has been following me for very long at the Web Journal can probably tell I’m a fan of Anne Rice’s vampire books. Recently I’ve delved into the mummy series that she handed off to her son Christopher. Given my enjoyment of Anne Rice’s work, I thought it was time to delve into what is arguably her second most famous series: The Mayfair Witches Chronicles. The first book of the series is appropriately titled The Witching Hour.

One of the first things that struck me about the novel ...

Space Patrol Orion

One of the things I enjoy about working at Kitt Peak National Observatory is that I get to work with people from all around the world. Recently, I spent a few nights working on the DESI project with an astronomer who grew up in Germany. When he learned that I write science fiction, his eyes lit up and he told me about his favorite science fiction series from childhood. It was one I hadn’t encountered before called Raumpatrouille Orion, which translates to Space Patrol Orion in English. He then p...

Genevieve Undead

After reading Kim Newman’s novel Drachenfels, I wanted to read more of the Vampire Genevieve adventures he set in the Warhammer World. The next book up in the collection I purchased was Genevieve Undead. Interestingly, the book is referred to as a novel. However, it actually consists of three novellas, each one containing a separate incident from the life of the Vampire Genevieve, though it is implied that each incident leads to the next one in line.

The first novella in the collection is ...

The Gifted

I suspect it would be very difficult to find any two people with the exact same set of physical and mental abilities. What’s more, I believe it would be equally difficult to find any one person who was capable of every physical and mental feat humans are capable of. It’s natural for us to focus on those things we’re good at while others with different talents do what they’re good at. When looked at this way, referring to someone as “disabled” actually seems a little odd because we all lack certa...

Drachenfels

As we move from spring into summer, I’ve been working on three projects. One is a short story that I’ve been invited to write for an anthology, another is the second volume of the Museum of the Omniverse series, and finally, I’ve been having fun collaborating with Lee Clark Zumpe on a collection of vampire flash fiction. We recently assembled all of our stories into a book and have submitted it to a publisher, so please send some good wishes for the book’s success. If all goes well, I hope to ha...

Doctor Who – Season 2

This weekend finds me in Phoenix, Arizona at Phoenix Fan Fusion. If you’re in the area and coming to the event, be sure to drop by my table. I’m part of the Artisans of Words and Wonder group and you’ll find us at tables B814 through B823 in the vendor hall, near the other author signing tables. One of the guests at this weekend’s event is Simon Pegg, who did a turn as a villain called the Editor in Doctor Who. So, it seems fitting that today, we should take a look at an early, formative year of...

Phoenix Fan Fusion 2025

This coming weekend, I’m excited to return to Phoenix Fan Fusion in Arizona, which will be held at the Phoenix Convention Center from Friday, June 6 through Sunday, June 8. Phoenix Fan Fusion is a multi-genre pop-culture convention featuring actors, artists, authors, Among the actor guests are Hayden Christensen who played Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episodes II and III, Simon Pegg who played Scotty in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek films and also played the title character in Shaun of the Dead, Ka...

ATU 709

The title of today’s post is a classification number from a book called The Types of International Folktales which was originally compiled in 1910 by Finnish Folklorist Antti Aarne, then revised by American folklorist Stith Thompson in 1928 and finally German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther in 2004. Specifically ATU 709 is the classification for “Snow White” stories. These are stories in which the following things tend to happen: A jealous mother figure decides her daughter must die; the daughter fin...