Paula Berinstein's Blog, page 6
September 23, 2015
Acoustic levitation is real!
In Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis, Amanda's friend Clive Ng (see drawing) uses the acoustic levitator he built to get the kids past some formidable locked gates. The levitator lifts the pins out of the hinges so the kids can open the gates from the sides.
What you may not know is that acoustic levitation isn’t science fiction. It’s real, and it’s been used for decades. Of course whether it could do what Clive does in the book is debatable, but it's still a proven technology.
The ability of sound to lift things relies on the fact that sound travels in waves and can bounce off surfaces. Those waves can be harnessed to do work.
An acoustic levitator consists of a transducer, which vibrates and makes sound, and a reflector, which causes the sound to bounce back. By placing a reflector in the right place relative to the transducer, you can create a standing wave, which appears to hover in one place but doesn’t really, and that is what creates the pressure needed to lift things.
There’s a great article on acoustic levitation at How Stuff Works. There are even YouTube videos on the subject. Check them out!
What you may not know is that acoustic levitation isn’t science fiction. It’s real, and it’s been used for decades. Of course whether it could do what Clive does in the book is debatable, but it's still a proven technology.
The ability of sound to lift things relies on the fact that sound travels in waves and can bounce off surfaces. Those waves can be harnessed to do work.
An acoustic levitator consists of a transducer, which vibrates and makes sound, and a reflector, which causes the sound to bounce back. By placing a reflector in the right place relative to the transducer, you can create a standing wave, which appears to hover in one place but doesn’t really, and that is what creates the pressure needed to lift things.
There’s a great article on acoustic levitation at How Stuff Works. There are even YouTube videos on the subject. Check them out!
September 22, 2015
Meet Ivy Halpin, Amanda's best friend
Ivy is a tiny redheaded blind girl of Irish descent with a beautiful guide dog, a three-year-old golden retriever named Nigel. She has green eyes and wears sunglasses.
Ivy has very keen hearing and a good sense of smell. She also has a highly developed sense of touch. Using these senses, she can often glean more information than a sighted person.
Ivy is from Dorset. Her parents are Liam Halpin, who teaches archaeology at Bournemouth University, and Zelda Halpin, a judge. Her sister, Fern Halpin, is a fifth-year student at Legatum.
Ivy first appears in Book 1 of the Amanda Lester series, Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy.
Do not read this if you're squeamish!
I might have mentioned that I'm taking a free online forensics class called "Identifying the Dead," which involves work similar to what happens on the TV show "Bones."
The course, which features the involvement of the wonderful Scottish crime writer Val McDermid, author of the Wire in the Blood series, revolves around a case study involving human remains discovered in a shallow grave on a Scottish hill.
This week we are learning how to clean the bones that were found in the grave and look for damage to them. We have discovered that the murderer cut some of the bones so the body would fit in the grave, thus we are learning how to tell what kind of implement makes what kind of cut marks so we can figure out what he did.
Right after we viewed a video and read an article on the subject, they asked us what kinds of knives and saws we have around the house. Yikes!
I don't think I'll ever be able to slice a pineapple in quite the same way again.
If you're going to write crime novels, it doesn't hurt to get first-hand experience. Well, since the course is online, I don't actually get to handle the bones, but maybe some day I will.
Stay tuned for more about the class!
The course, which features the involvement of the wonderful Scottish crime writer Val McDermid, author of the Wire in the Blood series, revolves around a case study involving human remains discovered in a shallow grave on a Scottish hill.
This week we are learning how to clean the bones that were found in the grave and look for damage to them. We have discovered that the murderer cut some of the bones so the body would fit in the grave, thus we are learning how to tell what kind of implement makes what kind of cut marks so we can figure out what he did.
Right after we viewed a video and read an article on the subject, they asked us what kinds of knives and saws we have around the house. Yikes!
I don't think I'll ever be able to slice a pineapple in quite the same way again.
If you're going to write crime novels, it doesn't hurt to get first-hand experience. Well, since the course is online, I don't actually get to handle the bones, but maybe some day I will.
Stay tuned for more about the class!
September 18, 2015
My interview with Don Smith of The Sherlock Conversations
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with interviewer extraordinaire Don Smith of the new podcast and blog, The Sherlock Conversations.
Don really knows how to get to the heart of the matter. Please check out the interview and the rest of his excellent Sherlock Holmes blog!
Don really knows how to get to the heart of the matter. Please check out the interview and the rest of his excellent Sherlock Holmes blog!
Meet Scapulus Holmes
Scapulus Holmes is Sherlock Holmes's great-great-grandson. His father is Olimus Holmes, a private detective, and his mother is Pastiche Holmes, a botanist.
Scapulus specializes in cyberforensics and is the foremost expert on the subject at Legatum Continuatum, where he is a student in Amanda Lester's class. He is a pleasant, easy-going guy except when it comes to Amanda, who can really push his buttons.
Scapulus first appears in the second Amanda Lester, Detective book, Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis.
September 17, 2015
Amanda Lester Jigsaw Puzzles Available for Messing Around With
I am developing a series of digital jigsaw puzzles to go with the Amanda Lester, Detective series. You can play around with them here. Windows users right-click to rotate the pieces. Mac users CTRL left-click.
We will be expanding on the designs. We're also going to give them a bigger workspace, but other than that, what do you think?
Please give them a try!!!
We will be expanding on the designs. We're also going to give them a bigger workspace, but other than that, what do you think?
Please give them a try!!!
September 15, 2015
New Mystery Novel Introduces Dorky Sherlock Holmes Descendant
Author Paula Berinstein’s middle-grade series set at secret English detective school shakes it up
No one knows for sure what master sleuth Sherlock Holmes’s great-great-grandson would be like, but author Paula Berinstein has taken a stab at him. She thinks he’d be a real dork. That’s why, in Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis, she torments him so much.
“I do sort of pick on him,” says Berinstein. “I have to, though, don’t I? Otherwise he might be boring, and we couldn’t have that.”
The book is the second title in Berinstein’s Amanda Lester, Detective line. Set in England’s Lake District, the series revolves around a twelve-year-old girl, Amanda Lester (she turns thirteen in the second book), who is forced to attend a super-secret school for the descendants of famous detectives, despite her desire to pursue filmmaking. Adding to her angst is the fact that she is ashamed of her famous ancestor, bumbling Scotland Yard Inspector G. Lestrade.
Synopsis of Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis
Amanda Lester’s first term at the secret English detective school has turned out to be a surprising success. But trouble lies ahead. There’s a new student at Legatum and Amanda is supposed to work with him. She’s the envy of the school. Scapulus Holmes is a descendant of the great Sherlock and he’s crazy about her. Unfortunately she thinks he’s a dork and ducks him every chance she gets.
She can’t avoid him forever though. When the kids discover a dead body encrusted with mysterious living crystals, Amanda realizes she must find out what’s going on, even if it means putting up with Holmes. The only problem is that Blixus Moriarty has just escaped from prison, and he wants those crystals.
Can the detectives save the crystals from certain death before the bad guys learn their secrets? Only if Amanda and Holmes can find a way to work together, and it isn’t looking good.
About the series
The Amanda Lester, Detective series offers fans an updated heroine: an independent, smart, and sassy young protagonist who finds herself embracing her destiny as a detective despite herself. In addition to Holmes, the supporting characters include a blind girl, a geek, and a priggish boy who is a thorn in Amanda’s side, not to mention a descendant of Holmes’s nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Their interactions reflect many struggles and realities young readers will relate to.
Book details
Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis is available in paperback and as a Kindle download.
Berinstein’s third novel in the Amanda Lester, Detective series, Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle, will be available in November, 2015.
About Paula Berinstein
Berinstein is the former producer and host of the popular podcast The Writing Show. She lives in Southern California. Unlike her protagonist, she is crazy about Sherlock Holmes.
No one knows for sure what master sleuth Sherlock Holmes’s great-great-grandson would be like, but author Paula Berinstein has taken a stab at him. She thinks he’d be a real dork. That’s why, in Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis, she torments him so much.
“I do sort of pick on him,” says Berinstein. “I have to, though, don’t I? Otherwise he might be boring, and we couldn’t have that.”
The book is the second title in Berinstein’s Amanda Lester, Detective line. Set in England’s Lake District, the series revolves around a twelve-year-old girl, Amanda Lester (she turns thirteen in the second book), who is forced to attend a super-secret school for the descendants of famous detectives, despite her desire to pursue filmmaking. Adding to her angst is the fact that she is ashamed of her famous ancestor, bumbling Scotland Yard Inspector G. Lestrade.
Synopsis of Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis
Amanda Lester’s first term at the secret English detective school has turned out to be a surprising success. But trouble lies ahead. There’s a new student at Legatum and Amanda is supposed to work with him. She’s the envy of the school. Scapulus Holmes is a descendant of the great Sherlock and he’s crazy about her. Unfortunately she thinks he’s a dork and ducks him every chance she gets.
She can’t avoid him forever though. When the kids discover a dead body encrusted with mysterious living crystals, Amanda realizes she must find out what’s going on, even if it means putting up with Holmes. The only problem is that Blixus Moriarty has just escaped from prison, and he wants those crystals.
Can the detectives save the crystals from certain death before the bad guys learn their secrets? Only if Amanda and Holmes can find a way to work together, and it isn’t looking good.
About the series
The Amanda Lester, Detective series offers fans an updated heroine: an independent, smart, and sassy young protagonist who finds herself embracing her destiny as a detective despite herself. In addition to Holmes, the supporting characters include a blind girl, a geek, and a priggish boy who is a thorn in Amanda’s side, not to mention a descendant of Holmes’s nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Their interactions reflect many struggles and realities young readers will relate to.
Book details
Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis is available in paperback and as a Kindle download.
Berinstein’s third novel in the Amanda Lester, Detective series, Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle, will be available in November, 2015.
About Paula Berinstein
Berinstein is the former producer and host of the popular podcast The Writing Show. She lives in Southern California. Unlike her protagonist, she is crazy about Sherlock Holmes.
Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis is here!
The second Amanda Lester, Detective book is here!
Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis
is now available in paperback and as a Kindle ebook!!!
If only Sherlock Holmes’s great-great-grandson weren’t such a dork . . .
Scapulus Holmes is a descendant of the great Sherlock. Unfortunately he’s a dork and Amanda doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. But when she finds a dead body encrusted with strange orange crystals under the secret detective school, she must turn to Holmes for help. Only if they work together can they keep the bad guys from learning the crystals’ secrets, and it isn’t looking good.
Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis
is now available in paperback and as a Kindle ebook!!!If only Sherlock Holmes’s great-great-grandson weren’t such a dork . . .
Scapulus Holmes is a descendant of the great Sherlock. Unfortunately he’s a dork and Amanda doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. But when she finds a dead body encrusted with strange orange crystals under the secret detective school, she must turn to Holmes for help. Only if they work together can they keep the bad guys from learning the crystals’ secrets, and it isn’t looking good.
September 12, 2015
Patterns for knitting your own mustaches and beards
Further to my discovery of the book Knit Your Own Moustache, I have learned that the author sells patterns for making mustaches and beards. I think Professor Tumble, the disguise teacher at the Legatum Continuatum secret school for detectives, would like to hear about this.
September 10, 2015
Knit your own moustache?
I was looking for a book on disguise and found this. Hilarious!
