Betty Adams's Blog, page 128
July 19, 2016
Watermelon Snow
Surprisingly this is not the remains of a tourist who asked one too many questions of a tired Park Employee who was not a ranger and should not have been answering questions....Nope this is the famous Watermelon Snow. Colonies of Chlamydomonas nivalis gathering together as the snow melts. Now in a story this would either have great emotional meaning or potent power.
How does this creature survive once the snow melts?
July 18, 2016
Yet Another Pretty Picture
A Whitebark Pinecone in the early stages, The birds pretty much need chisels to get at those nuts.
July 17, 2016
Alternate Universe and how Folks React
A popular meme in science fiction is the concept of alternate universes. A group of characters encounters some magic or scientific handwaving that results with them interacting another group that hails from a universe where everything is slightly different; a different cultural ethos prevails, a central character died or survived some catastrophe. Most writers have the characters being fairly freaked out and not dealing with the situation well. But what if the characters came from a large family? Is there suddenly someone in your life that looks a lot like you, shares the same (or a very similar) name, and is slightly different? To any one who interacted with an extended family this isn't anything new. This is just cousin Sam at the family reunion. Sharing a face with a stranger is pretty much expected.
An interesting twist would be most of the crew being freaked out but the one character from a large family just shrugged it off, decides on alternating names and starts calling his/her double 'cousin'.
July 14, 2016
Babies are Excellent Cute
Just a note to remind people that babies are almost always a surefire way to inspire feelings of warmth and arouse protective instincts. Even and especially alien babies.
July 13, 2016
Where Be the Dragons?
If you are writing dragons into a modern story where do you put them? The easy options are:
1) On another planet
2) IN *SPACE*
3) In a lab currently being generated
4) On the island of Komodo (or in a Floridian swamp)
Putting a story in space or on another planet allows for nearly unlimited creativity. Mainly because no one can prove that there are not dragons in *SPACE*. The new or artificial species angle is fun but limited. There can be little history because of the technological limitations however. Redefining the currently held cultural conception can be fun too. A gator can easily get fifteen feet long and is full of teeth from a nightmare. No one can tell this author that the internet named "American Murder Log" isn't a dragon.
July 12, 2016
Out Walking in the Woods
According to the internet lots of people are going out walking looking for mystical creatures that no one else can see...When this author did that as a child people gave her funny looks and asked her mother if she needed to talk to the doctor....
July 11, 2016
Website Trouble
So the website has been acting up the past few days for no discernible reasons. This author chooses to believe that it is the fault of all those Pokemon Go players crashing the interwebs! Watch where you are walking people!
July 7, 2016
Alien Trees
A good quick short cut to creating alien plants is to take a common earth plant and change an aspect. Size is a big one. Take a little grape fern. Make it a tree forty feet tall and boom! Alien forest.
July 6, 2016
Books Abound
There are a lot of books out there these days. This is a good one! 
The Sisterhood of Karn was well represented at Westercon 69. They had their Doctor with them too. Westercon 69 was a blast. Many thanks to the NASA inspector who came along to teach this author how to take dynamic photos. Thanks Cathe!
