Peter Watts vs. The Flesh-Eating Bacteria!

[image error]If you haven't read Peter Watts' Blindsight, you should go out and do so immediately. It's a fantastic novel which actually manages to put a new spin on vampires, human evolution and aliens. Watts is also responsible for this incredibly detailed and chilling PowerPoint presentation. (Yes, a PowerPoint presentation that will scare the bejesus out of you. He's that good.)

And in the past couple years, he's also had the crap kicked out of him by thuggish, dishonest border patrolmen, and is now currently fighting — and winning — against necrotizing fasciitis, better known as the flesh-eating bacteria. (WARNING: graphic images of his carved-up leg in the link. They are really cool, though.) Through it all, he's shown more dignity and courage than I can manage when I've got a bad cold, so I'm not only impressed by his writing, I'm amazed by the man himself.

The moral of this story is: never let anyone tell you being a writer is not a dangerous job.