The thing about great writing is that it can make you miss places you've never been and mourn people you've never met. The thing about great science fiction is that it can make you miss places and people who will never exist. So I file this as a tribute to Roy Blatty and Rutger Hauer,… Continue reading Farewell to an android
Been meaning to make a couple of quick notes about walls. See, we were traveling in Italy last month and we saw a lot of walls. Or really, remnants of walls. Walls around Pompeii that didn't help much when the pumice rained down. Walls around Roman cities, now reduced to scattered stones or low blocks.… Continue reading A quick note about walls
Spent an amazing day walking the ruins of Pompeii, buried in ash for roughly 2,000 years. The walls bear witness to the uncertainty of life, with Vesuvius standing as a warning not far away. Some days you’re just living life and trying make your mark on the world, and your world just blows up. All… Continue reading What lasts forever
I was looking for a New Year's writing resolution of sorts and this Vonnegut quote popped out at me: "Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have… Continue reading Write it like you mean it
I should be all over this Space Force thing. I've flown with the Federation and the Falcon. Shoot, I'd join the Imperial Navy if it means zipping around at the helm of a starship. I was one of those kids who tuned in as astronauts walked to Moon, who tuned in even after our short-attention-span… Continue reading Sign me up for the Space Force
So we lost a couple of daring men over the weekend. The most famous one was Alan Bean, who walked on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission. I remember as a kid watching those walks; it was like watching literal steps into the future. I watched every one of them. Most Americans did not.… Continue reading A good walk spoiled
I was thinking that all of human thought – religion, science, politics, government, philosophy – is about trying to place an orderly system over a world that may simply not have one. Suppose order is simply a momentary state of a permanent anarchy. Life isn’t supposed to make sense. And that got me thinking about… Continue reading Anarchy and the platypus
