Look for a series of photoblog posts covering a trip to Europe in 1990. It’ll be legendary! Or something.

After Leia was captured at the beginning of New Hope and brought before Vader, she said “Vader. I should have recognized your foul stench as soon as I was brought on board.” (Really, Lucas? You’ve got to give props to Carrie Fisher for delivering that line with a straight face.)

My assumption was that she was just being insulting. However, in light of seeing how badly Anakin was burned in episode III, it struck me out of the blue today that maybe  Vader really does have a distinctive odor. That would have been a really interesting aspect of the character. It puts a whole new spin on the Robot Chicken parody though.

“Oh, wait, you were flying around for two weeks trying to get a signal! Gosh, you must smell like feet wrapped in burnt bacon!”

Magnetic Field around a Sunspot. Image credit Hinode JAXA/NASA

I’ve had a long-standing interest in solar power, the effect of solar cycles on our weather, and the like. I suppose that’s why I’m fascinated by the Carrington Flare– an 1859 solar flare so strong that the magnetic effects on earth caused telegraph wires to spark and catch fire.  It really sparks the imagination. What would a flare of that magnitude do to our wired world today? Forget climate change– how could society react if the majority (or even merely half) of electronic equipment around the world simultaneously fried? It revives all those Y2K fears all over again, except we don’t know when the hammer will fall and we’re not sure how much we can protect. Imagine banking computers going down, hard drives frying, power transformers blowing out (such as the one pictured in the linked article), and cellular satellites and towers failing. Okay, I admit it. My fascination has less to do with science than an imaginary scenario in which the technological glue holding modern society together comes unstuck. There’s a “World War Z” story in there, sans zombies.

At any rate, it is worth noting that we appear to be emerging from a deep solar minimum (period of low sunspot activity). That means we’ll see roughly 11 years of growing sunspot activity, which means growing flare activity, which means increased magnetic fluctuation. Whether we’re due for a new Carrington-level event is a matter of conjecture, but it makes for nice drama. Maybe the Mayans were onto something with this whole calendar-ending thing. Anyone want to place bets? Electronic payment not accepted.

Sure I may have been discouraged, but after a while I picked up my ego, dusted it off, and resumed dreaming. I envisioned a new trilogy, and spent the following grade year writing it in my spiral-bound notebook. It topped out at around 110 hand-written pages, and was about a pair of young boys who gain supernatural powers. At the end of the first book the main protagonist’s girlfriend was killed in an explosion meant for him, and the second book–started but never finished–introduced a new pair of protagonists, girls who were also given supernatural powers. The final book in the trilogy was to be about the final showdown between good (the teens) and evil, and I think it involved rediscovering Atlantis.

I never finished that trilogy, but I did continue to write short stories through high school and–less frequently–college. Writers are driven. The stories that bubble and build inside of us have to find a way out. Writers are also dreamers. Sure, we write for ourselves, but we also write for the dream of success and admiration that we secretly (or not so secretly) think we deserve. We write with the dream that one day our lives will be something like this:

However, writers who do more than dream, the ones who read and research and network and learn the biz realize that the reality isn’t quite as glamorous. It’s… well, it’s more like this:

Why would anyone want to subject themselves to that exercise in ego destruction? Why, after getting a C- on my 6th grade novella, did I start plotting out an even greater story? What drives us to keep writing and trying in the face of all opposition, or even worse–apathy? I’m not sure what it is, but I know it’s there. I’ve come a long way from that first novella. Having a story in Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas
was a great milestone for me, but it’s not the end. I’ve got stories to tell, and they want–they need–to be told.

Now I just have to keep off the Xbox 360 long enough to write them.

The ENnie-nominated Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas

If you follow the ongoing adventures of 12 to Midnight, you might have heard that the anthology we published last summer–Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas–was nominated for another award. I say “another” because it was nominated and won the Predators & Editors readers poll for anthologies, and it briefly made the “long list” of nominations for the Origins award. Now it’s up for the ENnie award, which will be announced at GenCon in August. You can read about the nomination at 12 to Midnight, but if you really feel moved to vote this instant then polls are open. Buried Tales is in lucky category #13. If you haven’t read Buried Tales, then this is a great time to do so. You can order Buried Tales in print from Amazon, or you can get the e-book for dirt cheap at the FlamesRising store.

Our little book shares the category with some amazing products from well-known publishers. It is truly an honor just to be nominated. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to editor Matt McElroy and all the contributing authors for making it the success that it is.

I usually don’t toot my own horn, but since this is my blog I guess I should mention that one of those contributing authors was me. My story, The One that Got Away, is a first person account of a fishing trip gone wrong. And when I say wrong, I mean kind of wrongness that only happens in Pinebox. It has everything a good fishing story should have– friendship, sorrow, beer, and the biggest damn catfish you could ever imagine. If you haven’t picked up a copy of Buried Tales yet, I hope its string of accolades will convince you to give it a try.

Speaking of water, in climate change news new research into the rapid melting of Antarctic’s Pine Island Glacier is casting doubt on global warming as a cause. Apparently the melt-off has been in the works for a long time and would be happening now with or without global warming. This research does nothing to disprove global warming, but it does remove a piece of “evidence” from the table.

I’m sure you’ve heard about the vast mineral wealth found in Afghanistan? The article says that they could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” If managed properly, these mineral resources could replace opium as the main source of income for many Afghanis. Of course, getting access to these resources will mean major infrastructure improvements, such as railroads, roads, and reliable electricity. With this much wealth at stake, I think you can forget Afghanistan being abandoned. Even if we completely turned out backs on the country, the Chinese would immediately step in. Batteries play a huge role in our “green” future, which means our insatiable appetite for oil will be replaced for an insatiable appetite for minerals like lithium. The big question is, what will it take to keep the Taliban from sabotaging efforts to improve the infrastructure of their own country? Because they control the roads, they have already stopped an effort to revitalize a hydro-electric plant and return reliable electricity to the southern part of the country.

Want to argue the politics of our place in Afghanistan? I don’t. If you want to chew on politics, I was recently reminded of this old article in which the author suggests we abandon the old two-dimensional left-right political spectrum in favor of a more sophisticated model for political axis. It’s as good as any. Or, you could check out some of the others mentioned on Wikipedia. They have the benefit of prettier graphics.

And, We’re too Broke to be this Stupid. “In one-sixth of British households, not a single family member works. They are not so much without employment as without need of it. At a certain level, your hard-working bourgeois understands that the bulk of his contribution to the treasury is entirely wasted. It’s one of the basic rules of life: if you reward bad behaviour, you get more of it. But, in good and good-ish times, who cares?”

I’m sure you’ve seen Soaring Costs Force Canada to Reassess Health Model. Yeah, the one we apparently want to emulate.

Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket recently had a successful test launch. Couple that with Bigelow Aerospace’s planned private space stations, and commercial space exploration is looking up even as NASA’s manned budget is being reduced.

Here’s an interesting look, from an engineering perspective, of the BP oil spill and the technical hurdles in capping it. There’s also some commentary (3rd article down) about the absurdity of BP’s “plan”. To be clear, cleanup “blamestorming” aside, BP’s actions leading up to the blowout appear quite negligent. Meanwhile, regular folks on the coast sum it up best. “This is the biggest damn mess I’ve ever seen.”

Into photography? Buy a Canon.

Remember what Mark Twain said about lies? Here’s another case of lies, damn lies, and statistics. In this case it’s Census job numbers.

This sounds like a major medical breakthrough, to me. Researchers have found an agent that appears to stop metastasis in cancer cells. Basically, it keeps them from growing. So far the tests have only been conducted in mice, so we don’t know if there are any side effects that would make this a deal-killer.

You know I’m a fan of Michael Yon. This beautiful photo series was reprinted (with permission) on an Air Force site.

Ever wonder what’s so wrong with arrest quotas? This article, if true, about NY city’s practices should be pretty disturbing. Here’s a money quote.

One officer with the unit acknowledged the political pressure to juke the stats. “The mayor’s looking for it, the police commissioner’s looking for it…every commanding officer wants to show it,” he said. “So there’s motivation not to classify reports for the seven major crimes.”

Sometime when you’re at home and have a few minutes to play with something really cool, visit Sounds of Hamburg. This Flash site lets you compose music by cleverly using the random motions of pedestrians in public webcams. It’s a fun, cool, site. Obviously you’ll need sound to enjoy this site.

I’m pleased to say that Monica fully delivers another great tale while altogether avoiding the pitfalls I’d feared.

As a “book”, the Queen of Crows is an interest experiment in written content. The version I read was an e-book, focused first and foremost around a short story of the same title. (More on that in a little bit.) After the story (14 pages), the book contains what one would call “bonus material” if this were a DVD. An author’s introduction immediately follows the story, and describes where the idea for the story originated and how it evolved into the version in the book. After that is a character profile, a description of the setting and how relates to a larger work called the Violet War,  and finally a copy of the original version of the story before it was reworked into the Queen of Crows.

Not only did I enjoy the story (It’s coming; I promise. Keep reading), but I’m intrigued by what the extra content brings to the book as a whole and what it could lead to in the future. For instance, while there’s nothing particularly new about author introductions, imagine if future ebooks allow authors to overlay their annotations right over the text (in a separate layer than can be made visible or invisible, of course) like the pop-up trivia and other bonus material found on DVDs today. An author could note how a particular character or scene was developed right in the scene as we’re reading it. The character bio presents another interesting addition. It definitely gives readers greater insight into the larger world that we’re only glimpsing through the window of Queen of Crows. The extent of its utility will depend greatly on the reader. Some might skim through it as merely additional trivia, others might see it as a teaser for things to come, or while still others (I’m talking to you, RPG players) might read it with the intent to mine for ideas. The final bit of extra content, was the original version of the story. It takes a brave author to pull back the curtain and demonstrate how sausage is made (so to speak). Having read the final (much different) original story, some readers will be fascinated to read the original and see how much has changed, while others will undoubtedly wonder why they’d be expected to read anything other than the final, most polished version. In other words, if you’re the kind of person who eagerly consumes all the bonus content on a DVD then you’re likely to enjoy this book. If not, you’ll still enjoy the short story but you’ll likely skim over the extra content.

On to the story. Queen of Crows is a supernatural fantasy set in a pseudo-Native American past. It employs Native American shamanistic trappings to tell a story that’s equal parts horror and tragedy with overtones of myth thrown in for good measure. In it the protagonist, a grandfatherly shaman named Tse, slowly spirals in on his destiny as a harbinger of… something. Is it a force of good or evil, or does it defy those labels in the same manner as a thunderstorm? I was a little thrown off by a perspective switch more than halfway through the story, but it didn’t keep me from enjoying the tale. This 14 page story reads like the catalyst or prequel for the larger novel to come, but whether we’ll ever get a chance to read that novel remains to be seen. Here’s hoping.

If you’re interested in Queen of Crows, it’s available as an ebook (watermarked PDF) at DriveThruHorror.com for only $4.99.