logisticslad

Went to the SF Book Club meeting, which I haven't been to in quite a while. It's now held in Main Point Books in Wayne, which is a welcoming and cozy venue. We discussed Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett, and everyone there had enjoyed it. We found it fascinating to see elements of their later works within it.

Part of what motivated me to go was my annoyance at Barnes & Noble removing their new book sections and simply shelving them within their categories. Since I mainly went there to find new books, I now have far less reason to shop with them as opposed to independent book stores or online.

I finally finished reading Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier and I highly recommend it! It's a retelling of the fairy tale of The Six Swans, where six brothers are turned into swans by their wicked stepmother, and their sister must break the curse by sewing them each a shirt out of nettles and remaining silent the entire time. In this version, it is set in Celtic Ireland and the sister, Sorcha, is a wonderful character who passes many tests of endurance to achieve her goal. The writing is equisite and lyrical. The novel feels very feminist and feminine at the same time, as Sorcha's life as a young woman is revealed. Complications ensue as she falls in love with a Briton, but her encounters with the Fey Folk help set everything on course for a reasonably happy ending. It turns out that this is the first of a trilogy, but it is a complete story in and of itself. We had just done this book in my SF Book Club and it was very well received, even by the folks who don't particularly enjoy fantasy. This was because of the quality of the writing and the strength of the characters. I'm delighted to have discovered this author and look forward to reading more by her!

Top 11 Lesbian/Bi moments in F&SF - How cool is that?

http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2007/10/topscifimoments

I did battle with the jungle growing in the backyard this afternoon. After mowing it into submission, I went to work on the strangling vines and in the process of removing them was stung by a wasp. Ouch! Fortunately, I am not allergic to them, but my wrist did swell up where I was stung. I took an antihistamine and decided that that was enough for today.

I had accidentally broken the cool tumbler with Japanese characters on it that I use as my cats' upstairs water dish, so I stopped by BloodBath&Beyond in order to see if I could find a replacement. Alas, the one they had in the equivalent style was much too small to serve as a water dish. Next stop is Linens&Things. The cats seem to be wondering why I've taken their beloved water away...

Did half an hour on the elliptical at the gym and felt tired but good about it. Then ran some errands with my gym buddy including stopping by Benjamin Moore paints to select a nice royal blue color for the trim in the bathroom (Note that I've been working on this bathroom since I moved in almost 4 years ago, so there is obviously no rush in my mind to complete it - however each step I take toward finishing it feels good to accomplish). I found several possibilities, so I took some paint chips home to see what it will look like under the actual lighting conditions of the bathroom. This may motivate me to finally remove the painter's tape that's been up for over 6 months :-)

On our way through Chestnut Hill, we noticed lots of kids and adults dressed up as wizards and a number of outdoor displays. It looked like everyone was having a lot of fun, so we smiled and waved as we drove by.

My dear friends P&L have loaned me their newly arrived copy of Harry Potter (since they are each in the midst of rereading the series and don't expect to be done htis week). Woo-hoo! I know what I'll be doing tonight!!!

50 best SF/F books meme passed on by frstythesnowman

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science fiction book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished, and put an asterisk* beside the ones you loved.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert*
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein*
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin*
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley*
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M.Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey*
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card*
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman*
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling*
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin*
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny*
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein*
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer


An interesting selection. I think some of these are more influential than actually good, but I suppose that fits their criterion of "significant."

I had a morning of meetings today followed by a short trip to Temple University for the Philly Society for Neuroscience meeting. Actually, it turned out to be a slightly longer trip than expected as I got a bit lost hunting down the building that housed the event. I served as a judge for the poster session. Two of my students entered and did very well (tying for second - a bit of a shame since we only gave out one prize for first). I told them that I was very proud of them and better yet, my Dept Chair had come and got to see how well they compared to students from other local programs. He and I had a nice talk about having the Dept financially support one of my students which would be fantastic for her and a solid endorsement of my mentoring capacity! We stayed for the guest speaker and the fun presentation of how Brain Awareness Week at the Franklin Institute went this year. That's when neuroscientists and students do demonstrations about the brain and the senses for 6-12 year olds. It looked like it was a blast this year. I had done it awhile ago and I have to remember that I would love to volunteer for that again. It was a very energizing meeting and it is always fun to see what people around the area are doing.

This evening was my SF book club meeting at Borders in Bryn Mawr. We discussed Octavia Butler's novel Wild Seed as a tribute to her recent passing. Since the facilitator couldn't make it, I ran the meeting (still in my suit from the afternoon conference, so I looked very professorial). We talked about how Butler specifically made her characters Black, which was novel for 1980, when it was originally published. It's about a pair of immortal psychics with very different value systems and it explores the theme (which is present in many of her works) of how someone can willingly submit to enslavement and control by someone else. It is heavy on character interplay and thematic discussion, but low on plot. I liked it a lot and most of the group enjoyed it, too. It is still in print and has something to say about how things are today.

I got home and vegged by watching American Idol. They were singing the American standards, which they did very well and I had perfect vegging complete with purring cat. Then I checked my email and discovered that the paper that had been rejected by one journal as being not that interesting to them was enthusiastically and rapidly accepted by the second journal with only minor edits (we had resubmitted it only three weeks ago). This is an important paper for both my student, who is trying to graduate, and myself as it will help establish me as a researcher in this particular field which should help with the grants. What a difference the choice of journal can make!

Thanks to puzzld1 for the new icon!!!