For the curious reader of science fiction (scifi) and fantasy
I want to get this posted before we leave for Scotland. Bria Burton has interviewed me a couple of times in the past on the radio, and she’s a great pleasure to talk to. But this is our first video interview, for Joy on Paper. No time to say more right now, ’cause I have to get to the airport! But it was a lot of fun, and it just went up on YouTube. Here it is:
Yes, we’re going! Allysen and I have never been to Scotland and have always wanted to go. Our chance is upon us. This year’s SF Worldcon is in Glasgow, Aug. 8-12. We’re flying into Edinburgh, where we’ll spend about a week seeing what we can see. (And I’m sure there’s a lot.) Then we’ll hop a train to Glasgow and join our tribe at worldcon! We’re excited!
I am currently scheduled to be on one panel, one table conversation (formerly called kaffeeklatches), and an autograph session. Details to follow when things are finalized.
In what has sadly become a pattern, problems have arisen in the Hugo Awards balloting, this time from someone or someones trying to game the system by submitting ballots from “not natural” people, using obvious fake names and/or other disqualifying characteristics. The statement from the Hugo administrator explains the situation. (Sigh.)
If you are anything like me, you have become accustomed to thinking of science as Big Science: science produced by NASA, JPL, and large universities and institutes all around the world. Well, I recently watched a fascinating documentary about a friend of mine, astronomer Larry Molnar, a professor at Calvin University, a small Christian liberal arts school in Michigan.
Larry has put the “t” in teaching, involving his undergraduate students in some serious hands-on study of contact binary stars—specifically, seeing if they can predict when binary system KIC 9832227 might come together and light up in a nova. (Prior to their work, novae could never be predicted more closely than “This star could erupt any time in the next ten thousand years.”) Does their prediction pan out? Watch the documentary to see.
The film is called Luminous, and was shot over the course of five years. It lets you see science as it actually is done, complete with frustration and disappointment, and success or failure hinging on uncertain data points. It touches a bit on Larry’s faith, just enough to highlight the fact that one can both have spiritual faith and do solid science. (On a personal note, when I saw them doing research at the University of Wyoming’s WIRO Observatory, it gave me a flashback. I spent some time at that observatory when I attended the Launchpad Astronomy Workshop in 2007.)
You can stream Luminous from a variety of sources, including Kanopy or Hoopla via your public library, the Roku channel—or for a few dollars, from most of the popular streaming sites like Apple+ and Prime (see Luminous for links).
We’ve known Larry and his amazing wife Cindy for something over thirty years, dating back to our attending the same church in Cambridge, Mass., and trading babysitting when our kids were very young. Larry was a postdoc at Harvard then. He helped me with brainstorming the science in my novel From a Changeling Star. We recently got to see them for the first time in many years! Here are Larry and Cindy, our mutual friend Peggy, and Allysen and me.
Click here for an earlier post featuring Larry’s and my snow sculpture of Sam the border collie.
I’ve got a new online conversation scheduled for tomorrow! This will be a panel discussion about creativity, and I have no idea what to expect, except that I think it will be fun! You can watch live, or catch it later on demand.
Here’s the info, as provided by the host, akaRadioRed:
Read My Lips: Cool Conversations with Creatives with producer / host akaRadioRed
WATCH / LISTEN LIVE – Monday, July 15, 2024
2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern / Find us in your time zone
LISTEN Live: Read My Lips Radio
WATCH Live-streaming and On-demand: LinkedIn + Facebook + YouTube
LISTEN Later: On-demand*** The live audio does not play at this link
Upon the Read My Lips stage with passion bright
akaRadioRed’s Scarlett mic in the live-streaming light
Welcomes you to The Forces of Creativity today
Featuring three Creatives who’ve got a lot to say
Jeffrey A. Carver, Takiyah Smith, and Mickey Mikkelson, too
Watch or listen, we’re curating inspiration for you!
My lovely wife Allysen has retired! Her company, Ab Initio software, gave her a great sendoff. (Ab Initio has long been outstandingly generous to its employees, and her departure was no exception.) She’s been editing their software documentation for the last thirteen years. With perfect timing, our sister-in-law Youngmee came to visit on that very evening and spent the weekend with us. This is Allysen receiving a toast from us at one of our favorite restaurants, the Menotomy Bar & Grill.
In her first half-week of retirement, Allysen has celebrated by sleeping, and sleeping some more. Tonight, another great friend flies in for a visit!
Happy Fourth of July, everyone!
I recorded this a couple of weeks after the one I recently mentioned with Blasters and Blades, but I didn’t realize until just now that it had gone live first. This is with Darshaun McAway on the W.O.W Podcast. Depending on how you get to it, it’s either video or audio-only, so you have to do it right if you want to see my august face on the screen, as well as Darshaun’s. This, directly below, should do that.
It’s on a variety of platforms. This happens to be the Spotify feed.
It’s high time I ran a sale. The audiobook of Eternity’s End is on special at Chirpbooks for a limited time, for just $1.99. That’s crazy cheap for a 22-hour audiobook read by a Grammy-winning narrator. It’s one of my favorites. (Warning, one reviewer didn’t like it because there’s some mild swearing in it.) While you’re there, you can pick up some of the Chaos books on sale, as well. They even put together a special bundle.
https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/eternity-s-end-by-jeffrey-a-carver
It’s been a while since I had an interview, but now that’s changed. I recently had a talk with JR Handley of the Blasters and Blades video podcast. It was good fun, and I hope I gave some interesting nuggets of wisdom. Or at least interest.
You can see it on YouTube. (BTW, this is me being animated! I might have to switch to decaf.)
Edit: The email of this post completely stripped out the YouTube video. Here’s the link:
https://youtu.be/LJsLwvqB2Ok
I have it on good authority that it’s also here:
Rebuilding the front porch just didn’t seem like enough. After all, the porch had only been needed for the last ten or fifteen years. The roof has definitely been on the to-do list for longer than that. And now… it’s done! K’ching!
I’m glad that wasn’t me up there.
I was just going through the In Memoriam list on the website for the upcoming Glasgow 2024 Worldcon. I was shocked by all the names of folk whose passing I completely missed in the last year. This is the consequence of not paying enough attention to the news of my own field, and for that matter to social media. I have been staying away from all that for what seemed good and proper reasons, but clearly that has come at a cost. Here are just some of those on the list, people I knew and liked, or whose work I admired even if I didn’t know them personally. Though I just learned of many of these passings quite recently, I’d like to acknowledge them now.
I am both sobered and saddened at the losses, and amazed at all these humans I am privileged to have had some connection with, whether it just was from their work, or from personal interaction.
May they all rest in peace.