John at SF Signal did a great post on “16 SF/F Authors with The Highest Number of Hugo and Nebula Award Wins“. John is reading, reviewing and generally fanboy-ing short story collections (way to go John).
But I’m a novel reader (and sometime writer). So in the interest of stealing John’s excellent idea, I added a comment to his blog with what I calculated as the list of authors with the highest number of Hugo and Nebula Novel Wins. There are many with two wins, but the majority of these were for the Hugo and Nebula for the same book, so I stopped at three total. Let me know if you see any mistakes. (more…)
A LARGE shout-out to the Tomball High School Cougar Pride Marching Band. They had a very successful October contest season, including: (more…)
It really is Louis’ fault…he brought it up. He took me back to the scene of many crimes and many bar exams, the Bombay Bicycle Club (near the corner of Mulberry and St. Marys, stumbling distance away from Trinity and Breckenridge Park). He reminded me of records set and challenges almost met.
He made me recall that I own the Trinity University record for number of crackers simultaneously stuffed in your mouth and eaten without a beverage. I have not informed Guinness but I’ve drank a few.
We were trying very hard to enjoy pitchers of beer and burgers sitting on the patio at Bombay. I say trying very hard because the bar ran out of Shiner on tap (at 12:30pm???) and it took an hour for the burgers to get to us, delaying our further adventures. But it was a gorgeous day, Alamo beer on tap was an able substitute, and the story swapping began. (more…)
The dynamic due put together a phenomenal acoustic album, for Dave and Tim fans, DMB fans and accessible to music lovers of all genres
Yes, I’m a Dave Matthew’s fanboy. I purchased both the CD, the DVD and bought early so I would get the extra Europe 07 CD (my wife and I met Monte and Margaret from Munich in Oxford, UK to see the boys, and I’m sure I can hear the girls screaming on those tracks).
UPDATE: Since many folks have asked, I’ve started adding links to the lyrics on the DMB site.
I’ve had this album since it first came out, and have worn it our on road trips around Texas…maybe it’s the reason my iPod disc drive crashed (just in time for Christmas…hmmmm). Why should you own this album? The Dave Letterman Matthews Top Ten: (more…)
South Africa beats reining champs England 15-6 to claim the 2007 RWC Championship. In pool play on September 14, South Africa had beaten England 36-0. After that game, Jonny Wilkinson returned to the team, putting them on a four match win streak. But the Springboks gave Wilkinson little opportunity to put his mark on the game! Wilkinson scored all of England’s points on two penalty kicks, but missed two drop kicks, whereas Percy Montgomery, the leading scorer in this RWC, had 12 points for South Africa on four penalty kicks.
South Africa and fans are very happy that instant replay is used in RWC play! At the beginning of the second half (South Africa led 9-3), center Matthew Tait made a great run setting up Mark Cueto for what was called a try on the field. But instant replay did show that Cueto’s left foot touched out of bounds just before the ball was put down for a try when he was tackled by South Africa number 8 Danie Rossouw (a winger tackled by an 8??). The try, which would have been a game turner, was not to be. (more…)
Ancient civilizations, martial arts, and a potential biological apocalypse. What more could you ask for in a novel? Don’t categorize it, just read it.
I find Mr. Rosenfeld a kindred spirit: an author, a martial artist, a studier of ancient civilizations. His previous effort on martial arts fiction, The Cutting Season, remains one of my favorite efforts in that narrow niche.
On the surface, the plot of The Crocodile and The Crane seems predictable: two Chinese children learn a set of qigong exercises from their father, who is a savant of the ways of internal energy, and the exercises make them immortal (or at least slow down their aging). A biological disease based on the “too many fish in the fish bowl” theory attacks mankind, quickly spreading around the world. The obvious plot line is that the unique qigong practice thwarts the disease, the main question is how or if it gets out to the public at large.
What makes Mr. Rosenfeld’s telling of the story so enjoyable are the subplots, the philosophy, the history that is woven into the fabric of the story. The book is a page turner, rarely slowing down. (more…)
Jonny Wilkinson almost went from hero to goat. After coming back from injury, missing
the first two matches of pool play, the England flyhalf led his team through to the semi’s including an upset of Australia. But, through minute 75 of England’s semifinal match with France, Wilkinson had missed 4 of 5 kicks, and his team trailed France 9-8 with just five minutes remaining.
But a penalty kick in minute 75 and a trademark dropkick in minute 78 has Wilkinson on the verge of leading his team to a 2nd consecutive RWC title, by beating France 14-9 (nice BBC article on Wilkinson’s kicking here).
England will meet South Africa, winners against Argentina 37-13. (more…)
- Elric
- The Chronicles of Corum
- The Eternal Champion
- Von Bek
- Hawkmoon
- Gloryanna
- The Warlord of the Air
All are sitting on my shelves, all enjoyable reads from the venerable Mr. Moorcock, the subject of this week’s podcast from my friends Shaun and the lovely Sam (or is it Sam and the lovely Shaun??) at Adventures in SciFi Publishing. The Chronicles of Corum and, of course, Elric, are my particular faves. I learned quite a bit from the interview Shaun does with Mr. Moorcock, including some reminders and flashbacks to the early days of scifi, and some glimpses of his new novel and future works. Highly recommended podcast, this episode and all others.
My son is a well-read, well-informed world traveler at sixteen years old. His blank look when I told him I was reading an advanced copy of a new book by Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein is just one of the many reasons I am excited about the long overdue publication of this book. Cousteau died in 1997, and the absence of his influence in the past decade is echoed in my son’s generation’s lack of recognition. From the foreword by Bill McKibben:
For those of us who come of age in the 1960s or ’70s, the picture of Jacques Cousteau is fixed forever in our minds. A slight but wiry man, yellow tank peeking over his shoulder, falling backward off the stern of the good ship Calypso as he prepared for yet another dive down among the rays or the jellyfish or the sea cows or the parrot fish - down, literally, into his world, “the undersea world of Jacques Cousteau.” His voice became just as familiar, with its somehow slightly wistful but still infectious Gallic intonation. “In ze wisdom of ze dolphins lies ze test of human wisdom.”
Always passionate, frequently logical, sometimes preachy, The Human, The Orchid and The Octopus presents Mr. Cousteau’s unique perspective on personal exploration, the environment and our power to influence it. It sits well on my bookshelf next to volume 1 of The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau that my father gave me years ago, a tribute to one of the world’s great explorers and visionaries. The influences of Cousteau and his unique perspective on man’s effect on the environment are felt in the perceived environmental calamity in my own novel, Dusk Before the Dawn. (more…)
This is why they play the games.
In two somewhat stunning turns, the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the world, New Zealand and Australia, are sent to the sidelines by England and France who will meet in one semi. Argentina, winners over Scotland 19-13 (sorry Gordon) and South Africa (37-20 over Fiji) meet in the other semi. (more…)
