BLOGS

It’s time for me to flash you again. Enjoy! http://yvonnenicolas.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/flash-fiction-friday-5-on-the-job/

Ode to Science and vicariously, science fiction, largely inspired by science.

In the Zeitgeist, there seems to be a disdain for expertise, intelligence, assigning such to "elitism," or in the words of Senator Jim Demint of South Carolina (in clear, political dog whistle fashion): "uppity."

They probably would have HATED Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Talents" had they read it:

Realize: she wrote this before the millennium, before the moment of now...may she rest in peace. I feel poetry as well as fiction when it is insightful, almost prophetic, to the human condition...TGP

Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler © 1998, pages 7 – 8 paperback:

FROM Memories of Other Worlds

BY TAYLOR FRANKLIN BANKOLE

 I have read that the period of upheaval that journalists have begun to refer to as “The Apocalypse” or more commonly, more bitterly “the Pox” lasted from 2015 through 2030—a decade and a half of chaos. This is untrue. The Pox has been a much longer torment. It began well before 2015, perhaps even before the turn of the millennium. It has not ended.

      I have also read that the Pox was caused by accidentally coinciding climatic, economic, and sociological crises. It would be more honest to say that the Pox was caused by our own refusal to deal with obvious problems in those areas. We caused the problems: then we sat and watched as they grew into crises. I have heard people deny this, but I was born in 1970. I have seen enough to know that it is true. I have watched education become more a privilege of the rich than the basic necessity that it must be if civilized society is to survive. I have watched as convenience, profit, and inertia excused greater and more dangerous environmental degradation. I have watched poverty, hunger, and disease become inevitable for more and more people.

      Overall, the Pox has had the effect of an installment-plan World War III. In fact, there were several small, bloody shooting wars going on around the world during the Pox. These were stupid affairs—wastes of life and treasure. They were fought, ostensibly, to defend against vicious foreign enemies. All too often, they were actually fought because inadequate leaders did not know what else to do. Such leaders knew that they could depend on fear, suspicion, hatred, need, and greed to arouse patriotic support for war.

      Amid all this, somehow, the United States of America suffered a major nonmilitary defeat. It lost no important war, yet it did not survive the Pox. Perhaps it simply lost sight of what it once intended to be, then blundered aimlessly until it exhausted itself.

      What is left of it now, what it has become, I do not know.

Like the Walking Google: it was meant as a compliment, but the scary connotation (to me, at least) was the lack of apparent need to memorize anything beyond the superficial concerns of 13 - 19 year olds fixated on technology, but unwilling to take the time to master, or advance it. Sadly, most considered offline reading "boring" as well.

Longer Lasting Lasers: I don't know if at our perception range as humans we can notice a pulsed versus a continuous laser. However, this is some good information if your fiction requires it as a background.

I actually pulled this off in a high school physics class demo of total internal reflection (though, I'm not sure the kids appreciated it):

Check out this week’s Hump Day Special. Feel free to drop your thoughts after reading.  http://yvonnenicolas.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/i-gaze-at-myself/

Much Love,

Yvonne

Only 600 LY Away:

OK, that's a grip! Obviously, the human species is "below impulse speeds" let alone FTL travel.

However, it is evidence that we're not alone in the universe, and that life is not so unique to our globe.

I just hope they (if there is a "they") survived their own Drake Equation.

Nanoscale Infection Fighters: part of the asset speculative fiction lends is asking not only can we, but should we? I think of Michael Crichton's novel Prey.

Great News,

Become A Successful Author

will be used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State! It covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more.  Purchase Become A Successful Author (eBook) for only $4.99 from: Amazon or Barnes & Noble or the print version for only $7.99.

Each month at http://www.BecomeASuccessfulAuthor.com contributors share their knowledge of the industry and stick around to answer questions. The next set of post go up Dec. 8. Don't miss out.

Thanks for the support and see you online.

Dee

I did not originate the title (just the resuse of the 80s phrase "I kid you not"): Marilyn Monrobot,  

I’m so excited to introduce everyone to an extraordinary steampunk author. I’ve seen snippets of the “Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman”and I can’t wait to read it. I love books that are filled with action, interest, and have strong characters of color. Please take a look at this neat interview. Meet Balogun Oyabode Abeegunde. Read the rest of the interview here:

http://www.aliciamccalla.com/blog/63-steampunk-author-balogun-oyabode-abeegunde-writes-harriet-tubman-as-an-extraordinary-gentlewoman

So the application period has opened.

I'm trying to decide which stories to submit, and putting out positive energy that there is a spot open for me next summer.

I almost feel that if I get into the workshop next year, that nothing else I ever do will equal that level of excitement. I've been putting off applying for years, but now I feel is the time to do it. Stop worrying if I'm good enough. All I can do is write the stories that I know how to tell, stories that can only come through me and no one else. Plus I owe it to Octavia Butler since she is the one who told me about the program. Twice.

So now I need to read and re-read, and pick the best work I have right now.

A double entendre post on the Higgs Boson: "Ender's Game."

"That Used To Be Us" (redux)...: There was a commentary on Physics Today that the German economy is far superior to ours, and that part of their controversial means was the temerity to use GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT!

See once you read my essay if you see the dangerousness of the "silly season" our politics may bring, and the real possibility of a science denier succeeding President Obama. It could even sensor speculative fiction if it doesn't fit the dogma.

Happy Friday friends! I want to share the 4^th installment of my flash tales. Please feel free to leave a comment. Flash Fiction Friday ~ Turned

Have a great weekend.

AfroFuturism Transdisciplinary Seminar

PSAM 6700 CRN 6822

December 6th, 6pm-8:40pm

Tuesday evenings from 6 - 8:40pm

LOCATION:
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, 66 Fifth Avenue

ADMISSION:
Free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

The Transdisciplinary Seminar in Fine Arts was implemented in 2009 to explore intersections of art and other forms of creativity and knowledge, from the natural sciences to social theory and various areas of design.

The Transdisciplinary Seminar on Afro-Futurism will consider how representations of science, technology and social engineering intersect with African diasporic cultural expressions. Science fiction will be the organizing trope that unites all the guest presentations and works under consideration. Visiting artists and cultural theorists will lecture on the role of futuristic projection in African diasporic art, architecture, film and music. The expediency of science fiction as both a fractured mirror of historical experience and a heterotopic projection of the collective desires of a displaced people will be discussed throughout the semester. Guest lecturers will present lectures that relate to the fields that are central to their research: painting, electronic music, film, video installation, and built environments.

Guest presentations will be interspersed with seminar-style discussions. Students will be expected to complete weekly reading assignments and write brief thought-papers in response to lectures. They will also be required to prepare questions in advance of guest lectures.

Guest Lecturers

1. Alondra Nelson, Associate Professor, Sociology, Columbia. U, editor of Social Text Issue on Afro-Futurism
2. Kodwo Eshun, Artist and Cultural Theorist, co-founder of The Otolith Group, Lecturer at Goldsmiths College
3. Mabel Wilson, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Columbia U.
5. Julie Mehretu, Visual Artist
6. George Lewis, Composer and Cultural Theorist, Associate Professor, Columbia U.
7. Wanuri Kahiu, Filmmaker, Director of the award winning science fiction short, Pumi (in dialogue with NSGS Professor Sean Jacobs)

Vibrations + Electrons = "Phoniton": this research proposes a new way to form a hybrid quantum entity (gotta love theorists) called a “phoniton,” a particle that combines a phonon—the quantum form of vibrations—with a matter excitation, such as an electron that transits between two levels.

I had fun also posting The Black Panther series embed (Reginald Hudlin produced and directed it). T'Challa - the name of the king of the mythical Wakanda nation - apparently goes back 3,000 years. It means "the one," and is given to each successive king of a dynasty. I guess Marvel took license, since his father's name was T'Chaka, which has no meaning at all. "Chaka" -- on the other hand -- means "life" in Arabic/Hebrew.

The Black Panther was the first black modern super hero, even before Luke Cage: Hero for Hire.

Electronics From Your Ink-Jet is a post regarding the usage of carbon nanotubes in the manufacture of thin films (like the one behind your smart phone).

I've published a bunch of my short stories over on Amazon and Smashwords (still catching up on Barnes & Noble, but some are there) under my imprint Razorline Press.  Check out my Amazon Page to see all the titles I have available.  From the very free 30 Minute Plan to Fleshbags.