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Out
of the Woodwork 131. Seasons Greetings to one and all, we hope you have enjoyed reading the newsletter over the past year and we would like to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone one of you seasonal best wishes and a happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year. Simon & Laraine. Terry Pratchett is diagnosed with rare form of early Alzheimer's Disease. Author Terry Pratchett is suffering from a rare form of early Alzheimer's disease, it has been revealed. He said in a statement that with forthcoming conventions and the need to inform his publishers it would have been "unfair to withhold the news". Full BBC story Lisa Tuttle recommends SF/Fantasy and horror books of 2007 in The Times Online, they include Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine", Joe Hill's. "The Heart Shaped Box" & "20th Century Ghosts" as well as Ian McDonald's "Brasyl" and Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End". Full story. Our Digital Book Reader Poll showed some interesting results: 8% only said a definite yes to the Digital Book reader, one customer said "Yes I would as it is benficial to the environment" which is a valid point. Antoher said "Already brought one and waiting for ebooks" A whopping 52% said "never in a million years", one customer went as far as to say "I'll be buried clutching a book" and another responded "What's the point? Give me a good book curled up on the sofa or in bed" Some 39% were not committed, typically "I'd want to see the size of the screen and what kind of lighting is has first. OCR screens can be hard on the vison when used for too long" Another client responed with "Hoping for a device that more closely emulates the book experience, including a two page spread (not one page at a time) and an accurate representation of printed typeface and layout (not a generic HTML look to a book page" Of interest was this comment "I don't think you can beat the feel, the texture and the smell of a real book but I know that some of the electronic devices are starting to get quite clever. I recently saw an HP device demonstrated that was quite impressive. So, one day maybe, but not just yet!" Happy Birthday Arthur C Clarke on the 16th December. A former astronaut from United States is expected to participate on 16th December, in the 90th birthday celebrations of Arthur C. Clarke, one of the grand masters of science fiction.Asian Tribune learns that Sri Lanka Government is making arrangements to celebrate the 90th Birthday of Aurthur C.Clarke on a grand scale. It is expected that either a former astronaut or an official from NASA would participate in the celebrations on behalf of the United States of America. Also Arthur Clarke’s friends and associates from various countries all over the world will be there participating in the birthday celebrations of outer space Guru. Arthur Clarke was born in the seaside town of Minehead, Somerset,
England on December 16, 1917. He was the eldest of four children. At last a response but sadly little in the way of a resolution to this teaser! Hi Your newsletter readers have been 100% successful in identifying books for me in the past from sketchy plot lines. I wonder if they can help again? I've just read Ben Bova's Powersat (at last he's found another country other than England to draw his villains from!). The idea of a satellite gathering power from the sun and beaming it to Earth as microwave energy is not new. I remember starting to read a book, possibly serialised in a magazine, about a manned satellite doing just the same. In this book, someone on board the satellite is unofficially experimenting with some electronic device which unexpectedly causes the satellite to move out of its normal alignment and orbit. As a result the microwave beam (to somewhere in the Arabian desert?) moves off target and causes havoc. That's about as far as I got. I got the impression that the electronic device was probably going to prove, unexpectedly, to be some new source of drive for space vehicles. Does this ring any bells with anyone? I can't even begin to put a date to this but probably 20+ years ago. All the best. Chris Smith ********************************************************************************************* Well Richard Christou responded with this, which doesn't really help but its the thought that counts! Simon,
Re Out of the Woodwork 130 and the microwave satellite. I remember what I believe is the same story. If I am right this was published as serial in Analog in the mid-sixties, not 20 years ago. Unfortunately I can’t remember either the title or the author, but the plot from memory goes something like this.
The electronic device is indeed a new type of reactionless drive, although it doesn’t prodcue very high acceleration. The experimenter, who has no idea what he has got, has the device bolted to the space station. When he turns it on for tests, the station is actually moved from its orbit – hence the catastrophe with the microwaves. However, my recollection of the purpose of the story was demonstrate how a world government (which is what was in existence in the world of the story – UN takes over the world with exclusive control of nuclear weapons) can become a tyranny. The people on the station (who are more or less all scientists and free thinkers of one sort or another) finally use the drive (when they have understood what is going on) to move the station out to the asteroids to escape.
If it helps at all, I don’t think the piece was by a major writer, or the name would probably have stuck in my memory.
Have a good Christmas
Richard Christou ************************************************************************************** Chris responded with this: Simon Please pass on my thanks to Richard. He is obviously thinking of the same story as I am. If he is also right about when it was published it wouldn't surprise me. I've reached an age when things that happened 40+ years ago seem like yesterday. However I haven't yet started to lose my short-term memory. (Hollow laughter from the wife!) If Richard's reply gets published it might further jog someone's memory with the extra plot lines he mentions. Many thanks and all the best for the festive season. Chris Smith Can you help? Greetings and Salutations, (if you can help - e-mail us) Yeti Prints found on the slopes of Everest: A US TV presenter says he and his team have found a series of footprints in the Everest region of Nepal resembling descriptions of the mysterious Yeti. The presenter and his colleagues say they are "very excited", although they are not saying they definitely believe it is the mark of the Yeti. Josh Gates and his crew work on a series called Destination Truth, which follows reports of fantastic creatures. The footprints found on Wednesday have renewed Yeti excitement in Nepal. Full BBC story Gunpowder plot "Skin" book sold at auction: A private buyer has paid £5,400 at auction for a book alleged to be bound in the skin of a Jesuit priest executed over the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. The macabre lot, deemed "a bit spooky" by the auctioneer, has the mysterious image of a face on the cover, said to be that of Father Henry Garnet. Auctioneer Sid Wilkinson of Doncaster said the face shows the haunting presence of a man falsely accused. The book went to an unnamed buyer during a "lively" sale on Sunday. Full BBC story Fossil hunters have uncovered the remains of a dinosaur that has much of its soft tissue still intact. Skin, muscle, tendons and other tissue that rarely survive fossilisation have all been preserved in the specimen unearthed in North Dakota, US. The 67 million-year-old dinosaur is one of the duck-billed hadrosaur group. Full BBC story More from the department of self congratulatory pompous bragging!: Hello Simon and/or Laraine, Aurealis Award finalists 2007 - best Australian, SF, Fantasy and Horror - Winners will be announced at the Aurealis Awards ceremony at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane on Saturday 26 January 2008.
http://www.fantasticliterature.com We also buy books and travel around the country to purchase, we will pay a finders fee to anyone who puts us in touch with a collection we later purchase. Instant ordering on our web site in
small press, magazines Previous OotW - archives OotW121. OotW122. OotW 123, OotW 124, OotW 125, OotW 126, OotW 127, OotW 128, OotW 129, OotW 130. |
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