Monthly Archives: April 2013

April 5, 2013 · 10:23 am

More Crossovers

Crossovers, or mash-ups, put two or more disparate ideas, shows or elements together, hopefully with comic effect.  For earlier posts like this, type “Crossover” into the search box on my home page.  Enjoy!

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April 5, 2013 · 7:46 am

Cosplay Is NOT Consent

Cosplay is appearing in costume play to have fun and hang out with friends and fellow fans.  Often cosplayers go to Conventions for Comic Books, pop culture, science fiction, and steampunk.  Appearing in costume, sometimes form fitting and attractive superhero garb is a fun time.  However, there is a growing negative trend of people showing up to not only ogle the cosplayers, but to shout out sexual comments, obscenities, make propositions, or even touch or grope these cosplayers.  Not only is this wrong, illegal and demeaning to the cosplayers, who often show up at the event at great cost in money, outfit preparation and make-up, but it also ruins what they have worked for so long – a chance to relax and have fun with their friends of similar interests.

This is a good article here that Cosplay is NOT Consent.  Just because a cute person is in costume, does not make them an object to fondle.  Even at an actual strip club, patrons cannot simply reach up and touch performers, what makes people think they can do that to a person dressed in a cosplay outfit?  In addition, many of the cosplayers are underage, and could not give legal consent if they wished.  Some of these unrestrained pervert assaulters are harrassing children.

I have several friends in the cosplay community, and I dress as well in steampunk and other outfits (though not so well) myself.  A couple of very cool young ladies who cosplay, and happen to also be very pretty, were being “interviewed” by media with a camera.  All the ogling cameraman and reported could do were make sexual references and questions.  “What is your favorite sexual position?”  Really?!  Asking young women in costumes having fun at a comic book convention about their sex life on camera?  This really needs to stop now.  Here is an article on the topic”

The Beginnings of CONsent

Posted by 

 April 3, 2013

 

Last weekend at Wondercon 2013, I began work on a project I have wanted to do for some time now. As many of our readers may know, there has been escalating tension within the convention going community regarding the physical and emotional safety of cosplayers. Last week, cosplayer Meagan Marie spoke outagainst the people within the gaming industry who treat female cosplayers as pieces of meat, only there for the enjoyment of men. This, and the continued discussion within my circle of cosplay friends has pushed my plans forward, and I now present to you the beginnings of my photo essay, inspired by#IneedFeminismBecause; “CONsent: The Importance of Treating Cosplayers with Respect.

I presented cosplayers with a wipe off board, simply reading “Cosplay =/= Consent” and asked them about their experiences of harassment. I was not surprised to hear many horrible stories from women and men alike. These can be as seemingly harmless and annoying as not asking for permission before taking a picture or bothering them for a picture or interview while they were taking a water or food break. But the majority of the stories were more serious and ranged from threats of violence to inappropriate touching, and from lewd facebook messages to stalking.

 

The consensus is that it isn’t safe to be a woman in cosplay. Yirico, a cosplayer known for being a Crunchyroll Ambassador and an excellent demonic form Catherine cosplayer, mentioned to me that when she wore that particular costume (which covers literally her whole body head-to-toe and even covers her face in thick, white foundation,) someone still made her self-conscious by commenting loudly on the size of her bottom.

“Men often start with their hand at my waist or shoulder when they ask for a picture with me,” one young woman recalled, “But then their fingers wander to my butt, or stroke my back… And it makes me so uncomfortable. I just want to yell, ‘Hands off!’”

Another said, “Lots of guys have used asking for my photo as a segue to asking for my number. When I turn them down, they always call me a bitch or something much worse.”

And cosplaying women aren’t the only ones this problem affects. “Some guys will put their hands on my girlfriend right in front of me,” one non-cosplayer said of his fantastically costumed girlfriend. “I can always tell that she hates it, but I can’t really step in to help her without looking like a possessive jerk or an obsessed fanboy.”

One photographer mentioned that when he is working with a cosplayer and sees someone trying to take a picture of her butt or up her skirt, he jumps in front of their camera, blocking the shot with his own crotch. This draws attention to the pervert and can shame them, while also protecting the cosplayer. This, and the constant attention I got as a female photographer in cosplay myself, also prompted me to expand my project to include a gallery of “Caught Creep” photos: pictures of photographers trying to take sneaky and/or pervy pictures of cosplayers without their consent.

EDIT: Please note — this was not intended as a personal attack against people who were taking normal convention pictures from afar without asking, but rather meant to point out and stand up to people who were trying to take inappropriate pictures of cosplayers without their consent (e.g. an ass shot, down the shirt, while they were bending over, right after they specifically said “no” to a picture, etc.) This is also not intended as defamation in any way, shape, or form. Many cosplayers frown upon those who don’t ask for pictures, but we would like to take the personal stance that this can be ok under certain circumstances that don’t endanger or majorly inconvenience them. We also would like to state that when in doubt, it is ALWAYS better to ask a cosplayer for permission.

As disheartened as I was by the stories, I was also inspired by the enthusiasm and encouragement that so many of them had for the project. Often, before I could rattle off my intro speech, cosplayers would read my sign and shout “YES!” “OH MY GOD, THIS!” or “THANK YOU SO MUCH!” Many of the cosplayers and photographers I spoke to even wanted to personalize their statement or use this project as a venue to speak their mind about the subject. Others beckoned more of their friends over to participate too, or mentioned that they wanted to contribute more to the project somehow by spreading it through their fanpages or local communities.

This is just the beginning. I will be traveling to as many conventions as I can across the West Coast and taking more and more portraits, but I am only one person. There are so many places that I, alone, will not be able to reach… Even with help from the other Sirens, this project cannot succeed fully without the help and support of the global fan community.

That is where you come in. Whether or not you are a cosplayer, you can contribute a picture of yourself holding a sign that says Cosplay =/= Consent or anything else you feel is appropriate to convey your feelings. Additionally, whenever you are at a convention and catch someone in the act of taking a sneaky, unauthorized photo of a cosplayer, please snap a photo of them and submit it under #CaughtCreep. You can submit viaFacebook (tagging our page in the photo,) on Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr with the tag #CONsent, or directly to us via email. If you are a photographer or organization who would like to gather many photos and contribute, please contact us about setting up a joint gallery and the materials necessary to make it happen at various events.

We are looking for stories and more images starting immediately! We would love for as many people to participate as possible, but in the end we would like to have a complete gallery on flickr (and maybe even work towards making a formal book) so please let us know what you have contributed, no matter how small, and how to credit you when reposting your submission in our galleries.

To share your story, you can comment here, on facebook (publicly or via private message,) via email or any other method you can think of. If you wish to remain anonymous please say so in your message. We humbly ask that you keep us in the loop and mention us in your submission so that we can better keep track of every image to have the most complete gallery possible.

The full gallery collected thus far can be viewed on our flickr page here. Thank you for your support and I hope you are as inspired by these brave individuals as I am.

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April 4, 2013 · 10:42 pm

New engine could boost electric cars

New internal combustion engine could boost electric cars

By 

Published March 13, 2013

FoxNews.com

  • A revolutionary new internal combustion engine doesn’t go in circles, at all.
Developed by engineers at the German Aerospace Center’s Institute of Vehicle Concepts, the Free Piston Linear Generator is an all-new type of powerplant designed to be used as a range extender for electric cars.

The motor is comprised of two pistons, on either side of a single combustion chamber. Instead of using a crankcase to convert linear piston movement into rotational energy to turn a driveshaft or conventional electric motor, the pistons are mounted on air springs that generate electricity directly as they move back and forth.

As an added benefit, the design allows the size of the combustion chamber and its compression ratio to be infinitely adjusted without having to change parts, allowing it to run on a variety of fuels, including diesel, natural gas and hydrogen.

Although it currently exists only as an oversized technical demonstrator installed in a laboratory, the team behind it believes that it can be downsized into a compact unit that weighs about 125 pounds and puts out up to 40 hp. Several of the generators could be installed side by side to meet the power requirements of various vehicles.

The main hurdle holding back the widespread acceptance of electric cars are the expensive, heavy and relatively low-capacity batteries currently available, and the technology is improving at a snail’s pace. Range extenders allow automakers to use smaller, cheaper batteries that are good enough for everyday driving, while offering convenient long-range, though not zero-emissions, capability.

However, the motors found in cars like this on the road today, like the Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Karma, are simply internal combustion engines that have been converted from use in conventional vehicles, and not optimized for the task at hand. Future generations of plug-in hybrids are expected to feature engines specifically designed to act as range extenders, and the Free Piston Linear Generator is just one idea.

A spokesperson for the center says a production version of the Free Piston Linear Generator could be on the road within four or five years if an industrial partner comes on board to develop the technology for commercial use.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/03/13/new-internal-combustion-engine-could-boost-electric-cars/?intcmp=features#ixzz2PZ49Xjr7

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April 4, 2013 · 11:01 am

Top 10 Airship Disasters

I actually did not know there were this many airship disasters, even though I thought I had a pretty good working knowledge of airships and their history.  I could not have even named ten of them, much less the top 10.  This is a very interesting article.

The top 10 worst Airship Disasters can be found at this link:

http://www.techgraffiti.com/10-worst-airship-crashes?image=17

I have reposted three of them here for your enjoyment, for the rest, please click the link above:

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1.  April 4, 1933: USS Akron

The biggest airship disaster by far occurred when the USS Akron crashed on April 4, 1933, off the coast of New Jersey. The Akron was a rigid airship belonging to the U.S. Navy, and along with the Hindenburg, to this day it holds the record as the largest helium-filled airship. It could store 20,000 gallons of gasoline, giving it a range of up to 10,500 miles. It was indeed a remarkable airship in many ways.

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Before the fateful crash, the Akron had experienced three other more minor accidents, including one that occurred on May 11, 1932, when two crew members plunged to their death from mooring lines (pictured here).

On the day of the final disaster, the Akron took off and was soon in the midst of extremely bad weather. Yet matters were about to take a turn for the worse. Violent winds tore off rudder cables and pushed the airship down tail-first into the rough Atlantic, where it quickly broke into pieces and sank, killing 73 men. Just three lucky survivors were rescued from the sea. And in a further tragedy, a blimp sent out to look for survivors also crashed, causing the deaths of two more.

 

The USS Shenandoah, which crashed on September 2, 1925, killing 14 of her crew

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The loss of the Akron marked the end of the era of Navy airships, in the same way the Hindenburg disaster spelled an end for commercial Zeppelins. Airplanes took over where airships left off and became the vehicles of choice for modern air travelers.

Even so, nowadays, with the high cost of fuel, people are again turning to these gas-filled craft, especially for cargo transport. Thus, there’s always the chance that these stately ships may someday grace the skies as they once did – albeit hopefully with less disastrous consequences.

2. October 5, 1930: British R101

At 731 feet long, the R101 was the world’s largest airship until the Hindenburg came along. This giant aircraft was built in the hope that it would be able to complete long-distance routes around the British Empire, including flights to Canada and India.

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Unfortunately, the R101 only made one overseas flight – which also turned out to be its last. There were discussions beforehand about whether the airship had been tested sufficiently to attempt the long trip to India, yet a decision was made that it could make the voyage. So it was that on October 4, 1930, the R101 set out in wet and windy weather.

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On October 5, the airship was flying over France when it suddenly took a dive and then a second dive, resulting in it hitting the ground. This forced landing is not what destroyed the ship, however. Rather, it was the exploding gasbags and the flames that proceeded to devour the aircraft. Of the 54 people on board, the lives of 48 were taken in the crash.

3. December 21, 1923: French Navy’s Dixmude

The Dixmude started out with the German Navy as theLZ-114, but was later given to the French as part of war reparations. Renamed by the French, the Dixmude was put through several rigorous test flights over the Mediterranean, including a record-breaking 118-hour flight to Algeria over the Sahara Desert.

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The Dixmude‘s last journey began early on December 21, 1923, when it attempted a test flight between Sicily and Tunisia. The airship encountered a storm and is believed to have been struck by lightning, which caused it to explode. According to news sources, 48 men on board were killed.

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It was a few days before the body of the lieutenant in charge of the airship was discovered. Shortly afterwards, parts of the ship’s cabin and a burned flag were found. The rest of the airship, though, was lost at sea forever.

AGAIN, for the rest of them, click link above.  Thanks!

 

 

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April 4, 2013 · 5:58 am

Amazon Buys Goodreads

Amazon purchase of Goodreads stuns book industry

Alarm from Authors’ Guild, and many Goodreads users, over ‘shocking vertical integration’ but at least one writer declares move ‘cool’

Goodreads

Goodreads news, bad news? The Goodreads website

“Truly devastating” for some authors but “like finding out my mom is marrying that cool dude next door that I’ve been palling around with” for another, Amazon’s announcement late last week that it was buying the hugely popular reader review site Goodreads has sent shockwaves through the book industry.

The acquisition, terms of which Amazon.com did not reveal, will close in the second quarter of this year. Goodreads, founded in 2007, has more than 16m members, who have added more than four books per second to their “want to read” shelves over the past 90 days, according to Amazon. The internet retailer’s vice president of Kindle content, Russ Grandinetti, said the two sites “share a passion for reinventing reading”.

“Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft. Together we intend to build many new ways to delight readers and authors alike,” said Grandinetti, announcing the buy. Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler said the deal with Amazon meant “we’re now going to be able to move faster in bringing the Goodreads experience to millions of readers around the world”, adding on his blog that “we have no plans to change the Goodreads experience and Goodreads will continue to be the wonderful community we all cherish”.

But despite Chandler’s reassurances, many readers and authors reacted negatively to the news. American writers’ organisation the Authors’ Guild called the acquisition a “truly devastating act of vertical integration” which meant that “Amazon’s control of online bookselling approaches the insurmountable”. Bestselling legal thriller author Scott Turow, president of the Guild, said it was “a textbook example of how modern internet monopolies can be built”.

“The key is to eliminate or absorb competitors before they pose a serious threat,” said Turow. “With its 16 million subscribers, Goodreads could easily have become a competing online bookseller, or played a role in directing buyers to a site other than Amazon. Instead, Amazon has scuttled that potential and also squelched what was fast becoming the go-to venue for online reviews, attracting far more attention than Amazon for those seeking independent assessment and discussion of books. As those in advertising have long known, the key to driving sales is controlling information.”

Turow was joined in his concerns by members of Goodreads, many of whom expressed their fears about what the deal would mean on Chandler’s blog. “I have to admit I’m not entirely thrilled by this development,” wrote one of the more level-headed commenters. “As a general rule I like Amazon, but unless they take an entirely 100% hands-off attitude toward Goodreads I find it hard to believe this will be in the best interest for the readers. There are simply too many ways they can interfere with the neutral Goodreads experience and/or try to profit from the strictly volunteer efforts of Goodreads users.”

But not all authors were against the move. Hugh Howey, author of the smash hit dystopian thriller Wool – which took off after he self-published it via Amazon – said it was “like finding out my mom is marrying that cool dude next door that I’ve been palling around with”. While Howey predicted “a lot of hand-wringing over the acquisition”, he said there were “so many ways this can be good for all involved. I’m still trying to think of a way it could suck.”

“Right now, I spend a lot of time on both sites in both capacities,” said Howey. “My guess is that we won’t see many changes at all. I’m betting that the real acquisition here is all the data behind the scenes. The algorithms that tell me what to buy (and almost always nail it) are going to get better. The social networks that feed my reading habit are going to get stronger. The people who helped make Goodreads awesome are going to get richer. And the people at Amazon, who I have gotten to know this past year and who to a man and woman love the fuck out of some books, are going to keep trying to get the right ones in the hands of readers.”

The acquisition of Goodreads follows Amazon’s purchase of Shelfari, another social reading site, in 2008.

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April 3, 2013 · 12:34 pm

Steampunk Animals

I have more of these, so I will do at least one more post.  Steampunk-style animals.  Enjoy!

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April 3, 2013 · 11:56 am

Write Westerns? Great Resource for Writing…

This is another of the many great resources I have found as an author.  I write a lot of historical fiction, including Steampunk.  The “Age of Steam” is considered to be around 1830 to 1900, and closely associated with the Victorian Era as a result.  However, lots of stuff happened in the United States at that time, as well as other countries.  In America, we had westward expansion, the Civil War, the trans-continental railroad, the invention of metal, steam-powered navies, and massive industrialization.  My book, The Travelers’ Club – Fire and Ash, crosses America in 1880 and I did months of research to get all of the historical information correct.  A bit added here and there really adds flavor to a story.  For western “slang” appropriate to the time period, I found this site:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poindexterfamily/OldWestSlang.html

WESTERN SLANG & PHRASES

A Writer’s Guide to the Old West

1860’s ~ 1880’s

Being a small compilation drawn from period newspapers, books, and memoirs

Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show Players

Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show Players

The thing I like most about sites like this, is that they are well researched.  This one takes words and phrases from actual newspaper, books and memoirs written by westerners from the 1860s through the 1880s.  You can only throw a bit of jargon at readers or they get confused, but a smattering here and there lends a great deal of authentic feel to the story.  Michael Stackpole told me he likes to read journals of people during the time of his books, so he can find those rare gems of information lost to regular historical accounts.  It was great advice.

At the bottom of the site are all sorts of other useful links as well!

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April 3, 2013 · 11:39 am

Dark Matter Update

Dark matter, hidden substance that makes up the universe, possibly found by $2b space physics experiment

By Tia Ghose

Published April 03, 2013

Space.com

  • s134e007532

    The powerful Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) is visible at center left. The blackness of space and Earth’s horizon provide the backdrop for the scene, on May 20, 2011 (Flight Day 5 of the STS-134 shuttle mission). (NASA)

  • 478264main_ams_concept

    Artist’s concept of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle physics detector that will be installed on the starboard truss of the International Space Station. (NASA)

A massive particle detector mounted on the International Space Station may have detected elusive dark matter at last, scientists announced Wednesday.
The detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), measures cosmic-ray particles in space. After detecting billions of these particles over a year and a half, the experiment recorded a signal that may be the result of dark matter, the hidden substance that makes up more than 80 percent of all matter in the universe.

AMS found about 400,000 positrons, the antimatter partner particles of electrons. The energies of these positrons suggest they might have been created when particles of dark matter collided and destroyed each other.

NASA will hold a press conference detailing the AMS science results at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT) today. You can watch the AMS science results live on FoxNews.com.

Elusive matter
Dark matter emits no light and can’t be detected with telescopes, and it seems to dwarf the ordinary matter in the universe.

Physicists have suggested that dark matter is made of WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles, which almost never interact with normal matter particles. WIMPs are thought to be their own antimatter partner particles, so when two WIMPS meet, they would annihilate each other, as matter and antimatter partners destroy each other on contact. The result of such a violent collision between WIMPs would be a positron and an electron, said study co-author Roald Sagdeev, a physicist at the University of Maryland.

The characteristics of the positrons detected by AMS match predictions for the products of dark-matter collisions. For example, based on an overabundance of positrons measured by a satellite-based detector called the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA), scientists expected that positrons from dark matter would be found at energy levels higher than 10 gigaelectron volts (GeV), said study co-author Veronica Bindi, a physicist at the University of Hawaii.

And the positrons found by AMS increase in abundance from 10 GeV to 250 GeV, with the slope of the increase reducing by an order of magnitude over the range from 20 GeV to 250 GeV — just what scientists expect from positrons created by dark-matter annihilations.

Furthermore, the positrons appear to come from all directions in space, and not a single source in the sky. This finding is also what researchers expected from the products of dark matter, which is thought to permeate the universe.

Intriguing signal
The $2 billion AMS instrument was delivered to the International Space Station in May 2011 by the space shuttle Endeavour, and installed by spacewalking astronauts on the orbiting laboratory’s exterior backbone.

In just its first year and half, the AMS detector has measured 6.8 million positrons and electrons. As the instrument continues to collect data, scientists will be better able to tell whether the positron signal really does come from dark matter.

If the positrons aren’t created by annihilating WIMPs, there are other possible explanations. For example, spinning stars called pulsars spread out around the plane of our Milky Way galaxy.

But even with more AMS data, “we will still not be completely able to figure out if it’s really a dark-matter source or a pulsar,” Bindi told SPACE.com. To understand dark matter thoroughly, scientists hope to detect WIMPs directly via underground experiments on Earth, such as the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and XENON Dark Matter projects.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/03/dark-matter-major-astrophysics-discovery/?intcmp=features#ixzz2PQX63gak

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April 2, 2013 · 2:56 pm

Digital Publishing

Posted to Nerdvana at the East Valley Tribune by Bob Leeper:

http://blogs.evtrib.com/nerdvana/books/are-printed-books-histor-e-local-authors-embrace-digital-publishing/65468/

Are printed books histor-E? Local authors embrace digital publishing

Posted by  on February 17, 2012 – 1:34 am

eBooks vs DinosaursDinosaurs walk among us. No, I don’t mean giant reptiles munching vegetation down on Main Street, or carnivorously carousing up the center of Central Boulevard. I’m talking about those of us who have yet to trade in our prized paperbacks and hallowed hardcover books for the new wave of Nooks, Kindles, BeBooks and other e-book reading devices.

For some of us, they will have to pull our dog-eared printed copy of Jurassic Park from our cold dead hands, but as e-books continue to grow in popularity, many local writers have embraced the medium of electronic books as an easy and inexpensive way to reach the masses with their literary efforts.

Bob Nelson is the CEO and manager of the local “media microglomerate” Brick Cave Media, an independent publisher that relies heavily on sales of electronic media. Bob was at the forefront of the ‘e’ revolution, offering books and magazines for sale online as early as 1996. He has since expanded his efforts and now publishes several local authors in electronic formats including e-books, CDs, DVDs and ‘old-school’ print.

“In 1996, myself and Joe Giunta published a literary magazine called Anthology,” Mr. Nelson said, “and the idea of being able to present readers with the magazine on their computer, as we envisioned it on page, but without the printing overhead, was tremendously appealing.” Between 2010 and 2012 Brick Cave Media has experienced triple digit revenue growth in their e-book sales, and for the first six weeks of 2012 they have done more business than in the first 5 months of 2011 combined.

Mr. Nelson explains, “As a consumer, and as a publisher, I see that some businesses ‘get it’ when it comes to e-books, and some do not. Amazon most definitely ‘gets it’ when it comes to creating an ecosystem that is pleasant to shop in and is user friendly for small-press and self-published authors to make their work available to a large audience. Some companies, like Sony, have had a hard time keeping up with the rapid changes in the industry over the last two years, while others like Apple, have embraced and pushed the medium to new heights. Others, like Google, have approached the effort in minimalist style, which can create an unfriendly user experience.”

Brick Cave BooksBrick Cave Media

Bob continued, “I always encourage people to take charge of their destiny, and this technology allows writers to do that. The challenge now is that everyone has the same access to the same technology, so you must become a savvy marketer to stand out from the crowd, and that will become more evident as more people choose to self-publish.”

While Brick Cave Media represents writers from all corners of the Phoenix Metro area, they are based out of the East Valley and sponsor many local spoken-word and writing events, including the sci-fi & fantasy writer’s workshop, at Lo-Fi Coffee in Mesa, on the first Saturday of every month. The workshop starts at 10 a.m. and includes a reading and discussion session, writing exercises and other fun activities to help you make your writing better. Authors or aspiring writers wanting to contact Brick Cave Media can email Bob Nelson at bob@brickcavemedia.com

There are also groups on the West-side of the Valley that can help aspiring authors to develop their work and get it out to an audience. The Westside Wordsmiths meet regularly and their members consist of both published authors and up-and-coming writers. Wordsmith member Michael Bradleyhas experienced e-book success with his steampunk novel The Travelers’ Club and the Ghost Ship.Michael says, “My own sales are steadily increasing on Kindle and in person. My fellow writers consider me a success story, but I am nowhere near where I plan to be.”

Mr. Bradley is working on starting up an Arizona Literary Guild and speaks regularly to new authors about independent publishing and its ups and downs. You can get more information on the Westside Wordsmiths and the upcoming Arizona Literary Guild by contacting Michael at email eiverness@cox.net

Here is a list of several genre books written by local authors and available online as eBooks, or for us dinosaurs, most can be ordered in print as well.

  • Escape Velocity by The Klute – Escape the Earth’s gravitational pull with poetry and musings by The Klute, including Vampire Slayer, I Never Met the Dead Man and Marketing the Planet.
  • Immortal Sherwood by J.A. Giunta – Set in the future, a computer programmer must deal with both his lost love and a sudden change of circumstance that could render his most recent programming effort to be his last.
  • The Stories of Haven by Sharon Skinner – There is nothing more dangerous than a woman scorned, especially when she can turn you to stone… The first Sharon Skinner story of Haven features the origin story of one of Haven’s first characters. If she’s a villain or a hero is for you to decide.
  • The Travelers’ Club and the Ghost Ship by Michael Bradley – This is not the 1880 you read about in your history books…
    Confederate sharpshooter Ashley Cooper discovers alien technologies, a world full of foes, and a showdown with zombies and other creatures of nightmare that will determine the future of mankind.
  • The Crawlspace by Darryl Dawson – There is a place so dark, so narrow and so cold that once you step inside, only nightmares matter. This collection takes you deep into that place with thirteen new tales of horror from the twisted, fertile imagination of Darryl Dawson.
  • The Egg Said Nothing by Caris O’Malley – Meet Manny. He’s your average shut-in with a penchant for late night television and looting local fountains for coins. With eight locks on his door and newspapers covering his windows, he’s a more than a bit paranoid, too. His wasn’t a great life, but it was comfortable-at least it was until the morning he awoke with an egg between his legs.
  • Spectrum by Bob Nelson – A collection of poetry by Bob Nelson, including X-Terminated, Dancing Time Bombs, Casual Indifference and Faith Based Nation. 

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April 2, 2013 · 11:46 am

More Cosplay Pictures

A regular post on the blog site, pictures of cosplayers from all around in different sorts of outfits.  For more, search for “cosplay” in the search box.  For steampunk cosplay, type “steampunk aircrew” in the search box.  Enjoy!

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