Heuristic

If you only read one article about the Peter Watts case, it should be this one.

Dr. Peter Watts, author and marine biologist, will not be going to jail. He is however a convicted felon now and will not be allowed to return to the United States from his home in Canada.

I’ve mentioned this before, if you need a refresher.

I’m relieved that Dr. Watts received a suspended sentence, and angry that he was convicted at all.

Three writing links for you, all on fiction things that I’ve been working on.

• Fire up your fiction
• Danger signs
• Cutting words

And finally, a bit of self-promotion that I should have put up here on Friday. My latest Science in My Fiction post went up Friday: Worldbuilding with real worlds. It looks like this will be the first in a series of worldbuilding ecology articles. Anything you’d like to see?

So you all know that I’m writing for the new Science in My Fiction group blog, right? And you’re all reading it and commenting regularly, right? And you will definitely read and leave comments on Friday when my next post goes up, right?

But did you notice the contest??? Short fiction based on current science, with substantial prizes? Deadline is June 30. You’ve got time to do some research and write some fiction.

The editors want to put together a print edition of the winning stories. Wouldn’t that be great? But they’ve got to get enough pre-orders to pay for it, otherwise the print edition just won’t happen. Please consider pre-ordering a copy, and perhaps throwing in a few extra dollars to get more Science in your Fiction.

If you haven’t seen this picture of volcano and lightning, you need to.

There are plenty more volcano pictures with varying degrees of Doom on Flickr.

And finally, if any of you are on Twitter, I’m looking for people to play Fallen London with (called Echo Bazaar formally, I think). It’s clever, not very time-consuming, and attractive. Certain tasks require having friends play too.

If it’s Thursday this must be… some hotel room.

Last week was talking about science in Georgia, at my favorite annual science conference.

This week is training sessions for field sampling. Once in a great while I get lucky and get to send a national crew out to do my work for me. Sort of: it isn’t my work exactly, but I was involved in designing the national sampling protocol, and I will be analyzing and writing up certain sections of the results.

I will shortly have to pack up and check out before the last day of training, but I have just a couple minutes to check in.

So what’s on my list after that? Not so much travel, but plenty to do.

Pack up a bunch of Stringpage orders. This has been the busiest-ever week for number of orders, and I’m out of town. (I clearly state several places on the page that I may take up to a week to ship, two weeks if you’re ordering things that must be dyed.)

Work exciting new research material into novel. I’ve known where the plot goes for a long time, but have been flailing on some other aspects. Solution seems to have been to step back, think through the worldbuilding again, do some extra research. I’ll know when I start rewriting. I’d like to use this one for my Viable Paradise application, so I want it to be right.

Put together my next Science in My Fiction post, for April 23.

Finish the new short story.

Send previous short story back out. (Finally completed the revisions!)

Pin down plans for trip to Albuquerque in July. I’m teaching at a weaving conference. And also, work on my class.

Make up my mind on World Fantasy Con in Columbus in October. It’s within driving distance, and would be a good thing for me to do.

Plus, you know, day job and house stuff and yard work. Cat snuggling. The usual. Right now, I’ve got to get going. Long day of standing in cow pastures ahead.

There’s a new blog in town, Science in My Fiction, devoted to getting science fiction and fantasy writers thinking about new developments in science. It’s been running for about a month, and there are some thought-provoking articles already.

My first contribution, on learning science, appeared today.

Please go take a look, and leave a comment on any post you find interesting. You’d make me and the whole staff very happy.

I mentioned in December the unpleasant experience that Dr. Peter Watts, a science fiction author and biologist, had when trying to leave the United States. Dr. Watts was harassed and beaten by the US Border Patrol, then charged with assault.

The case went to trial. The assault charges were dismissed, but Dr. Watts was still charged with a felony, “failure to comply.” You see, he made the mistake of asking what the officers were doing instead of immediately doing whatever they said. Remember, this is after being hit in the head and face a couple of times - I’d be confused too. Dr. Watts is taking it much more calmly than I would. (The whole story, in his words.) The story has been covered many places; I’d recommend this and this, and maybe this.

I’d also recommend staying away from the Port Huron media.

He stopped her hand as she reached for the bedside lamp, fingers biting into her wrist. “Leave it on.” She shrugged, though she preferred cloaking darkness. The relief in his eyes morphed into inky hunger. She gathered her long hennaed hair off her neck and turned her head away. His fingers smoothed the last tendrils from her scarred skin, sending a tremor of fear and desire down her spine. She closed her eyes; she could have that much privacy. After, he lay sated next to her, as relaxed as he ever got, and she dared to ask. “No, of course I’m not afraid of the dark. That would be foolish. It’s the monster under the bed.” Her friends would laugh when she told them that. She dozed then, lethargic from blood loss. She didn’t notice when he left, turning out the light, didn’t notice until cold clammy fingers gripped her ankle.

You think getting rid of social programs gives you freedom? Hell no, it gives you Uganda, you dumb fuckers.

Or maybe the whole bottle.

Elizabeth Blackwell wanted to go to medical school. She’d been reading medicine at home, but wanted proper training and formal education. She was rejected from all the first-rate schools, and most of the rest. Only one medical school even considered her application. When the Geneva Medical College received her application, the administration asked the students whether they’d be willing to work with her. The students thought it was a practical joke and agreed.

Not so, and when Elizabeth Blackwell showed up for school she met with a great deal of hostility. She was persistent, doing all the hands-on work along with the men in her class, and on 11 January 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical degree.

Abolitionist, feminist, doctor - Elizabeth Blackwell was a woman of strong convictions and very ready to act on them. She wrote, taught, treated, advocated for what she believed in. And by becoming the first female doctor she led the way: by 2005 nearly half of all US medical school graduates were women.

You can learn more about Dr. Blackwell from the NIH here or here.

That’s right, it’s Ada Lovelace Day again. You can also read last year’s post.