Science Fiction author Charlie Stross is the GOH at this year’s Balticon (Baltimore Science Fiction Convention). I went on Friday and met Mr. Stross and got him to sign some of his books for me. Nice guy!
Author roundtable with Catherine Asaro, Greg Bear, etc.
Tonight I went to a booksigning and a panel of SF authors at Reiter’s Scientific Bookstore in DC. Among the authors present were: Dr. Catherine Asaro, Greg Bear, Bud Sparhawk, Tom Purdom, Tom Ligon, Yoji Kondo (Eric Kotani), John Hemry (Jack Campbell), Charles E. Gannon, and Dr. Arlan Andrews. The roundtable discussion topic was “How Science Fiction Changes Everything” – How Science Fiction Serves the National Interest. The Washington Science Fiction Association also sponsored the event.
Some (all?) members of the panel are also members of SIGMA:
SIGMA is a group of science fiction writers who offer futurism consulting to the United States government and appropriate NGOs. We provide a new concept in public service “think tanks”– an association of speculative writers who have spent careers exploring the future. Many of us have earned Ph.D.s in high tech fields, and some presently hold Federal and defense industry positions. Each is an accomplished science fiction author who has postulated new technologies, new problems and new societies, explaining the possible science and speculating about the effects on the human race.
The event was mostly the panel fielding questions from the audience. I enjoyed the evening; it was quite interesting to hear the viewpoints of various SF authors, especially Bear and Asaro, as I’m a fan of both. At the signing Dr. Asaro mentioned that the cover of Alpha was her favorite. The artist was going to go with a flowing gown, but she told him, no, I’d rather look like this:
Riding the Miniature Steam Trains
Preston and I spent a nice afternoon riding some real, miniature Steam Trains run by the Chesapeake & Allegheny Steam Preservation Society at Leakin Park in Baltimore.
Preston has been a train fan ever since his introduction to Thomas the Steam Engine, and he just loved riding these trains. They are scale miniatures, but are definitely real steam engines (and some electric locomotives). Once around the park takes about 8 minutes. It was a beautiful day, and the only hard part was getting Preston *off* the trains. The Live Steam Club does this (free rides to the public) once a month. We’ll definitely be back, and with a picnic lunch. It is well-organized and just a lot of fun for the kids (both of us!).
Arthur Phillips Reads “The Song is You”
Tonight I (Ok, I dragged Dylan along too) went to see Arthur Phillips read from and discuss his new book,”The Song is You” at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC. At one point Mr. Phillips was asking the audience if anyone did Billie Holiday impressions: “…anyone? How about you, young man?” as he pointed at Dylan. Dylan just shook his head and then leaned over to me and asked “Who’s Billie Holiday?”. Ah, youth.
Another humorous section was when the author was reading in the book and came to the bit where the character was talking about getting a couple of college girls to go back to his room to play “strip Trivial Pursuit”. “That, by the way, is the only autobiographical bit in the book”, said Mr. Phillips. :)
Lisa Randall at Smithsonian
On Friday (April 24, 2009) I went to see Physicist Lisa Randall receive the Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Award from The Smithsonian Associates and the Creativity Foundation. Professor Randall discussed the role of creativity in her life and work with University of Chicago professor Michael Turner. The talk was in the Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History – nice venue!
After the talk I was able to get Prof. Randall to sign my copy of her book, “Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions“. Great book!
From the press release:
Randall is best known for her work involving extra dimensions of space, or “warped†geometries, and her suggestion that could explain the relative weakness of gravity and that we may live in a world with an infinite extra dimension—possibly even in a three-dimensional sinkhole in a higher-dimensional universe. This has resulted in her being one of the most-cited theoretical physicists in the world. Time magazine included her in its 2007 list of the 100 most influential people, and Newsweek cited Randall as “one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation.†Her book “Warped Passages†was included in the New York Times’ list of the 100 most notable books of 2005.
Randall is a professor of physics at Harvard University and is tenured at Princeton and MIT. She has served on the editorial boards of several major journals and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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