This lady is Lana Turner.
I think we can all agree she was absolutely gorgeous – and if she’s not my favorite classic Hollywood actress1 her beauty and her on-screen presence were simply stunning.
On with our story… Continue reading
Parisian Mermaids
So,let’s see… the new Corsair story is about to be published, and the first one is of course already available, in both paperback and ebook, and it’s called Chasing the Mermaid.
So, why don’t to something special, for this Friday, prompts and all?
Why not a good gallery of mermaids?
Curiously enough, La Vie Parisienne, the epitome of the girly, “French” magazine from the early 20th century, did show a certain obsession for mermaids.
And considering the magazine had some great artists on its bankroll, the following images are all pretty racy, they are often funny, and a few of them are absolutely gorgeous.
… and they might inspire a story or four.
Enjoy!
Have you seen the stars tonight?
This post is about the intersection of ancient history, poetry and science. It is the sort of thing I love, and I decided to share – and I think this is perfectly on topic1.
Let’s start with the ancient world.
One thing we often forget, as we live in our cities, is how dramatic and impressive the night sky must have been to the ancients.
And this not because we know the stars are thermonuclear furnaces burning in the void, light-years away, and they had no idea.
No, the reason is simply that they had darkness – no electric lights, no great cities filled with neons and light.
To the ancient, the night was dark, and the stars were many, and bright and clear in the night sky2.
The ancients navigated by the stars, tried to predict the future and interpret fate by the stars, and in general looked up and wondered. Continue reading
Pulp octopuses (or is it octopi?)
I have just been made aware of a wonderful website called Poulpe Pulps, which cover everything octopus-related in old – and sometimes not-so-old – pulps.
If you like octopuses, or pulps, or both, you are better follow the link above.
The website is a real delight.
A way out of this
… but I still have a minute for the blog, despite it all.
And today, as I browsed my feeds before starting on the CV-distribution tour again, I chanced upon an interesting video posted on Black Gate.
The video features C.J. Cherryh’s speech and question session at the 2016 Nebula Conference.
Cherryh is one of my favorite authors, and has been since the mid-’80s, when I quickly went through the Morgaine Trilogy and then, hot on its heels, Downbelow Station.
She has been a consistent presence in my reading list ever since, and she’s the first author I normally suggest to friends and relations.
Upon receiving her SFWA Damon Knight Grand Master Award, C.J. Cherryh observed something that resonates strongly with me.
That’s our job… to make people face the future with confidence. With a notion that there is something they can do, and they should be doing it. Because, remember that [we’re] one generation removed from barbarism. People have to believe there’s a reason to keep on keeping on, and this is what we are. We are a romance of the machine. In the time when people declared Romance was dead, we were the despised literature that kept going, and kept inventing, and saying, ‘There’s a way out of this.’
Yes, exactly.
And if it is true that it is very hard to remain an optimist in the face of our everyday life, it is also true that thinking and optimism are the only tools we have handy to keep the darkness at bay. And find a way out of it.
You can find the complete Black Gate post – and the video – here.
Karavansara 