Wine Tasting this Friday, 6-9pm

Join us for Wine and munchies 6-9pm. Live music will be provided by the old-time/bluegrass/folk duo Strings on Wings. Coffee and Tea will also be available. We will also open a new art exhibit by local Sean Saez. Sean's specialty is nature, especially astronomical images. Right up our orbit!

Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth

Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth

Land of Marvels is the backstory to today's Iraq. I always find Barry Unsworth instructive because his work is so well researched. In this book he has drawn for us a microcosm of the never ending dynamic in the Middle East. Here is the push by outside powers to penetrate the soverignty of a country for their own gain - economic or strategic - take your pick.

In this book we are witnesses to the surge of interest in oil during the early 1900's. Unsworth has set the story just before the outbreak of WW1, when the Ottoman Empire is teetering.
The main character is an amateur archaeologist driven by his belief in his dig's importance to Assyrian history. It is being threatened by the new German railroad being built to Baghdad.
At his table are eventually gathered a mini League of nations, all with definite interests in Iraq. We have the British archaeological team, an American geologist9 assuming the obscuring cloak of archaeology), an English major(also Secret Service), a Swiss/German journalist and a Swedish religious couple convinced they have found the Garden of Eden. So here are the West's interests encapsulated - history, oil, security and religion, with the local Arab population mere adjuncts to the major players. The author sets the story in motion and delivers everyone up in a neatly wrapped conclusion.

Happy Belated Birthday to Lawrence Ferlinghetti!

On March 24th, 2009, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, co-founder and co-owner of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers in San Francisco, and one of this country's most beloved poets, will celebrate his 90th birthday.

For those of you wondering, "Where have I heard his name before?" Ferlinghetti's City Lights Publishers published Allen Ginsberg's Howl in 1956, giving rise to the Beat movement. At least the public part of the Beat movement.

Happy Belated Birthday!!
Lauretta

Want to write Speculative Fiction and be paid?

The Speculative Literature Foundation has this grant for authors aged 50 or over, designed to encourage those just getting started.

Grant information here.

Thanks to the popular and talented John Scalzi for the Word.
Lauretta

Finalists named for the Lambdas and the

The Lambda Literary Foundation announced the 105 finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards representing 72 publishers in 22 categories. Results are here.

The Man Booker International Prize Longlist is also announced.
I'm rooting for Peter Carey, myself.

Lauretta

Reading more science - a challenge

The folks at Scienticity have issued a challenge. To quote them, 'Read at least three nonfiction books in 2009 related somehow to the theme "Nature's Wonders". Your books should have something to do with science, scientists, how science operates, or science's relationship with its surrounding culture. Your books might be popularizations of science, they might be histories, they might be biographies, they might be anthologies; they can be recent titles or older books. We take a very broad view of what makes for interesting and informative science reading.

After you've read a book, write a short note about it, giving your opinion of the book. What goes in the note? The things you would tell a friend if you wanted to convince your friend to read it--or avoid it.'

Then post the note at http://scienticity.net/wiki/Special:BooknoteForm

Thanks to HeatherJ for the heads-up.

Easy, huh? Spread the word!
Lauretta

Pluto, a Planet again according to Illinois

Bless their hearts:

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that as Pluto passes overhead through Illinois’ night skies, that it be reestablished with full planetary status, and that March 13, 2009 be declared “Pluto Day” in the State of Illinois in honor of the date its discovery was announced in 1930.

There's more details here.

Lauretta, who needs to get one of these t-shirts.