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October 28, 2023
Obligatory 'Spooky Season' Mention
Hello again, {$name|default:'reader'}. Or welcome, if you're new!
Well, winter's definitely arrived. It doesn't seem like yesterday that we had high temperatures and a risk of drought, and now we've got flooding. Storm Babet hit the UK last weekend, and the effects are still being felt. Flood warnings are still in effect all over the nation, and I've never been so glad to live on a hill as we do now. Just a few miles down the road there is a low-lying town with a beautiful riverside aspect... and it very nearly went completely under.
Drone footage of the flooding in Tenbury Wells
Notice how close the river is to the road over the bridge; normally the river is about 50 to 60cm deep, and at the peak of the rainfall it rose by 5 metres! The town has flooded in the past, but it certainly seems to be happening more often lately.
Space News
Declassified Spy Satellite images find Roman forts
The Corona series of satellites was launched by the US in the 1960s and 1970s for photo reconnaissance during the height of the Cold War. Now the images are being declassified, and archaeologists are among the first to find benefits.
Back in the 1920s aerial photos were taken of the area around modern-day Iraq and Syria, which permitted a study in 1934 to identify the ruins or remains of 116 Roman forts, speculated as defence of their borders against the Persian armies of the day. The new imagery allows that estimate to increase by nearly 400.
Of particular use was the fact that the satellites took stereo images, allowing for some basic depth information to be recovered. If you want to have a go yourself, you might start with the 'Corona Atlas' project:
Isn't it fascinating that we're still learning new things about the Roman Empire?
Declassified Corona spy satellite images showing Roman forts at three sites in the eastern Mediterranean
Source: space.com
Other Books To Check Out
I've gathered a few great books from independent authors like me, I hope you'll check them out.
And let me know if you have any books to recommend! I'm particularly interested in indie authors, but anything you've read and loved would be awesome.
Buy it now
There are a million ways to die in the Arctic.
Declan McAlistair, Mac, would take that risk to ensure his family's safety. Once the upgrades to the Distant Early Warning system, the DEW Line, are complete, he'd like nothing more than to put the Arctic behind him. Finishing his work on the branch line and transporting the radio beacon from an abandoned construction hut are his final tasks.
The construction hut, however, houses more than just a radio beacon. A suspicious accident costs him his friend and sets him on a collision course with the forces that upended his childhood.
Finding an unlikely ally in Tom Cat, a cagey radio operator whose mantra is "trust no one", the pair uncover layers of cold war deception and learn of an imminent test of the DEW line. Mac must use his engineering know-how and ingenuity to keep his past in the past and to escape the game of cat and mouse in the Arctic.
Buy it now
First Lieutenant Shaara was dead this morning.
Her captain is furious at her. She wasted company resources getting herself killed, and it's coming out of her paycheck. Now, she's sitting across from the first other human being she's seen in six years. His name is Adnan. He claims to come from Earth-but that's impossible. Earth died a long time ago. If Adnan's telling the truth, he and the decaying ship the captain pulled him off are nearly a thousand years old.
Wherever he's from, he's Shaara's responsibility now. Which is the last thing she needs. But it's either that, or the captain sells Adnan into slavery. Shaara knows what that would mean. Most humans do. And something inside her won't let her abandon Adnan to it: revenant memories, stabbed awake by the look in his eyes.
Facing those memories won't be easy. It'd be far easier to ignore the feeling driving her forward. Far easier to let it all go to hell, and drift back to sleep.
Until a shadowy new faction starts stoking the fires of war. They're looking for Adnan; Earth's last survivor holds the key to unleash a terrible, indiscriminate vengeance on the galaxy that wronged them. Who they are is a mystery-to everyone but Shaara. Hard as she's tried to forget, she knows them all too well. Which means she's the only one who can stop them.
The question is: does she want to? Maybe the galaxy's earned a little vengeance.
Cover of 'Oblivion's Cloak' - A woman in futuristic armour watches a burning city
Buy it now
Mira Harris is caught in a personal tug-of-war. Her mother's disdain, her estranged father's unexpected return, and her compulsive need for order clash with one another. When she connects with Joseph Oliver, it seems she might have found an ally who understands her. However, Joseph carries his own baggage, making Mira question whether she can truly trust anyone, including herself.
After Mira becomes the victim of a hit-and-run-an incident seemingly linked to her troubled past-she is forced to confront every relationship, lie, and act of betrayal to determine who intended to harm her. Through this process, Mira realizes she'll never see life the same way again.
Buy it now!
Mira Harris is caught in a personal tug-of-war. Her mother's disdain, her estranged father's unexpected return, and her compulsive need for order clash with one another. When she connects with Joseph Oliver, it seems she might have found an ally who understands her. However, Joseph carries his own baggage, making Mira question whether she can truly trust anyone, including herself.
After Mira becomes the victim of a hit-and-run-an incident seemingly linked to her troubled past-she is forced to confront every relationship, lie, and act of betrayal to determine who intended to harm her. Through this process, Mira realizes she'll never see life the same way again.
Strange News
What the 'Boogeyman' looks like around the world.
A map of the world with the most common 'boogeyman' illustrated for each nation.
I remember when I was younger that some adults liked to warn me that the 'boogeyman' would come and take naughty children away. It turns out that this myth arose in England in the 15th century as a way to scare children into not wandering off into the woods alone. There was a very real danger that they'd become lost and injured, but as we all know kids don't react well to logic and reason... So scaring them straight was a prudent approach.
One that was repeated around the world, naturally. But while immigration and communication might spread the same idea, it morphed and evolved into a bewildering selection of national 'supernatural enforcers'.
Folks at The Toy Zone have put together a map of the world, with some lovely and gruesome illustrations of the various boogeymen that help parents keep their offspring in line.
Be sure to click through - they've produced maps of particular regions to dive even deeper. It's fascinating to see that Europe has mainly witches, while the Middle-East relies on Djinns.
Which is your favourite? Or which one scares you most? I'm partial to the 'Guschg Herdsmen's Doll' from Lichtenstein, if only because dolls are inherently creepy anyway. Did you hear stories of the boogeyman growing up, or was there a different way that older generations tried to terrify the young tearaways?
Source: thetoyzone.com
Other Books To Check Out
Miscellany
The eggplant emoji has a longer history than you might think...
Source: daily.jstor.org
The SETI project 'Breakthrough Listen' is moving to Oxford in the UK.
Source: space.com
The life and work of Richard Dadd, a world-class painter who spent most of his life in a mental hospital.
Source: BBC News
And Finally
As a writer I love creating worlds. I think the world-building is my favourite part of the process, to be honest. Figuring out how things work, who is in charge and why, and examining the ramifications of all those decisions in the universe you've created is absolutely fascinating.
So watching this literal world-builder talk about his creations, and the lore and details behind it all is like catnip to me. His passion, dare I say obsession, for his universe and its inhabitants is absolutely mind-blowing.
The fact that he's talking to Adam Savage, a man who not only respects that passion in others, but is a master at letting them tell their stories, is the icing on the cake. I once watched a 30 minute video of Adam being shown old Hollywood costumes (a subject in which I have zero interest) because the enthusiasm and excitement of his guide was so infectious I couldn't look away.
You can find even more information about this creator here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TNMYoc40no (and his passion is, if anything, even more enthusiastic).
Oh, and while you're on YouTube, why not check out my stories in video form?
Source: youtube.com