Reading Science Fiction in Calgary

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

Gateway NovelA fat silver moon hangs low in the clear Calgary sky and I’m thinking about wolves. And the endless excuses we make for ourselves. According to Bob Broadhead- protagonist of the Gateway by Frederick Pohl – the only reason big, strong wolves don’t kill weaker wolves is because the weaker wolves submit to them. They roll over and present their throats and the alpha wolves are unable to attack them any more. Bob Broadhead uses this example to justify bashing up his girlfriend Klara. You see, she did not submit to him.

Continue reading →

Posted in Books and media, Science fiction and fantasy, Travel | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Humans good, aliens better

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

Yesterday I picked up this incredible book titled “First Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” edited by Ben Bova and Byron Preiss. Okay, it’s a bit dated at 1990, but still worth a read, with articles by Isaac Asimov, Frank Drake, Arthur C Clarke and many others. It asks such probing questions as – what is intelligence? What is life? Why the heck haven’t we been contacted yet? Where is everybody?

Come to think of it, where is everybody? Of course, ancient texts are full of curious stories that resemble close encounters of the alien kind. Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Science fiction and fantasy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The Columbia mission: Dreams, life and the magic of hard work

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra
Statue of Lt. Col. Anderson

Statue of Lt. Col. Anderson

A few days ago I visited the Seattle Museum of Flight. Just outside the museum, I paused, and there was this moment that made the entire trip west worthwhile – the ghastly little propeller plane from Calgary, the nauseating three hours aboard the Victoria clipper, the missed hours of sleep and writing time.

On the west side of the Museum’s main campus is a statue honoring Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson, the Payload Commander of the Columbia mission lost during re-entry on February 1, 2003. In the statue’s hand is a bird poised to take flight. The plaque reads: “This is what I wanted to do since I was a little kid.  If you apply yourself, work hard to be persistent, and don’t give up, you can achieve anything you want to achieve.” This is what Col. Anderson said in an interview from space earlier in the mission. Continue reading →

Posted in Life and all that stuff, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Moose, trains and icebergs: Traveling in Newfoundland

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

Some are born car-less, some achieve car-lessness and some have car-lessness thrust upon them. I am a proud combo of all three. I don’t drive (Canada is the first country I’ve ever felt the need to). I’ll take buses, walk, hitch, ferry, bicycle, and, if I’m real lucky, I’ll find a train. Doing my bit for global warming. Please don’t tell me the price of gas is high. It’s not. It’s highly subsidized.

This is not a rant on the lack of adequate public transport in Canada – although I could go on for ages about it. In fact, let me rant a bit, why not. Did you know that Via 1, Canada’s awesome premier train from Toronto to Vancouver, now runs only twice a week? Or that there is now NO train between Toronto and Cochrane? The Ontario Northland  had its last passenger run in September 2012. Every year bus and train service reductions tear holes in Canada’s connectedness – proof that the government is failing to provide and maintain what is a PUBLIC GOOD. Communities in the north get further isolated, and tourism suffers. Continue reading →

Posted in Environment Matters, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Writing Romance in Newfoundland: Interview With Victoria Barbour

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra
Against Her Rules

Against Her Rules

Despite the fog, the forbidding crags, the marshes and the stormy Atlantic – or perhaps because of all these things – Newfoundland is an amazingly romantic place. The perfect setting for Victoria Barbour’s light-hearted and enjoyable romance novel: Against Her Rules. I am happy to welcome Victoria today as she continues her blog tour celebrating the release of her novel.

Against Her Rules is set in a tiny Newfoundland outport – Heart’s Ease – and features Elsie Walsh, a B&B owner who has one rule: no sleeping with the guests. That is, until hunky Campbell Scott shows up. The result is a fun summer read with a memorable cast of characters, including Elsie’s indomitable Aunt Ida. After reading the book (and laughing out loud in places) I had plenty of questions for Victoria, and I’m really pleased to have her with me today to answer them. Continue reading →

Posted in Books and media, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing Romance in Newfoundland: Interview With Victoria Barbour

Black holes, wormholes and time travel

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

It’s cold and rainy and foggy, not a bit what summer should look like. Perfect day for seeing a video on quasars, black holes and galaxy formation! One word: awesome.

Did you know:

  1. A black hole is not empty space. It’s a huge amount of matter packed into such a small space, relatively speaking, that it results in a massive gravitational pull that gobbles up even light.
  2. Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicted that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Continue reading →
Posted in Science, Science fiction and fantasy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Black holes, wormholes and time travel

What Cugel the not-so-Clever teaches us about character

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

Dying-EarthJack Vance died on 26th May in California aged 96. Enough has been said on the blogosphere about this amazing genius of a writer who wrote over 60 genre fiction books, and I’m not going to repeat it, except to say that he influenced such writers as Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman, Ursula K. LeGuin and Michael Chabon. RIP Grand Master. Your words dance across the page, astonishing and marvellous as ever.

What I wanted to do today was talk about the Tales of the Dying Earth and the rascally Cugel, the character I most love to hate. Far in the future, the sun is red and feeble and the folk are few and strange. Not to mention dangerous, greedy and – some at least – utterly heartless. The genre, if one has to define it, is science fantasy. Tiny blue Twk-Men ride dragonflies, selling information for salt, and evil creatures abound. It makes for very entertaining reading.  Continue reading →

Posted in Books and media, Science fiction and fantasy, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What Cugel the not-so-Clever teaches us about character

Breaking the deadly loop of the debut writer

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

I’ve heard it time and again. If you’re a debut science fiction and fantasy novelist out there shopping your nine part epic fantasy on the Aardzork empire wars – don’t. Your first novel must stand on its own, regardless of the wordy sequel you have planned. Secondly, in this genre you must have short fiction credits to catch the eye of an agent or a publisher.

That’s easier said than done, isn’t it? There you are with your first novel workshopped and edited till you have Aardzorks coming out of your ears. Yet no one takes the bait. Agents and publishers stay away in droves. Why? Why? Continue reading →

Posted in Science fiction and fantasy, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Monsters, myths and machines

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

I hid in the closet for years. Everyone around me is so literary, I never really admitted to my love for writing fantasy and science fiction. That’s changed now but the conversation still leaves a little something to be desired:

Well-meaning acquaintance / WMA: So you write?
Me: Er…yes.
WMA: What do you write?
Me (wincing): Science fiction and fantasy
WMA (making an effort): You mean like…Stephen King?
Me (mumbling): I wish. Continue reading →

Posted in Books and media, Science fiction and fantasy, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The tears of the second draft

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Rati Mehrotra

I just finished the first draft of a new 47000-word middle grade fantasy. “Tada!” I thought triumphantly as I tapped out the last line. Now I can relax and celebrate go back and read it and discover just how crappy it is.

I re-read Chapter 1 in growing disbelief. My word, I have a LOT of work to do! Correcting the POV issues and grammar is just a tenth of it. It’s not even ready for my sister, who has bravely volunteered to be a beta reader (ok, I ‘volunteered’ her. Same difference). Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments