(photo from The Mars Society)

“When the chairman introduced the guest speaker as a former illegal alien, I got up from my chair and yelled, “What’s the matter, no jobs on Mars?” When no one laughed, I was real embarrassed. I don’t think people should make you feel that way.”
~Jack Handy

The Red Planet. Its unexplored mystery has been the inspiration for stories for time out of mind. And even now, when remote controlled rovers allow us to vicariously step onto its rust-coloured surface, it remains a focal point for wonder and imagination.

The month is fast approaching which shares a namesake with the planet and while the science fictional fire continues to burn bright (and since the Once Upon a Time IV Challenge doesn’t officially start until the 21st) I thought it might be a fun idea to focus at least some of my March reading on the red planet itself. In considering this idea I thought it might be fun to put together a list of novels and short stories centered around Mars. Which is where I need your help. Now I know I could probably just Google “Mars stories” and come up with a list, but where is the fun in that? I prefer the conversational aspects of list making. What follows are the books/stories that came to mind as I contemplated this post.

Continue reading A March-ing We Will Go →

(image taken from the book cover for The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction,
Seventh Series, copyright 1956, that I picked up for almost nothing at a used bookstore
yesterday. Isn’t it wonderful?!?)

“New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.”
~Hamilton Wright Mabie

The rapid passage of time has once again brought us to the beginning of a new year. Though a seemingly arbitrary thing–after all, it is just another day–the act of closing the door on the previous year and stepping through to the new one brings with it a sense of regeneration and renewal. Hope springs eternal, and whether 2009 was a wonderful year for you or not, we can all agree that we have hope that 2010 will be a much better year in every area of our lives.

Please be safe as you bid 2009 farewell.

My wishes for each and every one of you for 2010 are the same:

Continue reading Its a New Year! →

Once a year, like clockwork, Kailana and I come together to bring you the Virtual Advent Calendar post for Christmas Eve. Generally we try to do a little something to clear out the holiday planning cobwebs and hopefully bring a smile to your face. This year our minds have concocted:

The Strange Synopsis Christmas Movie Quiz

On each of our sites you will find a list of 10 movie synopses, each representing a Christmas/holiday film. To make things a bit easier, each list is followed by the answer pool, in random order. Each answer corresponds to one of the questions. You will find the answers to each quiz on the opposite site. So, the answers to Kailana’s Quiz are on Carl’s site and the answers to Carl’s Quiz are on Kailana’s site. Confused yet? Good! Take another swig of nog and lets begin.

Continue reading Advent Calendar Day 24: Christmas Fun →

(Image by jakes creations)

“It takes a long time to grow young.”
~Pablo Picasso

This past weekend, Saturday to be exact, saw me shift from being forty, to being IN my forties. Traumatic?!?! Not really, no. I have always had an ’embrace the celebration’ attitude about birthdays and just the right amount of healthy narcissism to enjoy being the center of attention for one day out of the year.

And so Saturday came and went. We met my parents and sister and her husband and baby for breakfast, antique store shopping, and then lunch. (Sounds like an early start on Thanksgiving with all the food!). The afternoon found Mary, Tori and I putting up the Christmas tree and some of the indoor decorations, a tradition that began a few years back when we realized we needed a slightly longer season in which to enjoy our decorations. We then settled down to snacks and Star Trek to end the evening. It was a wonderful, wonderful birthday.

Being on a spending/debt reduction plan there has not been much call for book porn lately, so I’ll use this occasion to show you all what I got.

Continue reading Four decades plus one →