Science and Hobbit News and a Bit More

A bit more coolness for you today.




Speculative Poetry
At Silver Blade:

• "On the Recycling Day" by Changming Yuan.
• "Expanding, Morning Mists" by Changming Yuan.
• "At an Autumn Auction" by Changming Yuan.
• "Rioting " by Changming Yuan.
• "The Plague Tree" by J. P. Wickwire.
• "Planet of the _______" by Laura Madeline Wiseman.
• "A Cautionary Note from the Time Thief " by Bruce Boston. 
• "Tinsel Rose" by Adele Gardner.

Audio Fiction
At The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Episode 08 - The Return of Tarzan
      "Now in North Africa in the small town of Sidi Aissa, Tarzan has come to the rescue of a pretty dancing girl, and has fought a roomful of angry Arab men."

At Relic Radio: "The Sense Of Wonder" -  X Minus One. Science Fiction. OTR.

Science News

• "'Time Reversal' Research May Open Doors to Future Tech" ScienceDaily.
• "Mysterious Gravity Waves May Explain Clear-Skies Turbulence" LiveScience.
• "What really caused the Oracle at Delphi to utter mad prophesies?" io9
• "Mars Rover Discovery Revealed" NYT.
• "Golden Spike Company Unveils Plans to Fly Commercial Crews to the Moon" Wired.
• "Saturn Moon Enceladus Eyed for Sample-Return Mission" Space.com
• "Should the UN govern the internet?" CBC
• "Fossilized raindrops hold clues to early Earth?" Times of India.

 Hobbit and Oz News

•  "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – 13-minute TV special!"  [Video]
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" Review. Variety.
• "Hobbit TV spot 10 officially up" Video.
• "Sneak Peek Of Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful"
• "Oz: The Great and Powerful Wallpapers"
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Wallpaper"
• "The Hobbit Movie: Will This Prequel Be as Awesome as X Men or as Terrible as The Phantom Menace"

Astounding, Hub, Hobbit News, and More

 Even more good free fantasy and science fiction, both classic and contemporary.  And some interesting news of likely interest to many genre readers.

[Art from Astounding Stories of Super-Science]









Fiction
In Hub 145: "Incident on Oblomov" by Eric Brown. Science Fiction.
      "I turned to Ella, my co-pilot. She was lounging in her sling, reading from her com-screen. I tried to keep my gaze from her lustrous Venezuelan eyes. For a vat-grown premier grade AI, she was disconcertingly beautiful." 

At Adventures in Fiction: Thieves' Honor ep 17: "In the Enemy's House" by Keanan Brand.
     "What were you thinking, Bosko? Talking up the merchandise like that?" Using a torch so small he appeared to squeeze fire from his fist, a bondsman welded manacles around the wrists of the prisoner lying prone in the courtyard. "The Vortuna slave run teach you nothin'?"

At Project Gutenberg: Astounding Stories of Super-Science January 1930. Science Fiction.

"The Beetle Horde" by Victor Rousseau.
     "Only Two Young Explorers Stand in the Way of the Mad Bram's Horrible Revenge—the Releasing of His Trillions of Man-sized Beetles upon an Utterly Defenseless World. (Part One of a Two-part Novel.)"
"The Cave of Horror Captain" by S. P. Meek.
     "Screaming, the Guardsman Was Jerked Through the Air. An Unearthly Screech Rang Through the Cavern. The Unseen Horror of Mammoth Cave Had Struck Again!"
"Phantoms of Reality" by Ray Cummings.
     "Red Sensua's Knife Came up Dripping—and the Two Adventurers Knew that Chaos and Bloody Revolution Had Been Unleashed in that Shadowy Kingdom of the Fourth Dimension. (A Complete Novel.)"
"The Stolen Mind" by M. L. Staley.
       "What Would You Do, If, Like Quest, You Were Tricked, and Your Very Mind and Will Stolen from Your Body?"
"Compensation" by C. V. Tench.
      "Professor Wroxton Had Disappeared—But in the Bottom of the Mysterious Crystal Cage Lay the Diamond from His Ring!"
"Tanks" by Murray Leinster. 
      "Two Miles of American Front Had Gone Dead. And on Two Lone Infantrymen, Lost in the Menace of the Fog-gas and the Tanks, Depended the Outcome of the War of 1932."
"Invisible Death" by Anthony Pelcher. 
     "On Lees' Quick and Clever Action Depended the Life of "Old Perk" Ferguson, the Millionaire Manufacturer Threatened by the Uncanny, Invisible Killer."

At Strange Horizons: "The Three Immigrations" by Rose Lemberg. Speculative Poem.

Audio Fiction
At SFFAudio: "The Queen Of The Black Coast" by Robert E. Howard. Sword and Sorcery.
     "Hoofs drummed down the street that sloped to the wharfs. The folk that yelled and scattered had only a fleeting glimpse of a mailed figure on a black stallion, a wide scarlet cloak flowing out on the wind. Far up the street came the shout and clatter of pursuit, but the horseman did not look back"

E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink: Beyond Hades (The Prometheus Wars) by Luke Romyn. Fantasy.
At Free eBooks Daily: Spell Checked by C.G. Powell. Paranormal.
At Smashwords:

• "Little Boy Blue" by G.M. Reinfeldt. Horror. 5k.
• "The Wood Sprite's Tale" by Lachelle Redd. Fantasy. 16k.
• "Watching Over Her" by Bliss Addison. Paranormal. 15k.
• Hourglass by Karina Crandon. Paranormal. 79k.
• "Deception: The Prequel" by Stacy Claflin. YA Fantasy. 25k.
• The Evanescence Chronicles: Volume I by Alexandra Pelaez. Fantasy. 152k.
• "Arcane Genesis: Depression Lock" by Sean Roney. 3k.
• "Next Door" by Lori R. Lopez. Horror. Ghost. 5k.
• "Horrendus" by Lori R. Lopez. Horror. 3k.
• "Second Chance" by Ardy. Horror. 10k.
• "Little Boy Blue" by G.M. Reinfeldt. Weird. 5k.
• "Ghoulgirls Files Number One, Sting of the Master" by David Johanek. Horror. 11k.

Science News

• "Life abounds in Antarctic lake sealed under ice"
• "Do Aliens Use Hairspray?"
• "Chemistry That Sparked Origin of Life"
• "Jikes! NASA Backpedeling!"
• "Pluto Atmosphere Larger Than Thought, Study Shows"
• "Failure Of India's Big Rocket Project Is Symbolic Of Deep Structural Problems"
• "One Year After Launch, Curiosity Rover Busy on Mars"

 Palaeontology/History

• "Giant Eocene bird was 'gentle herbivore', study finds"
• "Nordic Witchcraft in Transition: Impotence, Hersery and Diabolism in 14th-century Bergen"

 Fantasy Film News

• "Hobbit - Production video #9: what bird is that?"
• "Latest 'Hobbit' video diary offers a sneak peek at CG goblins and trolls: Watch"
• "James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz – OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL Movie Preview"
• "Watch a Video From the Thor: The Dark World Set!"
• "'Twilight,' Bond Dominate Fruitful Thanksgiving"

 Misc.
"A Visual Timeline of the Future Based on Famous Fiction" Via Popular Science.

Ephemeral Links - Enduring Freebies and News

Quite a few interesting items, including several e-books, some eclectic news items that might be of interest and a three part CBC podcast about three orders of Medieval knights. It's been up awhile, but it's new to me.

 

 [Art From "The Sword Brothers – Knights Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights"  below]




E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink: Cerulean Isle by G.M. Browning. Fantasy. Pirates.

At Free eBooks Daily:

• Fast-Tracked by Tracy Rozzlynn. YA Fantasy.
• You Are Not a Planet and Other Stories by Sean Manseau. Speculative Fiction.
• Verita by Tracy Rozzlynn. YA Science Fiction.
• Yseult by Ruth Nestvold. Historical Fantasy.
• First Crossing by Tyla Grey. Paranormal Romance.

At Smashwords:

• "My Curious Ocean" by Ulf Wolf. Science Fiction. 9k.
• "The Royal Runaway" by Rory Mackay. Fantasy. 9k.
• "The Memory of a Salt Shaker" by Bernard Cox. Contemporary Fantasy. 5k.
• "Resurrection #1" by Tim  Curran. Horror. 22k.
• "Twas The Night Before Christmas (When The Aliens Appeared)" by Michael Carter. Sci-Fi Poem. 1k.
• "Death and Taxes" by Sansoucy Kathenor. Speculative Fiction. 21k.

Audio Non-Fiction
At Medievalists.Net: "The Sword Brothers – Knights Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights"
      "Life in the eleventh century was nasty, brutish and short. Most people lived and died a few miles from where they were born. Strangers were suspect and danger lurked everywhere. Who was in charge was a matter of opinion. Barons and local chiefs ruled as they wished. Those who would be king faced a skeptical and hostile world…we take the modern world for granted with its more or less stable patchwork of nation-states, each with its body of law and governance."

Science News

• "Quantum teleportation between atomic ensembles demonstrated for first time"
• "Astronomers pin down origins of 'mile markers' for expansion of universe"
• "Mars and Earth: Similar Building Blocks"
• "'Super-Jupiter' Around Massive Star Discovered"
• "A Tsunami in Switzerland? Lake Evidence Says Yes"
• "Instrument Delivered for NASA's Upcoming Mars Mission"
• "Born-Again Star Shows the Fate of Our Solar System"
• "Finding a direction of time in exotic particle transformations"
• "Private Moon Race May Spark Lunar 'Water Rush'"
• "Henley hit by 'mutant super rat' invasion"

Paleontology/History News

• "After 121 years, identification of 'grave robber' fossil solves a paleontological enigma"
• "Mary Rose: scientists identify shipwreck's archers"
• "An 11th-Century Scandal"
• "Civilization versus Barbarians? Fortification Techniques and Politics in Carolingian and Ottonian Borderlands"
• "Haraldr the Hard-Ruler and his poets"

Fantasy Films News

• "The amazing Middle-earth art of John Cockshaw"
• "Philippa Boyens: film powerplayer"
• "Watch a tantalising 7.5 minute fan-made Hobbit trailer and TV spot compilation!"
• "Oz The Great And Powerful – A MUST SEE film!"
• "Oz The Great and Powerful’s second trailer has been released [Movie Trailer]"
• "'Breaking Dawn' Ends 'Twilight' Franchise on Strong Note"