SF and F Roundtable

Next Up: April 2019

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” George Orwell, 1984

A nicely ominous opening sentence to cast a shadow on bright spring.

Next Up: March 2019

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Ready for summer in the light; enduring winter in the shade.

Next Up: February 2019

"Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

Frost, storm, and cloudiness,
and also Valentine's Day, which does not redeem the first three.

Next Up: January 2019

Happy New Year! And, six light-hours away:

...New Horizons’ performance so far suggests it is ready for the challenge, Stern said. Measurements taken Saturday showed that the spacecraft was within 20 miles of its intended flyby distance from Ultima Thule and that the timing of the encounter will be within 2 seconds of what was expected.

“We’re rendezvousing with something that’s a mountain draped in black velvet in almost pitch-dark conditions, and we’re screaming up to it . . . within 2 seconds of perfection,” Stern said. “You can’t get any better than that.”

Next Up: December 2018

A famous poet said:

When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
"Tu-whit, to-who!"—

A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

It may be the holidays but winter, too, is upon us.

Next Up: November 2018

Autumn, real autumn, begins.

Next Up: October 2018

Ghouls, ghasties, and things that go bump in the night; Halloween, too.

Next Up: September 2018

Better late than never, but better not late. Here come the hurricanes.

Next Up: August 2018

The dog days, under Sirius, are upon us.

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky
On summer nights, star of stars,
Orion's Dog they call it, brightest
Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat
And fevers to suffering humanity.

The Iliad.

Next Up: July 2018

Oumuamua is a comet, neither an alien space ship nor an asteroid.

“We think this is a tiny, weird comet,” said lead author Marco Micheli, from the European Space Agency (ESO), in a press release. “We can see in the data that its boost is getting smaller the farther away it travels from the Sun, which is typical for comets.”