04/01/2019

What if this was the argument that we were having... ? A commercial break ends and the television switches to a busy newsroom. The Fair News talk-show host looks up from papers spread across her desk. Host: “Welcome back. In our next segment we focus squarely on the big debate raging across our country. Earthquakes. Are they natural? Or human-caused? Joining me now are representatives from both sides. Lawrence Temblor is a senior geologist with the State of California and is the author of the

12/28/2018

I’ve always enjoyed time travel stories, primarily because I’m fascinated to see how the author depicts the method of time travel. It might be a powerful machine that uses spinning crystals, a magic telephone booth, or a DeLorean fueled by garbage that accelerates to 88 miles per hour. When I read a story that skips the method (and many do) by suggesting the hero only needs to think about the year or rubs a magic penny to jump to that year, I usually tune out. Those stories tend to become

12/01/2018

The aliens are coming and we’re in deep trouble! It’s a common theme in science fiction. Those evil overlords with their powerful weapons are planning to take over Earth and a) subjugate us as slaves, b) stick probes into our bodily orifices, or c) eat us. But why? What is it about Earth that these aliens covet? When writers get stuck, they invent something. One answer is that these slime-dripping arachnids covet our water. You see, their planet is bone dry, or maybe they used to have water,