Declan Finn (Love at First Bite) reports on the Dragon Awards, and the latest news about Monster Hunter International, Harry Dresden spin-offs, Jim Butcher tales, and some words from the late, great Jerry Pournelle.
Yoda gets his own bat:
The happy tube-nosed fruit bat (Nyctimene wrightae): female with young pup attached, showing characteristic long ears with thickened edge and short, brown hair.
Image credit: Debra Wright.
The newfound species belongs to Nyctimeninae (tube-nosed fruit bats), a distinctive subfamily of Pteropodidae, currently represented by 18 species and two genera, Nyctimene (16 species) and Paranyctimene (2 species).
The subfamily is distributed throughout the rainforests of Wallacea (including the Philippines), New Guinea and its islands, to southeastern Australia and the Solomon Islands.
Nyctimeninae were one of the first bat species described in records dating back to 1769, and later in 1860 Alfred Russel Wallace — British naturalist and one of the fathers of evolution — collected two further species.
The bats’ tube noses, bright colors, thick stripe on the back and spots have attracted attention for some 250 years, but biologists are still finding new hidden species in the group.
“The happy tube-nosed fruit bat is very difficult to tell apart from other tube-nosed bat species,” said Dr. Nancy Irwin, a researcher at the University of York, UK, and author of a paper published in the Records of the Australian Museum.
“Bat species often look similar to each other, but differ significantly in behavior, feeding and history.”
Enemies of President Trump welcome our new Arboreal Overlords.
Image: Martin Bernette
Due to fear of Trump, whole new forests are being planted. Who thinks this would have happened if anyone else had been elected?
A campaign to plant trees to compensate for the impact of President Trump’s climate policies has 120,000 pledges.
The project was started by campaigners upset at what they call the president’s “ignorance” on climate science.
Trump Forest allows people either to plant locally or pay for trees in a number of poorer countries.
Mr Trump says staying in the climate pact will damage the US economy, cost jobs and give a competitive advantage to countries such as India and China.
The organisers say they need to plant an area the size of Kentucky to offset the Trump effect.
Based in New Zealand, the project began in March this year and so far has gained pledges from around 450 people based all around the world. In the first month, 15,000 trees were pledged – that’s now gone past 120,000.
You’re wanting to come join to the party, eh? Well, this pool gets pretty deep, so you’re going to want something to use as a diving platform, and that something is “wonder”.
- n. One that arouses awe, astonishment, surprise, or admiration; a marvel: “The decision of one age or country is a wonder to another” ( John Stuart Mill).
- n. The emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring, astounding, or marvelous: gazed with wonder at the northern lights.
- n. An event inexplicable by the laws of nature; a miracle.
You’ve got to bring the wonder. It’s part-and-parcel of the Superversive, and the audience you’re looking to court wants it, seeks it out, and cherishes it as if it were a newborn child. Wonder is priceless, and in that moment of wonder you can do something so profound for the reader that–in satisfying their desire for entertainment–you give them something True and Beautiful, even if your work is a tragedy.
Go back. Look again at all your favorite stories, artworks, music, etc. and pay attention to those moments of wonder. Remember how you felt the first time you experienced those moments? Take another look above at those definitions; that’s your desired outcome from the reader. Pay that experience forward; give them the wonder that your predecessors gave unto you.
Don’t worry about how you’ll make that happen. You’ve got friends here, and you’ve got friends elsewhere who are no less dedicated to bringing that wonder back. Just ask, and we’ll find a way to help you learn how to bring it to the people.
Wonder shared is wonder multiplied, so share yours today. Join the Superversive chorus.
![Tales of the Once and Future King by [Marchetta, Anthony, Marchetta, Mariel, Nealen, Peter, Schmidt, Matthew P., Newquist, Morgon, Finn, Declann, Shipley, Jonathan, Nachampassack-Maloney, Mandy, Daue, Katharina, Brumley, Bokerah]](https://i1.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51UZVDQzC-L.jpg?resize=267%2C353&ssl=1)
Tales of the Once and Future King, the new collaborative novel edited by Anthony and Mariel Marchetta and co-written with a combined 20 authors, is coming on September 30, and can be ordered on Amazon today!
Featuring eighteen stories by as many authors interspersed with a post-apocalyptic fairy tale, “Tales of the Once and Future King” is ambitious, fun, and something you don’t want to miss!
It is said that King Arthur will return in Britain’s hour of greatest need.
That time is coming.
Four travelers, searching for the Pendragon, are quickly embroiled in a plot to rescue the beloved of a banished forest lord. And while they concoct their desperate plan a Bard, the new Taliesin, regales them with stories: Tales of Knights, yes, but also tales of robots and vampires, music and monsters, airships and armies – tales to inspire heroism and hope. And when all seems lost, perhaps these tales will be their salvation.
This book is an anthology.
This book is a novel.
This book is a romance
This book is science fiction
This book is a fantasyThis is “Tales of the Once and Future King”
A new novel from Russell Newquist, publisher of Silver Empire and Lyonesse, a new kind of fiction magazine, War Demons
Driven by vengeance, Michael Alexander enlisted in the Army the day after 9/11. Five years later, disillusioned and broken by the horrors he witnessed in Afghanistan, Michael returns home to Georgia seeking to begin a new life. But he didn’t come alone. Something evil followed him, and it’s leaving a path of destruction in its wake.
The police are powerless. The Army has written Michael off. Left to face down a malevolent creature first encountered in the mountains of Afghanistan, he’ll rely on his training, a homeless prophet, and estranged family members from a love lost…
But none of them expected the dragon.
Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden collides with Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International in this supernatural thriller that goes straight to Hell!