By now you've heard of the death at the age of 90 of Arthur C Clarke--see the New York Times' obituary here. Clarke is widely credited with popularizing the idea of space travel--see the trailer for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey below--and numerous more specific technical concepts as well. In particular, his idea that … Continue reading The Satellite Looks Down*

While promoting his new memoir, former Luftwaffe pilot Horst Rippert has claimed that he was the one who shot down pilot and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Saint-Exupery, who had a long history of civilian flying in Africa, was flying a reconnaissance mission in support of the upcoming Allied landings in Provence when he went missing … Continue reading War Was Hell

Author Ed Lin has a funny essay in Seattle's free weekly the Stranger about the oddballs he's met at some of his bookstore readings. We've never had folks like that at our genteel midwestern readings, I'm sure. That's more of a West Coast thing, right?--David E