Of Dyson Spheres and refueling dying suns with wormholes

Friday night was our monthly book club meeting in Lewisville and oh, the many topics we tossed about! This month we met to discuss Alastair Reynolds’ novel, House of Suns. As usual, I was a little behind on my reading and so had only finished about a third of the book. Thankfully, I was not the only one, but we had fun discussing what we had read so far.

This is a great read and Alastair Reynolds is a forward thinking writer. One of the ideas in use is the idea that a person will be able to create their own clone and then pass their memories on to the new one, thus making themselves immortal. Thus, “you” can essentially cross hundreds of thousands of light-years and have all the experiences that you attain in that travel.

Refueling a dying sun by funneling in more fuel through a wormhole is a unique use of said hole. Always knew that a wormhole could be used to transport all kinds of things, just never thought of doing that. And the use of Dyson spheres is really really cool, but you’ll have to read the book to find out why.

Below is a video that describes an alternative to cold fusion that is more efficient and practical than what they’ve been trying in research. Yes, we discussed this, too. What? TOO geeky for ya? Come join us next month when we’ll be discussing Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris. A little steampunk ought to ease the mental strain. Book trailer is below the fusion video.

Focus Fusion

 

Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

Lewisville SciFi Book Club will discuss Alastair Reynolds ‘House of Suns’

If you are available this Friday night, June 8th, the Lewisville SciFi Book Club will meet at the IHOP at I-35 and Round Grove Rd. to discuss the 2008 Alastair Reynolds novel House of Suns. Even if you haven’t read it in a while or are a few pages shy of finishing it, come on in for a great discussion. The group usually starts about 7:30pm but show up early if you like to get some food ordered. We’ll be in the back room, the hostess will know where. The IHOP is located at 2345 S. Stemmons Expressway along the service road on the north side of the highway. Hope to see you there!

A-Kon and Gone!

I didn’t get to go to A-Kon this year and I always say that I’m going to go. It seems there is always something hindering me. Usually, it’s money, but this last year I’ve had a lot heaped on my plate. Anyway, here’s a write-up by D Magazine (click the photo) for their website. It has a video and photo link, also. If you went and have photos, give us links in the comments!

Lewisville Science Fiction Book Club and man, does a month move fast

June 10, 2011 will be that Friday night again for the Lewisville Science Fiction Book Club. We’ll be discussing the book “Directive 51” by John Barnes and even though I bought the book two days after the last meeting, I’m still finishing the previous book. So, now I’ve got four days to finish it and this is the week that I start a new job. Plus, I’m still trying to promote my author, Ronald Dunn, and his book “The Wisdom of Solomon,” and keep this site up and running. Sometimes, I think I make things too hard on myself.

We are to bring in four titles that we’d like to suggest for future reads. Our group is not necessarily “hard” sci-fi, but we don’t tend to stray far. What are some reads that you think we might enjoy?

And if you have read “Directive 51” or are midway through (which is probably where I’ll be) stop by the IHOP at I-35 and Round Grove Road around 7:30 PM in the back room and join us.

Now, what are those book titles again?

X-Men with Friends (and family)

My wife and I have had a $50 gift voucher from Fandango since Christmas. We finally got to use it yesterday. Finally. It’s not like we haven’t tried. Of course, we’ve only been to three movies since the holidays. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 was the first. We forgot that we had the certificate. Then the in-laws kept the kid for a weekend and we decided to see Thor. We were running behind and had about ten minutes to get into the theater when I found out that you had to order the tickets online and use the certificate there. Almost twenty dollars for two people. Man, I love my Netflix.

This time we were successful. The wife was off early on a Friday and the kid had a few hours left at daycare, so we took full advantage with lunch and pre-purchased tickets for the 2:20 at Vista Ridge. A quick call to a friend that I left hanging for the midnight showing and we were set. Fortunately, said friend is very understanding of commitments with family and doesn’t dog me about it. Too much.

I read comic books but maybe not to the extent of some. I know the origins of the heavy-hitters and some of the smaller arcs, but X-Men I’ve never been to educated on, so if there were a flub somewhere, I wasn’t gonna notice it. If I have questions, then said friend is available. The guy is a veritable walking wiki.

Enjoyed the movie, though wife and I agree that the origin stuff was a little dull here and there. I thought the whole naming bit while they hung out at the secret hideout was a little cheesy, but then I figured, hey, they’re kids and I got over it. Kevin Bacon plays a good bad guy, but I thought his ending was little lame. Would’ve loved to see him go out better than he did. All in all, the ending could’ve been a little better.

In closing, a decent movie, better than number three but not as good as the first two. Don’t take my word for it, go see it, make your on judgement and let me know what you thought. Oh, it was good to see Michael Ironside and Oliver Platt, just wish they had bigger roles.