Fantasist's Scroll

You know, I could rewrite this…

But, it’s easier to just link to the post over at my other blog, Diary of a Network Geek. Go there, and look at what I wrote then check the links for cool fractal art.

Hey, it’s free! Besides, it’s Friday and what else do you have to do?

Oh, these are strange, but good.

Here’s a link to a DefenseTech article about the CIA’s Online “Personality Test” which is supposed to open our eyes to what it’s really like to work for the CIA. Apparently, it’s not ALL like James Bond. Who knew?

And, in a totally different vein, this is the most disturbing wallpaper I’ve ever seen. Look really closely at it. Hmm, maybe for one of the guest rooms…

But, finally, for the geeks, How to Make StarTrek-style LCARS Panels. I cannot make this stuff up!

So, go, link and enjoy. It is, after all, Friday! Whoops! Now, I’m late to work!!

Okay, this might not be what you were expecting…

No, I’m not talking about pornography in a library, but images of libraries that would excite book enthusiasts.  At least, it got me all excited.  Interestingly enough, the book is discussed on the Cool Hunters website.  It’s brought to us by Kids Republic and, based on the pictures, I can only describe it as library porn.
Seriously, if you like libraries, or old books, or just lots of books, at least go look at the Cool Hunters website, if not the book itself.  Way cool.

Besides, it’s Friday, what else do you have to do?

According to Writer’s Almanac we have three birthdays to celebrate today.

First, there’s novelist Herbert George (H.G.) Wells, who was born in Bromley, England in1866. According to the note I got from Writer’s Almanac, Wells had a job writing biology textbooks until he developed a respiratory illness in his late 20s. Since he thought he didn’t have long to live, he left his wife and ran away with another woman, after which he began writing furiously. In roughly three years, he published all the novels for which we know him: The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds.

It’s also the birthday of the novelist Stephen King, born in Portland, Maine in 1947. His father was a merchant seaman who left the family when Stephen was just two. He has no memories of his father, but one day he found a whole box full of his father’s science fiction and fantasy paperbacks, and that box of his father’s books inspired him to start writing horror stories.
He was working as a teacher when he wrote his first novel about a weird high school girl with psychic powers named Carrie White. He gave up on the book at one point and threw it in the trash. His wife rescued it. Carrie was published in 1973. The hard cover didn’t sell well, but then his agent called to say that the paperback rights had sold for $400,000.

Lastly, but, perhaps, most importantly, today is the birthday of the man who first put high quality literature into paperbacks, Sir Allen Lane, born in Bristol, England in 1902. He was the founder of Penguin Books.

Yarr, today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, me blog maties!

Few are the holidays made for such as we, ye digital sea dogs, but this be one of ’em. Ye don’t ‘ave to be a data pirate or music pirate or any kind of law breakin’ pirate at all to join in the fun. Ye just ‘ave to like talkin’ like a pirate, ya’ scury dogs! So, whether ye be a privateer, a corsair or a buccanner, or ye just wanna be, go on the account fer just the day and chase ye booty, while ye may! Then finish ‘er off w’ a bit o’ good grog and throw in a hearty “yo, ho, ho”. Then set aside the sweet trade fer the life of a land lubber fer another year, but, ’till this great, glorious day rolls ’round again, dream o’ dubloons an’ grog, and International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Specifically, fantasy fiction writing contests.

No, nothing that this site is sponsoring, but someone with a very similar name: Fantasist Enterprises.  They currently have two contests going.  One has a deadline of October 15, 2006 and is called Fantastical Visions. This is open to authors submitting any previously unpublished work under 10,000 words with fantasy as a primary or central theme.
The other contest is the Sails and Sorcery contest. This contest has a deadline of January 15, 2007 and, as one might guess from the title, has a theme.  That theme is sailing!  More specifically, “nothing with a feel that is later than the early 19th century” and with an emphasis on a Pirates of the Carribean feel to it.  The site lists several examples, and has more details, but, again, fantasy needs to be an essential part of the story.

The nice thing about both of these contests, however, is that there is no entrance fee for a single manuscript.  That’s very unusual, in my experience, and why I’m mentioning it here.  So, if you have any inclination to write at all and, like me, needed a goal to help get started working on something, then check out these contests.
They may just get you out of your slump!

More fun sushi links!
Yeah, I know, I said I was done, but, well, there’s more. I can’t just let them sit in my Bookmark file and not share them, can I? Of course not! Not when I have links to Hello Kitty Sushi! Yes, that’s right, sushi shaped like Hello Kitty. (No, not sushi made from Hello Kitty you sickos!) In fact, I’m still looking for the kit this person used for sale, so, if you all find it, let me know.
Speaking of sushi kits, here’s a little something called Maki Sushi Kit, which is a device to help the gourmet impaired, like me, to make sushi. The focus seems to be on sushi rolls, but they also have help for the regular nigiri sushi.
That leads me right to Kosher Sushi. Yes, I said “kosher”. Frankly, I’m not sure how they manage it, but it seems like the perfect thing for that cosmopolitan barmitsva or batmitsva. “C’mon, kids, kosher sushi is the latest craze!” Oy vey!
And, last, but certainly not least, is the Sushi Gift page. No, it’s not the “gift of sushi”, but gifts with sushi themes. So, for instance, there’s a cool belt with a girl eating sushi on the buckle. I bet I know a teenage girl who’d dig that! But, I think my favorite is either the sushi boxers or the sushi tie. Gotta’ love it!

Anyway, it IS Friday and these are all fun links, so click on one and have a good time!

Today is Edgar Rice Burroughs’ birthday!
ERB, as he is often known by fans, was born in Chicago in 1875. He is probably most famous as the creator of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, which is a series of stories about an English nobleman who was abandoned in the African jungle during infancy and brought up by apes. His first Tarzan story appeared in 1912, and Burroughs followed it with the novel Tarzan of the Apes in1914. He is also the author of A Princess of Mars, which is the first book in a series about a US Cavalry officer transported “mystically” to Mars, as well as, Pellucidar, about a savage world hidden beneath our own, The Pirates of Venus, about space pirates on Venus. Not to mention his lesser known works, including The Mad King and many others.
For many of us, ERB was our first introduction to science-fiction and fantasy. He was a real writer, by which I mean he churned out novels and stories at a furious rate for one reason onlyL to support his family. He is, in many ways, one of my heroes.
So, Happy Birthday, Mr. Burroughs, wherever you are.