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Author Archives: Dennis Langley

Link fixes and MAVEN

16 Sep

First I need to apologize. In my previous post the link to my guest post was broken for a time. I fixed it however, many of you indicated you had some difficulty with it. So for those of you who would like to read my guest post from last week, here is the link.

Fantasy, the purest form of fiction.

Now for some interesting news. I received a call from my brother who works for Lockheed-Martin, an aerospace contractor. He proceeded to tell me that a launch date was set for the project he has been working of for several years. The project is called MAVEN and stands for, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft. According to NASA:

The  MAVEN mission, scheduled for launch in late 2013, will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.

The goal of MAVEN is to determine the role that loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate through time. Where did the atmosphere – and the water – go?

MAVEN will determine how much of the Martian atmosphere has been lost over time by measuring the current rate of escape to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes to allow extrapolation backward in time.

-according to NASA Mission pages website.

Unloading MAVEN spacecraft at KSC (Photo credit NASA photo library)

Unloading MAVEN spacecraft at KSC (Photo credit NASA photo library)

My brother has been the requirements and verification lead relating to the MAVEN space vehicle. His responsibilities included overseeing the definition of the spacecraft and ensuring that all requirements are met. Sounds cool doesn’t it? Hell, I get goosebumps just writing about it. Anyway, after years of work by a large team of individuals, it is finally going to launch.

Since I have a personal interest in this event, it is my intention to post periodic blogs relating to preparation for the launch and hopefully, the launch itself. If you have specific questions relating to the project, I will try to obtain correct answers and provide them during followup posts.

This is just plain cool!

 
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Posted by on September 16, 2013 in MAVEN

 

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Fantasy tidbits

12 Sep

Today I am guest posting for follow blogger byjhmae. I was surprised when she asked me. But I jumped at the chance. She always has an interesting take on writing and current issues. If you have not already dropped by her blog, do so. You will not be disappointed. And today, you would get the added pleasure of hearing more from me. 😉

As the title suggests I talk about how fantasy and bringing different spiritual cultures together can create conflict. There are also a few other tidbits on fantasy writing and magic systems. Enjoy.

Fantasy – the purest form of fiction

 
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Posted by on September 12, 2013 in Journey into Fantasy

 

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Where are the Gentlemen?

09 Sep

What happened to being a gentleman? What happened to being respectful, of elders, the Law, each other, the fairer sex? What happened to manners and etiquette? These are questions I’ve been asking myself lately when I go to the store or go out to eat at a restaurant. How many men hold the chair for their female dinner guest? Not very many, I can assure you. The last dozen or so times that I’ve held the door for a stranger, male or female, I have not received a thank you. Why? Being kind and considerate used to be common courtesy.

Have we become so self-absorbed and jaded that we have forgotten how to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you?’ I admit that on occasion I fall victim to the MORE ME NOW mentality. When I catch myself I do try to correct that behavior as soon as possible. My domestic CEO has offered to swat my nose with a newspaper when I screw up. But she seems way too eager.

I was raised to treat ladies like ladies. That does not mean being condescending. It does means treating them with respect and perhaps a little reverence. True gentlemen understand that we are outclassed by our feminine counterparts. They are a mystery that we will never understand. Without them, we will never be all that we can be. And for the record ladies, the reverse is also true. Just thought I’d throw that in there to drum up a few comments. 😉

 

 
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Posted by on September 9, 2013 in Musings and Odd Thoughts

 

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Mystic Waterfall

30 Aug
Mystic Waterfall (My Backyard)

Mystic Waterfall
(My Backyard)

I hear running water. The sound is muffled. I slip through the willows and white paper birch trees. The stream must be close by. Little breeze makes it down here in the valley. Yet, I can smell a freshness in the still air that was thick with pollen and insects.

The morning dew hangs on every leaf. The sun has not risen enough to burn the excess moisture away. Soon my shirt and hair are soaked. I wipe my forehead with my sleeve and press onward, searching for the source of the ever-increasing sound.

The willows become thicker with every forward step. Their branches slap against my face and arms as if trying to send me back the way I came. The ground itself becomes more uneven. Once soft moss-covered duff has turned into sharp rocks and boulders which invite me to turn an ankle.

I stop to get my bearings. The sound seems all around me now. The birch trees block my view of the sky. Every direction I look appears the same. I begin to panic. Wondering which way to go. I stumble forward. Fighting my way through the vast wall of willow branches. A branch hits my face and I close my eyes to protect them. The ground wins and I trip, striking my knee on a sharp boulder. My hands are cut on smaller rocks while trying to catch myself.

I open my eyes. There, just beyond my reach, I see myself looking back at me. I blink several time to clear my eyesight. There is no mistaking that the reflection of myself is coming from a small pool. the sound is now very loud and I look up into the waterfall that spills through the rocks. The willows converge a few feet above the pond and I cannot make out where the waterfall starts.

I pull myself forward and sit at the edge of the pool tending to my knee and hands. A movement on one of the rocks above me causes me to look up. A small creature steps out of the willows and onto a flat rock. Smaller than a child, it is hunched as if very old and uses a gnarled stick to lean on. It turns and with a voice that resembles rustling leaves, says, “Welcome, apprentice.”

Apprentice meets his mentor

Apprentice meets his mentor

 
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Posted by on August 30, 2013 in Musings and Odd Thoughts

 

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Blood Power to Steam Power – Part 2

26 Aug

In my last post, I talked about my visit to the Mayan exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum. This puzzling civilization was controlled by priests that obtained their power by blood sacrifices.For nearly four millennium they stood as one of the most advanced  cultures on earth. The reason for their decline is still a mystery.

The day following my trip to see the Mayan exhibit, I volunteered in a gardening Q&A booth at a small country town festival (threshing show) near my home. One of the key elements of this show was a historical accounting and progress of the steam-powered engines and specifically the farm tractor.

Coal-Fired Steam Tractor

1923 Case No. 11 Coal-Fired Steam Tractor

The festival grounds were covered with booths and exhibits of steam engines dating back into the 19th century. There were steam engines that would fit in the palm of your hand and steam engines that ran full-sized sawmills.

Cutting logs into boards

Cutting logs into boards – Note the blade on the left and the size of the man in the center.

There was even a stem engine that ran a ringer washer.

No more hand cranking the ringer.

No more hand cranking the ringer. Watch your fingers!

In the eighteen hundreds, steam ran everything from Eli Whitney’s cotton gin to the Mississippi Queen-styled river boats. In short, the steam engine powered the industrial revolution. Most steam engines were powered by either wood or coal. The smell of a coal burner is unmistakable. The potential for the fires getting out of control or the boiler explosion from over-pressurization made early models somewhat dangerous to operate. However, the hiss…pop…hiss of a steam engine is very cool. And a hundred or so all running at the same time sounded like a really strange symphony.

So, for those of you writing historical fiction, steam punk, or historical fantasy, don’t forget to include these amazing machines in your story. Realism is what we are all after and there isn’t much that is more grounded and gritty than a good old-fashioned steamer, grinding and puffing in the background. Maybe it’s a turn of the century steam shovel working in a strip mining operation or a high-speed steamer headed for the Yucatan. Whatever you choose. these machines will help you bring your story to life.

 
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Posted by on August 26, 2013 in Musings and Odd Thoughts, Other Strangeness

 

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Blood Power to Steam Power – Part one

19 Aug
A Mayan City Center

A Mayan City Center  Photo credit to http://www.civilization.com

Blood sacrifice, Ritual beheadings, and games where the losing team captain is sacrificed to the gods, this is where my weekend started. No, not at the local parent/teacher association meeting. The domestic CEO and I went to the Minnesota Science Museum’s Maya Exhibit.

I have always been fascinated by the history and depth of this culture. Visiting the locations of these once powerful city-states has always been on my bucket list.

The juxtaposition of sheer intellect capable of tracking the stars and predicting celestial occurrences and the brutality of blood lettings and human sacrifice make this culture puzzling. The Mayan calendar and their pyramid-shaped temples are probably the most recognizable of the remains of this vast civilization that spanned from 1800 BC to 1450 AD..

However, their advances in medicine, dentistry, art, and agriculture remind us that this was a culture that supported tens of thousands of people without the benefit of ‘modern’ technology.

Two areas that really jumped out at me were the dental inlay work were gems and precious stones were placed into holes drilled into a person’s teeth using a simple bow-drill. Ouch! The part of the exhibit I found fascinating was a map that was created using laser photography from a low flying airplane to map the Maya city of Caracol in Belize. It revealed the existence of thousands of previously unknown roads, agricultural terraces and suburban housing settlements. The size of this city was awesome. The fact that the Mayans did not have horses or other means of travel other than by foot added to the magnitude of their way of life.

The two and a half hours we spent at the exhibit only fueled my desire to visit the actual sites. This trip has certainly moved up in priority on my bucket list.

From a writer’s viewpoint, the possibilities for story lines is truly endless. Obviously, historical fiction and fantasy are easy genres to leverage. However, so would romance, mystery and horror. Now I have to go back and watch, Mel Gibson’s action-adventure movie, “Apocalypto”, Just to see how the director recreated this marvelous culture.

In my next post, we’ll travel forward in time from the Mayans to the industrial revolution and my visit to a local festival that celebrates steam power.

 
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Posted by on August 19, 2013 in Musings and Odd Thoughts

 

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A Candle Guides the Fishermen Home

12 Aug
A candle lights the way home

A candle lights the way.

There are no lighthouses on the lake.

In the gloom of the coming darkness, the shoreline is black as it meets the dark water,creating a curtain that hides both the safe docks and the rocky shores.

The fisherman is tired from casting and maneuvering the boat among the waves. Eyes are dry from enduring hours of sun and wind.

Slowly, he makes headway as the wind has calmed, though he is wary of submerged rock piles.

The fisherman relies on memory and intuition to keep him in safe waters as he scans the shoreline ahead for his home.

He makes the turn between the Point and the Shoals keeping a discreet distance from the hazard buoy that he knows lies just beyond his running lights glow.

His eyes drift north and he sees a dim point of light in the distance. He blinks to be sure that it is not just his mind playing tricks.

The point of light flickers but remains steadfast. The fisherman guides his boat toward the light. He slows his engines to an idle as the boat enters the familiar bay. Shadows on shore begin to take on a shapes that he recognizes until at last, he sees the canopy that is home to his boat. The light is recognized as a candle. It rests on the railing of the deck that surrounds his cabin

He ties off the mooring lines, lifts the day’s catch, and makes his way down the dock to the loved ones who left the candle burning to guide his way home.

 
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Posted by on August 12, 2013 in Musings and Odd Thoughts

 

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