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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Author Archives: skullsinthestars
A miscellany of science-related stories
I’ve been stocking up on a collection of fascinating science stories which I couldn’t think of enough to comment on in a blog post. I’ve finally hit critical mass, though, and thought I’d dump them all at once: Four Spanish … Continue reading
Posted in Science news
5 Comments
A. Merritt’s The Face in the Abyss
I’ve been continuing my reading of the works of A. Merritt (1884-1943), which began with his first serial novel The Moon Pool (1919), continued to his masterful The Metal Monster (1920) and most recently visited The Dwellers in the Mirage … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure fiction
3 Comments
Terminator and Dollhouse surprised me tonight…
I just finished watching Terminator and Dollhouse and just felt compelled to write a short comment. Both shows were really good tonight, in their own way. Terminator resolved a number of huge plot threads and the same time it opened … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment
4 Comments
Infinite series are weird!
I’m in the mood to do something a little more ‘math-y’! A few weeks ago, Tyler at PowerUp did a nice post about the divergence of the harmonic series, and that got me thinking about the weirdness of infinite series. … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics
18 Comments
M.P. Shiel’s The House of Sounds and Others
H.P. Lovecraft was not only a writer of weird fiction, but a voracious reader of the genre, as evidenced by his classic essay, Supernatural Horror in Literature. He collected a voluminous library of weird titles, many of which have not … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
5 Comments
The Giant’s Shoulders #9 is up!
The ninth edition of The Giant’s Shoulders is up at The Evilutionary Biologist! Many thanks to John for assembling it. The next edition will appear on April 16th at Stochastic Scribbles.
Posted in General science, Science news
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Relive the history of The Oregon Trail… the game!
I’m currently mulling over my next science blog post, which will hopefully be out soon. In the meantime, I had to point out this wonderful discovery via StumbleUpon: an Apple II emulator which allows one to play the classic educational … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment
8 Comments
University of Chicago undergraduates vs. Westboro Baptist!
I did my undergraduate work at the University of Chicago, and though I can vouch for the fact that we all took ourselves way too seriously in general, it turns out the kids there now are okay! The homophobic Westboro … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Religion, Silliness
3 Comments
Bertram Mitford’s The Weird of Deadly Hollow
I’ve been haunted by Bertram Mitford’s novel The Sign of the Spider (1896) ever since I read it (and blogged about it), so I thought the time was past due to investigate some of his other works. The next one … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Michael Faraday, grand unified theorist? (1851)
At long last, I get to blog about the paper that first piqued my interest about the research of Michael Faraday! If you haven’t been following my Faraday posts, let me give a quick recap: Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was one … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
9 Comments
Skulls in the Stars 