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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
The Sea of Ash, by Scott Thomas
For day 3 of my “October days of horror blogging,” I revisit one of my favorite weird horror novels of all time! Scott Thomas’ The Sea of Ash is a stunningly imaginative and unpredictable tale of strange things that lurk … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Graham Masterton’s Tengu
For day 2 of “blog a horror book every day of October,” here’s a post I did waaaaaay back in 2008 about an incredibly intense novel by Graham Masterton! Masterton is best known for his 1975 novel The Manitou, about … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny
Now that October is officially here, I thought I would blog or reblog about horror fiction every day of the month, leading up to Halloween! And what better place to start than Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October, … Continue reading
Dark Harvest, by Norman Partridge
Still getting myself back in the swing of reading, and looking for any books that immediately pique my interest with their premise so I’m motivated to read them immediately! On a recent jaunt to my local B&N, the short horror … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Antimatter goes down!
Hey folks, as you might have seen from my previous post, things have been a little hectic lately, and I haven’t had an opportunity to write some in-depth blog posts. While I wait for life to settle a bit again, … Continue reading
Posted in Science news
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Fundraising for Zoe’s leg surgery
This morning, my senior kitty Zoe somehow managed to break one of her front legs. She’s incredibly spry for her 17 years of age, and still jumps up and down from the bed and couch all the time, and presumably … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
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Night of the Mannequins, by Stephen Graham Jones
I’ve been working on getting myself back into a regular reading habit, and to warm up I’ve been looking for some punchy short horror novels. When I was recently at my local Barnes & Noble, this book practically jumped off … Continue reading
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“Deterministic vortices evolving from partially coherent fields” in Optica!
Some exciting personal and optics news: I just had a paper published in the prestigious journal Optica with my student Wenrui Miao and my colleague Yongtao Zhang on “Deterministic vortices evolving from partially coherent fields.” The paper is open access, … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Personal
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Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle
One thing I’ve long believed is that truly powerful stories, the ones that stay with you, are the ones that are truly about something meaningful to the author. As a general rule, no great stories are purely “entertainment,” even though … Continue reading
Skulls in the Stars 