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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
Twelve Tales of Suspense and the Supernatural, by Davis Grubb
Book 21 of 26 books for 2024! I should be able to reach 22, maybe 23, because I can read a book every 2 days, roughly… I was browsing my shelves for books to read that wouldn’t take that much time, … Continue reading
Posted in Mystery/thriller, Weird fiction
Tagged book review, books, Fiction, Horror, review
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Hiero’s Journey, by Sterling E. Lanier
Book 20 of 26 books for 2024! I should be able to reach 22, because I can read a book every 2 days, roughly… This one caught my eye a while back while I was browsing my favorite vintage gaming store … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Robert E. Howard
Tagged dd, dnd, dungeons-dragons, fantasy, rpg
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The Citadel of Fear, by Francis Stevens
Book 19 of 26 books for 2024! Can I reach 22 before year’s end? I definitely underestimated Francis Stevens on this one. Stevens was the pseudonym of Gertrude Barrows Bennett (1884-1948), an author of fiction that now tends to fall under … Continue reading
Gwen in Green, by Hugh Zachary
Book 18 of 26 books for 2024! Maybe I’ll make at least 22… Valancourt Books has been doing a great literary service by reprinting “Paperbacks from Hell” such as Carnosaur, and I’ve been reading as many of them as I can … Continue reading
The Case Against Satan, by Ray Russell
Book 17 of 26 books for 2024! Hoping to hit 20. I think everyone on the planet is familiar with William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel The Exorcist and the William Friedkin-directed 1973 adaptation, which is widely considered one of the greatest … Continue reading
Raft, by Stephen Baxter
Book 16 of 26 books for 2024! Still aiming for 20. There’s a series of works published by Orion Publishing Group known as SF Masterworks, and it has been going since 1999 and so far has nearly two hundred unique titles. … Continue reading
Posted in Science fiction
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The Opener of the Way, by Robert Bloch
Book 15 of 26 books for 2024! Still aiming for 20. Valancourt Books, of who I am a huge fan of, continues to impress with quality editions of quality authors. Recently, they have started reprinting the works of horror master Robert … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Lovecraft
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Life Lessons From Historical Women, by Eleanor Morton
Book 14 of 26 books for 2024! Still aiming to get to at least 20 for the year, which would be a triumph considering this year. The first thought that I had when I finished reading Eleanor Morton’s Life Lessons … Continue reading
Posted in History, Women in science
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My tips for scientific conference presentations
This semester, I decided to replace the final exam in one of my upper-level graduate courses with a short 15 minute presentation on a scientific paper related to the course topic. To give the students some guidance, I provided a … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Physics
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Hanbury Brown and Twiss and their impossible interferometer (1956)
Update: fixed a mistake in my numbers for telescope resolution, which I had worse by a factor of 10. Science is in general intended to be a serious business, but every once in a while one comes across some serious … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Physics
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Skulls in the Stars 