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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 Moon-Maker, by Arthur Train and Robert Williams Wood
The 1916 novel The Moon-Maker by Arthur Train and Robert Williams Wood is, even at first glance, an unusual book for a number of reasons. First, it is a science fiction novel written in 1916, long before science fiction had become … Continue reading
Posted in Science fiction
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An American in Spain, part 4: Onward to Seville
Part 4 of a photo travelogue of my recent trip to Spain with my wife and her family! (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) On Sunday, we got up relatively early to catch a train from Madrid to Seville. The train … Continue reading
An American in Spain, part 3: Palaces and parks in Madrid
Part 3 of a photo travelogue of my recent trip to Spain with my wife and her family! (Part 1, Part 2) As I’ve noted in the past parts of this travelogue, our hotel in Madrid was located very close … Continue reading
Posted in Travel
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An American in Spain, part 2: Art and Egypt in Madrid
Part 2 of a photo travelogue of my recent trip to Spain with my wife and her family. Though my wife and I had arrived in Spain smoothly on Thursday the 29th of March, things didn’t go so well for … Continue reading
Posted in Travel
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An American in Spain, part 1: Madrid
At the end of March, I had the great opportunity to take a trip to Spain with my wife and her family. My wife’s niece is spending a college semester in Granada, and we traveled out to visit her during … Continue reading
Posted in Travel
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John Derbyshire: wrong even 176 years ago
Update: Added a couple sentences to clarify that I’m not attacking psychology or psychometrics, but rather the simple-minded attempts distort these fields to justify racism. Also revised my statements about Derbyshire’s particular claims, to be more explicit about the flaws … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science, Politics
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Asamatsu Ken’s Queen of K’n-Yan
Been a crazy time at work lately, and things look to remain crazy for a couple more weeks! In the meantime, I’m catching up on some of my weird fiction blogging. One of the most remarkable and persistent aspects of … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Weird science facts: “Why am I still doing this?” edition
I’ve definitely decided to stop doing a Twitter #weirdscifacts a week, but it’s hard to slow down! I’ll be travelling for the rest of the week, however, so I’ll be forced to stop at last — here’s a few facts … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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Caitlin R. Kiernan’s The Drowning Girl
Good ghost stories are hard to find these days. Though there is much wonderful horror out there to read (and watch), in my opinion there are few authors that capture the ghostly sense of dread as well the early 20th … Continue reading
Weird science facts — the final (regular) edition!
With the fact of March 14th, I have posted a weird science fact on Twitter every day for two years straight. That’s one more year of #weirdscifacts than I expected to do, and I think this makes a good time … Continue reading
Posted in Weirdscifacts
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Skulls in the Stars 