North Pole Weather 12/23/13

The sun will rise at 10:59 this morning, and set 3 hours 42 minutes later, at 2:41 this afternoon. The days are getting longer, but only by about half a minute since the solstice, nor is the maximum height of the sun much more than 2°. That will begin to change with increasing rapidity. By Christmas the day will be 2 minutes longer than today.

We’ve had a little more snow; the snow stake in the yard indicated around 18” in the brief period of daylight yesterday, and it’s still snowing lightly. The forecast was for more snow, so I could have more by the time it’s light enough to see. Note that only half of the stake now shows. (Update 10:45: the snow depth is now 21″.)

The temperatures are not extreme by Alaskan standards: generally below zero, but nowhere near forty below. I can live with that, especially since I now have a heated garage.

And I’m actually beginning to look (and feel) as if I have hair again.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Homecoming

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It’s Sunday again, and time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) Today I’m posting 8 sentences from my first published book, Homecoming, available in a variety of formats from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.

Last week was a break, with an excerpt from the sequel of Homecoming,  Tourist Trap. This week I’m going back to Homecoming, but to a point a little after the scene with Derik and Roi. Just remember that Roi was originally called Snowy.

“If you feel like hitting someone, run it off,” Snowy’s mother had told him. “Just make sure you’re running in the direction your owner wants. You’re not likely to get in trouble that way.”

Snowy had done a lot of running in the six months since he’d been sold away from his mother. Six months? Wait a minute, that had been years ago. Not that he’d liked his mother’s owner, or the overseers who gave most of the orders. But this new owner, and the brutes he expected to keep his slaves in line, left him half sick with fear.

Wondering about the italic portions? The controlled dreaming Roi is being subjected to has that effect — he cannot change the memory, but he is simultaneously remembering and reliving it.

Winter Soltice today!

The days are getting longer!

This post is scheduled to go live at 8:11 Saturday morning, Alaska time, at which time the earth reaches the point in its orbit where the south pole points as closely as it ever does directly at the sun. The north pole, of more interest to those of us in the northern hemisphere, is pointing as far as possible from the sun, so that the sun is never visible from points north of the Arctic circle.

In Fairbanks the sun will rise. It will poke its upper edge above the horizon, 25° east of south, at 10:58 in the morning, and will set at 2:40 this afternoon, 25° west of south. At its highest, at 12:49 pm, its center will be a mere 2°, four times its own diameter, above the horizon.

But from now on the days will be getting longer.

(This was last year, when it was clear on the solstice. I’m pretty sure it was taken out of an office window at the Geophysical Institute, probably from right next to my old office, if not from it. The slight jaggedness on the horizon is the Alaska Range, seventy to a hundred fifty miles away. The mist is ice fog in the Tanana Valley — the temperature last year when this was taken was between -38° F and – 45° F.)

Jarn’s Journal Year 9 day 34

Year 9, Day 34

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I don’t know why I even spent time wondering whether I should tell the People about the northern hunters. I’d asked Little Gnu about the spear tips.  I had Rainbow trying to tan fur and make me warm clothing. And I unthinkingly assumed that only those two knew?

I might as well have stood up at the most populated part of the Gather and announced everything I knew or had surmised about the hunters. It probably would have taken longer for word to get around. Everyone seemed to arrive knowing of my explorations. They may call themselves the People, but I have to say the Gossipers would be a better name!

Granted, it was fresh news to most of them, and the salt pebbles and stories of the salt lake were of far more interest than the northern hunters. The exception, of course, was Songbird, who was rather obviously pregnant again. The soft-tanned furs and my tales of skiing the mountain snowfields fascinated her.

“If you took me to watch the women preparing furs, I might be able to learn by watching them,” she said hopefully.

I looked at her protruding belly. “I can teleport you, yes,” I said. “But right now there are two of you, and I cannot teleport both of you together.” I wasn’t really sure, but I did not want to take the risk. “Besides, the season for the best furs is past. It is getting warmer, and the fur animals are beginning to shed their winter coats.”

“Winter coats?”

“Here we have rainy and dry seasons. In the far north, they have warm and cold seasons. In the cold seasons, the animals grow thick coats. When it becomes warm, they shed them. Right now there is shed hair caught on every twig. The skins would not make good furs.”

She thought a minute or so. “My child will be born soon, probably before we leave. How soon will it be cold again there?”

“The cycle of seasons – warm to cold to warm again – takes about as long as the time from gather to gather. So it will always be warming up there at the time of a gather here.”

She frowned and thought a little. “So the furs would be getting thick again when the new baby has teeth?  But before it can walk?”

I was stunned. The People simply did not think ahead that far. At least, the men did not.

Songbird looked at my face and giggled. “I am a woman,” she informed me loftily. “We must think ahead, for our children. So can you take me to see the snow and these northern hunters when I begin to chew food for my baby? I know you can find me.”

I sighed and gave in. “Yes. But remember we must stay hidden. They do not know of my existence, and I do not want them to find out.”

What have I gotten myself into now?

Jarn’s Journal was supposedly written by a human-like alien stranded in Africa some 125,000 years ago. This is part of the very early back story of the universe in which I have set my science fiction. Jarn’s Journal to date is on my author site.

Quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between December 12 and December 18, 2013. All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Map of the Misty Mountains, from the original English version of the book.

“I do not council you one way or the other.” Galadriel, offering Frodo a look in her mirror.

“Seeing is both good and perilous.” Galadriel. Continues, “Yet I think, Frodo, that you have courage and wisdom enough for the venture, or I would not have brought you here.”

“And what do you wish?” “That what should be shall be”. Galadriel has just told Frodo that if he succeeds in destroying the ring, all that has been wrought with the three Elven-Rings (including the one she wears) will end. He questions her, and she answers.

“All shall love me and despair!” Part of Galadriel’s understanding of what would happen if she were to claim the ring.

“That is how it would begin. But it would not stop with that, alas.” Still Galadriel, recognizing that power leads to the desire for power for its own sake, no matter how selfless the initial reason for taking it.

“What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a sea?” The end of Galadriel’s song as she joins the fellowship for farewell.

“As a player himself, he had no use for unruly fans.” Bowling, Tourist Trap. Xazhar is talking to the planetary administrator, who is considering having him represent her at the Plasmaball tournament.

North Pole Weather 12/16/13

The sun will rise this morning at 10:53 and set 3 hours and 45 minutes later at 2:40 this afternoon; But we are close to the solstice, and next Saturday the sun will be as far to the south as it gets. The day length then will be only a little shorter than today; 3 hours, 41 minutes and 29 seconds, and from that day on the days will be getting longer. The actual solstice will be before daylight, at 8:11 in the morning.

Looking north, near noon, temperature -38°F

We’ve had a little more snow, interspersed with clear weather, and now have a show pack of around 14”. Temperatures have been around 0, but the forecast for this week is well below zero with skies often clear.

It never got light enough for a good outdoor picture yesterday, but this is what I woke up to this morning. Sorry for the blurring; I couldn’t even see the thermometer until the flash went off.

And a last minute reminder. If you’re giving or getting a Kindle for Christmas, load it up. Horse Power (rural science fiction with good reviews) will be free Dec 20 through 25, and Homecoming is priced under $5.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Tourist Trap

Sunday’s the day for snippets from all kinds of authors. To find those posting on Weekend Writing Warriors, click the logo above; for snippet Sunday click the logo below.

I’ve picked 8 sentences from my second published book, Tourist Trap. The group is hang gliding off a major escarpment to the plains below. Roi is the last of the group to take off, because of his telekinetic ability to help the others if needed, and has been admiring the jewel-colored gliders as they turn north along the mountain front to take advantage of the updraft it is producing. Incidentally, Roi’s perception allows him to “feel” the thermals.

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The cliff was beautifully streamlined, and the air beneath Roi flowed as smoothly as honey.  The cliff rim was dropping behind him, and the plains spread to the end of the world ahead, dotted with the warm columns of rising thermals.  He could fly beyond the horizon on a day like this, he thought exultantly, fly to the lake that lay somewhere at the end of the lazy curves traced by the Surprise far below.  He pulled in slightly on the control bar, accelerating to turn northward after the others.

The wing nosed over, diving so abruptly toward the toe of the slope that Roi was caught by surprise.  Startled, he pushed out hard, using his whole body to throw his weight as far back as he could.  Slowly, reluctantly, the wing leveled out into steady flight.  Then, as swiftly as it had dived, it tried to leap upward into a stall.

What’s happening? He just test-flew the glider yesterday, with no hint of a problem!

Tourist Trap is available from Barnes and Noble or Amazon. The blurb:

A vacation with his three best friends from slavery and a manhood challenge: Roi is given the graduation present he has dreamed of. Dogsledding, hang gliding, a chance to see Pleistocene animals transplanted to a Terraformed vacation world, horseback riding, sailing … all the sports he has returned to with his recovery from paralysis, and a few new ones to learn.

They’re prepared for danger from weather, wild animals and extreme sports. But none of them realize that Roi’s half brother Zhaim, determined to recover his old position as Lai’s heir, intends to kill them if he can—and he’s decided that the dangers of the trip will make a perfect cover for his schemes.

How long will it take them to realize that the “accidents” they keep running into are more than just accidents?

Jarn’s Journal Year 9, First Day

Start of Year 9

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It’s the beginning of spring, here in these northern mountains, but you’d never know it by the temperature of the air. Oh, the sun is riding higher in the sky and the days are now as long as the nights, but the snow is still dry beneath my skis, at least on the higher terrain.

I was right about the animals growing coats to fit the climate. Those that live here in the snow, like the foxes, grow coats so thick and warm they can lie on the snow and sun themselves. In fact all of the small to medium predators have wonderfully thick coats. Even those herbivores that the local hunters kill for food have far denser and warmer coats than those I am familiar with.

I am not going to let the northern hunters know of my existence if I can help it. I have, however, set up a peculiar form of trade for tanned furs. I have observed that they use salt as a preservative, and that it seems to be the thing in shortest supply when they are preserving hides. I realized this when I saw them saving and reusing the salt with which they treated skins, even at times evaporating salt solution in hides staked over a fire. So one day when a group ran off to help bring a butchered animal back to camp, leaving a tanned fur in plain sight, I stole it. Well, not quite stole it – in its place I left a pile of salt sufficient to preserve a number of much larger pelts.

They obviously observed the substitution, and I watched carefully for any sign that they considered themselves threatened. I think the men were somewhat upset. The women, however, seemed delighted with the salt. From that time on, whenever they have had to leave a campsite for a day or two (usually to haul in meat) tanned furs were left out in plain sight.

Rainbow is trying, but so far her efforts are not creating anything like what these northern hunters produce. But the rest of the People will be back soon, and some of them may have some suggestions for copying the furs I can show them. And Rainbow can surely construct me some warm clothes for next season.

Jarn’s Journal is the journal of a human-like alien stranded in Africa some 125,000 years ago. He has made friends with a group of early Homo Sapiens there, but he is determined not to repeat the mistake with the Neanderthals he has found in Europe. At the moment he is in the Alps, needing warmer clothes and finding that the Neanderthals are far better at preparing hides with the fur on than the People who have taken him in. The whole Journal (find it here) is part of the back story of the universe in which my science fiction is set.

Quotes from Jane Austen and her Hero

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between December 5 and December 11, 2013. Those from Mr. Darcy’s Guide to Courtship were tweeted as if Mr. Darcy were the author.

“In such cases as these, a good memory is unpardonable.” Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Elizabeth is speaking to Jane for the first time about her change of feelings and engagement to Darcy.

“Do anything rather than marry without affection.” Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Part of the same conversation of Jane with Elizabeth, Jane speaking.

“These violent young lovers carry everything their own way.” Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Mr. Bennett, after he realizes what Darcy has done for Lydia.

“I have no inclination to expend effort on those who have not taken the trouble to learn to read.” Mr. Darcy’s Guide to Courtship, by Emily Brand. As a writer, I have to agree with Mr. Darcy here, though of course he did not have access to audiobooks.

“In plain words, there should be no ‘falling in love,’ except with suitable persons.” Mr. Darcy’s Guide to Courtship, by Emily Brand. Clearly Darcy wrote this before he met Elizabeth!

“No matter how extensive your income, they will always exceed it.” Mr. Darcy’s Guide to Courtship, by Emily Brand. Part of Darcy’s description of the “artful female” who marries for money. (Of course he has no such strictures on the man who marries for money.)

“No sense staying in bed.” Tourist Trap, by Sue Ann Bowling. Penny’s thought when she wakes while Roi and Flame are still asleep.

Pride and Pyramids, by Amanda Grange and Jacqueline Webb (Review)

Pride and Pyramids, by Amanda Grange and Jacqueline Webb, is a sequel to Austen’s masterpiece, set some fifteen years after the wedding. It’s been a pleasant fifteen years, and fruitful – there are now six little Darcys. But with peace in Europe and the youngest children old enough to read and benefit from travel, they are tempted into a family trip to Egypt by Col Fitzwilliam’s younger brother, Edward. Elizabeth asks Charlotte’s younger sister, Sophie, along as a companion, as well as an artist, Paul Inkworthy, to record the trip. Mrs. Bennett invites herself, as fond as ever of her wayward daughter Lydia and Lydia’s even more wayward husband, Wickham. Those two aren’t included in the party, but they sneak after the Darcys and Wickham is as always the villain of the piece.

As a general rule I like my Austen sequels without paranormal trappings, but the fantasy elements in this one, based on ancient Egyptian curses, work as a part of the storyline. You can treat them as superstition (as the characters generally do) or as the real results of an ancient magician’s curse, and the story works either way. It’s not Jane Austen, but it is true to the characters she wrote while being an enjoyable read.

I read Mr. Darcy’s Diary near the beginning of this challenge, and frankly I much prefer Pride and Pyramids. The Diary was pretty much a rehashing of the original book; this one has a life of its own and some enjoyable new characters.

Might add I’m about halfway through Linda Berdoll’s Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and while I enjoy some of the humor, I tend to side with those who prefer to keep the bedroom door shut.