“Grave of Thomas Faucet”
Thomas Faucet allegedly shot General Edward Braddock and lived to be 109 years old.
Category: Research
“Cornerstones to Cobblestones: Railroad Stations in Southwestern Pennsylvania”
First presentations were today in Houston and Amity!
Ticket to Ride: North America (Day 1)
The draft for Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize is complete!
So, I wanted to expand our Ticket to Ride board game. I’m working on an extended map that will include Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Canada, and Alaska (most of North America).
Salisbury Viaduct
Several workmen died during the construction of this historic trestle.
This photograph shows the Salisbury Viaduct, formally a railroad trestle that now serves pedestrian traffic along the Great Allegheny Passage. The viaduct is just a few miles outside of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania.
Ensnared in a Childhood Fear: “Floating over a Spider” and “Montanha do Aranha”
A couple of short stories about deadly spiders (some extraterrestrial and one the product of island gigantism) spinning doom.
When I was a child, I had an intense fear of spiders. My dread of those little eight-legged monsters has somewhat eased in my adulthood, but I continue to hesitate whenever I encounter an arachnid. Continue reading “Ensnared in a Childhood Fear: “Floating over a Spider” and “Montanha do Aranha””
“An Ode to Anchorage”
A poetic journey through the history of Anchorage, Alaska.
Ship Creek tent city
Foundation of the rail
Building the belt
In wind, rain, snow, and hail Continue reading ““An Ode to Anchorage””
“Indigo Skies on Proxima b”: A Celebration of the Alpha Centauri System
A new day begins for the first human settlers on Proxima Centauri b, the nearest exoplanet to Earth.
I originally wrote “Indigo Skies on Proxima b” a few years ago. Proxima Centauri b, the nearest exoplanet to Earth, was discovered in 2016 and the subsequent conjecture surrounding the planet was a great source of inspiration to me. Artistic conceptions of the surface of this distant place also fired my imagination. Continue reading ““Indigo Skies on Proxima b”: A Celebration of the Alpha Centauri System”
“Apocalypse Moon”
A collision of Earth and the Moon is genuinely possible if both endure for another 65 billion years.
I wrote “Apocalypse Moon” in August of 2018 with 101 Words in mind. I was fortunate that 101 Words ultimately selected this piece to appear in November of that year. 101 Words has a simple premise (as you’ve probably already guessed): short stories that are exactly 101 words in length. Continue reading ““Apocalypse Moon””
Mystery Blogger Award!
Mystery blogger award! I definitely want to thank Mercury the Scribe for nominating me. I really appreciate all of the feedback given (and the time invested in reading), especially when I’m really trying to get back into writing on a regular basis (and the encouragement helps a great deal). Continue reading “Mystery Blogger Award!”
“Our Uncle on Proxima”
The tenuous atmosphere of Proxima Centauri b contained a relatively low level of oxygen, but this made no difference to Uncle or the children. The children were engineered to breathe the concoction of gasses present, and Uncle could actually do just fine with no atmosphere whatsoever.
I wrote “Our Uncle on Proxima” in the late summer of 2017. There was a great deal of speculation about Proxima Centauri b in the media at that time, and I was fascinated with the reports and suspicions about the planet that were appearing in Astronomy and other periodicals that year. The theories and hypotheses that were (and are) swirling around about Proxima Centauri b were (and continue to be) tantalizing. Continue reading ““Our Uncle on Proxima””
A Visit to the Idea Factory 
