EVER HEARD OF CSA?

No, not Confederate States of America!  It's Community Sustainable Agriculture and it's a way of putting our concern for the planet's future into action.  You make a contract with a farm or group of farms to provide you with a box of produce direct from them every so often.  This year, I decided to try this with our local asparagus farm because we love fresh asparagus spears and have been a little dissatisfied with the super market product.  So we paid about $300 for 10 weeks of boxes, plus a few pick-your-own events right in the fields.  We've now received our first five weeks of boxes, which contained superb asparagus, plus products from three associated farms: salad greens, zucchini squash (courgettes), sweet potatoes, berries, and LOTS of eggs, as well as some honey and blackberry jam.  There were so many eggs that I had to dig into my old quiche recipes and start freezing some of those, besides learning to pickle boiled eggs.  I realize that not everyone has a farm available to do this (here we have a choice of two) or the time to cook a lot of fresh products.  Yet I am very happy we did, because we are helping to preserve local farms that grow something besides corn, wheat and soybeans for Big Ag.  These family farms are an American tradition and a great way to get fresher, tastier, and less chemically-treated items for the diet.  All over the world, there is a need to encourage this sort of sustainable agriculture in order to restore the balance of nature and climate and to make a better world for coming generations.  I think you all should consider ways to consume local products raised by dependable local farms, both for your own personal benefit and that of the Earth.  (And yes, I did think of our own characters the Religious Dissenters on Domremy as I wrote this piece.)

 FELIZ PASCOA NEW VIEWERS FROM BRAZIL!

 

SEE US AT MARSCON

APRIL 24-26   GLEN ALLEN, VIRGINIA

A SCI FI CON THAT'S ALWAYS LOADS OF FUN!

LOOKING FORWARD TO MARSCON THIS COMING WEEKEND IN VIRGINIA BEACH-NORFOLK

AND HOPING MOTHER NATURE WILL BE BACK!

OUR PANELS WILL BE:

HERPETOLOGY, WHAT IS IT?  FRIDAY 4pm

INDIE PUBLISHING FRIDAY 7PM (JIM)

MAKING VILLAINS WICKED AGAIN  FRIDAY 7PM (JOHN)

EVOLUTIONARY MECHANICS AND BEHAVIOR OF SEX   FRIDAY 10 PM

HIDE AND SEEK -- CHAMPIONS OF US CRYPTIDS SATURDAY 2PM

Q, THE MAN BEHIND 007--LET'S TALK SPY TECH AND ITS ROLE IN REALITY AND FICTION   SATURDAY 7PM

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE SUNDAY NOON

 

 BACK TO MYSTICON IN ROANOKE

We're delighted to have been invited back to the Mysticon conference coming up in Roanoke next month.  It's a fantastic gathering of writers, fans, cosplayers, and scifi film buffs that had been on hiatus since the days of Covid and is rebooting this year.  We'll hope to have some new picturess to post soon, so stay tuned to this station!

AN APPEAL TO ASIAN FANS

Here in North America we hear of the strength of the science fiction community in Asia, especially in Chinese-speaking countries, but we receive far too little information.  Apart from a few wonderful classics such as The Three Body Problem and related masterpieces, we have little news of the vast sci fi audience in that part of the world.  I know I am not alone in craving more information on the development of science fiction writing in Asia.  

Several specific questions include: How many science fiction magazines exist either in Chinese, English, or other languages?  How accessible are these publications in bookstores?  What kinds of publishers exist for full length novels or novellas and are these mainly devoted to speculative fiction or do they also publish in other genres?  What sorts of science fiction support groups are popolar in Asia?  Are there sci fi conferences for the general public to attend or do authors gather at smaller conferences to discuss their work?  Are there separate categories within sci fi for subgenres such as military sci fi, hard sci fi, social or anthropological sci fi, cozy sci fi, etc.?  Are there sci fi books stemming from films, such as the Star Trek novels or Star Wars novels?  

We are particularly interested in such questions because the sci fi scene is evolving quickly here in North America.  Some of the mosts established print magazines in English seem to be having trouble maintaining a hard copy presence.  Online magazines seem to be proliferating and organizing themselves more closely.  POD publishers of novels seem to be declining and small press publications often have an ephemeral status, rapidly coming and going in ways that can leave authors and fans baffled.  "Big 5" publishers rely mainly on literary agents as a go-between in the story procurement process and the world of agents also is in rapid transition.  Some groups of authors attempt to solve the publication problems by collectively working on anthologies, but these efforts often face funding and distribution bottlenecks.  It would be most helpful to have an idea of how our Asian colleagues are finding answers to their creative questions.  Please feel free to follow and post your reactions on this site.

                                        Jim and John, writing as J. M. R. Gaines

  

 BIENVENIDOS AMIGOS DEL SUR

We are delighted to welcome new viewers from the republics of Ecuador and Argentina to the Forlani Universe and hope that you will enjoy our posts, stories, and books!