South Africa

I well remember what first drew my attention to South Africa's existence - and its problems.

Her name was Zola Budd. She was one of the fastest female runners of all time, and notorious for training and racing barefoot.

She was a white South African who became a British citizen in order to compete in the Olympics. (Highly controversial at the time, these days athletes often country hop).

She could not compete as a South African because of the sanctions. Eventually she did, but she had lost her edge by that point.

I remember her because she made me realize South Africa existed. And she made me learn the word "Apartheid." I remember my father explaining it to me.

I remember the horror. Of my father's two closest friends at the time one, Ray Marx, was my de facto godfather (my official godfather moved away and lost touch). Ray Marx was one of the few true gentlemen I have ever known, by every definition of the world. I loved him almost as much as my real family. Ray Marx was a black man. Racism did not exist in my family - Ray was not the only black man to cross our threshold and be welcomed. My father had other prejudices; skin color was never one of them.

The idea of treating black people any differently was alien to me. And horrific.

It was only much later that the name "Mandela" truly entered into my consciousness - this was in the days before we all had the internet. Then he entered my awareness as a South African activist who got locked up for making too much trouble. Only on his release did I really grasp that this guy was more than just some random activist.

He walked out of prison and all but straight into negotiations with then president de Klerk. And he won. Plain and simple, he won. Only four years after his release, in 1994, he was the first black President of South Africa. He retired after a single five year term.

Not that he stopped - he spent the rest of his active life devoted to charitable causes.

His own people called him "Tata". Father. Now the world mourns him as the father of modern South Africa - a country which still has a long way to go, but which has moved past its institutionalized racism into the modern world.

For me? I simply respect the fact that after 27 years in prison, much of it spent in solitary confinement and working hard labor, and five years as President of his country, he made it to 95 and died of natural causes.

That's one tough man.

Man Of Steel Sequel...

...is going to have another hero. Wonder Woman. She's going to be played by Gal Gadot.

I don't have any experience with this actor, but I'm willing to give her a shot...although I'm not sure about the sequel itself. I liked Man of Steel, but my husband thought it was two hours of his life he'll never get back.

She's got the coloring except for having dark eyes - which I'm more than willing to forgive. She's got a distinctly Greek feel to her.

The one thing she doesn't have: Size. And that's causing a bit of a controversy.

On the one hand are the fans who are saying Gadot is simply too skinny to play the part. Or that she isn't, uh, well enough endowed.

On the other is the riposte from those who say this is body shaming.

What? Have we got so politically correct that saying we think somebody doesn't have the right build to fit our visualization of a fictional character is body shaming now?

I'm as against body shaming as anyone else, but the truth is - Wonder Woman is muscular, curvaceous, and tall. Gadot doesn't have the curves, although I'm sure she'll be spending some time in the weight room before filming starts (Actors do things like that for parts all the time). Doesn't mean she won't be able to pull off the role, but Lynda Carter she is not.

That's not body shaming. Nobody is saying anything is wrong with Gadot. They're just saying she doesn't, to them, look like Wonder Woman. I agree, but I'm flexible on the issue. Oliver Queen in Arrow doesn't look like Ollie was drawn pre Nu52 (Ollie has now been redrawn to look like the actor). And Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, anyone? She doesn't have to look like the comics character to "work."

But saying she doesn't look like the comics character is not "shaming" her. It's disagreeing with the casting staff. Big difference.

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I'm not sure this was better than the first installment, as many people were saying - but it was certainly as good, and equally as disturbing.

My question now is how they will handle the third book. It's apparently being split into two films, in a recent (and, in my opinion, annoying) trend that seems to me to be primarily about selling movie tickets rather than art. (Then again, would I turn down a deal like that? Not sure...)

Mockingjay is much less visual and more psychological than the other two...there are some spectacular scenes, but it doesn't seem to be quite as "written for the screen." I also worry that people who haven't read the books will be horrified by just how dark this is - I've previously expressed my opinion that Hunger Games is not YA, and it becomes less and less YA as things go on.

On the topic of YA dystopias, Veronica Roth's Divergent is apparently going to be a movie. I haven't read this one yet, but may have to fix that. It looks intriguing.

Why yes, I'm an adult who reads YA. Nothing wrong with that.

Radiation Eating Fungi

Sometimes you miss something. This is from 2007 and somehow I missed it.

There's fungus growing in the Chernobyl reactor that's black...and fuels itself off of gamma radiation the way green plants fuel themselves off of sunlight.

It's apparently possible to use melanin to process gamma radiation. If an earth fungus can evolve to do this in a very short period of time (well within a human life time), then what might exotic life forms on other worlds do.

You could even have an entire ecosystem fueled off of radiation rather than light. Where there are plants there can be animals, after all. Such an ecosystem could exist deep underground in a "hollow earth" type scenario or in radiation-heavy parts of deep space. This kind of life form might grow on comets - most comets have plenty of water, which would still be necessary.

With proper genetic engineering, this fungus also has other possibilities. Could a variant be bred that will actually eat nuclear waste? Another suggestion would be to breed an edible form - which might be handy as a food source on deep space missions or in the initial stages of colonization.

And if one wanted to go really out there, could it be possible to engineer animals to pull the same trick? Maybe even...people?

News, News, News.

Yes, a special update post.

First a reminder that Transpecial is currently 50% off via www.musapublishing.com. If you already have it, check out some of Musa's other offerings. There's some really amazing romance over there, if that's what rocks your boat. Also, there are three free short reads - and there will be more to come over the next two weeks. Christmas Crossroad by Viki Lyn, The Silence of Reza by IJ Sarfeh, and The Break In by Carrie Russell are free today!

Second...

...drumroll...

I've mentioned I had something in the works, and here it is. Production has started on Invasion! a new print, full color monthly comic from small press Emerald Star Comics.

It's an anthology book, with each issue containing three old fashioned sci-fi stories - the first lineup contains "Man Out Of Time," "Incursion" and "Maximus Orbital."

And guess who's writing Maximus Orbital. The release date is to be announced - we're still in production right now.

Oh, and Emerald Star will also be offering five other print monthlies - three "in house" (Lady Satan, The Eight Day (space marines for the win) and Nowati (Time traveler in the old west). The other two are creator-owned. Zombie Ever After - virus-based zombie apocalypse and Starburn, which has the only thing more cool than space marines. Space pirates!

I'm really excited about my involvement with this company and am hoping to see even more and better things in the future.

Friday Updates!

Got a few for you.

First of all, Musa Publishing is doing a one day only sale on December 2 (Cyber Monday). ALL books published through their website (www.musapublishing.com) will be half price. Go check it out - and while you're there look for bunnies.

Second, Ruined Cities is now live. It's available as an ebook (only) through most major publishers - and it already has a good review on Amazon. it contains my story "The City Over Hell." It's post apocalyptic science fiction that focuses on dying cities. Mine is a little, shall we say, different.

And look out for bunnies.

The Day of the Doctor

Dang it, Moffatt.

The 50th anniversary special managed to be both lighter and darker than the average Who episode. The incredible bouncing Fez, an appearance by Tom Baker's scarf...

High notes were the beautiful chemistry between David Tennant and Matt Smith. Not only did they utterly convince the audience of being the same person, to the point where on occasion I almost lost track of which was which (especially given their similar build). Billie Piper's performance was incredible - and no, she wasn't playing Rose Tyler. Oh, and you won't believe Who shows up at the end. Maybe.

On the dark side, the story addresses the Time War, the Doctor's crimes and, shall we say, the fluid nature of time. The book the Doctor is reading at the start is a perfect Chekhov's gun.

On the vague off chance there was somebody under a rock all weekend who still has it sitting on their DVR unwatched, I'm not going to say any more. I will mention that it will be going into the Guinness Book of Records - as the non-sporting television event shown simultaneously in the most countries. 94.

94. We may get fifty more years of this show. I certainly hope so.