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Coverspotting in SA: January 2010

John Picacio — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:00:48 +0000

Books spotted 12/30/09 at Borders Books at Alamo Quarry

Conrad A. Williams
DECAY INEVITABLE
Solaris
Cover art by Dave McKean

Yay, abstraction! Good to see some abstraction in a genre cover illustration these days. It’s a Dave McKean and does the job well — grabs the eye and says “hey, check this out.”

Solaris is a UK-based publisher and even if you don’t know that, the typography choice says they are. It’s understated and lets the art do the talking. Seems to me that British publishers as a whole seem more willing to offer that subtlety in their type choices and point sizes (as well as capital and lower-case mixtures), while US type design choices tend toward outdoing neighboring books with bombast, and big capital letters, especially on mass market paperbacks. I wonder if US publishers feel like mass market books need to have giant type to have a chance to be seen? (Not speaking of all fiction, but genre fiction covers at any rate.) Wasn’t always that way with US genre covers, but it seems moreso these days.

Charles De Lint
MUSE AND REVERIE
Tor Books
Cover art by John Jude Palencar

Here’s an example of a US cover design that has really elegant and complementary type design. It’s not a mass-market book like the one above. It’s a trade paperback so it’s got a little more size to work with, but like the example above, it’s not trying to out-scream the competition. It lets the art do the talking. And it gets your attention. Strong illustration by John Jude Palencar.

Charles De Lint
MEMORY & DREAM
Orb Books
Cover art by John Howe
Cover design by Jamie Stafford-Hill

More understated typography on a US genre cover. Love the way the author’s name “rolls” around at the top. Great illustration by John Howe. I’m not sure what prompted the castellation effect across the top and bottom of the illustration frame, but it sure works to pull your eye in and out of the illo. Really smart.

A.M. Dellamonica
INDIGO SPRINGS
Tor Books
Cover art by Julie Bell

Lou Anders, editorial and art director of Pyr, brought this one to my attention. Made us both wonder if there’s a story behind the making of this cover. The cover illustration is by the great Julie Bell, which totally would have fooled me because of the cropping and design treatment of the illo. Normally her work is very narrative and presented in a straight-forward way. Instead, this one has unusual cropping, in addition to a pinstriping effect across the entire illo. Lou’s guess is that the design choices as well as the font choices are intended to neuter the genre aspect of the work and attempt to make it appear to be a trade fiction title. Good guess. Hard to say. Nevertheless, it’s an unusual, but elegant design solution.

Coverspotting in SA: December 2009

John Picacio — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:38:15 +0000

Books spotted 12/1/09 at Borders Books at Alamo Quarry

THE DEAD THAT WALK
Edited by Stephen Jones
Ulysses Press
Cover art by Les Edwards

Zombie book covers were all the rage this year, weren’t they? Just when I thought I was well and done with any more zombie covers, Les Edwards does one that makes it all seem fresh again. Dynamite cover art by Les. I like the way the type treatment integrates with the illo as the zombie hand intersects the “W”. Nice move. The type is still perfectly legible, and the cover gains added depth. It’s also nice to see that a gouged-out eye and a bloody, amputated limb are so mainstream now that this book got faced-out at Borders Books. Or does that mean that blood-sucking limb-eaters are so mainstream that they need to retire until they regain their edge? You make the call.

John Langan
HOUSE OF WINDOWS
Night Shade Books
Cover art by Santiago Caruso
Cover design by Michael Gin

This one makes me think fondly of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. It’s a great piece of cover illustration, and stands on its own. Caruso’s an Argentinian illustrator, and I’ve never heard of him before. Glanced at his blog, and I really like a lot of what I see. Not every image of his hits home for me, but the ones that do are deeply potent and resonant. I love the way he sees the world. Note: if you view his blog at your workplace, you might turn down the sound as he has a nice soundtrack that accompanies his blog. Terrific music, but probably not worth losing your job over.

Scott Westerfeld
LEVIATHAN
Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse
Jacket design & illustration by Sammy Yuen, Jr.
Wing illustration by Keith Thompson

Westerfeld’s LEVIATHAN probably doesn’t need any further pimping from me. It’s been well-pimped throughout the intertubes and its readers already can’t wait for the next book, but I’ve gotta tip my hat to Westerfeld and Thompson for shining a spotlight on inspired writer/artist collaboration for the interior illos and storytelling. And I think the cover packaging speaks for itself for sheer baroque steampunky goodness.

Jeff Vandermeer
FINCH
Underland Press
Cover art & design by John Coulthart

I’ve commented on Twitter how much I admire this cover. Now that FINCH has been released in softcover here in the US, let me restate that. Coulthart’s long been admired as a supremely gifted designer, but this is one of his greatest hits ever. Whenever he works on a Vandermeer book, it seems to bring out the best in him (remember THE THACKERY T. LAMBSHEAD POCKET GUIDE TO ECCENTRIC & DISCREDITED DISEASES?). This is definitely one of my favorite covers of 2009.

Going Down to San Antonio’s Ghost Tracks

Mission Control — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:28:53 +0000

One of San Antonio’s persistent legends is that of the Ghost Tracks. The story goes that many years ago a busload of school children stalled out on a lonely stretch of railroad tracks. Naturally, a train came along and cut the bus in two, killing the driver and the children in front immediately. The children at the rear of the bus were dragged along for a slower, more gruesome fate. The streets in the neighborhood nearby were subsequently named in memory of these tragic waifs.

Now, if you head out to this desolate area of San Antonio (at the intersection of Shane and Villamain, south of Mission Espada) and put your car in neutral while it is sitting on the tracks, the ghosts of the dead children will come to push your car to safety. To confirm this, you can apply a coating of powder to your trunk and bumper to reveal the fingerprints of the ghostly crossing guards.

Dustin Coleman and the crew from 210SA went out to explore San Antonio’s Ghost Tracks. Here’s what they found:

What about the veracity of these claims?

Ghost Girl on the Tracks (Courtesy Andy & Debi Chesney via About.com)

Wikipedia notes that the Ghost Tracks are simply a ‘magnetic hill’ and that the tale is an urban legend. Roadside America lets you know that it is spooky feeling but not all that believable. Snopes.com does their standard job of debunking this tale, but About.com says that although you may be able to explain some of the phenomena present there is still plenty of mystery and they have the ghostly photographs to prove it!

If you head out to investigate yourself, be respectful of the neighborhood and be careful on the tracks…they are still in use and you do not want to spend the rest of eternity pushing cars out of the danger you should have avoided.

Coverspotting in SA: October 2009

John Picacio — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:50:17 +0000

Books spotted 10/01/09 at Barnes & Noble (410/San Pedro)

David Anthony Durham
THE OTHER LANDS
Doubleday
Cover art by Mikko Kinnunen
Cover design by Michael J. Windsor

The first time I met David Anthony Durham, we were both guests at the 2007 Elf Fantasy Fair in the Netherlands. At the time, I don’t think too many of those 25,000 attendees knew who he was. Six months later, I couldn’t walk into a major American bookstore without tripping over his new book ACACIA. His days as a relatively unknown name were fading fast, and his publisher, Doubleday, was treating him right. Critics raved about his book. Fast forward to the present and he’s now the 2009 John W. Campbell Award winner for Best New Writer, and his new book THE OTHER LANDS shows that his publisher loves him as much as ever. How can you tell? When they trick out an author’s cover with this much embossing and gloss/matte treatment, that’s when you know. ‘Happy to see this guy succeeding.

Ben Bova
THE RETURN
Tor
Cover art by Thom Tenery

I dig this cover art because it’s unabashedly and unapologetically abstract. Richard Powers illustrated so many successful abstract science fiction covers for Ballantine in the 1950′s and 60′s. Since then, it seems to me that publishing sales and marketing departments have become increasingly conservative in their art tastes. I think it’s led to abstract illustration being lost as a viable, commercial option. I’m glad to see Tor hasn’t lost sight of it. When I saw this cover on the shelf, it popped off next to its more conservative, more literal and scene-driven neighbors, and it made me want to pick it up.

Bernard Beckett
GENESIS
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Cover design by Michael J. Windsor

Find this book on the shelf and pick it up. Try to resist not opening it. I bet you can’t do it. I couldn’t. Great design work here with the red hair beckoning you to crack the cover. Really smart. It made me read the front end flap text and marked the book in my head as one I’ll probably pick up sometime, whereas without the great design it would have certainly escaped my notice.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
FRANKENSTEIN
Dark Horse
Cover art & interiors by Bernie Wrightson

With Halloween approaching, it seems only fitting to give a shoutout to the legendary pen-and-ink work of Bernie Wrightson’s FRANKENSTEIN. Dark Horse has re-packaged his adaptation in a striking hardcover. I love this quote from Wrightson: “I’ve always had a thing for Frankenstein, and it was a labor of love. It was not an assignment, it was not a job. I would do the drawings in between paying gigs, when I had enough to be caught up with bills and groceries and what-not. I would take three days here, a week there, to work on the Frankenstein volume. It took about seven years….” As for the cover, what can you say other than iconic and timeless?

Holy Joan Collins: San Antonio Invaded By Giant Insects!

Paul Vaughn — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:01:59 +0000

You can imagine my surprise, strolling through San Antonio’s Botanical Garden when I was accosted by hordes of gigantic bugs! I was immediately beset by flashbacks to bad Joan Collins movies (like there are any other kind). Fortunately these insects were not bent on world domination, they are part of a new exhibit, Dave Rogers’ Big Bugs.

Dave Rogers' Big Bugs at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens

This gigantic exhibit opens Labor Day Weekend (September 5-7) and will be on display through December 6, 2009. Big Bugs is a nationally prominent touring exhibit. At the San Antonio Botanical Garden, visitors will see ten larger-than-life insect sculptures, all made from natural materials, positioned throughout the 33 acres of the Garden. Insects include: Three Ants (each 25’ long), Praying Mantis (25’ tall), Damselfly (10’ tall), Dragonfly (17’ wingspan), Lady Bug (7’ long), Spider with Web (12’ web), Assassin Bug (7’ long) and Grasshopper (11’ long).

The exhibit is intended to introduce guests to the world of insects, their role in the plant world, and their interconnectedness to our lives (I’m sure that’s what Joan thought, too). Bugs outnumber humans one million to one. Many live in communal groups working as one for the common good of all. Their ranks include engineers, soldiers, weightlifters, weavers, hunters, stalkers, gatherers, and even royalty. When you take this remarkable and diverse group of “hidden gardeners” and recreate them on a gargantuan scale, you have David Rogers’ Big Bugs. The effect is a role reversal of dimension and perception.

The sculptures are created using various combinations of whole trees found standing or fallen dead, cut green saplings selectively harvested from the willow family, dry branches, and other forest materials. The inherent uniqueness of these materials – their varying shapes, colors, and textures – provides the sculptures with character, definition, and a sense of motion.

Since its debut in 1994 at the Dallas Arboretum, David Rogers’ Big Bugs has traveled all across the United States. It consistently brings in “swarms” of new audiences to all the venues it visits. This three-month programming initiative is part of an on-going series of annual exhibits that connect families with nature at the Botanical Garden. This sculptural exhibit set in natural surroundings fascinates all ages.

Visitors can also view the massive geometric structures of contemporary sculptor John Henry. This Art in the Garden show opened in July 2009 and runs for a year.

The Botanical Garden is operated under the auspices of the City of San Antonio Department of Parks & Recreation and is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. year-round except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. It is located at 555 Funston at North New Braunfels Avenue. For more information, the public can call 210-829-5100 or visit www.sabot.org.

Check it out. It’s better than that Joan Collins movie any day!

Coverspotting in SA: September 2009

John Picacio — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:01:31 +0000

Books spotted 8/31/09 at Borders Books at Alamo Quarry

Brom
THE CHILD THIEF
HarperCollins/Eos
Cover illustration & design by Brom

Everyone knows Brom as a preeminent fantasy painter, but the guy can write too. This is a novel-length work with interior illustrations. Brom creates a terrific cover as usual, and I especially love the use of spot gloss on the color painting against the matte background. Notice that the book is wider than the normal hardcover. I’m not sure why HarperCollins/Eos did this, but I sure like it. When the book is spine-out on a store shelf, the spine pops forward from adjacent spines, because of the book’s wider cover proportion. Nice move. I enjoyed Brom’s earlier illustrated works, THE PLUCKER and THE DEVIL’S ROSE, and I’m really looking forward to this book.

Jonathan L. Howard
JOHANNES CABAL: THE NECROMANCER
Doubleday
Cover design by Michael J. Windsor

This is a striking cover design. It grabs attention, but does anyone have any guesses what’s up with the big red “X”? It doesn’t have anything to do with the title, as far as I can tell. Perhaps there’s a narrative reason for it that can’t be deciphered by surface inspection? I hope so. Heads up — if this book becomes a runaway bestseller, look for some marketing genius to get the bright idea that giant random red letters on covers are the new hot thing. (Don’t laugh. It’ll happen.)

Ray Bradbury
FAHRENHEIT 451
Ballantine/Del Rey
Cover illustration by Joseph Mugnaini

I believe this is the cover art for FAHRENHEIT 451′s first edition. The book has had a slew of covers over the course of its 56-year publication life, but Ballantine has chosen to re-issue the book with the original. Still incredibly resonant, isn’t it? I love this image.

George Mann
THE AFFINITY BRIDGE
Tor
Cover illustration by Viktor Koen

I like the nice, restrained cover art by the collage illustrator Viktor Koen, and I really dig the frame of gears and clock pieces. You can’t see the cover’s soft metallic finish, but it looks really good when you see it on the shelf. I like the font choice as well. SFSignal calls this “an engrossing steampunk/Sherlock Holmes story. With zombies.” It’s interesting that the cover doesn’t choose to offer any overt signal to Holmes fans. I wonder if the publisher’s strategy was to go that way in hopes that non-genre readers might pick up the book. Steampunk is so hot right now that anything with a zeppelin on it sucks in cash these days. This book is getting outstanding buzz and rave reviews, so it’s a winner all around.

Coverspotting in SA: August 2009

John Picacio — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:00:06 +0000

Books spotted this month at Borders Books at Alamo Quarry

Actually, this installment should be called “Spinespotting in SA”. As a guy who draws and paints book covers for a living, I love seeing books face-out, but in bookstores, they’re usually not displayed that way. The spine is oh-so-important to the visibility and shelf life of a book in the marketplace.

***********************************************************************************

Brent Weeks
BEYOND THE SHADOWS
Orbit
Design by Peter Cotton
Art by Calvin Chu

I’m not sure if Orbit started the fad of hooded figures on white backgrounds, but if they didn’t, they’ve certainly perfected it. The spines of these Brent Weeks mass market paperback really pop forward on a bookstore shelf, largely due to the hooded figure on the white background. Note that this big figure causes all of the typography to get small, and Orbit’s chosen to have the titles all read with zero degrees of rotation. That’s a fair amount of spine type to juggle, but it all balances very nicely. Designers have gotta love authors with short names — those always seems to open up fresh design possibilities.

Mark Chadbourn
AGE OF MISRULE Trilogy
Pyr
Design by Nicole Sommer-Lecht
Art by John Picacio

It’s nice to see these on the shelves as a set. Editorial director (and 2009 Chesley Award-winning art director) Lou Anders made the call to put the big number at the top of these spines. That large treatment conveniently signals to readers that these are a series. The common spine design across all three trade paperbacks reinforces that as well. Note the missing Pyr logo on the first book, WORLD’S END. This wasn’t intentional, but a printing error. So if you manage to find one of these first editions without the logo, you may have yourself a collectible. That said, these books are terrific epic fantasy reads and that fact alone is enough reason to grab them.

Sarah Micklem
WILDFIRE
Scribner
Design by Uncredited
Art by Mark Stutzman

The WILDFIRE spine caught my attention because it’s unusual to see this much hand-illustrated typography on a book spine these days. The Mieville spine alongside it uses contrast to grab attention with Mieville’s name sized big against a white band. That kind of contrast generally attracts the eye first. However, the WILDFIRE spine is so unusual that it compelled me to pick it up just to see what it is.

Brian Selznick
THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET
Scholastic Press
Design by Brian Selznick & David Saylor
Art by Brian Selznick

This is the spine of a YA book that has the virtue of being 2″ wide — huge real estate for opportunity, in spine design terms. Hard to argue with the simplicity of this half-face filling the spine and staring out at the buyer. This book — standing alone and spine-out — is more compelling than the faced-out adjacent books. I think this is one of the simplest and most effective spine designs I’ve ever seen.

Fan’s Guide: San Antonio’s Riverwalk

Mission Control — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:01:07 +0000

Two landmarks are classic San Antonio: The Alamo and the Riverwalk. While the Shrine of Texas Freedom is worth seeing when you come to San Antonio, the Riverwalk is the place to enjoy a wider variety of sights, sounds and tastes of South Texas. Now, don’t put any stock in the opinions of people like Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. After all, he has a full-time job keeping his team from imploding every year. No, SA’s Riverwalk is a great spot for tourists and locals alike.

The Riverwalk Museum Reach at the San Antonio Museum of Art

If you are a fan visiting our fair city, you will find the Riverwalk a convenient way to travel around downtown. And don’t let the ‘walk’ part of the name fool you. While it is a great place to walk, the river is also trafficked by barges. These barges, run by Rio San Antonio Cruises, function as Riverwalk tours and river taxis that can take you from one place to another in a relaxed manner. If you’re staying downtown for the weekend, consider getting a 3-day pass so you can cruise from place to place in total leisure.

Since many of San Antonio’s downtown hotels are on the river, getting to the Riverwalk is as easy as getting in the elevator and going down to the river level. Hotels with easy river access include the Marriott Rivercenter, the Hilton Palacio del Rio, the Marriott Riverwalk, Homewood Suites, Hotel Valencia, Drury Inn, the Grand Hyatt and the Holiday Inn Riverwalk. If you are attending an event at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center or the Lila Cockrell Theatre you will find that both also have easy access to the Riverwalk. Step outside and you find yourself in a lush environment below San Antonio’s bustling downtown, where you will find indoor and outdoor eating spanning every price range.

There are some places you really should check out as you cruise the river. Stroll through La Villita, San Antonio’s historic arts village populated by shops selling everything from original art to metal crafts to fine jewelry. Adjacent to La Villita is the Arneson River Theatre, an outdoor venue with seating across the river from the stage. Another shopping venue that has river level access is Rivercenter Mall, chock full of stores like GAP, Aéropostale, The Disney Store, Sanrio, Texas Treasures and too many more to list. Rivercenter Mall is also home to an IMAX Theatre that features continuous showings of the film Alamo…The Price of Freedom along with an assortment of first-run flicks. The Rivercenter Lagoon in front of the mall is home to daily Andean Fusion performances as well, providing a charming ambience as you stroll or shop.

Heading up the river bend, you pass an array of tempting eateries. Try Casa Rio, San Antonio’s original Riverwalk restaurant and home of elegant riverboat dining. Other can’t-miss options include Biga on the Banks, Boudro’s, Dick’s Last Resort, Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub, Michelino’s Italian Restaurant, Shilo’s Delicatessen, Rio Rio Cantina and way more than you will sample in just one weekend so you may want to note the ones to try on your next visit. You can also drop in to Jim Cullum’s Landing jazz club, home of the Public Radio International program Riverwalk: Live from the Landing, for some great classic American music.

Next you can now cruise north on the river on the new Museum Reach extension of the Riverwalk. This project is more than a simple extension of a tourist hotspot. The Museum Reach now connects the Riverwalk, both on foot and by river taxi, to the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Pearl Brewery. Along the way the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the San Antonio River Foundation have made improvements in flood control and drainage while attempting to preserve habitat areas.

But that’s not all they’ve done. San Antonio values the arts, and art installations are an integral part of the River Extension. Bridges sport light shows and sound installations to enhance your cruise. And then you get to an engineering marvel—the lock system at the Brooklyn Street bridge, which is quickly becoming another must-see attraction. This lock (yes, think Panama Canal on a smaller scale) raises and lowers the river boats nine feet and is very cool to experience. The video below explains how the system works.

"Hypothetical Therapy" by Rachel Hecker (1996) at the San Antonio Museum of Art

Your next stop, the San Antonio Museum of Art hosts permanent collections of Mexican and American Folk Art, Greek and Roman Statuary, Chinese Pottery, Japanese Art, South Asian Sculptures and a great assortment of Contemporary Art. The modern collection includes several San Antonio artists including a piece by Boxcar Satan album cover artist James Cobb. Certainly, there are even a few SF themed pieces in the collection like the one shown at the left by American artist Rachel Hecker. John Hernandez’s exhibit Zoe’s Room is definitely worth seeing (it runs through August 2nd), especially for fans of low-brow art master Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Dr. Seuss. The museum also has a nicely stocked cafe so it makes a great respite along your river trek and, conveniently, you can now take the River Taxi directly to SAMA.

Walking or riding farther north you pass under Interstate 35 where you will encounter Philadelphia artist Donald Lipski’s larger-than-life school of fish. These suspended sculptures look great during the daytime, but come back at night and you’ll see their otherworldly glow reflected in the river below. Past the highway you will come to Carlos Cortez’s faux bois grotto with waterfall, an awesome piece of fantasy landscaping.

The last stop on your Riverwalk tour, the Pearl Brewery, was an actual brewery founded on the San Antonio River in 1883, but it has now been redeveloped into an urban village complete with shops, restaurants, galleries and studios. There is even a Farmers Market every Saturday where visitors can score fresh, local produce. Stop for a bite at Texas Farm to Table for a meal using the freshest ingredients available.

The Riverwalk is an incredible public space running through the heart of San Antonio. Treasured by locals while pleasing visitors. And fortunately the fun doesn’t stop there. The Historic Mission Reach of the Riverwalk will be completed in 2012, extending river access all the way through San Antonio’s famous Spanish Colonial missions. That just means your next stay may need to be for a week.

Coverspotting in SA: July 2009

John Picacio — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:16:03 +0000

Books spotted 7/1/09 at Borders Books at Alamo Quarry

Joel Shepherd
BREAKAWAY
Pyr
Cover art by Stephan Martiniere

Love the strong diagonal here. Visually, it’s a tall mass-market paperback (in between the scale of a traditional mmp and a trade paperback) and therefore grabs your attention right away. I hear lots of griping about the price point of tall mmps and I’m not getting into that here, but visually, it’s a striking package. Nice work by Jacqueline Cooke to use the format to the art’s advantage and vice versa.

Mark Chadbourn
AGE OF MISRULE: BOOK THREE
ALWAYS FOREVER
Pyr
Cover art by John Picacio

Yup, that’s my cover art. Guilty as charged. And to the left, is the second book in the series, DARKEST HOUR. It’s a nice sight to see them shelved together right there at the front of the store on the New Fiction shelf. AGE OF MISRULE is amongst the best contemporary epic fantasies I’ve ever read. Here’s a quick q&a with Chadbourn, regarding the series.

A. Lee Martinez
MONSTER
Orbit
Cover design by Will Staehle

This cover really pops, doesn’t it? When Orbit initially launched, they were known for cover designs that eschewed illustration. Their initial dependency on photography seemed a bit apologetic when trying to sell works of genre imagination. Not so much lately, and it’s fun to see them mixing illustration into their rosters (see recent covers by John Jude Palencar and Cliff Nielsen), along with their always-strong typographic sense. This cover is smart and bold, and says “pick me up.” However if this book becomes a runaway bestseller, how many copycat canary yellow covers do you think we’ll see from other houses?

Brian Cronin
WAS SUPERMAN A SPY?
AND OTHER COMIC BOOK LEGENDS REVEALED!
Plume
Cover illustration & design by Mickey Duzyj

I thought this was Chris Ware‘s work when I first saw it out of the corner of my eye. It doesn’t have the intricacy of a Chris Ware piece but it’s certainly got a strong Acme Novelty Library riff running through it. That said, it’s a terrific design solution by Duzyj. One of the oldest (and trickiest) tricks in the business of getting noticed is contrast vs. the competing products. Mission accomplished here.

Putting the Science in Science Fiction

Paul Vaughn — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:12:43 +0000

I’m right in the middle of reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s excellent Mars Trilogy, a series of books that delves deep into the science and sociology of colonizing the red planet. These novels remind me of the importance of science in much of the literature I love. If we want the next generation of SF fans to grow up with more than just an appreciation for the large franchises (Star Wars, Star Trek, Transformers, Terminator, blah, blah, infinite blah) we should ensure they have an appreciation for science as well.

Playing with Time at the Witte Museum

The new exhibit at San Antonio’s WITTE MUSEUM, PLAYING WITH TIME, helps to bring kids a sense of the wonder and power of serious science with some serious fun! Playing with Time is full of example of how use technology to speed and slow time to observe the world around us in different ways. Children (and their adults) get to play with high-speed cameras and strobe lights to analyze the way machines and living things move. They can explore interactive maps that illustrate how the Earth will change in the coming years along with displays that work to explain the aging process. This exhibit is hands-on and was clearly captivating for everyone attending.

PLAYING WITH TIME is at the Witte from June 20 to September 27. The opening of the exhibit on Saturday was packed, with people of all ages attending. The Witte Museum is right in the heart of San Antonio, adjacent to Brackenridge Park and the San Antonio River. Expect to spend some serious time at this new exhibit, my kid had no intention of leaving and there was plenty to do!

So don’t forget to feed the little ones some science if you want them to know Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot as well as Will Smith’s version.