Orson Welles - born May 6, 1915

Welles in 1937 (age 21)
photographed by Carl Van Vechten

 
On this day 98 years ago, Orson Welles was born.

You're probably familiar with his part in the 1938 radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.

But you might also enjoy his narrations in the Alan Parsons Project (Edgar Allan Poe-related) album Tales of Mystery and Imagination. If you can get hold of a copy of the 1987 version of the album, check out "A Dream Within a Dream" and "Prelude." (The rest of the album is pretty cool, too.)

Cinco para Cinco de Mayo

For this 5th day of May, here are five past posts from Nancy Kress's blog:

• Discovering Science Fiction
• Frog Blog
• Choice
• Zombies at the CDC
• New Words

Magellan's Trip to Venus

Image Credit: NASA

 
On May 4, 1989, NASA launched Space Shuttle mission STS-30, which included the Magellan spacecraft, also known as the Venus Radar Mapper.

Wants lots of detail? Get your Explorer's Guide here!

Here are some pictures from the mission.

Here are a few more Venus-related items you might find interesting:
    "Farewell, Fantastic Venus!"
   "Should We Terraform Venus First?"
    Venus Transit 2012
    Some quotes that mention Venus

Have you read any science fiction works about Venus?

NASA's MAVEN

Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Mars needs poems.

The hunt is on for some haiku.

Any poets out there?

Saturn's North Pole

Sometimes just a picture is awe-some enough.

 Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

But here's some related music to go with it, "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age" from The Planets by Gustav Holst.

And here are a couple of previous blog posts having to do with Saturn.

Galaxy's Edge

The May issue of Galaxy's Edge is now available for free online reading!

This month's contents include both new and reprint stories, by Ken Liu, Robert Silverberg, Tina Gower (recent winner of the Writers of the Future contest Golden Pen Award), Gio Clairval, and Charles Sheffield. Gregory Benford is the magazine's science columnist. And editor Mike Resnick presents another intriguing editorial.

For a full listing of the 12 stories, novel excerpt, serialization, and columns, go to the Galaxy's Edge home page. You'll be able to read Issue 2 free online until Issue 3 debuts on July 1.

If you'd rather not read online, the magazine can be purchased for reading as a MOBI or epub file, or as a PDF. A print version is also available, and you can get an annual subscription via Weightless Books. (Links are on the home page.)

We hope you enjoy what each issue of Galaxy's Edge has to offer!

April-wise

Samuel Ray Delany, Jr. was born on April 1, 1942. Happy 71st birthday to him!

Have you read any of his work? Here are some links:

Delany's Facebook page
"There's Not Been Enough of Samuel R. Delany" by Jo Walton at Tor.com
Interview at Public Radio International (audio available on the site)
Frederik Pohl on Delany
Works at gutenberg.org
"Notable Quotes"
"A Conversation with Samuel R. Delany"