136 Days to Capclave

Ten days to Balticon!

Bowie-ancy on the International Space Station

(click on picture for video)

And on the 7th day of May

... in 1931, Gene Wolfe was born.

Image from Wikipedia
original photo here

Here are seven links for the occasion:
 

John Scalzi's December 2012 blog post: Gene Wolfe Chosen as SFWA Grand Master

December 2012 Tor.com announcement -- 19 Gene Wolfe Books Now Available Again in Ebook

Gene Wolfe quotes from Goodreads.com

Gene Wolfe's entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Gene Wolfe interviewed (video) at Balticon 40 (in 2006)

Gene Wolfe at Fantastic Fiction

Chicago Literary Hall of Fame -- Honoring Gene Wolfe


(Okay, technically nine links, but two were more Balticon-related.)

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?