Monday Inspiration: Chernobyl

I love abandoned places. There is something poetic about seeing nature reclaim the works of man.

The Chernobyl exclusion zone has to be one of the most abandoned places on Earth. Apparently they run tours there now, you can go for the day and the dose isn't too likely to kill you. It's not legal, but there's nobody around to stop you either. I hope the tour guides don't spend too long on that particular career though.

Looking at the pic of the wall of gauges in the operations room at Chernobyl I don't find it hard to believe things went wrong. Who could keep track of all that mess?

Nature reclaims an amusement park. Apparently the radiation levels keep most animal life away, so plants have free reign.

 

Bunny seems lonely without any children around.

It all falls apart. I can remember this, the meltdown. I guess that makes me kind of old. Most people graduating University now weren't even alive when it happened in 1986. Now, twenty-six years later it's rotting. I wonder how many more years until there's no trace left without digging. A hundred? A thousand? What will it look like in another fifty years?

Almost makes me want to write some post-apocalyptic piece.

Of course I couldn't let you go without a photo of an abandoned doll. Those are mandatory for all such photo-essays.

If you want to see more I found these in the fabulous collection over at: http://fuckyeahchernobyl.tumblr.com/

Fashion Friday: Steampunk Superheroes

Superhero comics and steampunk go together like... two things that go really well together (you can tell I'm a writer, right?). I came across a few fun pictures which made me wonder why there aren't more mainstream superhero/steampunk crossovers so I thought I'd share.

I really like the idea of the Clockwork Cricket, an original superhero created by Pokketmowse. Unfortunately he never got around to the finishing touches, but it's a great concept, and I love the style.

ChetArt has the Union of Superlative Heroes trading cards available on Etsy, other available cards include Feline Fraulein and Lord Wolverton. I've got to get a set of these.

Nicholas Avallone brings us the awesome Robber Baron.

Last, but of course not least, the real thing! Well, as real as it gets at DragonCon I suppose. I can't find any names for credits to go with the costumes, but if you know any, feel free to leave it in a comment below.

ARC put to good use

ARCs or Advance Reader Copies of books come out about six months prior to the actual publishing. Because the print runs tend to be small, each individual copy can be $100 or more. Of course they are hard to get your hands on, and even authors often complain that they don't get enough ARCs.

I think in this case, Harry Turtledove (one of my favourite authors) will not complain about this ARC of the final novel in his The War That Came Early series. One of the recipient's greatest regrets was that he might have never known how the series ended.