Call this an announcement of an announcement - I’ve finally got around to creating the ebook version of Tales From The End, and you can download it in all its majesty (and in a handy variety of formats) over here. However, because I’m awaiting for the gods of formatting to formally approve it to be sent off to Apple, and Amazon, and all those crazy places, I can’t yet justify to myself the notion of making you pay for it. With that in mind, if you enter the coupon code JV66H before February the 6th, the $0.99 asking price will be reduced to absolutely nothing - not a bad deal, if I do say so myself. Of course, feel free to pay for it - and it’s worth pointing out that if there are any formatting issues, paying now guarantees you the revised edition when it comes out - but for now, consider this a goodwill gesture.
Oh, and do feel free to share this with other people. If you’re the sort of person that does that sort of thing.
IT’S AN AMAZING FREE SCIFI BOOK REBLOG AND GET IT
I think Chris is a pretty cool guy, eh writes SFs and doesn’t afraid of editing
The oceans of the Birrin homeworld are populated by vast numbers of organisms, particularly the mid-latitude tropical zones on either side of the hostile equatorial ‘Kiln’; a region of intense heat and violent storms. The surface waves and currents generated by these weather events create deep oceanic mixing, bringing nutrients to nearby surface waters and supporting the assemblages of life found there.
The birrin are at home in water, and many engage in swimming recreationally with or without the aid of SCUBA systems. Diving activities are associated with risks: as in this potentially dangerous encounter with the creature seen here.
Evolved from the same land-living ancestor as the birrin the Sardu, as they are locally known, are air breathing creatures of great strength and predatory skill. They range across most regions of the ocean, hunting diverse prey depending on local resources, and adjusting their strategies accordingly. All however rely on an extraordinary ability to generate powerful electric shocks via organs housed in their huge, elongated horizontal jaws. This allows them to stun entire schools of smaller organisms to consume at their leisure, or to probe their jaws into soft mud and detect, flush out kill benthic creatures of considerable size. The electrogenic organs also have a social purpose; and mating individuals compete to show both their ability to generate electricity, and to withstand the shocks of their adversaries. The small creatures that accompany sahdy as commensals must also be tolerant of this hazard, and most swim to a safe distance during the closing stages of a hunt, moving in to feast on the scraps afterwards.
The birrin diver seen here may seem in danger, however it is experienced with the local sardu and knows it is not a part of their prey search image; the constant stream of bubbles generated by the SCUBA gear and bright wetsuit look so unlike the large bottom dwelling creatures it usually hunts that it does not view the birrin as food. - Sardu Reef by Abiogenisis
god Alex (~Abiogenisis) is such a fantastic artist and biological illustrator
he’s weaved together a whole planet’s evolutionary history and diversity and, most impressively, the entire biological and sociological evolution of an intelligent and ultimately highly technological and space-faring species, the Birrin
his speculative biology illustrations are so fantastic and believable because he’s firstly a really incredible non-speculative biological illustrator
all around a really incredible artist and a really huge inspiration for me
This movie was absolutely fantastic. Sam Rockwell deserves an Oscar. I was fascinated by Rockwell’s ability to perform nearly solo. I agree with you Ryan, he got robbed.
so true. Rockwell was fantastic and just overall the film was extremely solid, I would have given it a best picture nomination for sure.
I have never cried in a theatre, except upon viewing this film.
Montreal in 1976 must have looked like 2019 Tokyo in Akira. By this time, the modernist Expo ‘67 pavilions were half-destroyed or being demolished, and Buckminster Fuller’s dome for the US pavilion caught fire, leaving a shell that hasn’t been removed to this day. Because the Quebec government had no money after the ‘76 Summer Olympics, they decided to do absolutely nothing to the burned-out/trashed/decrepit buildings and several sci-fi films were shot using the Expo ‘67 grounds as a post-apocalyptic backdrop. Hopefully, we’ll finally have a follow-up to the original Canadian Heritage Minute on Expo ‘67:
