Articles with podcast

Astronomy education – Dr. Inge Heyer interview

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Dr. Inge Heyer has been involved with astronomy for over 30 years as a researcher and educator. She spoke to me at Far Point 2018 about what it takes to teach astronomy. (Photo provided by Dr. Heyer)

1:24 – Dr. Heyer highlights the importance of imagination in explaining concepts to students.

3:04 – Her favorite part of teaching astronomy is when people get their hands on models or something they can really see to learn better. There are always new tools to teach with.

7:09 – She has a rule of no tech in her class. Students put their phones in a class box for extra credit. It means they’re interacting more with students when they do it. Participation in class has increased using this method.

8:24 – Star Trek was her big science fiction inspiration. She also read German sci-fi. Hans Dominik is one. Karl May was another inspiration but he wrote about traveling around the world.

12:53 – She felt like she was certainly an astronomer in college when she started collecting actual data in an observatory.

13:54- Astronomy can teach us about life on Earth. People are made from the stuff that stars are made from.

15:54 – She also likes Babylon 5, Stargate, NCIS and other non science fiction type entertainment.

17:54 – She’s worked on Hubble and also with the British Observatory.

20:16 – Dr. Hyer discusses what astronomy is like in various countries around the world. Countries get together to build observations together and establish consortiums.

22:09 – There are also science fiction fans everywhere.

23:59 – She appreciates that science fiction isn’t supposed to teach people. However, she doesn’t like when they get current science wrong.

27:31 – Science fiction fans are natural communicators. They all talk to each other about the information they learn.

29:24 – She ran an experiment to see the connection between science fiction interest and science interest. She found a third factor between them. Both groups are early literates. Everyone in the group she talked to was reading by age six and many were writing stories by age eight.

31:43 – People can go to www.ingeheyer.com for more information. People should also attend Shore Leave in July 6-8. The convention site is http://www.shore-leave.com/

 

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Dominik_(writer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_May

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope

http://www.ingeheyer.com/

https://www.shore-leave.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Dr. Inge Heyer

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, sci-fi, star trek, shore leave, travel, astronomy, telescopes, education, science

Sci-fi graphics specialist – Anthony Ur interview

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Anthony Ur is a graphics designer supporting the military but spends his free time helping design graphics and special effects for an independent science fiction show, Dark Operations: Terminus. I interviewed Anthony at Far Point 2018.

1:16 – The graphics designer for Dark Operations Terminus tells me how he works on the project. He’s been an art director for the US Army in using graphics for training.

3:01 – Anthony is an avid gamer which inspires his work. He played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons and watched a lot of Star Trek.

3:41 – His most important tools are Autodesk studio suite and the Unreal Game Engine for rendering. His Transformers toys around his office gets him into the right state of mind for his work.

5:21 – Anthony’s favorite element of graphic design is figuring out how to turn his 3D models into actual physical reproductions. Small items like laser pistols are printed in segments.

6:44 – He got into graphic design when he was working in Visual basic in high school. He saw another student working on computer animation and he went in that direction. He started in 3D and then got into art. He continues because it’s a passion. He thinks of his designs in an engineering way.

8:31 – Over time he’s learned to adjust to what a client wants rather than trying to push his vision of a design.

9:55 – Graphic design touches everything. Products and independent films all have elements of graphic design. Designers think about how an item will interact with people ergonomically.

11:01 – Cartoony sci-fi does not need to look realistic. But other sci-fi might need more believable looking technology.

11:52 – Animation inspires Anthony. Cartoon network has stuff that inspires him. Early stop motion films inspire him. Disney animation quality inspires him. Pen and paper work can provide very good animation compared to digital.

13:06 – He likes to read quantum theory and quantum mechanics. He also loves LOTR and wanted to do Hollywood videos. Music from sci-fi shows and movies inspire him. Howard Shore for example.

15:01 – Some older games can grab him more than newer games. People focus a lot on multi-player but he likes more of the single player. Puzzle Quest is one game he loves.

16:09 – He was fascinated with the Nightcrawler power to teleport. Techie-wise he’d be interested in having a bionic part.   He’d also like to create a game where someone terminally ill could go into this game and forget about their problems while they’re inside. He’d also like create a game where people might not even know they’re in a game.

18:51 Dark Operation Terminus is on facebook. His work is also on Nextgenimaging.com

Links

https://www.facebook.com/DarkOperations/

http://www.nextgenimaging.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Anthony Ur

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, sci-fi, graphics design, 3d, 3d printing, puzzle quest, video games, spaceships, transformers, howard shore

Sci-fi author Timothy Zahn interview

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Author Timothy Zahn has been writing professionally since 1984. He’s written a number of well-regarded Star Wars novels, as well as the Manticore Ascendent trilogy, the Cobra trilogy and the young adult Dragonback series. I was able to interview Mr. Zahn at Far Point 2018.

1:17 – Mr. Zahn’s latest work is the ninth book in the Cobra series. It’s the last Cobra book for a while. Right before that he finished the Star Wars Thrawn novel and coming up is the third book in the Manticore Ascendant series.

1:55 – He likes his Quadrille series. The Star Wars books. Everything has been fun to write. He has about 55 books published.

3:01 – He outlines his books and knows where they’re going. So plot threads wind up at the 100,000-word mark. His middle grade books are about 50,000.

4:05 – Sometimes his cat will join him in his writing. He started with short stories and developed from there. The second story was important to show he’s not a one hit wonder. Once he started writing Star Wars novels everything jumped forward fast.

5:28 – He doesn’t get to read much fiction. It feels too much like research. He reads a lot of history for his books. For example, the Nazi desire to invade Switzerland has been interesting. Science is interesting for his writing but is part of the grab bag like history. He’s seen some of his story ideas become actual inventions.

7:41 – he loved sci-fi when he was young. His favorites were Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Keith Lamar, and Alistair McClane. Those writers inspired him.

8:31 – When he was young his favorite X-Man was Cyclops. He also read a lot of comic books. X-Men, Flash, Fantastic Four.

9:15 – He has a couple of Star Wars novels he’d like to pitch to LucasFilms. He also has some personal works he wants to pitch to his agent.

10:03 – He’s on Facebook under Timothy Zahn and he goes to conventions often.

 

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon

 

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Timothy Zahn

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, fiction, author, Star Wars, Thrawn. Manticore Ascendant, Cobra trilogy, Dragonback