Sunday, January 10, 2010

We'll be back!

Sorry I haven't written ANYTHING on my blog over the past several months. Homer's got me crazy busy writing his memoirs and I'm also writing some short stories for adults. I'm taking Homer to the New York SCBWI conference at the end of this month. He'll probably ditch me and meet up with his buddy, Belinda, whom I'm told is visiting her newest boyfriend on Earth.

Until then......

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Zombies, Vampires, BEWARE! Sci-Fi is on the Move!

What's with all the sci fi television shows popping up like new planets lately? A new "V" starts tonight on ABC. I'm going to watch it! I love, love, love "The Fringe". Homer's coming over to view the new visitors with us. I'm really not looking forward to it. We watched "Independence Day" with him and all he did was make snide remarks. Then he told me a story about how he met Belinda. The major ships in the film snapped the memory in his brain. I'm turning it into a short story.

Is Earth Ready to Meet an Alien Civilization? Trip to Space.com and vote. So far - 40% of us said "Maybe". If they only knew!!! We are getting closer - Major new cool planet Gliese 581 C in the Constellation Libra - big hit! Also on our astrobiologists short list is Saturn's moon, Titan.

Who thinks stories on space will push stories about vampires and zombies back into the ground? I do!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

STAR WARS IN CONCERT!!!!

For anyone who will be in the area...on Saturday, November 21st, Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York will host a concert featuring Jon Williams' score to STAR WARS. Full choir, an orchestra and footage from all of the STAR WARS movies will be shown. Prices seem a little steep, but if you are a big fan the experience could be amazing!!

On the HOMER front.....

Over at Nationalgeographic.com, it was reported that amateur photographer Robert Milaelyan, caught a neat picture of a "huge exploding fireball in the sky" over the Netherlands. They think it was a rogue space rock. When Homer read that, he instantly turned to me and said, "Seems like Belinda has made a return visit. I know she likes to go Dutch, but I think she's pushing it this time." Homer and his cornball humor. Belinda is Homer's guardian friend. I've met her. She's very Amazon like. Very tall and looks like she can be a trainer at NY Sports club. It would be very much like her to make that kind of an entrance into the Earth's atmosphere - as a fireball! Anyway, the next thing I know, Homer's off to parts unknown (Really, like I don't know where he is right now. I like tulips, I hope he brings me back tulips!).

Hey, I was one of the winners of a yummy P&B candy bar loaded with potato chips, from Ame Dykeman over at her blog P&B Planet. THANKS AME!!! I told Ame that the last time I won anything was when I won a Christmas tree the day before Christmas for a local radio station!

I'm also sending super duper congrats to Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bernardo on their upcoming book, SIRENS, scheduled to fly in 2011. You go girls! When is the party?

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Impact of NASA’s Lcross Mission to the Moon

At six o’clock this morning I awoke to someone pounding on the front door of my home. I knew who it was – Homer. My husband and I stumbled out of bed. Me, flipping on all the lights along the way, toward the relentless energy of a 16 year old extraterrestrial.

“Hi, Mrs. McIlvain,” Homer said, waving his hand back and forth in front of his signature goofy half smile.

“Huh, come in Sweetie,” I grunted.

His eyes darted to my office. “Um, did you turn on your computer yet?” he asked.

“Not yet,” I said yawning. “I just got up.”

Upstairs two doors slammed. Two showers simultaneously sang. The house was starting its day with my son and husband caught up in the rhythm.

“Times a wastin’, Mrs. M.” he said, zipping into my computer/office room. “I really wanted to watch this with you. Explosions like this happen all the time, but ya got to be lolling around space to catch one – I mean, this one’s a scheduled event. Wait until you see the cool plumes!”

Homer pushed the requisite buttons and the computer whirled to life with a flash of blue “Welcome!” I noticed again how rough the back of his hands were. They had the look of a weathered old man – the man in the moon. My heart went out to him.

Like most people and the media, the importance of NASA’s mission of finding water beneath the surface of the moon was secondary. Like Homer and me, they rose at this ungodly hour to witness a huge explosion. It never came. But the mission was a success.

While my coffee brewed, Homer sat with my son in the family room, downing vast amounts of cereal and laughing at the jokes of some sitcom. He is so human-like, except for those ears, deformed and too big for his sweet face. Then I heard the strange bark of his laugh again. I turned the computer off wondering why he seemed so attached to us. I'll be hunting for that answer during the course of this blog.

What do you think?

Thursday, October 8, 2009

New Blog - New Adventure!

My fellow writer friends and my buddy Homer agreed that I should re-do the Blog I started last year.



Homer thought my blog was kind of boring and needed to show what he and his friends were interested in. He likes Outer Space stuff and anything that has to do with it. Well, we argued about that for a while. I wanted to put pictures of puppy dogs and cupcake recipes on the blog.

"Oh, No," he said, "Not if I have anything to do with it! You want my help SS? You listen to me."

Homer, like most aliens, is a little controlling, if you ask me. But when he smiled showing me those cute dimples of his, I relented and gave in. But since I'm older than him and a little smarter, I told him that if I could write down the fantastic stories he's been telling me about why he came to Earth, I'd let him have his way. Well, you would have thought he was given a whole stash of this candy he gets from some weird little guy he knows (OMG - Homer goes on and on about how good it is. I've tried to turn him on to Snickers (my fav) with no luck). Homer started to smack his lips and jump around my office. He can be silly at times. He'll be upset that I told you that.

Sooo - We hope that you enjoy our blog. There's some cool video's. Our favorite is the Mars Rover one with the background music "The Planets". Homer wants to keep track of the weather on the planet where he went to school. I want to talk about cool stuff in the news, like The U.S. using the moon as a filling station, and the asteroid that put a hole in Jupiter's atmosphere. If there's anything else you'd like to see on this blog, please let us know. Until then...