LORD OF LIGHT

The context of the novel – modern western characters in a Hindu-Buddhist myth-infused science fiction world – is reflected in the book's opening lines:

“

"His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god."

”

AMAZON BOOK LINK

CS - A wicked book that mixes in scifi and classic mythology. I refused to purchase this book online and spent 4 months hunting it down... sometimes the quest is as good as the treasure. When I did get it I plowed through it and thought it was worth flogging... plus now I want a glowing buddha for Christmas.

This story alone about the CIA using the Lord of Light book/movie script as a cover story... funny it's almost like a story unto itself worthy of Sam.
How the CIA used a fake science fiction film to sneak six Americans out of revolutionary Iran.

Research reveals that apocalyptic stories changed dramatically over the last 20 years.

Most major religions, going back thousands of years, tell stories about the End of the World. And post-apocalyptic fiction is perennially popular. So why, in the last twenty years, has the apocalypse ceased to matter?

CS - Interesting read which reminds me of an old thesis I read way back about scifi writers base their stories around social/political current events to connect the reader with fantastical events of the future.

IO9 POST

Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse

Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse is the second solo comic book series by Ben Templesmith. Wormwood is a lighter series which combines humor and horror.

CS: I have every episode and love the mix of characters / adventures in these books. I'm actually really surprised that someone hasn't thought to turn this into a movie as I see it as a cult classic.

DOWN THE PUB

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death were a series of intricately designed doll house-style dioramas created by Frances Glessner Lee, a millionaire heiress with an interest in forensic science.

She designed detailed scenarios, based on composites of real criminal acts, and presented them physically in miniature. Students were instructed to study the scene and draw conclusions from the evidence presented. Lee used her inheritance to set up Harvard's department of legal medicine, and donated the Nutshell dioramas in 1945 for use in her lectures on the subject of crime scene investigation. In 1966 the department was dissolved, and the dioramas went to the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office; there, Harvard Magazine reports that they are still used for forensic seminars.

AMAZON LINK

5 Frightening (But True) Space Stories

As a result, it's hard for me to read about space exploration without thinking of about its darker possibilities...

http://blogs.discovery.com/space_disco/2009/10/5-frightening-but-true-space-stories.html

1066

Take control of the English, Viking or Norman armies in the battle for total domination in 1066. Game contains scenes of blood and violence.

CS - This is one of the best Flash titles I have ever touched. The elements of strategy, timing, unique per unit minigames to attack, a tile based system of movement, great layered visual 2D style and multiplayer makes this something worth playing with.

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/0-9/1066/game/index.html

Lost in Space

What really happened to Russia's missing cosmonauts? An incredible tale of space hacking, espionage and death in the lonely reaches of space.

http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/1302/lost_in_space.html

CS - I don't know which scares me more... finding the audio of the female cosmonaut or the SOS with the Doppler effect... something in my brain would love to hunt through the cold reaches of space for the actual first man in space.

Cadaver Synod

The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial or, in Latin, the Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the posthumous ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January of 897.^[1]

Before the proceedings the body of Formosus was exhumed and, according to some sources, seated on a throne while his successor, Pope Stephen VI, read the charges against him (of which Formosus was found guilty) and conducted the trial. The Cadaver Synod is remembered as one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the medieval papacy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_Synod