Allan Dyen-Shapiro
The moments that establish character
A couple weeks ago, I attended the annual Southwest Florida Reading Festival. My wife insists on going every year. As a teacher of...
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Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Science Fiction Author
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Apr 1, 2017
On the Everglades Part V: If there is consensus on what needs doing, why isn’t it happening?
I must admit to a bias in writing this post. Back in 2004, when I was being recruited to come to Florida Gulf Coast University as an...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Jan 7, 2017
Why Americans question climate science
Most of the planet looks at the US and wonders how it is that Americans don't "get it" when it comes to climate change. The science is...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Dec 3, 2016
Things are worse than assumed: sensible numbers on carbon fluxes from soil and limits of discourse
Imagine you are appointed to a committee of wizards, meeting in some dingy (and likely dragon-infested) back room in Hogwarts, tasked...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Nov 19, 2016
Tech that matters: those concerned with climate change-induced famine should pay attention to this
I like the New York Times. I like getting their free headlines in my inbox, and I like linking to my ten free articles per month. And my...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Oct 24, 2016
Can you still go "Down to the Twist and Shout"? Should you?
My wife is outstanding at winning radio contests. And all sorts of other contests. As such, much of our entertainment is free. With free...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Sep 25, 2016
Mister Robot, a recollection of Chomsky, and a reflection on Robespierre
And the award for pretension in blog post titles goes to ... yeah, bear with me on this one. I recently binge watched the first two...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Aug 25, 2016
"Everything's up to date in Kansas City," and now my blog will be too.
Yeah, I certainly could have started with a cheesy quotation from Wizard of Oz, but the Rogers and Hammerstein lyrics were running...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Aug 14, 2016
Sanity is relative, reality is consensual, and SF readers and writers are the only ones who notice
A colleague in my non-writer, day job, a Moroccan immigrant, delights in discoveries of American pop culture that I had encountered so...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Aug 4, 2016
My Schedule for WorldCon
Okay, at this point, I've seen lots of other folks on panels putting their schedule for MidAmericon II, August 17 - 21 in Kansas City,...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Jul 28, 2016
Broken or still fighting?
A enthusiastic young woman phoned me recently, reciting from a canned script that I knew would culminate in a request for money. An...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Jul 10, 2016
Writing about racism: ignoring white people who told me I didn't know what I was talking about
I have one short story that has been an absolute bear to write for various reasons. It has undergone multiple revisions. However, I...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Jun 10, 2016
If the Witness exists, is he God, or is time the only deity: thoughts from SF television
This week's 12 Monkeys delved very deeply into philosophy, with Cole as the week's prophet. He reminisces about a boyhood scuffle when he...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- May 15, 2016
Meltwater and Overturning Circulation: Allan digests James Hansen's latest paper
A few weeks ago, I linked on my author Facebook profile (do friend me via the link at the bottom of this page) to the latest paper from...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Apr 30, 2016
Taking notes as an intellectual holds court: cool ideas Ben Bova shared on an OASIS Panel
Ben Bova was one of the great authors from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, back when all was spaceships and scientists saving the...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Apr 15, 2016
Allan does a taste test: Evaluating Beyond Beef Beefy Crumbles and Beast Burgers
I really wanted to like this stuff. It sounded like a great idea: extract protein and other components from pea and other vegetables,...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Apr 14, 2016
Climate change and corals: the link the newspapers didn't give you
The combination of global climate change, an unusually strong El Niño event, and other factors affecting water temperature was recently...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Apr 8, 2016
The next big viral epidemic--science and science fiction
It was the beginning of the new millennium, and an expatriate Russian passionately expounded on the tragedy his new company was set up to...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Apr 4, 2016
Remembering Kirby, an elegy in prose for one most prosaic
Noted clarinetist Kirby Miller passed away last night at his home in Provo, Utah. Miller was best known as the founder of the Catatonic...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
- Apr 3, 2016
Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis: How do you avoid cultural appropriation and white-washing
The late Columbia professor Edward Said introduced a useful term with his publication of Orientalism in 1978. To quote this work,...
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