The Far Off Worls of John Teehan

Reading: Doc Savage: The Land of Terror by Kenneth Robeson
Music: Angelina Carberry
TV/Movie: A Mighty Wind
Link o' the Day: No Award

There is a startling amount of nature in my neighborhood. I mean c'mon. I'm living in a city. Granted, it's not a large city, as cities go, but it's not the smallest I've seen either. It's pretty typical for a New England sort of burg. As for where we are in relation to "downcity," the Providence skyline (half of which didn't exist when I moved here in 1985), takes up a good portion of our view. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to where the tall buildings are. We have a shopping plaza right next door complete with McDonalds, Petco, Whole Foods, FYE, Radio Shack and others.

In other words...

I shouldn't be hearing owls and woodpeckers. Those are forest critters. Maybe farm land critters. They don't belong in the 02906 zip code. Neither do the possums, nor the occasional racoon.

The skunks... maybe. The squirrels are expected, and maybe some of the chipmunks. Pigeons. Can't get rid of them. Bats and rats--par for the course, tho I'm not sure what the bats are eating as you don't get a lot of mosquitos in the city.

I've seen northeast cottontails downtown, frolicking in 10x10 squares of patchy grass. Wild turkey will wander into the strip malls. Moose will appear near highways. We get bluejays and cardinals. Hawks will roost downcity.

This makes me either worried or relieved. Worried because they might be trying to move in and take over, little by little, like the Norwegians. Or relieved, because maybe we aren't killing the environment as much as we believe.

More likely it's a bit of column A and column B. As the world crumbles to ash and sewage, that's when the possums and Norwegians come to finish us off.

You've been warned.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Speaking of warnings, I was just taking a look at the website for the upcoming Abominations anthology and noted that "Whatever Happened To Baby Charles?" looks to be the lead story. Not bad.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Today's link goes to Marty Cantor's fanzine, No Award of which I received issue #17 in the mail yesterday. A PDF version is available for download here, and step back to Efanzines.com for a host of other fanzines.

It was a bit of serendipity to see No Award as I had been thinking, recently, about getting some fanac done. No I know where best to start.

Cheers!




	Living, Loving and Writing in Providence, RI This is a Science Fiction World, like it or not Home Get Email Updates The Far Off Worlds of John Teehan TumbleTap - graphic novels and other neat books My facebook page Falling Off the Shelf - weekly review column Sunday Blog - Red Rocket Station Bearmanor Media Efanzines.com Strange Horizons Email Me Admin Password Remember Me 419510 Curiosities served Share on Facebook				2008-05-06 11:44 AM It's a jungle out here Previous Entry :: Next Entry Mood: squirrely Read/Post Comments (1) Reading: Doc Savage: The Land of Terror by Kenneth Robeson Music: Angelina Carberry TV/Movie: A Mighty Wind Link o' the Day: No Award There is a startling amount of nature in my neighborhood. I mean c'mon. I'm living in a city. Granted, it's not a large city, as cities go, but it's not the smallest I've seen either. It's pretty typical for a New England sort of burg. As for where we are in relation to "downcity," the Providence skyline (half of which didn't exist when I moved here in 1985), takes up a good portion of our view. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to where the tall buildings are. We have a shopping plaza right next door complete with McDonalds, Petco, Whole Foods, FYE, Radio Shack and others. In other words... I shouldn't be hearing owls and woodpeckers. Those are forest critters. Maybe farm land critters. They don't belong in the 02906 zip code. Neither do the possums, nor the occasional racoon. The skunks... maybe. The squirrels are expected, and maybe some of the chipmunks. Pigeons. Can't get rid of them. Bats and rats--par for the course, tho I'm not sure what the bats are eating as you don't get a lot of mosquitos in the city. I've seen northeast cottontails downtown, frolicking in 10x10 squares of patchy grass. Wild turkey will wander into the strip malls. Moose will appear near highways. We get bluejays and cardinals. Hawks will roost downcity. This makes me either worried or relieved. Worried because they might be trying to move in and take over, little by little, like the Norwegians. Or relieved, because maybe we aren't killing the environment as much as we believe. More likely it's a bit of column A and column B. As the world crumbles to ash and sewage, that's when the possums and Norwegians come to finish us off. You've been warned. -=-=-=-=-=-=- Speaking of warnings, I was just taking a look at the website for the upcoming Abominations anthology and noted that "Whatever Happened To Baby Charles?" looks to be the lead story. Not bad. -=-=-=-=-=-=- Today's link goes to Marty Cantor's fanzine, No Award of which I received issue #17 in the mail yesterday. A PDF version is available for download here, and step back to Efanzines.com for a host of other fanzines. It was a bit of serendipity to see No Award as I had been thinking, recently, about getting some fanac done. No I know where best to start. Cheers! Read/Post Comments (1) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top