That's Life

Renowned science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson is an opinionated person.  And a thoughful one.  And a great researcher.  But mostly he is a very fine writer.  Of the many many books he has written and published since the 1980s, my favorite is "The Years of Rice and Salt", set in an alternate world where the Plague killed 90% of people in northern Europe leaving empty land to be resettled by people from further south and east.  This book is a series of about a dozen novellas tied together by a cast of characters who get reincarnated in different parts of the world amid different  circumstances and cultures.  A most fascinating book!

But then, I also was mesmerized by his possibilities of Orange County's future in the Three Californias trilogy: "The Wild Shore", "The Gold Coast", and "Pacific Edge".  What will happen in OC if (a) we start to recover from a nuclear war while the rest of the world decides that we are too dangerous to allow to re-build? or (b) we stop global warming but continue overpopulation in "an endless sprawl of condos, freeways, and malls"? or (c) we change our culture to a more ecologically-focused future and live in smaller places? These three award-winning books are also filled with fascinating characters.

Nikki H is a "Creativity Coach" and her eddress tells it all -- FindYourDelight@gmail.com  --  Her delight is helping others find THEIR delight.  Her passion is fostering CREATIVITY in many ways for as many people as she can. Her Pinterst account says Nikki H is a: "Delight finder. Creativity coach. Content creator. Event designer & stylist. Dancer. Traveler."

She is also a lot of fun to chat  with!  Listen in as Nikki and Lois head for the wild blue yonder in this episode.

Ray Maxwell is a fascinating man.  He has done so many wonderful things, we'd need a month to even  summarize them!  In this episode we touch on a few -- hot air ballooning, finding minerals by looking at vegetation from space, how wind moves over mountain peaks and what those aerial waves and ridges can be used for, changes in vision after cataract surgery, setting up a studio, teaching people to fly (motor planes, gliders, remote control planes, and drones), Vancouver BC Canada, lots of tech, and philosophy.  Although Lois and Ray met thru Office Hours, Ray has many other years of broadcast experience -- radio, tv, podcasting, web streaming, and Youtube.  You can see his face online at: 

Maxwell's House -- "Stop by the house of polymath Ray Maxwell and see what he's investigating today. Ray is a teacher, color scientist, pilot, photographer, Photoshop wizard and raconteur who each week takes on different real-world applications of complex scientific notions."

Author and journalist Anne Da Vigo joins Lois to talk about her books and her process.  

Anne's journalism career (specializing in feature writing and crime reporting), spanned more than a dozen years at newspapers throughout California. Her latest -- Bakersfield Boys Club -- was loosely inspired by the Lords of Bakersfield murders of the 1970s and 1980s. Da Vigo covered the trial in the first of the Lords murder cases.

She is the author of a previous thriller -- Thread of Gold -- and numerous short stories.  She is also part of the Blue Moon writers' group that meets weekly in Davis; and, as always, continues to write.

The finale of today's show is two Merle Haggard songs about Bakersfield.

(This aired two weeks in a row -- 2 Dec and 9 Dec 2021.)