Xiao-tep and his wuxia world return this Friday!

The universe of Xiao-tep returns this Friday!

Last June and July I posted a 5-part epic wuxia tale about Xiao-tep, The Ankh-Fish of 100,000 Sorrows and Beauty in the blogged novella "The Children of Gods". January of this year I then posted "At The Peony Teahouse", a continuation of tales from the same universe starring some of the same characters.

Now, this Friday, I begin posting "The Theft of Heaven", the next story within the series. In this new story, we will be introduced to Momoki the Marmoset and his friends. This story will lead into another and all of it will lead up to the proposed summer blog-buster tale "Warriors of the Midnight Sun"! I expect to do a lot of blogging this summer as I write these stories. I'm certain it will take my time ALL SUMMER LONG. Be sure to watch for it all here at http://lordshen.blogspot.com/.

If you like wuxia, martial arts, mythology and high fantasy adventure tales, you're sure to love "THE THEFT OF HEAVEN"!

New issue of the ezine!!!

If - E - Zine(tm) Issue #10

Hey folks,

As you may know, I publish an ezine of science fiction and slipstream fantasy on my website. Issue #10 of If - E - Zine(tm) is slated to be published on my site Wednesday, March 19th. It's an exciting time for my ezine. This August it will be FIVE YEARS OLD! Be sure to look for it. And, as always, If - E - Zine(tm) is the Free Online Magazine of Thrilling Speculative Fiction!





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Bonus Post -- Invasion of the Saucer Men

HILARIOUS!

Bonus Post! Bionic Eyes Now Available

BONUS POST! -- Outer Limits

Here's a collection of old school TNT bumpers that aired during an Outer Limits marathon. Enjoy!

BONUS POST! - Classic Dr. Who Intro and Orbital

A classic Dr. Who Intro



The band Orbital doing their version of the Dr. Who theme

A Long Time Gone

It's been a long time since I last posted. I want to apologize for that. I spent about 2 weeks missing out on posting over the course of the Christmas holiday because we had family visiting. Then I posted for a couple weeks, then I became very ill to the point where sitting at the computer on a regular basis became uncomfortable. The end result was that I missed 3 more weeks of posting. I again apologize and only hope everyone understands.

I'm hoping for a good year insofar as my writing goes. If - E - Zine(tm): The Free Online Magazine of Thrilling Speculative Fiction! will turn five-years-old this August. As such, I have a feeling I may do more than one issue this year to commemorate the occasion. Five years... that's longer than a lot of other recent ezines have lasted! It seems as though many have a life span of about 3 years. Without meaning to brag, I have to admit I'm pretty proud of that.

I'm unsure if I'll be carrying on the tale "At the Peony Tea House" this Friday. I will be posting, however... at least in some small way. I'll return to "Peony" ASAP... I can't leave my audience hanging. I also can't leave myself hanging! I want to know what happens, too!

Until then, enjoy this scene from The Brain That Wouldn't Die.

Bonus Post! Giant Robo

This is TOEI's orignal tokusatsu TV series for kids called Giant Robo. Here in the United States it was dubbed Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot.



SEE ALSO:

GIGANTOR

KAIJU FAN ONLINE

Ghosts, Zombies, Vikings, Bradbury, Kaiju... It's Halloween!

Halloween will soon be here. Does anyone have any idea what they're dressing up as? If you want to share, please do so in the comments! I'll be posting pics of me and my Halloween sometime soon after the holiday.

Please remember to stop by www.TheLordShen.com to check out If - E - Zine(tm): The Free Online Magazine of Thrilling Speculative Fiction! Issue Number 9 was published earlier this month and is this year's Special Halloween Edition. Within it's printable and completely FREE pages are three short stories and a kaiju rpg fighting game called Kaiju Katana: Monster Maker(tm).

Please check it out if you can. It's most appreciated.

And remember, this Friday I will be posting Part 2 of "Hunter of the Dead" -- a short story from the pages of If - E - Zine(tm) about Vikings in a zombie-filled apocalyptic world!

Now, enjoy the opening sequence of Ray Bradbury's animated Halloween classic: The Halloween Tree!



ADDITIONAL NOTES AND LINKS:

On a side-note, I recently finished the major work on my first novel. It's a science fiction piece set in the future where technology is virtually outlawed. I suppose I'm bragging a bit here, but I also know some of you good people may actually be interested by this little tid-bit. I'll be shipping it off to publishers and trying to get it sold soon.

Also please be sure to check out If - E - Zine's MySpace if you should happen to have a MySpace account yourself.

BONUS POST! In Search Of... Leonard Nimoy and The Amityville Horror!

Be safe this Halloween!

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

GHOSTS! - In time for Halloween, Resurrection Mary from Unsolved Mysteries

A special bonus post today, I bring to you a short video from the TV series Unsolved Mysteries that chronicles the tale of Resurrection Mary. Enjoy!

Unsolved Mysteries - Resurrection Mary

Add to My Profile | More Videos


REFERENCES:

Unsolved Mysteries

Resurrestion Mary on Wiki

Old School Cartoon - banned in some parts!

This was one of the few cartoons Walt Disney personally animated. It is the first Silly Symphony.

Titled "The Skeleton Dance", it was released in 1929 and at the time garnered a lot of criticism. The criticism was, in part, due to the 'graphic' nature of the cartoon. Before you judge, put things into perspective a bit: this cartoon was, afterall, quite possibly the first time the public had really seen skeletons rising from the grave and dancing. That's quite a frightening prospect even today! But in 1929 it was unheard of and resulted in many theaters refusing to carry the cartoon. It was even reportedly banned in some parts of the world!

Today it is normally hailed as a masterpiece of early animation. In 1994 it was voted (by a panel consisting of 1000 people working in the animation field) as #18 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time.

Have a safe and happy Halloween.





The Skeleton Dance on Wikipedia

The Skeleton Dance at Big Cartoon Database

How-To Halloween: Ideas to Help You Celebrate The Holiday

Here's some how-to videos with ideas to help you celebrate Halloween. Enjoy!

How-To Halloween Spooktacular with Madeline Merced - Part 1


How-To Halloween Spooktacular with Madeline Merced - Part 2


How-To Make Your Own Tombstones


How-To Make Your Own Floating Head Effect


How-To Make Monstrous Eyes in Your House


Brought to you by If - E - Zine(tm). Remember Issue 9, The Special Halloween Edition, is NOW AVAILABLE and it's FREE!!!

100th Post! And it's about GUNDAM! Japan officials edited Wikipedia at work

Japan officials edited Wikipedia at work

From Yahoo! News:

TOKYO - Japan's Agriculture Ministry reprimanded six bureaucrats after an internal probe found they spent work hours contributing to Wikipedia on topics unrelated to farm issues — including 260 entries about cartoon robots.

The six civil servants together made 408 entries on the popular Web site encyclopedia from ministry computers since 2003, an official said Friday.

One of the six focused solely on Gundam — the popular, long-running animated series about giant robots — to which he contributed 260 times. The series has spun off intricate toy robots popular among schoolchildren as well as adults known as "otaku" nerds.

"The Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam," said ministry official Tsutomu Shimomura.

SOURCE

GUNDAM FIGHT!


One of my prized possessions: a Gundam Wing Zero Collectible!


Special thanks to J. Ho for bringing this news article to my attention. Check out his art blog, he loves drawing robots and He-Man. Now if only he'd draw robotic He-Man.

Rocko's Modern Halloween

Here's an episode from one of my favorite cartoons of all time (well, it's in my top ten anyways). Rocko's Modern Life ran from 1993 to about 1996. It deserved more season, in my humble opinion.

See as Halloween is approaching, I thought I'd share a Halloween episode of Rocko's Modern Life entitled Sugar Frosted Frights.

Enjoy:

PART 1


PART 2



REMINDER: If - E - Zine(tm) Issue Number 9, the Special Halloween Edition, is now available and it's FREE!!!

Kaiju Katana: Monster Maker(tm)

Just a reminder that Issue Number 9 of If - E - Zine(tm) is NOW AVAILABLE. Besides three FREE science fiction- and Halloween-themed short stories, it also offers Kaiju Katana: Monster Maker(tm) - a set of rules you can use to make giant monsters like Godzilla and battle them with your friends!

Check it out, won't you? Enjoy!


And remember: It takes a man to be a father!

BONUS POST! Follow-up on Mysterious Meteorite Illness

I posted this story on 9/18/07. Here's a follow-up:

"On what started as a normal Saturday night one week ago, residents of a small, remote Peruvian town saw a bright light streak across the sky, heard a resounding bang and suddenly found themselves at the center of a media frenzy.

Initial suspicions of an airplane crash quickly spiraled into widespread reports that a meteorite had plummeted to Earth and left a smoking, boiling crater whose supposedly noxious fumes were reported to have sickened curious locals who went to peer at the hole.

Despite doubts expressed by geologists that the crater was actually caused by a meteorite and firm explanations that a meteorite would not even emit fumes and that the "sickness" was likely a case of mass hysteria, numerous onlookers far and wide were fascinated by the idea that this event could be some real-life "Andromeda Strain" (the 1969 novel by Michael Crichton), where a mysterious rock falling to Earth from outer space made anyone who went near it ill."

SOURCE

Mass hysteria seems to have caused the 'illness'. A sort of mass psychosomatic reaction.

BONUS POST! Diseased Meteor Will Kill Us All!

LIMA (AFP) - Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

SOURCE


OTHER RELATED HISTORICAL AND FICTIONAL METEOR STORIES:

TUNGUSKA EVENT

The Tunguska event, sometimes called the Tunguska explosion, was a massive explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Under Rock) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, between 7:00 and 8:00 AM on June 30, 1908.

The explosion was most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometers (3–6 mi) above Earth's surface. Different studies yielded varying estimates for the meteor's size, including 60 meters, 90 to 190 meters and up to 1200 meters in diameter.

Although the meteor or comet is considered to have burst prior to hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact event. The energy of the blast was estimated to be between 10 and 20 megatons of TNT — 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosion felled an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers (830 sq mi). It is estimated to have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale.

The Tunguska event is the largest impact event in recent history. An explosion of this magnitude had the potential to devastate large metropolitan areas had it occurred over a large city. This possibility has helped to spark discussion of ways to potentially stop large asteroids or comets from hitting Earth.

SOURCE

THE BLOB



THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN

BONUS POST! D&D song

Always fun to watch.