Friday, April 22, 2016

S: A to Z Blogging Challenge

For my 2016 A to Z Challenge, I’m sharing three facts for each letter. The genres I write and love to read are mostly science fiction and high or epic fantasy. In fantasy, there is often magic associated with crystals or metals. They also used herbs both for medicine and for magical spells. Each day I will post a short description of an herb or a mineral you might find in medieval or fantasy writings. For the record, most of the herbal remedies I’ve investigated are not recommended by the FDA. Many are actually poisonous and dangerous. As tribute to my second love, I will post a scientific fact that may deal with physics, biology or health science. And because another name for a writer is wordsmith, each day I’ll share a strange word that I would probably never use in my writing, but that amuse me in some way. So enjoy my trio of quick facts. And don’t forget to visit the IWSG site where we’ll share a writer’s resource for every day of the challenge.

Sciolist: A person who pretends to be a scholar. An intellectual fake.

Salt is used for purification and protection. If you've ever watched the TV show, Supernatural, you know to always have some salt handy.

Solar Energy. No matter how you feel about this, the facts are that enough sunlight strikes the Earth in one hour to provide all the power the entire planet needs for one year. If humanity were to build a solar farm of 25,000 square miles in the desert area of North Africa, we would need no other energy sources. Wow! See how small that area could be on the map below.



And a little bonus for today. Congrats to Chrys Fey.

Bonus S: SEISMIC CRIMES
Today is the release of Chrys Fey's first novel!

BLURB:
An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion
consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.
Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.
When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?

DIGITAL LINKS:

ALSO AVAILABLE IN PRINT!

Why do you think humanity won't work together to make solar energy happen? Do you know a sciolist? Do you keep salt handy to ward off ghosts or only to use on your food? Ready for Chrys' book with lots of aftershocks?












23 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Susan - the intellectual fake is a good one - a word I must remember. Salt is amazing and has been around for millennia - and always served its purpose ... with some interesting history and stories ...

Good luck to Chrys for her Seismic Crimes ... cheers Hilary

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Congrats to Chrys.

It's amazing to think we could power the entire earth that way. We have some solar plants near us, but they are small and power enough for only 100 houses.

Jo said...

Intellectual fake eh? Good one. In recent years, the farm where I buy asparagus had to have one of his fields fallow for 20 years so he applied permission to install solar panels and was refused by the local council. I thought this was extremely short sited. Big field, lot of panels, lots of power for 20 years. What would we do without salt although I know it is fashionable for people to cook without it in many places these days.

Good luck to Chrys with her book.

M.J. Fifield said...

The salt in my house is generally used for cooking, but as a Supernatural fan, I am prepared to use it for other things...

Interesting about the solar power. I live in Florida, and I'm always surprised that I don't see more solar panels. Too expensive for most households, I guess?

M.J. Fifield said...

Also, congrats to Chrys!!

Pat Hatt said...

Know a few fakes. The greedy won't let solar happen any time soon, if ever

Chrys Fey said...

Thank you for adding my promo, Susan! I liked your final note "Ready for Chrys' book with lots of aftershocks?" That's perfect! ;)

I definitely don't want to be a sciolist....

Christine Rains said...

Wow! That is so cool about solar energy. Why haven't we done that yet? And yay for Chrys!

betty said...

I have Chrys book to read so looking forward to it :)

I think I'll keep my salt for food, I would hope I won't have to use it to fend off ghosts :)

betty

Unknown said...

I like the word "sciolist" although I worry a little that I might be one!

@Kathleen01930
Meet My Imaginary Friends
#AtoZchallenge

Nicola said...

Great S words. Love 'sciolist'. I'll keep that in my head. It may prove useful at some point (I'm learning too many Shakespearean Insults from Bish Denham :)).

nashvillecats2 said...

I wish Chrys all the best with her book.
Wonderful post.
Yvonne.

Maria Zannini said...

Our first solar panel array for the workshop was so successful, I'm thinking of letting Greg build one for the house. It was well worth the investment.

J E Oneil said...

Wow. That solar farm would be really useful! Why don't we get on that? :)

messymimi said...

The only sciolist i know is me. As i used to say in school, i can't dazzle you with my brilliance so i will baffle you with myt bull manure!

mshatch said...

"If humanity were to build a solar farm of 25,000 square miles in the desert area of North Africa, we would need no other energy sources."

I don't think the oil companies would like that but maybe we'll get there some day.

Anonymous said...

I think the Internet is full of sciolists! LOL

~Ninja Minion Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

Chrys Fey said...

I hope you enjoy it, Betty. :)

Chrys Fey said...

Thank you, Yvonne!

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

I've got one for you. S for Supernatural, which is filmed in British Columbia. Not sure if they've ever filmed around our area, but most scenes are filmed in Vancouver and area.

The Happy Whisk said...

Neat about the solar energy.

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

I think too many people make too much money out of oil and gas, which is why we don't have more solar energy and cooperation.
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

Mike said...

I like sciolist!