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Starfleet Navigator Class Starship
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Coming out of my work on the revised Star Trek Starfleet Technical Manual, it got me thinking about something a little sleeker that your average starship. It would be Starfleet's answer to the Romulan Bird of Prey.
The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual 2.0
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In 1975, Franz Joseph’s Technical Manual was the perfect companion to his Enterprise blueprints. While there are more accurate sources now, these were two of the best items to have during the time after The Original Series went off the air and before the movies began.
Doctor Strange (1978) DVD and Blu-ray Cover
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You have to feel for the folks over at Shout Factory. They got the rights to re-release the 1978 Doctor Strange TV movie to tie in with the release of the new feature film starring Benedict Cumberbatch. And they went to the effort to remaster it from the original film elements. That's dedication, and one of the reasons genre film and TV lovers love Shout like cinephiles love Criterion and Kino Lorber. They do things right.
SVG Thumbnail Previews in Adobe Bridge
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While MacOS has the capability to preview SVG files with Quick Look in the Finder, current versions of Adobe Bridge show the generic file icon only. That is, unless SVGs are saved out with XMP compatibility. With SVG increasing in popularity, here's how to make image selection quicker and easier with thumbnails.
Dr. Syn – The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh
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Russell Thorndike's Doctor Syn first appeared in the novel of the same name in 1915, with six more novels following in the 1930s and 40s. The general public knows Syn from the 1964 Disney episodes starring Patrick McGoohan, but that's only one version of the story. The rest is worth looking at.
AssignmentEarth.ca Relaunched
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The web's most complete site on this back-door pilot from Star Trek gets its seventh major update, with new design and content.
The Starlost Compendium
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The Starlost was a television series that aired primarily on NBC in the U.S. and CTV in Canada during 1973. Created by Harlan Ellison – with technical details on the ship by Ben Bova – it was an early foray into Canadian-American co-production and syndication release.
eBook: When the Sky Fell
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When the Sky Fell details a scientific theory about Earth crust displacement first put forth by Charles Hapgood, and expanded on by Rand and Rose Flem-Ath. Albert Einstein supported Hapgood's work. The theory also dovetails with Plato's description of the end of Atlantis, and the many flood myths in ancient literature. When the Sky Fell was first published in the 1990s, and I was at one point working on the updated version to be published as an ebook.
The Exploration of Space by Arthur C. Clarke
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A few years ago, I approached a publisher of space books with the idea of producing a series of volumes that would reprint the most important texts of the space age. The publisher passed, citing it being outside their business model, and they weren't set up to work with outside designers. I still think it's a good idea.
eBook: The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
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My favourite novel was written by Philip K. Dick and first published in 1962. The Man in the High Castle won the 1962 Hugo award, the Oscars of science fiction, for best novel of the year.
Craftint and Duoshade Tones in Photoshop
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Craftint doubletone paper (DuoShade is another brand) is one of those things an ink illustrator had in their toolbox before the advent of the digital toolset or even rubdown tone systems like Zip-a-Tone. It wasn't cheap and it gradually fell out of use.
John Steinbeck Illustration
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A gift for my father who is a very big John Steinbeck fan. I've only read a few of Steinbeck's books myself, but The Grapes of Wrath should be required reading by anyone who aspires to have a social justice conscience.