JohnD
09-June-2006, 08:47 AM
All,
There used to be a forum on the old BA site that was almost entirely SF. Can't see it here, so this'll have be a babble.
A recent APOD was taken from the ISS, of an eruption from Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian chain of islands. See: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060607.html
Thanks to Qev on the Asterisk, I found it on Google Earth, at 52.825N, 169.948W (and not at the coordinates given in the Volcano World page linked to from the APOD) Even without the plume, the mountain itself is spectacular, a perfectly symmetrical cone, on it's own island. But the adjacent islands are as spectacular. Look rather barren though, except for the next one along to the southwest.
That is larger, flatter, probably older and has much greenery on it. It also has an enormous caldera at one end and a dormant(?) stratovolcano at the other, much older craters half swallowed by the sea, lavatubes, the lot! There is even some flatland with a biggish lake and lots of tarns.
It occurs to me that this must be 'fantasyland', where all the Dwarves & Dragons, Sword & Sorcery novels are set. All it needs is a walled castle and a murky forest.
Over to you, fantasy writers!
John
There used to be a forum on the old BA site that was almost entirely SF. Can't see it here, so this'll have be a babble.
A recent APOD was taken from the ISS, of an eruption from Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian chain of islands. See: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060607.html
Thanks to Qev on the Asterisk, I found it on Google Earth, at 52.825N, 169.948W (and not at the coordinates given in the Volcano World page linked to from the APOD) Even without the plume, the mountain itself is spectacular, a perfectly symmetrical cone, on it's own island. But the adjacent islands are as spectacular. Look rather barren though, except for the next one along to the southwest.
That is larger, flatter, probably older and has much greenery on it. It also has an enormous caldera at one end and a dormant(?) stratovolcano at the other, much older craters half swallowed by the sea, lavatubes, the lot! There is even some flatland with a biggish lake and lots of tarns.
It occurs to me that this must be 'fantasyland', where all the Dwarves & Dragons, Sword & Sorcery novels are set. All it needs is a walled castle and a murky forest.
Over to you, fantasy writers!
John