A new country, a new blog, and a guest post about castles

Hello from Oxford! Wait, wasn't I in Valencia? Why yes I was. Hard to keep up with me, isn't it? My family and I are enjoying our usual summer working vacation here in Oxford, where I'll be researching some magazine articles and writing fiction, and my wife will be working at the astronomy department. My son will be at a great daycamp he's been going to since he was three.

If you look at my blog roll, you'll see a new addition. Roads to the Great War is an excellent new blog about World War One run by the same folks that gave you the World War One website. With the centennial coming up next year they've decide to do a blog! If you like military history, check them out.

Speaking of blogs, I have another guest post up on the Black Gate blog, this one about Spanish Castles reused during the Spanish Civil War. I have two more posts in the pipeline for them, this time about an Italian castle.

Oh, and don't forget you can still get my fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence free on Smashwords. Please blog, tweet, and share!

Military History Photo Friday: The Torres de Quart in Valencia, Spain

These impressive towers are called the Torres de Quart. I saw them this week when visiting Valencia, Spain. My wife had an astronomy conference there and I tagged along so I could write a travel article on Valencia.

The city dates back to the Roman times but sadly most of its early remains are gone. The only parts of the old city walls still standing are two city gates dating to the Renaissance. The Torres de Quart defended the city against various invaders, the most recent being the forces of Napoleon. The French emperor had take over Spain some time before and in 1808 the Spaniards rose up in rebellion. Soon Valencia was in their hands.

Napoleon tried to take the city back on 26 June 1808. The Valencians flooded the surrounding plains so that the French were forced to attack the relatively higher ground on which the fortified gates, the strongest parts of their defenses, stood. As you can see, the towers still bear the scars of cannonballs.

The Spaniards put up a stout resistance and soon the French had to withdraw. The pockmarks on the Torres de Quart are a testimony to their determined defense.

Reader News for July 11, 2013

Some interesting stuff coming down the pike this week.

Short story writer and poet LaShawn Wanak just did an interesting interview at the blog of no less a writer than Jim Hines! You can see it here.

Closer to home (at least for me), fellow Spanish residents Sue Burke and Lawrence Schimel have translated Terra Nova, An Anthology Of Contemporary Spanish Science Fiction.

Sue and Lawrence are both experienced translators and science fiction writers, so this is a great chance to get a look at a  Spanish take on the future.

Here's the blurb:

Six top Spanish-language authors prove that science fiction remains sharp and visionary, with stories about the deepest anxieties, challenges, and problems of our societies. Their speculations and metaphors analyze and dissect a reality in continuous change.

"The Texture of Words", by Felicidad Martínez: women seek to lead despite being blind and dependent, while men fight constant wars.

"Deirdre", by Lola Robles: in the future, robotics can create made-to-order lovers.

"Greetings from a Zombie Nation", by Eric J. Mota: a stagnant society turns its citizens into the living dead.

"Light a Lone Candle", by Victor Conde: social networks want too much and never let go.

"Bodies", by Juanfran Jiménez: in a globalized and pseudodemocratic Europe, the rich practice sex tourism by means of mind exchange.

"Memory", by Teresa P. Mira de Echeverría: personal relationships and sex roles evolve in radical ways on a terraformed Mars in a relatively near future.

"Science Fiction from Spain", by Mariano Villarreal: a close view of what Spanish science fiction is and has been.

Castles in Spain and Slovenia

I was traveling in Italy and Slovenia for the past ten days and didn't get a chance to announce that another guest post of mine is up at the Black Gate blog. It's the second in my series on Spanish castles. This time I'm talking about the castle at Chinchón near Madrid.

While I was in Slovenia I got to see plenty of castles too. The country, which is slightly smaller than New Jersey, has about 700 of them! You can read my article on Gadling about the castles in Slovenia. It's part of a new series called "Slovenia: Hikes, History, and Horseburgers."

Guest blogging about Spanish castles over at Black Gate

I've done another guest post for the blog of Black Gate fantasy magazine. It's the first in a series about Spanish castles; this one is about the Alcázar in Segovia.

Not only is it a fascinating castle, but it has an excellent collection of medieval artillery that helped me when I was writing my book Medieval Handgonnes: the first Black Powder Infantry Weapons.

For more on that subject, you might also want to look at a guest post I did over at Genre Author on the accuracy of Medieval handgonnes.

Underground Exploration: why I'm hooked on caving

I've always liked to explore. That thrill of discovery has taken me to 33 countries, up to 34 next month when I go to Slovenia. But you don't have to go to some faraway land to see something new. One of my hobbies is caving. Anytime I've lived in a region where there were good caves I hurried to get underground. I've traveled beneath New Mexico, Missouri, and now Cantabria in northern Spain where I'm living now.

Caving is physically challenging and emotionally rewarding. The hidden natural beauty of the world beneath our feet is something only a tiny fraction of us ever get to see. Hit that link in the previous paragraph to see some of my caving articles. There are more on the way!

Caving in Spain

I've recently gotten back into caving. I did a bit of caving a couple of decades ago in New Mexico and Missouri and now that I'm living in Cantabria, one of the best regions in the world for caves, I've joined the local federation and am getting back underground. Here's me squeezing through a little hole that slopes down to a ledge over a cliff, hence the rope. Below is a shot from the same cave of some of the great formations you can see.

Being a travel blogger for Gadling, anytime I do anything even remotely interesting it gets turned into an article. You can read about my adventures in Cañuela Cave and Coventosa Cave at these links.