So I spent some of my spare time recently putting together a drawing <yeah, that's it right there based on a science fiction (SF) book I've been writing over the last... 20 years? The drawing is for the One Drawing Challenge put on by Architizer, which is an online journal about architecture and design.
My wife found this juried contest in a newsletter and its their second annual outing, so I took a look at what did well last year, and the rules are pretty relaxed. From the FAQ section on their website: "Your drawing(s) can take the form of a plan, section, elevation, perspective, sketch or abstract. As long as it portrays part or all of a building or group of buildings, it is eligible." Any part of a building, so a still life, in a room, would do it.
When I looked at last year's submissions though, there were a fair number of the entries that included speculative and/or abstract architecture and design, and that led me to my domed city. Over the years, I've sketched some images, and I even drew up some plans in CAD of the city, including some of the sub-levels below the city. Come on, what futuristic city ISN'T under a dome, and of course its got miles of piping and basements drilled into the earth.
There are 100 finalists in The One Drawing Challenge; that was announced earlier today. The winners--there will be two, a student winner and a non-student winner--as well as 10 honorable mentions will be named on September 28 (or the 29th, depending on where on the site you look.)*
SO where have I been for the past year? Well I've been busy with some other projects,** but what really messed up my blogging was that we cleaned up around the house last year around this time, and a handful of books I had read but hadn't written about went to the donation box at my library. I tried to remember what they were, and piece together list, while continuing to read other books until I got hopelessly lost and enough time had gone by that I didn't think I could recreate what I'd read.
In the recent past, here's what I've read, in order:
This is not everything in the past year, just what I can put my hands on and reasonably reconstruct in order (based on my piling system.) I'll try and write about these soon, but I'll probably write short summaries and combine a few together at a time.
* FAQ section says 28th, the new splash page posted today announcing the finalists says 29th.
** Making Youtube videos about tool making and restoration is one of the things I've been doing. My channel is here.
