Greetings all!

[profeaston]

I met Brian at the Glasgow Worldcon, he talked up the Chronicles Network, and here I am. I'm Tom Easton, college professor, Analog book columnist, textbook author, and guilty of a dozen novels and over 50 shorts. You can find out almost anything else you want to know by Googling or visiting my homepage at http://www.sff.net/people/teaston.

And Oh, yes--the original of my "avatar" is a four-foot-tall wooden mask hanging on my living room wall.

[terryweide]

Hi, Tom,

I'm somewhat new here myself. Come in, make yourself at home, play a few word games in the longue or post a review or story or two if you're in the mood.

Terry Weide

[lazygun]

Hello Profeaston,and welcome!.

..now i'm in trouble...

[nixie]

Hi

[Alia]

Professor Easton, welcome!
As Terry said, come on in, make yourself at home, sit back, read, post ~ often and most of enjoy yourself! Glad your here!

[kyektulu]

Welcome to Chronicles.
Hope you enjoy the site I look 4ward to seeing you around in the future!

[GOLLUM]

Welcome Prof!

Nice to see you on the boards. Sadly I'm predominantly interested in the fanatsy Genre (both modern and clasic) rather than Sci-Fi per se but I'm sure we'll find something to chat about....

Checked out your website and that's a pretty cool outfit you had on there mate. Oh did I tell you I'm into Uniforms....

Just jokin' Tom, hope you have a great time with this very active and knowledgable community.

Now are there any specific fantasy authors you like/read and which Sci-Fi or other literary figures have been the greatest influence on you??

Bye for now...

[GOLLUM]

Sorry Tom meant to ask waht style or origin of mask is that?

I have a native mask myself from Switzerland (of which I'm a citizen although born and bred in OZ) where there's a certain group of people from Canton (= county) Zug who are known as the mountain men and who craft these beautiful but quite frightening masks....

[profeaston]

When I bought that mask (in an antiques store in Evanston, IL) many years ago, I was told it came from the Phillippines. I've asked experts, and they agree that must have been the area but can't pin it down.

[profeaston]

Influences? Clifford Simak was a major one, and sometimes I detect his flavor in my own writing.

As a reviewer, I read a great many authors, mostly sf but also f. For f, I've been enjoying Charles Stross's Family Trade series, as well as Gene Wolfe's Knight and Wizard.

[cyborg_cinema]

Originally Posted by profeaston

...four-foot-tall wooden mask hanging on my living room wall.

Greetings. That mask would be great for Halloween. Lights in the eye holes would startle a few people.

[Rosemary]

Hi and welcome to The Chronicles.

It's a super place to visit, lots of friendly and helpful folk around. Hope to catch up with you at one of the Forums here.



PS Your web site was very interesting. How do you find the time to do everything?

[GOLLUM]

WHOA a Clifford Simak fan hey?. you're talking a classic "Golden Age" sci fi author here methinks..

I take it you've read his classic book/collection City, Time is the Simplest Thing and Way Station amongst others ...

Also nice to see another Wolfe fan on board, he's an excellent writer full stop never mind the genre he writes in. Glad you enjoyed the Knight and Wizard duology.

Thanks for the update on the mask most interesting....

HMMM.. Charles Stross I'm immedaitely thinking Singularity Sky, not read this have you, your opinion on Stross?

Over and out.

[profeaston]

To Gollum: Singularity Sky is good, Iron Sunrise is his best sf so far I think, Accelerando goes a bit over the top. Family Trade and the sequel are fantasy. Look 'em up!

To Rosemary: I'm a generalist! But the real secret to getting a lot done is time. I'm over 60!

[littlemissattitude]

Welcome to the forum, prof. Glad you decided to come on board. But I have to say, I'm not really sure I'd like that thing hanging on my living room wall. He's a little fierce for me.

Good to hear that you're a generalist. I tend to be a bit of one myself, but only out of self-defense - I'm just interested in too many things for my own good. Or at least that's what I've been told. I'm quite happy being interested in lots of things. Drove more than one college counselor to distraction, though.