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Sean Williams
 

Mawson on the Moon

posted on 31 Jan 2018 at 8:52 am
While reading Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Diaries today, I realised that with some judicial splicing, a very different story could be told… (Quotes taken from the Kindle Edition, location in square brackets.) Today we arrive at the moon. [3605

The (ongoing) Adventures of AntarcticaSean Part Six: Aurora #2

posted on 22 Nov 2017 at 2:55 am
Continuing from Part Five: Aftermath. My Antarctica adventures didn’t end on coming home. There’s been a flurry of events, articles, and ongoing research that all started with Casey and will end up somehow in the book. Probably. I’m

The Adventures of AntarcticaSean Part Zero: Applying

posted on 14 Nov 2017 at 1:04 am
“Continuing” from Part Five: Aurora #2 I’ve just returned from GenreCon 2017 in Brisbane, where I gave a plenary address about applying for my Antarctica Fellowship. I’ve written and talked previously about the experience itse

The Adventures of AntarcticaSean Part Five: Aftermath

posted on 11 Mar 2017 at 10:26 pm
Continuing from Part Four: “Aurora #1” Wednesday After breakfast on the last full day of my adventure, I chat with Jess, a postgrad who has come here to study the mystery of the Casey spring-tails. They’re not supposed to be here (the s

The Adventures of AntarcticaSean Part Four: Aurora #1

posted on 8 Mar 2017 at 12:49 am
Continuing from Part Three: “Adventure” Monday At 5.30am, I hear Johan leave the hut to go to the toilet. There’s a procedure we must all follow: no one goes to the loo without telling someone else. I guess people have got into trouble

The Adventures of AntarcticaSean Part Three: Adventure

posted on 2 Mar 2017 at 10:27 pm
Continuing from Part Two: “Arrival” “Outside one is in touch with the sternest of nature–one might be a lone soul standing . . . on Mars.” Sir Douglas Mawson, April 9th, 1912   Thursday: Before I set out from Australia, I prepa

The Adventures of AntarcticaSean Part Two: Arrival

posted on at 2:42 am
Continuing from Part One: “Anticipation” Wednesday Flight FA070S is scheduled for 7am, check-in no later than 5.30am. The night before, I’m feeling tired after a long and fulfilling day, but it’s hard to sleep. Thankfully a text comes

The Adventures of AntarcticaSean Part One: Anticipation

posted on at 12:00 am
Intro Alan Dean Foster first put me on the path to Antarctica. His 1982 novelisation of The Thing captured my imagination with its vivid descriptions of the “worst desert on Earth”, and of course I wanted to go there. Immediately. Thirty-five yea

Antarctica, Here I Come!

posted on 15 Dec 2016 at 11:47 pm
I first met Kim Stanley Robinson in Hobart, 1995, when he was on his way to the South Pole. Author of the Mars trilogy and Antarctica, he suggested I look to the Australian Antarctic Division as a possible means of fulfilling my dream of visiting the