Mawson on the Moon

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

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

“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

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

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

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

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

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!

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