In the course of brainstorming a vacation home for my character Decca Roadhouse, I’ve thought of another character, Georgia Roadhouse, her little cousin who’s just like her, right down to having a vacation home, sporting red ringlets, and guzzling red wine, but, in stark contrast … Continue readingA Christmas Blizzard Romance in the Shenandoah?
When you’ve got a Pottery Barn basket girlfriend in your SoCal beach house, and you’re lying together under a colossal throw blanket watching the sun go down on the maritime horizon, what landmass are you looking toward? The answer might surprise you. Counterintuitive Latitudes One’s … Continue readingSpherical Geometry, Beach Style
I had the misfortune of being brought up in a stinkhole located in the eastern interior of the United States, and by now, at the age of 29, the only way I can even stand my life at all is taking steroids (corticosteroids to be … Continue readingThe Best Coast Cures?
I’d just like to share a little scenario I dreamed up recently: what if the borders of the United States circa the War of 1812 were never adjusted much? In particular, what if the Mississippi River watershed boundary from the original Louisiana Purchase remained in … Continue readingSome Alternate Borders for North America
Fun fact: the last archipelago of substantial size to be discovered on the Earth was the Severnaya Zemlya islands, only being noted by cartographers in 1913 (though its existence seemed to be known as early as 1810), and not charted in any detail until 1930-32. … Continue readingArctic Toponymy in my Alternate History
There are times when I think the most salient class divide, a huge piece of the dark matter that undergirds our lives in this country, is whether or not you’re part of the driver class, those who have no choice but to regularly get behind … Continue readingAngelenos, You Know Nothing of Hell
Seems to be a month of map projections on here. Anyway, I’d like to spare a few more thoughts on gnomonic map projections, prime meridians, and the land and water hemispheres. Of Map Projections Gnomonic You might be asking “wait, what’s a gnomonic map projection?” … Continue readingMore Fun with Cartography
A thought just popped into my head that I had to share with you: in worldbuilding or in real-life geography maps are all-important, like the fish we swim in, yet relatively few dive into map projections, the art of representing a three-dimensional globe on a … Continue readingOf Map Projections Obscure
Rather famously, the western United States have rather arbitrary borders, boxy figures defined by parallels and meridians, which has had the rather hideous consequence of placing e.g. very different regions separated by 14,000-foot tall mountains in the same state (Colorado, I’m looking at you). More … Continue readingBuilding Better Western States
Saudi Arabia has its vision for Neom, The Line, a futuristic linear city, but I think we can do far better right here in America: why not a Pacific Coast City, a contiguous urban corridor on the immediate coast of California? Coastal California is one … Continue readingLet’s Build Pacific Coast City!