I recall at one of the first science fiction conventions I attended, author Ian Watson replied to the question “What work are you doing at the moment?” by saying he was reading a book about clouds. He explained that he would pick up ideas from every source imaginable and anything could be research. He was reading about clouds because they were interesting. Maybe something he read there would turn up in a novel. And maybe not. That’s a pretty cool concept if your job is an author because you can explain away anything you do as research. Just another glass of chili beer… it’s research! So it turned out to me last weekend. Once a month I take my son […]