Roger Floyd's Website

  • Hobbies

    Most of the time now, I’m retired from a life of research.  I worked with viruses most of my professional life.  Now I’ve moved on to trying to write science-fiction novels.  Writing is more than an excuse to keep busy, though; it’s a permanent part of my life and I enjoy the time spent in front…

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  • Jurassic Park

    There’s a new Jurassic Park movie coming out this summer, and it brings up a question I’ve had percolating in my mind ever since the first Jurassic Park movie was released.  I liked that first movie—I thought it reasonably well done.  It had excellent special effects and a believable story line, at least for a sci-fi movie.  It wasn’t…

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  • Pike’s Peak Writers Conference – 2015

    I made my yearly trip to Colorado Springs this past weekend to the Pike’s Peak Writers Conference, and I thought I’d make a few comments about the meeting.  Overall, it was one of the best writers conferences I’ve attended, and I’ve been to several.  My criteria in judging a conference is based on the percentage…

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  • Haven’t You Got Something Better To Do?

    I’m a writer.  I specialize in writing fiction, especially science-fiction novels, but I’ve written several short stories, mostly with a sci-fi bent, if not outright.  But fiction by definition is a story about something that is not real.  Fiction generally uses made-up characters and plot lines, though real people can appear in a fictitious work.  Even…

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  • Treason

    There’s been a lot of talk lately about people doing things that other people have termed “treason” or “treasonous.”  A certain letter was sent to the leaders of Iran.  Was that treason?  Some people are calling for an armed revolt against the US government.  Is that treason?  Maybe so, maybe not.  I’m not a legal…

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  • The Seated Writer

    In this day and age, we hear a lot about exercise.  It’s considered important for overall health.  Get up and get out, we are told.  Walk, jog, bicycle, whatever, but get some exercise.  I suspect that thousands of years ago when the human body first took the form we know today, it developed in a species…

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  • Measles Vaccine (What? Again?)

    Much has been made in the past couple of weeks of Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) comments about the neurological complications of the measles vaccine.  He recanted his ill-advised comments several days later, but they linger on, and many others have commented on his comments.  Ad nauseam.  Some commentators, in an effort to emphasize the safety…

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  • Measles Vaccine, Part Two

    No, the title of this post doesn’t mean I’ve posted before about the measles vaccine.  In fact, I’ve never said anything about measles or the vaccine in these little essays on WordPress.  What I’m saying here is that this posting is about a second reason for getting the vaccine, if you or your children aren’t presently vaccinated. …

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  • Historic versus Historical

      I was at Chaco Culture National Historical Park several years ago to help the Sierra Club do some routine maintenance around the Park.  Things that the regular staff doesn’t get to.  (Clean out brush, make some signs, clean debris out of some of the historic remains, etc.)  After I left, I got to wondering about the name.  The…

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  • Books And Fireworks

    Have you noticed?  Books are subtle. Books—and I’m speaking here mostly of novels—don’t come with fireworks.  They don’t come with bands or loud music or spectacular displays or shouting pitchmen.  Granted, a few may be launched by someone giving a fiery speech, especially a political tell-all book by an author with a story to tell or an…

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  • “Wild” and The Author

    I went to see the movie “Wild” a few weeks ago and enjoyed it a lot.  If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it highly.  Two Oscar nominations have come from this film, one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Reese Witherspoon, and one for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Laura Dern. …

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  • Communication

    I got to thinking today (always a bad sign) about how I would start a class on writing.  That is, suppose I had to teach a class on writing to total novices, what would I say at the very beginning of the first class.  Now, being an unpublished writer of science fiction, the thought of me teaching…

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