Duncan in orbit

Glasgow based science writer Duncan Lunan has had an exceptionally good Christmas and is looking forward to more in the New Year. As this ENEWS letter is circulating, a two hour long interview he did with Nancy Wallace of the United States online BBS Radio will be broadcast. In it he will discuss his book –’Children from the Sky’. This is his investigation of the mediaeval mystery of the Green Children of Woolpit. Two children – green in colour – speaking a strange language and dressed in unidentifiable clothes, suddenly appeared in the village of Woolpit in Suffolk.

Listen online: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nancywallacewhatdoyouthink/2011/12/28/what-do-you-think and click on: “Download this episode”

Another programme from the online station will interview Duncan on Friday 6 January 2012. And other online radio stations have picked up on his work. The book can be ordered through Amazon and was accepted by Mutus Liber, publishers early in December. Duncan signed two new book contracts in September with international publishers Springer Science & Business Media.

Already he and his wife Linda are preparing for a book launch party and have ‘booked’ a cake from Sugarcraft of Mosspark.

Children from the Sky is expected to feature in an issue of 55 Life Glasgow magzine around now. (www.55life.co.uk)

Dunan’s other book signings are for ‘The Stones and the Stars: A New Stone Circle for Scotland’ and ‘Incoming Asteroid! What Could We Do About It?’ Both titles will be illustrated by Sydney Jordan from Dundee, the creator of Jeff Hawke, the world’s longest-running science fiction strip cartoon which appeared, worldwide, from 1954 to 1988.

The ‘Stones and Stars’ book is the story of the building of the first astronomically aligned stone circle in the UK in 3000 years – at Sighthill in Glasgow. Duncan was the manager of the Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project in 1978-79 which commissioned the circle. Funding ran out and it remains unfinished though current moves may allow it to be completed in 2012. In his volume, Duncan puts that project into a wider context of ancient astronomy and of earth’s place in the Solar System and the Galaxy.

The other title – ‘Incoming Asteroid!’carries on discussion among experts and thinking amateurs about what could be done if it was known there would be a Big Impact in 10 years’ time.

Duncan Lunan has written three previous books on space research, edited the first anthology of science fiction by Scottish writers, contributed to 19 other fiction and non-fiction books, and published 30 short stories and over 700 articles.

More information on Duncan and his work can be found at: www.astronomersofthefuture.net and

www.childrenfromthesky.com

 

 

Duncan’s three in a row

Glasgow based science writer Duncan Lunan has signed two new book contracts with international publishers, Springer Science & Business Media. Recently he signed another contract with Mutus Liber of Edinburgh for “Children from the Sky”, an investigation of the mediaeval mystery of the Green Children of Woolpit.

One of the new signings is “The Stones and the Stars: A New Stone Circle for Scotland”. Duncan Lunan was the Manager of the Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project, 1978-79, which built the first astronomically aligned stone circle in the UK for 3000 years (unfinished to date) The book tells the story of the project in the wider context of ancient astronomy and of our place in the Solar System and the Galaxy.

The second book is “Incoming Asteroid!: What Could We Do About It?”, the results of a discussion project, started in 2002, in which experts and amateurs have tried to answer the question:-  If we knew there was going to be a big impact in ten years’ time, what could we do about it? What would we do?

Duncan Lunan has written three previous books on space research, edited the first anthology of science fiction by Scottish writers, contributed to 19 other fiction and non-fiction books, and published 30 short stories and over 700 articles.

“Incoming Asteroid!” and “Children from the Sky” will be illustrated by Sydney Jordan from Dundee, the creator of Jeff Hawke, the world’s longest-running science fiction strip cartoon which appeared worldwide in 1954-1988.

Children from the Sky (cover illustrated above) should be available on Amazon this month. Green Children merchandise is available on the website. www.childrenfromthesky.com

Duncan said: ‘Just like buses, you wait 20 years for a publisher and then three come at once!   I’ve put ten years’ work into the mediaeval mystery, and waited six years after that to find the right publisher for it.   The megalith book has been hanging fire even longer, since 1982.   But now that I have a publisher for that one, I think it’s important to have the Sighthill stone circle completed so that the final improved version can be in the book.   Then it can be the visitor attraction that was originally intended.’

Glasgow’s Stone Circle becomes active again

Husband and wife team Duncan and Linda Lunan have formed a new organisation, Friends of the Sighthill Stone Circle, to promote and further plans to renovate and complete the astronomically aligned stone circle in Sighthill Park, Glasgow, the first of its kind in the UK for 3000 years.

The Sighthill circle was designed by Duncan and erected by the Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project, as part of the Jobs Creation/Special Temporary Employment Programme, 1978-79. It was dedicated to four prominent experts in the field of ancient astronomy, all with close connections to Glasgow. Following the change of government in 1979 the circle was never completed, and it has never become the local and visitor attraction which was intended. Four unused stones lie on the site to this day, the stones are partly buried following incorrect landscaping in 1982, and there is nothing to tell visitors who put them up, to whom they’re dedicated or how the circle works.

Following a public lecture and mass visit to the circle at the summer solstice in 2010, the existing paths around the circle have been cleared by Land and Environment Services. The aim now is to erect the final stones, install a plaque to explain the circle’s origins and function, restore the stones to full height and provide better footpath access. This will highlight its links to the past and the future of the area and to other astronomical attractions in the city and beyond.

Duncan and Linda invite those interested in progressing this work to contact them at: Friends of the Sighthill Stone Circle, www.sighthillstonecircle.net or tel: 0141 221 7658 or to attend the next meeting in the Ogilvie Centre, 25 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RE on Wednesday 22 June 2011 at 7.30pm. This will be followed by a visit to the Stone Circle in time to see the sunset there and get an understanding of how the circle works.

PS – Duncan has been invited to give a regular astronomer guest spot on Falkland Islands tv.