Ian Tregillis

Recent Blog Entries:

Wednesday, May 1 2013, 10:29 AM Monday, April 8 2013, 04:07 PM Friday, April 5 2013, 05:15 PM Friday, February 22 2013, 09:41 AM Sunday, February 17 2013, 04:41 PM Friday, February 15 2013, 09:17 PM Friday, February 8 2013, 11:06 AM Thursday, February 7 2013, 12:22 AM Sunday, January 27 2013, 06:38 PM Wednesday, January 23 2013, 09:44 PM

Blog Archive

Praise for the

Milkweed Triptych

"A major talent... I can't wait to see more."

—George R. R. Martin

"Mad English warlocks battling twisted Nazi psychics? Yes please, thank you. Tregillis's debut has a white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters-- an unstoppable Vickers of a novel."

—Cory Doctorow on Bitter Seeds

"Ian Tregillis triumphantly concludes his astonishing, brilliant, pulse-pounding debut trilogy, The Milkweed Triptych."

—Cory Doctorow on Necessary Evil

"Tregillis' conclusion of the Milkweed Triptych is the piÃ¨ce de rÃ©sistance of the series. Necessary Evil is a perfect marriage of science fiction, fantasy and alternate history."

—RT Book Reviews (4.5 stars, Top Pick) on Necessary Evil

"Darkly fascinatingâ€¦A thoroughly fascinating conclusion to an imaginative tour de force."

—Kirkus on Necessary Evil

"A cross between the devious, character-driven spy fiction of early John le CarrÃ© and the mad science fantasy of the X-Men... Despite the jaw-dropping backdrop and oblique plotting, the narrative is driven by character and personal circumstance...
Grim indeed, yet eloquent and utterly compelling."

—Kirkus on The Coldest War

"The characters come alive via [Tregillis's] imaginative dialogue and his storyline will keep readers spellbound and on the edge of their seats with an intense sci-fi/alternate history thriller plot."

—RT Book Reviews (4.5 stars, Top Pick) on The Coldest War

"Well-drawn characters and a feel for time and place make this an excellent journey into an alternate Britain."

—Library Journal on Bitter Seeds

"Engrossing... Tregillis ably mixes cold war paranoia with his mythology."

—Publishers Weekly on The Coldest War

The 2012 Transit of Venus

Recent Blog Entries:

The End: NECESSARY EVIL Is Out! - 5/1/2013, 10:29 AM Because I Haven't Posted About tDCS In A While - 4/8/2013, 04:07 PM Announcing the NECESSARY EVIL Signing Tour - 4/5/2013, 05:15 PM Nuclear Deterrence in a Blood Magic World - 2/22/2013, 09:41 AM Guest Post #2 at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/17/2013, 04:41 PM Guest Post at Charlie Stross's Blog - 2/15/2013, 09:17 PM A Conversation with Charlie Stross - 2/8/2013, 11:06 AM NOW OUT in the UK: THE COLDEST WAR - 2/7/2013, 12:22 AM Clarion Is Accepting Applications for the Class of 2013 - 1/27/2013, 06:38 PM Holy Smokes! Cover Art for Something More Than Night - 1/23/2013, 09:44 PM

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Saturday, June 30 2012, 05:20 PM

So a few weeks ago, as you might remember, Venus crossed in front of the sun for the last time this century. The next transit of Venus won't occur until December of 2117. Not knowing if I'll have a chance to watch the next one (maybe it will be cloudy that day), I made a point of witnessing it this time around.

It was incredibly cool. It looked a lot like this.

I didn't take photos of my own because I didn't have the right equipment—or, frankly, the courage—to point my nice camera at the sun. In fact, even though we had eclipse glasses left over from the annular eclipse of a few weeks earlier, it still felt a little freaky because in order to see Venus we had to point a pair of binoculars directly at the sun.

And maybe I'm paranoid, but I kept imagining that one slip of the filter would result in this.

But that didn't happen. (Whew.) Our jury-rigged precautions worked quite well! Using some spare cardboard, a roll of tape, and a pair of eclipse glasses, we turned a potential head-melting death tool like this:

Binoculars without proper sun shielding.