D.B. Borton

Do other dimensions or alternate universes really exist?

June 28, 2017 By D.B. Borton Leave a Comment

On Parallel Universes and Other Cosmic Weirdness by Tom Burns It all began with a cat. Well, no. Not really. I’m not sure whether the cat exists or not, and therein lies the possibility of parallel universes, or parallel dimensions as this and many other science-fiction novels refer to them. In fact, it all begins with quantum uncertainty. Quantum uncertainty is one of the reasons I have been a big fan of science fiction since my misspent youth. I love the way science fiction …

Why does time pass more slowly in space than on Earth?

June 28, 2017 By D.B. Borton Leave a Comment

On Space, Time, and Spacetime by Tom Burns Jane gets into a spacecraft and travels to a nearby star. From her point of view, she has taken most of her lifetime to get there and back. But when she returns, she finds that all of her relatives are dead and Apple no longer supports her version of the iPhone. What gives? What gives is Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, which has the reputation of being difficult to understand. There are good reasons that this is so. Einstein’s …

How big is the universe? Here are some answers.

May 16, 2017 By D.B. Borton Leave a Comment

Astronomer Chris Impey explains here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr_AEZTD6es Morgan Freeman explains in this section of Cosmic Voyage, a film produced by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXf7AJZ73A Alec Baldwin takes you on a journey through space in Journey to the Edge of the Universe, a film produced by National Geographic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmWV5ZnKOAg …

Chapter 1

May 16, 2017 By D.B. Borton Leave a Comment

The first witch had a bad cold. Her voice was thick. “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in—in—in—.” The witch sneezed. The sneeze dislodged her witch’s hat and it plummeted to the floor, nearly spearing Claude, the tubby gray longhair who was impersonating the witches’ familiar. The hat didn’t have far to go, since the witch was seated. Claude slumbered on. Like a magician producing a vanished handkerchief, the first witch pulled from her cardigan sleeve a …

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Prologue II: San Miniato, Tuscany, Late spring, 2015

May 16, 2017 By D.B. Borton Leave a Comment

The old man drowsed in the shade cast by the grape arbor, his soft snores harmonizing with the buzzing of bees overhead. His stork’s legs extended in front of him, crossed at the ankles over sandals. His knobby knees showed below his khaki shorts, white chest hair above his open collar. What hair he had left on his head was the same white, but barely visible beneath the cap she made him wear. His mottled hands draped over the chair arms, and sometimes his fingers twitched until Giulia wondered …