Space Opera Fans discussion

Welcome Space Opera Fans!

Why not tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what attracts you to Space Opera as a genre. What are your favorite foods, books and movies? Do you ever go to genre conferences? Do you like to do geeky things that co-workers would probably be surprised to learn? Space Opera Fans is the place to get in touch with your inner geek!

Here's some suggested stuff we'd love to hear:

Name:
Favorite Books:
Favorite Genres:
Favorite TV shows:
Favorite Movies:
Favorite Food:
Day Job:
Hobbies:
Other:

*If you are a Goodreads author, it's okay to say that, but please don't use this thread to drop your book link and writeup!!! This is where we want to get to know YOU! There is a Self-Promotion thread if you want to educate us about your book (must follow the rules).

Name: Anna Erishkigal

Favorite books: Speaker for the Dead, Haze, Foundation & Earth, The Immortal Rules, anything by Jack McDevitt.

Favorite genres: fantasy, space opera, military sci-fi, superhero anything, paranormal and romance (especially if I can get them all in a single book!)

Favorite TV shows: I pretty much stopped watching television when they killed Caprica and the Stargate. I am (was) a rabid Farscape and Battlestar Galactica fan, and I'm proud to be a Browncoat! Star Trek (especially Voyager).

Favorite movies: Independence Day, Captain America, Iron Man, Star Wars, Star Trek movies, Serenity, anything with superheroes in it.

Favorite food: pizza, lasagne, anything with tomato sauce and cheese.

Day job: attorney and writer

Hobbies: I study Urban Goju karate, gymnastics, writing and knitting.

Other: I have a fascination with pretty, deadly, shiny things, especially if it has a sharp edge and can decapitate sparkly vampires.

Hello! I’ve lurked for years, but Space Opera Fans has brought me out of hiding behind that asteroid. I’m an emergency dispatcher (don’t get excited) at a college (see!). In between dorm lockouts and injured squirrel calls, I dream of exploring new planets. I only discovered that my preferred genre had a name a few years ago. Boy, was I happy! Now on the lookout for new authors.

Lynne wrote: "Hello! I’ve lurked for years, but Space Opera Fans has brought me out of hiding behind that asteroid. I’m an emergency dispatcher (don’t get excited) at a college (see!). In between dorm lockout..."

Welcome Lynne! A dispatcher, eh? Yes ... that's a job that (hopefully) gives you lots of time to imagine things between the slow moments, and then the fast moments when you have a crisis on your hands and can then extrapolate it to a galactic scale. We've just been expanding the community to promote the genre more, but be sure to nominate a couple of books for the Book of the Month club April group read, and maybe scope out the free ebooks alerts. Oh ... and we have a 'Romantic Space Opera' section just for the ladies 3:-) Happy to have you Un-Lurk!

Name: Kirk Allmond
Favorite Books: Dune, Hyperion, Ender's Game
Favorite Genres: Sci-fi, zombies, horror
Favorite TV shows: Arrow, The Walking Dead
Favorite Movies: Star Wars 4, 5, 6. Everything Marvel.
Favorite Food: Pizza!
Day Job: Author
Hobbies: Borderlands 2, Hiking, camping
Other: I am a Goodreads author.

Kirk wrote: "Name: Kirk Allmond
Favorite Books: Dune, Hyperion, Ender's Game
Favorite Genres: Sci-fi, zombies, horror
Favorite TV shows: Arrow, The Walking Dead
Favorite Movies: Star Wars 4, 5, 6. Everythin..."

Welcome Kirk! So ... are you an Orson Scott Card lover or a hater ;-) And another Marvel fan [*squee!*] ... yeah ... I spend my time at cons dressed up as as many different super-heroines as I can! Be sure to stop by our Authors & Bloggers Shop-Talk folder to scope out things we've got in the works for authors.

Anna wrote: " are you an Orson Scott Card lover or a hater

I loved the books when I read them a long time ago. Any negative opinion I have may be tinged with jealousy, so I'll keep that to myself :) I'd love for someone to make my book(s) into a big budget blockbuster.


Anna wrote: "Be sure to stop by our Authors & Bloggers Shop-Talk folder

Will do!

Hi, I’m Dan Thompson.... and I really suck at favorites. There are just too many really cool things to narrow them down to just one or two, so my “favorites” are going to ramble a bit.

Favorite Books: The first four Honor Harrington books (less so, later) by David Weber; the Solar Clipper Series by Nathan Lowell; the Alex Benedict series by Jack McDevitt; the original Foundation Trilogy by Asimov; Ringworld and the other Tales of Known Space by Niven; the Merchanter’s tales by Cherryh (Downbelow Station through Finity’s End); and on and on...

Favorite Genres: Well, as you might have guessed, Space Opera. I do like some other SF, and I’ve been enjoying Urban Fantasy lately, but my first love has always been Space Opera.

Favorite TV shows: For the Trek’s, I’m going with the Next Generation; the reboot of Battlestar Galactica; Babylon 5, though not so much Crusade

Favorite Movies: Wow, too many to list, especially without getting up and browsing my DVD collection, but I’ll say I haven’t been as happy with the Space Opera films. Most of my favorite SF films tend to fall outside of this particular sub-genre.

Favorite Food: Heh, I’m boring in this regard: Pizza and other American versions of Italian food.

Day Job: Writer/Programmer. I did 18 years as a programmer, and the last six writing fiction. (Yes, space opera – sometimes you have to write the book you want to read.) I’m pretty happy with the fiction, but I might dip my hands back into the programming again. We’ll see.

Hobbies: I do some digital painting as well as some airbrush bodypainting. I used to list writing as a hobby, but now I’ve moved that over into the “job” category. I also used to do a modest amount of photography, but I think the painting overtook that urge.

Other: I have autistic children. I’m a big fan of kilts. I’ve been married 22 years.

I do go to SF/F genre conventions, mostly in Texas. I’d say I go to a lot of them, but since I want to go to even more, it doesn’t seem like I go all that many. My 2014 calendar has five SF cons that I’m definitely going to, and a couple of more that I might get to attend.

Dan wrote: "I do go to SF/F genre conventions, mostly in Texas. I’d say I go to a lot of them, but since I want to go to even more, it doesn’t seem like I go all that many. My 2014 calendar has five SF cons that I’m definitely going to..."

Hah! Another con-nut! :-) Did you see I started a Con-Announcement board? Be sure to go in and populate the ones you'll be going to as one of my goals is to encourage Space Opera fans to interact more and maybe get together in non-cyberspace at events such as the literary/fan-run cons.

Thread is HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

I'm a minor minion on the staff of ARISIA, Boston, and usually go to BOSKONE and READERCON each year. I've watched BOSKONE shrink (although this past year was a bit larger because they started reaching out to the anime/comic/steampunk fans) and ARISIA blossom (because they reached out to the anime folks a few years ago and now all the young people can't wait to go). It's been rather sad watching the 'pure' sci-fi conferences shrink, so I decided I would put my experience moderating a paranormal romance community to try to plump out my favorite sci-fi subgenre. Say what you will about those smutty sparkly vampires ... they sure know how to 'bite' the readers and keep them thirsting for more great reads. ;-)

Name: Isaac Norsham
Favorite Books: The Martian by Andy Weir, Ender's game Series
Favorite Genres: Sci-Fi, romance, fantasy
Favorite TV shows and Movies: So many that i can't make a list. lol ^^
Day Job: Student
Hobbies: Movies + Books

Hi ^^ , anyway i'm new with goodreads, the reason i make this account because currently i'm reading "The Martian" by Andy weir and it the best book I've read so far, and i have no idea what to read next!! Helps plzz :)

Isaac wrote: "I'm reading "The Martian" by Andy Weir and it's the best book I've read so far and I have no idea what to read next!!..."

Welcome, Isaac! You've come to the right place to find other sci-fi loving readers!

Have you read Influx by Daniel Suarez yet? It's got a bit of that same techno-thriller edge.



And don't forget to check back tomorrow to find out what books the group selected to be their April group reads :-)

Hello All,
My Name: Stephen Goldin
Favorite Books: Too many to list; let me try favorite authors instead: Robert A. Heinlein, Andre Norton, Jack McDevitt, Robert Sheckley, Terry Pratchett, some (but not all) Alastair Reynolds, Murray Leinster, James White
Favorite Genres: Space Opera, other science fiction, comedies that don't center on bathroom humor
Favorie TV Shows: Babylon 5!!!!, Space Patrol (this dates me; probably most of you have never even heard of it), My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, MST3K
Favorite Movies: Star Wars 4 (A New Hope, the original and still the best), Raiders of the Lost Ark, Serenity, Buckaroo Bonzai, Forbidden Planet, Harvey
Favorite Foods: sushi/sashimi--and, as Anna said, almost anything Italian with tomatoes & cheese
Day Job: semi-retired author; I did, for a while, write instruction manuals for computer games
Hobbies: enjoying surrealist art, listening to Broadway musical albums, doing cryptic crosswords, logic puzzles and anacrostics--all kinda sedentary
Other: I'm a Goodreads author; I have macular degeneration, which makes visual reading difficult, so most of my reading these days is via audiobooks

Name: Kirsten Crippen
Favorite Books: Jane EyreThe War of the WorldsThe Day of the TriffidsPride and PrejudiceAnd Then There Were NoneThe Beast MasterHospital StationThe Warrior's ApprenticeThe Green Brain
Favorite Genres: Science Fiction, Monster stories, Romantic suspense, Historical fiction, Mystery, True Crime
Favorite TV shows: MST3K, Space 1999, Star Trek (original), The X-Files, Kolchak the Night Stalker (w/ Darren McGavin), Battlestar Galactica (original), Twilight Zone (original), The Outer Limits (original), Masterpiece Theater
Favorite Movies: X the Unknown, War of the Worlds (1950s), The Thing (1950s), Underworld, Godzilla (original), Rodan, Ghidrah - The Three-Headed Monster (original), Monster Zero, Crack in the World, Navy vs the Night Monsters, Star Wars Episode 4, Close Encounter (not the directors cut), Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Mummy (with Brendan Fraser & Rachel Weisz), disaster movies
Favorite Food: seafood, my mom's tuna casserole and cream tuna on toast, BLTs, creme brulee, ravioli, spaghetti, sourdough bread with garlic butter, tostadas.
Day Job: used to be a secretary for electrical and mechanical engineers; am now on disability
Hobbies: cross stitch, crosswords, reading and listening to books, walking and playing with my senior dog.
Other: seem to spend a lot of my time screaming about the idiot things that conservatives seem to say and do; tired of windy days; hating cancer after it took my dad; missing my dog that died early March; keeping my dvr full

Stephen wrote: "I did, for a while, write instruction manuals for computer games..."

Welcome Stephen! Computer games? Perhaps you could help out with the 'gaming' tie-ins folder? I put it in because most avid gamers I know all play games which originate out of my favorite books (which is kinda weird, having come at it from books-movies-comics-games while they have all come at it from games-comics-movies-books). Did you see the author's chit-chat folder I started? If you have questions, ask?

Kirsten wrote: "Favorite TV shows: MST3K, Space 1999, Star Trek (original), The X-Files, Kolchak the Night Stalker (w/ Darren McGavin), Battlestar Galactica (original), Twilight Zone (original), The Outer Limits (original), Masterpiece Theater..."

OMG!!! Talk about a walk down memory lane! Didn't think anybody else was old enough to remember Space 1999 and Kolchack the Night Stalker!

So ... you used to work as a translator for a bunch of techno-aliens who didn't know how to speak human? :-) I'm married to one of them. An MIT-graduate. MIT = Mostly un-Intelligible TechnoSpeak 3:-)

LOL!! I've always thought that engineers were like that.

I'm glad you liked the TV shows I put down. In many ways, I just don't get as much fun from TV as I did back then.

Kirsten wrote: "I'm glad you liked the TV shows I put down. In many ways, I just don't get as much fun from TV as I did back then..."

I stopped watching television after they killed all the Stargate franchises, Star Trek Enterprise, Firefly and then Caprica all within a year or two of one another. It's all reality tv shows now ... or vampires! I'm like the girl who's been jilted one too many times ... I just stopped watching television completely because the moment they put on a sci-fi show I like, they kill it off the minute I start to fall in love with it. I suspect I'm not the only sci-fi fan who is like that, either :-P

And you're right about not as much fun. There was a hopefulness about shows like Star Trek TOS, Lost In Space and later Stargate SG-1 which has become lost in the gritty realism of today...

I don't watch much network television. (I'm trying out Crisis only because Gillian Anderson is in it.) But I do watch PBS and a lot of shows about crimes. (Like on DiscoveryID.)

Kirsten wrote: "I do watch PBS..."

We've got our television permanently programmed to turn onto the Science Channel for the kids and they have to use the remote control with the parental controls unlocked to watch anything else. They got too old for Sesame Street, but not old enough for Masterpiece Theater! I don't think I've watched a television show in years, but PBS has all their shows online, so sometimes I'll go watch an entire series on a binge (like Call the Midwife).

I know, I know. I'm still 2 seasons behind on Downton Abbey. But a program even better than DA is Mr Selfridge! I'm nearly caught up on Season 1 and just in time to DVR Season 2! I do need to start watching Call the Midwife. Apparently, it caused quite a stir in England when it premiered.

More generally on PBS, when I was young, it was practically the only channel we watched. Except for sports. When kids would go "AAAYYYYY" at school, I had no idea what they were referring to! But, they had never seen Monty Python or any Brit Coms like The Good Life. Who was more deprived?

Kirsten wrote: "sometimes I'll go watch an entire series on a binge..."

Ahh! Binge television series viewing! Sometimes we'll do that if the kids have a sleepover party. We've done all of Star Trek TOS, all of Farscape, all of Stargate SG1 and Atlantis, all of LOTR, all of Star Wars I-VI, all of BSG, all of Firefly, and all of the original 'V' television series.

A couple of years ago, my sister and I had a very bad binge of "Hoarders". I've also done it with House of Cards and The Tudors. I'd do it with Game of Thrones if I could. But I check those out one disk at a time.

Kirsten wrote: "I'd do it with Game of Thrones if I could..."

I have yet to see the television series (except for excerpts posted on YouTube), but I read all of George R.R. Martin's books before they were put on the television so I had to laugh when all my friends were horrified at the Red Wedding. I mean, seriously? Doesn't anybody READ anymore? I had the privilege of meeting GRRM at BOSKONE two years ago. One of these days, I'll scoop up the entire series and binge-watch it from start to finish :-) But since I've read the books, I haven't felt a pressing need.

Hoarders? Really? [*chuckle*] [*secretly hopes the hoarder crew never comes to MY house*]

@Kirsten & Anna: I think we have a lot of TV tastes in common. You guys might want to try out Fox's Almost Human. For me, the best on TV these days is in the mystery field, like Elementary, NCIS, CSI, Crisis, Perception, and the bleakly somber Blacklist, the last because James Spader is so much fun to watch. There are two Brit series appearing on my local PBS outlets that I've become addicted to: Death in Paradise (really twisty puzzle mysteries, plus a very engaging gecko) and Scott & Bailey (a British Cagney & Lacey, but better), plus Johnathan Creek if you can find them (they're several years old).

Anna, my gaming industry days are more than a decade in the past. And when you write the manuals, you have to play on a version of the game that isn't working yet. Few things kill your interest in a game better than getting into the middle of one and have it stop working for some reason no one can fathom!

Stephen wrote: "Few things kill your interest in a game better than getting into the middle of one and have it stop working for some reason no one can fathom!..."

Hah! That sounds like when I go to buy something electronic, and then my husband looks up the engineering reports on stuff (lord only knows where he digs them up) and dissects all the quibbly little bugs in a program I'm trying to use. Yes ... it takes all the fun out of things!

Name: Nathan Tyson
Favorite Books: Les Miserables, Space Odyssey series, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (anything Jules Vernon)
Favorite Genres: sci-fi, historic, alternate history, some fantasy.
Favorite TV shows: Lost, Fringe, Star Trek: Voyager
Favorite Movies: Inception, Winter's Tale
Favorite Food: Anything chicken or fish with strong flavor/sauces
Day Job: published author
Hobbies: Writing, thinking, reading.
Other: I enjoy anything well thought out and well-defined.

Nathan wrote: "Favorite Books: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (anything Jules Vernon) Favorite Genres: sci-fi, historic, alternate history..."

Welcome, Nathan! Are you a Steampunk fan? With that bio, you'd have to be (or if not, I highly recommend you give it a try). Welcome to Space Opera fans.

Fish with strong flavor sauces???

[*pictures someone with a McChicken sandwich pouring chili-garlic paste all over it*]

Anna wrote: "Nathan wrote: "Favorite Books: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (anything Jules Vernon) Favorite Genres: sci-fi, historic, alternate history..."

Welcome, Nathan! Are you a Steampunk fan? Wi..."

I've dabbled in steampunk, I enjoy the genre if it has some good thought put into it. And, yes, I do have odd food tastes.
And, thank you for the welcome. It is good to see such a well-tended-to thread.

Nathan wrote: "It is good to see such a well-tended-to thread..."

I recently came in to help Ward out. I write epic fantasy and am involved with the whole con/LARP thing, but my first love has always been science fiction. Every year I've watched the fantasy conferences get bigger and the science fiction conferences (and stack at the library) shrink, so I decided to do something about it. I've helped run various social media stuff for fantasy, paranormal romance, and romance, so I figured I'd put some of that know-how to the work for the benefit of the science fiction genre.

Anna wrote: "I figured I'd put some of that know-how to the work for the benefit of the science fiction genre. "

Looks to me like you're doing a superhuman job so far.

Stephen wrote: "Looks to me like you're doing a superhuman job so far."

Thanks, Stephen! I'm still building things out, but once I've got the rest of the architecture established, (BOTM club, challenges, games and R2R's) I hope to do a big recruitment push to entice new readers into the community.

Hope everybody likes the new banner!

Gorgeous!

Anna wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "I'd do it with Game of Thrones if I could..."

I have yet to see the television series (except for excerpts posted on YouTube), but I read all of George R.R. Martin's books before t..."

LOL! Did you hear about that teacher in Belgium? He'd been having problems with his students. Then he found out that around 80% of his students loved GoT. And he'd read ALL of the books. So, now, when they act up he posts who the next character to die will be and how. They now mind quite well.

Stephen wrote: "@Kirsten & Anna: I think we have a lot of TV tastes in common. You guys might want to try out Fox's Almost Human. For me, the best on TV these days is in the mystery field, like Elementary, NCIS, C..."

I like NCIS. But I stay away from the CSI atrocities. Excuse me, but it's a pet peeve. CSI techs (they're just techs) do NOT carry guys, they don't interrogate suspects, in many cases they don't even go to the crime scene.

Almost Human is very good, and I liked the first 2 episodes of Crisis. But if I want to watch good crime shows I turn on Discovery ID - love Lt Joe Kenda!

Name: YutG a stargate SG-1 character real name Jonathan

Favorite Books:John G Hemry Lost Fleet and Lost stars series and Crimson worlds. On the non scifi and to the area of fantasy I've got Cinda Williams Chima seven realms and Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy.

Favorite Genres: Military Scifi Operas and High Fantasy

Favorite TV shows: Stargate SG-1

Favorite Movies:Too many to name.

Favorite Food:

Day Job: professional bum just kidding

Hobbies: Writing
Other:

Yutg wrote: "Name: YutG a stargate SG-1 character..."

Welcome Jonathan! So ... you write SG1 fanfiction? I write mostly in the Marvel fandom, but I did this great Iron Man/SG1 crossover where Samantha Carter came and made Tony Stark feel like an idiot as they tried to figure out the real-life tech behind Thor's hammer Mjolnir :-)

I am also a Jack Campbell fan, though I've read his books piecemeal as my library got them and not end-to-end. And I hear the Night Angel Trilogy is awesome ... kinda like Priest (the graphic novels, not the movie).

Welcome to Space Opera Fans!

Kirsten wrote: "Anna wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Did you hear about that teacher in Belgium?..."

Yeah, I did :-) I think that's hilarious, the 'fear' of reading the books which the TV show came out of.

Kirsten wrote: "I stay away from the CSI atrocities."

I fully agree with you about the techs seldom getting out of the labs and having adventures. I take that as a price to pay for some pretty decent procedural mysteries, at times. If my disbelief can be suspended far enough to accommodate FTL and time travel, I can stretch it to encompass these illogicalities as well.

I don't know Stephen. I can suspend disbelief for some things. But I just can't do it with CSI. *groans* I sure do miss Mulder & Scully.

Anna - we get free HBO this weekend. I DVR'd all of Season 3 of GoT last night! Woo hoo!!

@Kirsten: Well, we all have lines we can't cross! Yours are easier to live with than hose of other people I could mention.

Kirsten wrote: "we get free HBO this weekend. I DVR'd all of Season..."

Woot! [*envy*]

Stephen wrote: "If my disbelief can be suspended far enough to accommodate FTL and time travel..."

Reminds me of the Trek spinoff Enterprise when T'Pol refused to believe in time travel even when it was happening right in front of her face because she insisted it was 'illogical.' :-)

My name is Ron Francis

Favorite Books: Too many to name. I try to read at least a book a week, sometimes it's two, sometimes it's every other week. I've read almost 200 of the Star Wars novels.

Favorite Genres: Sci-fi, specifically Space Opera and Superheroes (which I believe is big enough now to have it's own genre or at least sub-genre).

Favorite TV shows: Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, Psych, Firefly,Both NCIS shows and Hawaii 5-0. I'm also really enjoying Almost Human.

Favorite Movies: Original Star Wars trilogy, Indiana Jones Trilogy, LOTR Trilogy, Last of the Mohicans, Tommy Boy and too many Superhero flicks to name here.

Favorite Food: Chicken Teriyaki

Day Job: Tax season contractor, part time computer tech and, ebook author (I do what I can whenever the work is available).

Hobbies: Writing, camping, sports (Basketball, Baseball, Football, Soccer) and traveling

Other: I like to do things backwards, I wrote my first three ebooks before ever taking a writing class. Now, with a couple classes under my belt and more on the way, I'd like to think my writing is getting better.

Ron wrote: "My name is Ron Francis..."

Welcome, Ron. Yes, definitely doing things backward, but better late than never. Some of the best advice on writing I ever heard came from Ray Bradbury: "Write a short story a week. I defy anyone to write 52 unsaleable stories in a year."

Now personally, I've seen people who could, but his point was that it gives you discipline and practice. Experience counts as a positive--and as long as you have an open attitude and are willing to learn, you should generally get better with time. Good luck!

Hello all, I am James and I write science fiction, horror and literary fiction and other things. My first SF novel was published last year. Working on next one, and other things currently.
Some of the authors which I like most are Philip K Dick, Clive Barker, Arthur C Clarke, Gaiman, King, Shaun Hutson, Masterton,HeinLein, Frank Herbert, Kafka, JG Ballard, William Gibson.
Currently big TV addictions are American Horror Story, Continuum, Defiance, Lost Girl, Battlestar-still, DrWho when I can find it on the box.
Big music fan too-usually lots of rock/metal, but some jazz, punk, folk, electronic, rap...Zappa, Bjork, Cash much more.
Huge film fan having studied it-love Blade Runner, 2001, David Lynch movies, Fellini, Dario Argento, Tim Burton,Bergman, Woody Allen so many more.

Stephen wrote: "Ron wrote: "My name is Ron Francis..."

Welcome, Ron. Yes, definitely doing things backward, but better late than never. Some of the best advice on writing I ever heard came from Ray Bradbury...

Thanks Stephen.

Ron wrote: "My name is Ron Francis. Favorite Books: I've read almost 200 of the Star Wars novels..."

Welcome Ron!

Oooh! Another Star Wars fiend! I read dozens of them years ago (when they first came out), and then stepped away from them for a while, and now I'm getting back into the tie-in novels again, though these days I like the Peacekeeper tie-ins.

Welcome to Space Opera fans! Did you see I started a thread about space opera movie tie-ins. And yes ... I am a RABID superhero fan, DC, Avengers, don't matter. If it's got a cape, I get all fangirl-gooey in the knees! Feel free to start a thread about ANY superhero you care to talk about ... we're not snobby here! Perhaps I'll start a folder called 'totally off-topic superhero worship?' :-)

James wrote: "My first SF novel was published last year. Working on next one..."

Welcome James!

Another Battlestar and Blade Runner fan! Be sure to visit our Author Self-Marketing Tips thread.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Stephen wrote: "Write a short story a week. I defy anyone to write 52 unsaleable stories in a year"...

I like that advice, Stephen :-)