TABLE OF CONTENTSDiane Duane, an Appreciation,

...............................by Peter Morwood 2Bill Holbrook, an Appreciation,

..................................by John Lotshaw 3A Brief Guide to Getting Along with

.........Mike Resnick, by Laura Resnick 5

....................................Schedule of Events 6The Top Ten Cool Things About

........Peter Morwood, by Diane Duane 8...............Losing Laura, by Mike Resnick 11

.........Convention Policies & Information 12........................................Con Committee 12

....................Hotel Layout inside back cover

The North Alabama Science Fiction Association welcomes you to…

17–19 October 2008Holiday Inn ExpressHuntsville, Alabama

Con†Stellation XXVIICassiopeia

Guest of Honor Diane DuaneArtist Guest of Honor Bill HolbrookMaster of Ceremonies Mike ResnickSpecial Guest Peter MorwoodSpecial Guest Laura Resnick

Also Expected to AttendLou Anders, Julie Cochrane, William Drinkard, Mark Fitzgerald,

Allan Gilbreath, Les Johnson, J. F. Lewis, Stephanie Osborn,Bill Snodgrass, and Dr. Travis S. “Doc” Taylor

Special Musical AppearanceJeff Ugly Shoes & The Cemetery Surfers

Diane Duaneby Peter Morwood

As far as I know, Diane Duane didn’t start out wanting to be a writer. No, she wanted to be a lum-berjack! Leaping from tree to tree as they…

In fact she wanted to be an astrophysicist, and studied hard at it until she hit calculus and bounced even harder. Even though the physics part is long abandoned, her interest in astronomy remains, en-couraged by living out in the Irish countryside where city light-pollution happens to other people. Overcast and rainfall happens to everyone, of course; the Emerald Isle stays green through con-stant watering.

One fine day she’s going to get that Questar telescope I’ve heard so much about. But until then, she’ll keep traveling further than a telescope can see, driven by her own imagination, because Diane turned her attention from the great big universe Out There, to the tiny little universe In Here, and be-came a psychiatric nurse. (Yes, thank you, I’ve heard all the jokes by now…)

It was, she says, a great training ground for a writer, because she got to examine all the complex motivations and relationships that go on both inside and outside the quirky computer we call the human mind. That early training can be seen in the way she constructs her characters, whether they’re her own, like Nita and Kit of the Young Wizards books, or Kirk, Spock and McCoy of Classic (is there any other?) Star Trek. Those are just the human ones — and I do include Spock in that category.

He certainly doesn’t belong with Diane’s odder creations, like the crystalline spider with a talent for transwarp physics, the sentient white hole with a claudication problem, the shape-shifting fire ele-mental that’s one-third of a love triangle, the private investigator who also happens to be a pure white,

red-eared Elfhound, or the monstrous shark who intends to eat one of Our Heroes and still manages to remain a sympathetic character.

Don’t just take my word for that last one: Rob-ert A. Heinlein thought so too. “I’m an old Navy man,” he told Diane. “We don’t like sharks. You got me to like your shark. That was a dirty trick…”

She came up with the bright idea of giving Queen Victoria’s Britain the atom bomb, then worked out the ramifications of what a colonial Empire would do with it. They may be right, goes her version of the old rhyme, But we have got / The nuclear bomb / And they have not.

She writes about kids who don’t just have the usual problems of school, family, and eventually, adolescence and acne, but the awareness that be-cause they’re also wizards, they have to use their power for good even if it means death — or worse. There’s an underlying Christianity to her work that often goes unnoticed, but it’s worth remembering that her writing sensei is C. S. Lewis, another opinionated Ulsterman; it takes one to know one.

She’s also been my wife, my writing partner, and my friend for more than twenty years. You’ll like getting to know her. I did…

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Join Us ForCon†Stellation XXVIII

Vulpecula18–20 September 2009

Bill Holbrookby John Lotshaw

What can I say about him that hasn’t been cov-ered by someone else? Everyone says “he’s a really nice guy.” I can’t use “a wonderfully talented and funny cartoonist” — that’s plainly obvious. Pete Abrams beat me to the theory that he’s really the vanguard of an invasion of aliens from Zeta Re-ticuli (for that one, you’ll have to pick up a copy of Pregnant Paws, the latest Kevin & Kell collection).

Maybe if I were to explore my personal history with Bill, a topic will emerge. Although we didn’t know it at the time, I had begun a relationship with Bill as far back at the early 1980s. Growing up in Dalton, Georgia, my parents subscribed to the Sun-day edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (which was two separate papers in those days that combined to do a Sunday edition). Along with the Lewis Grizzard columns and Sunday funnies were the charts and graphs produced and credited to Bill Holbrook. Even then, he was a master with Chart-pak tape and Zipatone (which will cause a slight facial tic when mentioned in Bill’s presence. Try it! It’s fun!).

Shortly after that, as I prepared to head off to college, a new comic strip appeared in our local paper: On the Fastrack. I noticed that the name on the strip was that of the artist who had been pro-ducing bar graphs for the AJC’s business section. I began to read with interest about Bob Shirt, Art Welding, and Melody Acapella and when I returned from school, would catch up on the goings-on at Fastrack, Inc. I enjoyed Bill’s art, which was able to transcend its postage stamp-sized and newsprint-clad environs to allow a glimpse into the soul of not just any artist, but one with a wicked sense of hu-mor.

Mind you, this was five years before Dilbert

made making fun of being a mindless corporate drone hip. Bill was there first, and he was funnier. Then again, he’s always been ahead of the curve.

As old friends tend to do (especially when they don’t know that they know one another), Bill and I drifted apart during the Nineties. I was reintroduced to him when Scott McCloud’s books and essays ignited my interest in webcomics about 1996. I began searching for webcomics and found Kevin & Kell. Recognizing the name and style (which is unmistakable), I was once again entranced by Bill’s ability to create a world and fill it with believable, likable, and fully rounded characters.

Inspired to create my own webcomic, I adver-tised on Kevin & Kell, resulting in a tenfold in-crease in my site’s traffic (which at first caused my site to be shut off… I’m not complaining, though!). Bill encouraged my efforts as a cartoonist, and treated me as a fellow professional, even though I really was an out-of-work freelance video editor with delusions of Holbrookhood. He offered to sponsor me in the National Cartoonists Society.

He even shocked me by asking me to publish Kevin & Kell. And how could I not? Kevin & Kell is like the power company. It’s always there, it’s al-ways reliable and it’s always funny (well, maybe it’s sort of like the power company). It’s an institu-tion in the young field of webcomics, as is Bill.

So what insights about Bill Holbrook have these reflections brought forward that I can share with you? Nice guy. Wonderfully talented and funny cartoonist. Alien from Zeta Reticuli.

I’m absolutely positive about that last one. If you want proof, just go by his table and pick up a copy of one of the Kevin & Kell collections. No human being could produce cartoons that good.

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1. Don’t wake him. Ever.2. Don’t forget the first guideline. Ever.3. Always maintain maximum safe distance

until coffee has been administered.4. Be sure to mention what a charming and

attractive woman his daughter is.5. If you value your fingers and hands, keep

them away from his plate.6. Remove all “green stuff” (e.g., vegetables)

from his presence.7. In an emergency, administer Skippy Peanut

Butter. The creamy variety.8. Never be caught reading Connie Willis. Re-

fer to her only as “The Female Person from Colo-rado.” If caught, pretend to be comparing her writ-ing unfavorably with his own.

9. Hang breathlessly on every word of any tale he begins with the words, “One time when I was in Africa…”

10. It would be a mistake to be impolite to his wife, Carol, and suicidally foolhardy to flirt with her.

11. Mention how impressed you are by his five Hugos, and the fact that Locus lists him as the all-time leading award winner of short fiction. (Actu-ally, I don’t care if you mention it, but if I didn’t suggest it, he’d write me out of the will. Again.)

12. Mention how much better you like his books that Kevin Anderson’s, Nancy Kress’s, David

A Brief Guide to GettingAlong with Mike ResnickProvided for the Safety and Serenity

of Con†Stellation Attendees

by Laura Resnick

Brin’s, Harry Turtledove’s Eric Flint’s, David Ger-rold’s, Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s, Orson Scott Card’s, and Maureen McHugh’s. Make it clear that you’ve only left out Connie Willis’s books because they don’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with his.

13. When he brings up horse racing, pretend to be fascinated. If that effort is beyond you, pretend to have a severe bladder infection.

14. Praise the music of Stephen Sondheim, Harvey Schmidt, William Finn, and the song styl-ings of the Andrews Sisters. Condemn all popular music composed after 1953.

15. If you can get a word in edgewise (fat chance), feel free to ask about any of the following: his books, his short stories, his articles, his collabo-rations, his screenplays, his editing, his dog show days, his safaris, Broadway musicals, old black-and-white Warner Brothers movies (preferably with Bogart, Lorre, and Greenstreet), next year's Derby prospects, most major sports, and science fiction through the ages.

16. Be sure to mention what a brilliant writer his daughter is.

If you observe this simple set of rules, you should get through Con†Stellation without trauma. If you ignore them, however, the committee will not be held responsible.

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Friday.............................................................................................12N Registration Opens Lobby II

.............................................................................................. Con Suite Opens Room 309..............................................................2P Dealers Room & Art Show Open Apollo Room

........................................................................................4P Anime Room Opens Room 310........................................................................... Video Gaming Room Opens Room 311

...................................................5P Ares 1-X Test Flight, Bart Leahy, HAL5 Patriot Room..............................................6:30P Opening Ceremony [30 minutes], all guests Patriot Room

7P LARP Kickoff Meeting, “It’s a Kind of Magic,” Intro to the World and the Goddesses, ...................................Jenn, Liv, Roxy, & Brandy Patriot Room

................................. Short Attention Span Theater, short videos, M. Kennedy Lobby II......................................................8P Bill Holbrook Interview, Cleary (Mod) Patriot Room

............................................................................... Reading: L. Resnick Con Suite (309) Huntsville Science Fiction Writer’s Group and

.................................................... Cake Appreciation Society [2 hours] Lobby II Dealers Room & Art Show Close

...................................................9:30P Meet the Guests Reception [90 minutes] Patriot Room10P Registration Closes10:30P Dance [until the dancers or DJs are exhausted .................................................] Lobby II

...................................11P Readings: Bedtime Stories, Morwood & Gilbreath Patriot Room12M Ghost Hunting 101, Theory and Application, Jeff Harris, PhD (Mod) & .......................Dr. Mark Burtman, MD Patriot Room Anime & Video Gaming Rooms Close

Saturday.............................................................................................9A Registration Opens Lobby II

..........................................................................................10A Reading: Duane Patriot Room Dealers Room, Art Show, Anime, and Video Gaming Rooms Open11A It’s All in the Details, food and other details for verisimilitude, Duane (Mod), ........................................L. Resnick, & Morwood Patriot Room

................................................. Crock Pot Madness, Cucci (Mod) Con Suite Prep (303)12N What Not to Submit, if you want to see print, Anders (Mod), Fitzgerald, ........................M. Resnick, Snodgrass Patriot Room1P Mentoring, writers helping writers,

....... L. Resnick (Mod), Cochrane, Osborne, Snodgrass, & Taylor Patriot Room The SFX Budget, for movies, comics, animation, and books, Duane (Mod), .............................Holbrook, Morwood, & M. Resnick Lobby II

....... (YA) Exploring Rocketry, launch your own rocket!, Johnson Con Suite Prep (303)

Schedule of Events

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2P Myths for the Future, creating mythology for fun and profit,...................................................... M. Resnick (Mod) & Drinkard Patriot Room

............. Married to Another Writer, collaborating on life, Duane & Morwood Lobby II.................................... Make It & Take It, getting crafty [2 hours] Con Suite Prep (303)

..............................3P Docent Tour, how an artist views the Art Show, Holbrook Art Show............................................... Your Brain is a Quantum Computer, Taylor Patriot Room

................ LARP Midcourse Meeting, Magic 201, Jenn, Liv, Roxy, & Brandy Lobby II Registration Closes4P Guest of Honor Speeches,

........... M. Resnick (MC), Duane, Holbrook, Morwood, & L. Resnick Lobby II.................5P Name That Movie, quiz show, J. Kennedy (MC), M. Kennedy Patriot Room

Dealers Room & Art Show Close..........................................................6P Art Auction [90 minutes], Uncle Timmy Lobby II

............. Solar Sailing, a novel approach to interplanetary travel, Johnson Patriot Room7P Pyr Slide Show — Visions of the Future, forthcoming releases, including never-before ..............................-seen cover art, Anders Patriot Room

................................................................7:15P Masquerade Prejudging [45 minutes] Lobby II8P Masquerade, M. Resnick (MC) [90 minutes],

.............................................................. Halftime: Trivia for Chocolate Lobby II...........................................9P (After the Masquerade) Reading: M. Resnick Patriot Room

................................................9:30P Band: Jeff Ugly Shoes & the Cemetery Surfers Lobby II10P Different Vampires for Different Tales, medical versus mystical,

................................................................. Lewis (Mod), Gilbreath Patriot Room11P Round Robin Readings: Cochrane, Drinkard, Gilbreath, Lewis,

................. Osborne, & Taylor [until the readers run out of steam] Patriot Room................................................. Dance [until the dancers or DJs are exhausted] Lobby II

12P Anime & Video Gaming Rooms Close

Sunday.............................................10A Anime Trivia for Chocolate, Jenny & Shelly Patriot Room

Dealers Room, Art Show, Anime, & Video Gaming Rooms Open11A Roundtable: How to Write For “My Little Pony” and Live — or — Will Write For Food, writing for money, writing for fun, and

........................................ writing for both at once [2 hours], all guests Lobby II LARP Wrapup Meeting, The End, Or Maybe Not,

............................................................ Jenn, Liv, Roxy, & Brandy Patriot Room..............12N It was a Dark and Stormy Knight, the year in movies, Reumann Patriot Room....................1P Autograph Session [90 minutes], all guests, Gary Shelton (Mod) Lobby II

Risks Posed by Space Debris — Natural and Manmade,................................................................................ Dr. Bill Cooke Patriot Room

2P Dealers Room, Art Show, Anime, & Video Gaming Rooms Close3P Con Suite Closes Dead Dog Party starts after Teardown — stick around and party with us!

The Top Ten Cool Things About Peter Morwood

by Diane Duane

10: Does Free Weapons ConsultingNeed to know how to forge a bodkin arrow-

head? Want the lowdown on ablative armor for modern tanks? Interested in what kind of pattern-welding makes the best sword blade? Peter’s the go-to guy. (Beware when visiting the house, as swords and daggers tend to be scattered wholesale across sofas and chairs. Unwary sitters risk sudden unscheduled invasive surgeries.)

9: Doesn’t Give a Damn About Team SportsPeter is the only male on the east side of the

Atlantic who thinks European football is a beautiful game only for those who have no lives and that US football should be used as a rehabilitation tool for perpetrators of violent crime. Sports viewed as good include horse archery, iaido, holmganga, and Fight Club (because nobody wastes your time talk-ing about it). (Baseball is wisely exempted from these judgments due to the presence of a rabid Mets fan in the household.)

8: Has One Hell of a VocabularyPeter is not afraid of sesquipedality, but uses it

only when necessary. He is also one of the few men in this island who does not use the F-word every three seconds.

7: Is Politically SoundThough Peter has no known political affilia-

tion, he has signed the Official Secrets Act twice and will not say why unless you take him to the bar and buy him much whiskey. (Participants attempt-ing this should know that Peter has never given any two people the same answer on this subject.) He was awarded the Polish Silver Star of Merit but

keeps claiming this was for doing laser printing for its fledgling democratic government.

6: Knows Where Things AreAsk him where the most obscure CD in the

house is and he can tell you. Ask him where you left your favorite pen and he can tell you. (Because he’s stolen it.) Ask him where any of the three cats is and he knows without GPS.

5: Has the Mimicry GiftPeter does the best airplane imitations you will

ever hear. (Ask him to do a 747 revving up. This is dry work: buy him a beer.) Ask him to demonstrate the difference between a Spitfire and a Mess-erschmitt (be sure to specify which engine you want the Spit to be using: he does both). The gift extends to accents: he is normally able to sound like he’s been somewhere for months after spending just a few days there. A bonus for the adventurous: ask him to speak Baslerdeutsch. (Wear wet weather gear or wrap up well in Saran Wrap first.)

4: Can CookAnd does, repeatedly. Signature dishes include

his famous pork with chiles and chocolate, and numerous Indian specialties. He collects hot sauces but scorns those who choose the hottest ones merely to prove the size of their putative genitalia.

3: Can FlyTrained by the RAF. Fortunately he was di-

verted to other duties (like writing full time) before they gave him nukes.

2: Can Write Like AnythingBeware graphic descriptions of fighting and

food. Especially the food. Oh, okay, the fight scenes 8

are sometimes better than the banquet scenes, but the banquets usually have more sex afterwards.

1: Is Married To MeWhich is the coolest thing of all because I get

to watch him do all this stuff all the time.

Con†Stellation XXVIIIVulpecula

Guest of Honor David WeberFan GoH Gary SheltonAdditional Guests To Be Announced

A special Membership Ratefor 2009 will be availableSunday 19 October Only

Make a Note of Our New Date18–20 September 2009

Losing Lauraby one who has found fame if notfortune as Laura Resnick’s Father

When Laura is nine days old, I proudly hold her up for her grandparents to see. She promptly vomits all over my Hawaiian shirt (which in retro-spect could merely have been an editorial com-ment). I hand her off to Carol like Peyton Manning handing the ball to his halfback, and I do not will-ingly come into physical contact with her again for 43 years, give or take.

I decide that anyone who can humiliate her father (and with so little practice, yet) is too dan-gerous to keep, so I begin making plans to ship her to an unsuspecting country, since this is somewhat before Neil Armstrong walks on the moon (which is now disbelieved by 38% of all Americans, each of whose vote counts for as much as yours and mine) and it is too soon to think of sending her to another planet.

The trick is to get her interested in faraway places, and I do my best. She visits Europe while in high school, though much to my dismay, she even-tually comes back. This is followed by sojourns to Washington, D.C. where she graduates with honors from Georgetown while my tuition payments buy Patrick Ewing’s latest Mercedes; New York for the better part of a year after graduation, where she decides the business world is not for her; a couple of years in London; some time in the south of France; more time in Sicily; damned near a year traveling Africa from Morocco to the Cape; and on and on… and somehow or other, she doesn’t stay put in any of these places, but always comes back to her apartment in Cincinnati. I even sell her to Lawrence Schimel for ten cows and three goats, but he moves permanently to Spain and never picks her up.

Of course, all these trips cost money, and one

day she figures out that if I can sleep ’til noon, never leave the house, and make a living, maybe there’s something to it. So she writes a romance novel, and it sells, and she promptly writes eleven more, and they all sell, and she wins an award as the best new romance novelist of the year.

And I figure, what the hell, if I invite her into a couple of anthologies, maybe she’ll have to go to Jupiter or Antares to research them, so I do, and soon Marty Greenberg and Dean Wesley Smith and a host of other editors have fallen in love with her stories and are also inviting her, and she wins the Campbell Award (which I pick up for her while she is being charged by an elephant in South Africa. My first words, after thanking the voters, are: “I think my stud fee just doubled”).

So she comes back from Africa, and suddenly she is a Big Name Award-Winning Writer, and she produces some massive (and well-received) fantasy novels for Tor, and then sells a charming (and wildly popular) urban fantasy to Luna, and sud-denly she owes so many books that I think America is stuck with her… but then she latches on with the Associated Press, which sends her to Jerusalem, where she posts some brilliant dispatches and gets out one day before the latest war erupts. The first thing she does upon returning to Cincinnati is to sign a multi-book contract with DAW, and I know all my efforts have been for naught.

So I figure, maybe it’s time to give in to the inevitable, make my peace with her, and at least she’ll be around to support me and care for my in my pending dotage.

Now watch her fall in love with Huntsville and decide to move here.

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Con Committee...............Con Chairs Mary Lampert and Doug Lampert

...................................................Anime Basil Berchekas..................................................Art Show Randy Cleary...............................................Con Suite Judy Breitbach

...........Dances Manda Freeman and Marie McCormack...........................................................Dealers Sue Thorn.................................................Gaming Craig Goodrick

................................................Guest Liaison Sue Thorn...........Hotel Liaison Mary Lampert and Mike Kennedy

..........................................Masquerade Manda Freeman.............................................................Ops Kevin Omel

.......................................Programming Ops Bill Savage............................................Publications Mike Kennedy

..........................................Publicity & Web Bill Savage.........................Registration Deb Stone and Mike Stone

.....................................Spades Tournament Tim Bolgeo.......................................................Treasurer Sam Smith

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Con†Stellation Policies & InformationRule #1 & Other Rule #1: Have Fun & Learn Some-thing — about sf/f, about science, and about fandom.Memberships: Like most volunteer-run cons, Con†Stellation sells Memberships, not Tickets. We’re all stakeholders and everyone (except our listed guests) pays their way. If you can pitch in to help, we’ll welcome it. If you have an idea to im-prove the con, talk to any staff member. (Of course, if it’s your idea, and if it’s something we can fit in, we’ll want you to at least help Make It Happen.☺)Weapons Policy: Don’t Be Stupid. More specific? No functional projectile weapons (even water pistols). All weapons to be boxed, bagged, or peace tied — edged weapons to be sheathed as well. No drawing of weap-onry, no horseplay, no careless weapon handling. Keep staves/staffs/pole arms vertical. The convention has the final say on whether any weapon may be brought into convention areas. Handle weapons at your own risk. Exceptions? For the Masquerade, if approved in advance by the Masquerade Staff. Viola-tions? You lose your membership with no refund. But really, folks, Don’t Be Stupid and it will be all right.Drinking Age: Alabama’s drinking age is 21. Our badges do not indicate age; parties are strongly en-couraged to card everyone before serving alcohol. We’d also like to add: Do Not Drink and Drive. Con†Stellation wouldn’t exist without your support, and we want you back next year!LARP: “It’s a Kind of Magic”! Come join this slice of alternate reality, with liberal splashes of magic,

medieval, military, and madness. The four Goddesses will guide you through this Living Theater in Three Parts. Check the schedule on pages 6–7 for meetings each day to anchor a weekend of magic. The game, based on material by the late Pat McAdams, is being put on and played in his honor.Dances: Pat was our Dancemaster for many years too — Manda & Marie are stepping in to rock you, so turn out Friday and Saturday nights to shake your groove thang and salute Pat.Anime Room: Check the posted schedule for times & titles — and be sure to thank the Huntsville Ala-bama Anime Society for their sponsorship.Gaming: Here’s another place to look for posted schedules. There’ll be room for Open Gaming too, so jump in to promote your own pickup games. Then, sign up for the Killer Cutthroat Spades Tourney — a Nice Friendly Game Of Cards™.Autographs: The autograph session is 1:00P Sunday in Lobby II. Please be considerate with your requests then, and at at other times.Art “Stuff”: The auction is late Saturday; bid early — and often — in the Art Show starting Friday. Check Bill Holbrook’s Docent Tour Saturday afternoon, too.Dealers Room: Our Dealers are Members, too — except they’ve got the goods and you’ve got the money. Hmm… can an exchange be arranged?Masquerade: Got a costume (or just part of one) but no idea what to do on stage? We’ll be glad to help; you just might win a share of $100 in prize money.

.................................................T-Shirts Anita Eisenberg......................................Video Gaming Basil Berchekas

Live Action Role-Playing..............Head Game Mistress “Goddess” Jenn Albright

...............LARP Staff “Goddess” Liv Andre, “Goddess”Roxy Johnson, and “Goddess” Brandy Miller

Significant OthersHuntsville Alabama Anime Society, Ray Beddingfield, Michael Breitbach, Shelly Breitbach, Bruce Butler, Gene Chapman, Mike Cothran, Nancy Cucci, Jennifer Deal, Jeff Freeman, Wolfgang Freeman, Adam Grim, Maria West Grim, Sunn Hayward, Jim Kennedy, Tracey Ken-nedy, Jon Lassiter, Jenny Leach, Teresa Leach, Russell McNutt, Karen Omel, Rob Peck, Robin Ray, Patrick Reumann, Ali Scanland, Gary Shelton, Steve Sloan, Brandy Spraker, and Jenna Stone

Apollo RoomDealers Room

andArt Show

Galaxy RoomGaming

W M

Breakfast BarHotel Guests Only, Please

Co

n R

eg.Here There

Be Dragons Lobby IIProgramming, T-Shirts,

Schmoozing

Patriot RoomProgramming

Con Suite309

Con Suite Prep303

An

ime

310

Vid

eo

Gam

ing

311

Ho

tel

Fit

ne

ss

Ro

om

315 313 301

314 312 300

To Front Canopy⇒

⇐To Pool Area

⇐To Ice

400-block rooms

upstairs

PARKING

HotelLobby100- and 200-block rooms

HOTEL LAYOUTNOT TO SCALE

From the Greek myths, Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia was the wife of King Cepheus and the mother of An-dromeda. Cassiopeia was said to be very vain and bragged that both she and Andromeda were more beautiful than the Nereids, or sea nymphs, one of whom was the wife of Poseidon, god of the sea. On appeal of the Ner-eids, Poseidon sent the monster Cetus to ravage Ethiopia. To appease the monster and stop the destruction, Cepheus and Cassiopeia chained Andromeda to rocks along the coast as a sacrifice. Just as Cetus was about to eat the princess, the hero Perseus slew the monster, freed Andromeda, and claimed her hand in marriage. Cassio-peia did not escape punishment, however, and was placed in the heavens in a near-polar position so that she circles the celestial pole, moving from right-side-up to upside-down with the seasons.

The astronomical constellation Cassiopeia is fairly distinctive, looking like a large “W” or “M” (depending on the rotation of constellations about the pole) with five prominent stars. Because of it’s northerly position, it is visible in our area the entire year. Two Messier objects, the open stellar clusters M52 and M103, are within the boundaries of Cassiopeia. Both are bright enough they can be seen with binoculars. Two of the naked-eye stars in Cassiopeia, ρ Cas and V509 Cas, are among the intrinsically brightest stars in our galaxy, but are distant enough to look rather dim to the viewer. The closest star in Cassiopeia is η Cas, which is less than 20 light years away. It’s a binary, with a yellow primary that is very much like the Sun and an orange dwarf companion.