The Beekeeper is satisfied to tend his hives and live his life after getting bounced by his rival at a high tech mega-corporation until he’s called upon to go back up into Earth orbit. A mysterious unaccounted-for supply pod is returning to intersect the orbit of the new space casino. The Beekeeper is the only one, on the planet or off, who can deal with it.

Weebly allowed the rotating Earth Flash 8 animation. Wix refused the same files because it was not ActionScript 3-compatible, even though I didn’t write in any ActionsScript.

Weebly also gives you the better URL but is somewhat limited in layout of elements.

They’re both free though so who cares?

Kite Wix Site
Kite Weebly Site

Don’t know who Janet Dash is? Read Kite!

» Big Dumb Object one of the freewheelingest sci-fi blogs on the web: “Chewbacca in hair Curlers T-Shirt“.

» Great post on IO9: “Dollhouse Isn’t Really Over” <<<Spoilers>>>

» Forbidden Planet covers Covered blog with more coverage. We’re partial to the the Avengers cover reinterpretation.

» Revolution SF reviews rides  that are no more  at Universal Studios theme park in Orlando.

» Nuketown channels OneBookShelf’s Haiti fundraiser special.

» SFFMedia is a little out of phase with a post about the Apple iSlab.

» Science Fiction and other ODDysseys interviews fanstasy-humor author Gail Carriger. 

» SF Signal has a video of Shatner Reading Poe’s “The Raven”. Oof! As an antidote, here’s Poe himself reading. Weird.

» True Science Fiction posts about the fascinating speculation that Uranus and Neptune may be the home of oceans of diamonds. And our alma mater Temple U only has acres.

 » OF Blog of the Fallen excerpts a passage from D0m Delillo’s latest, Point Omega asking for reaction. Thought-provoking, we say.

All for now. Phsew. Thought I’d get more in there. But you get sidetracked. Have a good one.

“In the future Earth’s orbit is a vacation spot. It’s full of casinos, hotels, and time-shares. Someone has to keep the lanes clear of debris….that job falls to Mason Dash and the Earth Orbit Sweeper Kite. Dash just wants to do his three-month tour and then go home to his wife Janet and virtual “girlfriend” Sheila. On this most recent tour, however, Mason has seen something on what is supposed to be an unoccupied derelict space station. His curiosity piqued, Mason has Sheila do some research for him and he begins to formulate a plan for his next tour.

“Dash’s wife Janet knows about Dash’s “girlfriend” Sheila. Janet is an AI researcher and decides to add some upgrades to Sheila–for her own personal research. Sheila likes her new programs, but Dash isn’t so sure HE likes them.
Kite’s systems could probably use an upgrade. It’s Main Process has performed the same tasks over and over again for as long as it could remember. Deep in it’s functions, a single module has begun to think for itself…and doesn’t want to stay a lowly module for much longer. Revolution anyone??

“All this and a visit from an alien named Troy. What is a maintenence worker to do?

“I thoroughly enjoyed KITE. Bill Shears tells a great story, and has created some likeable characters without going overboard on character development. Mason Dash is a regular guy that anyone can relate to; Sheila seems more human than digital; and Janet loves her husband and wants him to be safe. Even Troy the alien, doesn’t seem all that alien.

“This may be a sci-fi novel taking place far in the future, but the themes are familiar ones. Government beauracrats, union work rules, countries arguing over who’s going to pay to dismantle a derelict space station. That space station is now occupied by someone, and Dash wants to know who they are and what they’re doing there…..and he will eventually find out. While all that is going on, we discover a whole new world inside the controls of the Kite; one that may not be so different from our own.
KITE is a great read. The story flows nicely and will keep you guessing until the end, which is good because I hate predictability. I give it four out of five stars.” – Colleen Wanglund

Too bad. To think he could have made Kite instead. It would have certainly cost a lot less. Kitestarted out as a screenplay with a different title. My crack representation at the time got it a read at LightStorm, Cameron’s company. The feedback that repguy fedback to me was,  verbatim: “Jim likes his sci-fi straight up, no chaser.” Yuh. I took that to mean he’d be put off by the humor, that the reader knew it and that everyone in the place knew it.

My crack representation left the business soon after that to go into real estate, the first of a total of three reps that hung it up after taking me on. It must be discouraging to see such great work get passed over. That’s how I spin it in any case.

Avatar will get a miss, though not for personal reasons, mind you, of course, or even political ones. But I’d heard the film’s 3D visuals can cause vertigo and nausea. We are prone to this ever since trying to play Star Wars Episode I Racer (pod races) on the  GameCube. (In fact we’re getting dizzy just thinking about it.) After a couple laps around the track I had to go lay down for a while with our eyes closed.

They might not go for that at the multiplex.

Kite on Amazon.com