Well, that's it, happy campers. The end is nigh! According to scientists, a newly-discovered asteroid is on a collision course with Earth.

The asteroid will come within spittin' distance of us in October 2028. It's a mile wide and they've called it by the romantic moniker of 1997XF11. It will track inside the orbit of the Moon and pass within 26,000 miles of Earth.

There is a 1000 to one chance it won't miss what is, one might argue, a rather large target (us!). That's roughly the same odds as being hit by lightning, BTW.

1997XF11 was discovered on Dec 6, 2006, by the University of Arizona Spacewatch people who have now added it the list of 108 other asteroids we know about, that are considered "potentially hazardous objects".  (108 other potential disasters spinning about up there! And nobody's mentioned it until now! Eeeek!)

In 2028, I will be 69 years old. That's too young to die and too old to deal with being around afterward. Rats.

I shall now have to revise my plans for the new house I was planning to build.

Does anyboy know if you can get asteroid bunkers in kit form?

Read the full story on the BBC website.

Go on... admit it, you didn't sleep last night, did you? tee hee:)

1. What is the registration number of the USS Enterprise?
   NCC-1701. I remember once when my son (he must have been about 10 at the time) rang me at work to ask this. I told him what he wanted to know and hung up the phone. The girl I shared an office with, shook her head and said, I don’t know what’s scarier, Jenny. That your son rang and asked you that. Or that you knew the answer.
   
2. What was Princess Leia’s cell number on the Death Star?
   2187. Named after some experimental Canadian movie George Lucas was involved in, I think. And no, it’s not the combination to the lock on my shed.
   
3. In the very first episode of Stargate SG1, Daniel Jackson sent back a tissue box from Abydos with a message written on the side. What did it say?
   He wrote “Send More”. They ended up with 10 years worth:)
   
4. Who was the first Russian (and the first human for that matter) in space?
   Yuri Gargarin
   
5. Who was the first animal?
   A dog named Laika. And they left the poor thing up there in space to die. Bastards.
   
6. What was the name of Buffy’s favourite wooden stake?
   Mr Pointy
   
7. What common terrestrial creatures were unknown on the planet where the aliens of V came from?
   Birds (They were supposed to have a similar evolutionary path on their world, except they evolved from the dinosaurs.)
   
8. Who was the captain of the Enterprise (before Kirk)?
   Christopher Pike
   
9. Who was John Pertwee?
   He played the 3rd Doctor in Dr Who. Still the only one, to my mind who looked like a Time Lord.
   
10. Who were Roj, Avon, Vila, Callie, Jenna and Gan?
    The crew of the mathematically challenged Blake’s 7, cause there were, like, only six of them.
    
11. Isaac Asmiov has a book in every category of the Dewey Library Categories except one. What is it?
    Sport
    
12. What was the name of the show on Stargate that an alien sold to a cable network which featured a wormhole linking Earth to other worlds?
    Wormhole Extreme. Episodes 100 and 200. 2 bestest episodes ever, in the whole series.
    
13. What do the ship’s doctor on the USS Enterprise (The Next Generation) and the choreographer of the film Labyrinth have in common?
    They are the same person. Gates McFadden (Dr Crusher) is the other name used by Cheryl McFadden, who also happens to choreograph muppets in her spare time.
    
14. What does the acronym LASER stand for?
    Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation
    
15. How many Apollo missions were there?
    17
    
16. What was the Liberator?
    The ship in Blake’s 7. Dace calls it the Ribarator:)
    
17. In which series did Marc Singer play a TV cameraman- turned- freedom-fighter?
    The series was V. What can you say? The Beastmaster in tight jeans. And the bad chicks in the show did everything in stiletto-heeled boots. As you do.
    
18. What was the name of the supercomputer in Blake’s 7?
    Orac. Sort of became crewman number 7. Provided you don’t mind them having large Perspex box full of flashing lights on the crew.
    
19. What great SF writer was born in 1920 and died 1992?
    The man himself. Isaac Asminov
    
20. How many minutes into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey is it before someone actually says anything?
    25 minutes and 38 seconds when a flight attendant speaks to Dr Floyd. (I actually decided to look this up and it turned out I was wrong. I thought it was 25 minutes 34 seconds. Oh well.)
    

Not sure what possessed me to compile the following list of questions. It was probably Evil Ella's fault. She wanted to borrow my cat cage to take her pussy to the vet, you see, and I said she could come 'round and get it while I was at work, but I'd have to give her the combination of the lock on the shed.

What is it, she asked. Princess Leia's cell number on the Death Star?

The cheek of her! I mean... why would I use a number like that? Everybody knows Princess Leia's cell number on the Death Star... don't they?

Apparently not, according to EE. Which got me thinking about how big a geek I really am. So I put together this list of questions. I know the answer to all of these questions off the top of my head, btw. I expect everyone else to know the answers, too.

I'll put the answers up tomorrow so you can check your geek level against mine:)

1. What is the registration number of the USS Enterprise?
2. What was Princess Leia’s cell number on the Death Star?
3. In the very first episode of Stargate SG1, Daniel Jackson sent back a tissue box from Abydos with a message written on the side. What did it say?
4. Who was the first Russian (and the first human for that matter) in space?
5. Who was the first animal?
6. What was the name of Buffy’s favourite wooden stake?
7. What common terrestrial creatures were unknown on the planet where the aliens of V came from?
8. Who was the captain of the Enterprise (before Kirk)?
9. Who was John Pertwee?
10. Who were Roj, Avon, Vila, Callie, Jenna and Gan?
11. Isaac Asmiov has a book in every category of the Dewey Library Categories except one. What is it?
12. What was the name of the show on Stargate that an alien sold to a cable network which featured a wormhole linking Earth to other worlds?
13. What do the ship’s doctor on the Enterprise (The Next Generation) and the choreographer of the film Labyrinth have in common?
14. What does the acronym LASER stand for?
15. How many Apollo missions were there?
16. What was the Liberator?
17. In which series did Marc Singer play a TV cameraman-turned freedom fighter?
18. What was the name of the supercomputer in Blake’s 7?
19. What great SF writer was born in 1920 and died 1992?
20. How many minutes into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey is it before someone actually says something?

Another review for The Immortal Prince has cropped up, this time in the February edition of Nexus, the newsletter from the Galaxy Bookshop in Sydney.

Fallon begins her latest epic asking the question of how an immortal, tired of immortality, might find his way to death? With her vivid style and snappy dialogue, Fallon embarks on a rollercoaster ride of mortal and immortal machinations, as the ruthless and immoral Tide Lords emerge from a thousand years of hiding into a world where everyone has attributed the stories of their existence to myth. Everyone, that is, but the mysterious and secretive Cabal, who watch and wait in the shadows, searching for a way to protect humanity from the Tide Lords’ return.

Aren’t they sweet? And I’m not related to anybody at Galaxy either, but if they keep saying nice things about my books, I may have to adopt a few of them. :)

Which reminds me… I’m doing a book signing at Galaxy Books in Sydney in April. The details are here.