Science Traveler is my author website where the focus is on, well, science traveling, including my books. Hot White Snow is my creative writing site. There the focus is on fiction, memoir, and more experimental work, as well as responses to writing prompts. I’ve recently started two new categories of posts in which I share relevant stories that may one day lead to memoirs.
There’s a Fly in My Eye: I grew up in a relatively small New England town. My Dad grew up in the even smaller adjoining town (and my Mom in another small nearby town). Over the years I’ve collected many stories of small town life: some are my Dad’s, some are my own, others come from friends and relatives, and still others are more creatively interpretations of memories. This series collects those stories. In my most recent post I explain the story behind the title: “There’s a Fly in My Eye.” Previous posts include “The Rowley Diner,” “The Trauma of First Grade,” “My Life as a Remote Control,” and others. Scrolling down this list will get you to all of them.
My Life in 50 Objects: Another new series looks at my life as reflected in objects. The title was inspired by a Smithsonian series and a related book on the Civil War by renowned Lincoln historian Harold Holzer. Objects may be physical, or sometimes not, but always serve as a reminder of some story, memory, or emotion. The first in the series is “My Life in a Brick,” which takes me back to my first job as a marine biologist and how a devastating fire changed the direction of my career. There is much more to the story than just one brick, of course, and I plan to expand on these tidbits for a larger memoir at some point…after the next several books already in my pipeline.
More stories will be added regularly to each series, so check back at least weekly. Plus, there are plenty of other stories on Hot White Snow, including other memoir, light erotica, science fiction, and even poetry. Feel free to look around, or click on the categories listed in the left margin for specific sections.
David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
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“Let ’em up easy,” said Abraham Lincoln when asked how to treat the citizens of Petersburg after the long siege was to leave the city defeated. Lincoln wanted to end the war, reunite the nation, and move to the future of these United States. But first the Union needed to get the job done. Not an easy task.
Patagonia is one of the most diverse geographies on Earth. It encompasses the lower end of South America, mostly in Argentina but also spanning Chile. As such it touches on two coastlines – the Atlantic on the Argentinian east and the Pacific on the Chilean west. The area goes from the high Andes, to the low scrubland plains, the large lake filled northwest, glaciers in the southwest, and coastlines of the southeast. Animals range from the ostrich-like choiques (CHOY-kas) and camel-like guanacos (WAN-a-coes) to snakes and penguins. Yes, penguins.
The road to Tenerife is paved with four inches of snow. At least, that was the case for this trip. So while the warmth of the largest Canary Island waited off the coast of Morocco, my plane sat in the Brussels airport buried in snowflakes. At first it seemed just a minor delay – only a half hour waiting for the bus to take us to the Airbus A320. Brussels had seen snow before, I reminded myself, and this didn’t seem like that much. The snow coming in on the train was 
It’s been a big week in climate change, in more ways than one. This is especially true for President Obama. First he went to New Orleans, and then he spent several days in Alaska. That’s a big deal for climate communication.
Many years ago I lived in Bermuda for a college semester. There were 15 of us learning how to be marine biologists while living at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. For two months we studied, we dived, we snorkeled, we spent hours bent over equipment in the laboratory searching for microscopic parasites. Fun was had by all.
A year ago I wrote some 
