Morgan Hua's Home Page

Morgan Hua's Home Page

If you need to find me, this is what I look like
Of course I could be lying and this could be a picture of my evil twin.

Racquet Ball

My chance to beat the crap out of a blue rubber ball. 100+ mph. Ouch! I'm a B level tournament player for singles and doubles. Tournament Levels: Open, AA, A, B, C, D, Novice.

Skiing

My chance to enjoy a bit of nature and fall down a mountain at the same time. I don't ski, I fall gracefully (most of the time). The only reason my skis touch the ground is to keep me from reaching terminal velocity. I'm the Membership Chair and Webmaster for the 2007-2008 ski season.

White Water River Rafting
My chance to enjoy a bit of nature and drown at the same time.

Movies
I love movies because where else can you pay a fraction of the cost of production to enjoy art. Movies art? A well composed shot has the same effect as a masterful painting. A series of well composed shots gives you movement and a 3D rendering of a scene has the same effect as a sculpture. Movies costs are now into the millions. But why pay $10.00 for a bad movie? Sometimes you wish you could have two hours of your life back. I have a home entertainment room and watch movies projected on my wall (10’ diagonal, widescreen). Why go to a theater with sticky floors and people blocking your view when you can watch in the comfort of your own home?
Here's where to find out whether a movie is any good: Internet Movie Database and Ebert's Reviews .

Traveling
I've been to China (Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xian, Yellow Mountain, Yangzi River), Hong Kong, Macau, France (Paris is my favorite city), Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome), London, Luxemburg for lunch, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Canada.
I still want to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and Guilin in China, the Pyramids of Egypt, Germany, Greece, Spain, Monet's Giverny Gardens and Mont Saint-Michel in France, New Zealand, Australia, Stonehenge in England, the Taj Mahal in India, and a couple of medival castles here and there.
Travel lets you see many different and wonderous things. It titillate the senses. You see different architecture -- hundreds to thousands of years old, visit museums, inhale the culture, and eat the food. It opens up your horizons.

Chowing Down
Chinese, Thai, Italian, Sushi, and Indian are some of my favorite cuisines. I love seafood.

Reading Lots of Books
When I was a kid, I used to read every paperback book on the science fiction rack in the library. I still can't believe how many bad books I've read. I now only have time to read a little before going to bed, so I read award winners, classics, and favorites. I take at least a month to finish a book, so I have to buy them instead of borrowing them from the library. I like browsing in book stores and I belong to the Science Fiction Book Club and the Quality Paperback Book Club , so I keep buying more and more books, faster than I can read them. This of course means that I have to continuously buy bookshelves, get a bigger room to put them in, get a larger house, etc.
Here's where to find rare and used books: Bookfinders

Listening to Instrumental Music
Classical, New Age, and Jazz. I always wanted to play the trumpet, but my mom said that I'll cough my lungs out like my brother, so I had to play the violin. Did that for 8 years. Now she asks me why I listen to all this old stuff. Hey, I listen to the top 40 also. Maybe she'll be happier if I listen to Industrial Grunge. :-)
The best place to buy discount CD's is BMG Music Service . The CD's are about 1/2 of retail price with postage and handling included. The only problem is that you'll have to wait a several months to a year for a new release.

Buying Toys
I grew up fascinated by magnets, suction cups, dinosaurs, Mad Magazine, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and the Guinness Book of World Records. I love gadgets , weird stuff , and cheap plastic toys . Lately I've started buying McFarlane action figures . They have great detail, but they're not cheap.

Collecting Stuff
Books, comics, stamps , coins , paper money , rocks, magnets, superballs, rubber chickens, and lately art. Just things that are cool , odd , very odd , or strikes my fancy . What do you expect from a guy who used to read "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and "Tales from the Crypt" and watch "Creature Features?"

Uncovering Reality and Discovering Truth
What I believe to be true .

There's only two things certain in life: Death and Taxes (AMT sometimes ).

My Fictional Life
I write short stories: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
Flashed Shadows in Aboriginal SF, Fall 1996, issue #52
The short story Flashed Shadows won 2nd place in the Best Soft SF Contest for 1996.

How To Make Your Endings Work in Speculations , February 1996, issue #7
Hack Work or Masterpiece in Speculations , June 1996, issue #9
Clarion vs. Odyssey in Speculations , March 2000, issue #32

Science Fiction Workshops
I graduated from
Clarion West 1993
Odyssey 1998 which included Harlan Ellison's Week at Odyssey and Lea Braff on Odyssey

The Best in Speculative Fiction
Literary Awards , Nebula Awards , Hugo Awards , Bram Stoker Awards , World Fantasy Awards .
and the rest in SFSite's database

Education
UC Berkeley , B.A. Computer Science
Go Bears!