Sunday, February 03, 2008

Cordova Ice Worm Day

I saw this date listed as a weird holiday and just had to say...huh? Ice Worms? Almost immediately, I started thinking -- hey, neat idea for a SF story. But first I needed to satisfy my curiosity about what the devil an ice worm is, does it really exist, or is this someone's idea of a practical joke (ahem, it's not April Fool's Day, ya know).

So I did a Google search (and lol on Microsoft wanting to purchase Yahoo so they can compete with Google). First listed was the Cordova Iceworm Festival Apparently, this is the Alaskan town's attempt to enliven the dreary winter weather but it doesn't really answer what an ice worm is. So I checked with another result...on Wikipedia. Right off the bat, I was a bit leery of this article. I mean, when it says This Animal article requires clean up to conform to a higher standard of quality and This article does not cite any references or sources, it does raise doubts. There was a link to an amusing ice worm ballad though.

And a link on that page led to a tiny bit of info that proclaims ice worms to be real! Apparently these little worms are annelid worms (class Oligochaeta). Some further links claim they live only on glacial ice and come to the surface only when no longer threatened by harsh sunlight. Otherwise they stay deep inside the ice.

So...definitely cool. And you may just see an ice worm in one of my future stories. I suspect I'll make 'em bigger (they're little, about 3/4 of an inch if the sources I read are correct) and more threatening. Heck, I might even give them a pivotal role in the story.

A writer's imagination is a wonderful thing :D

Enjoy your Superbowl Sunday.

-- Lynda

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