Ice Clouds Over a Red Planet

From NASA / Astronomy Picture of the Day:

“If you could stand on Mars -- what might you see? You might look out over a vast orange landscape covered with rocks under a dusty orange sky, with a blue-tinted Sun over the horizon, and odd-shaped water clouds hovering high overhead. This was just the view captured last March by NASA's rolling explorer, Perseverance. The orange coloring is caused by rusted iron in the Martian dirt, some of which is small enough to be swept up by winds into the atmosphere. The blue tint near the rising Sun is caused by blue light being preferentially scattered out from the Sun by the floating dust. The light-colored clouds on the right are likely composed of water-ice and appear high in the Martian atmosphere. The shapes of some of these clouds are unusual for Earth and remain a topic of research.”

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241203.html

Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024 Nominations

Nominations for Discover Sci-Fi’s Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024 award are now open, and THE THIEF is eligible!

DSF is leveling-up the award in a big way this year. There are now multiple categories, and the overall winner gets a REAL, LIVE TROPHY.

I would be honored if you considered nominating THE THIEF (note: it won 2nd place in the half-year poll). So here's how it works:

  • you can nominate a book in as many categories as you want - you don't have to choose just one.

  • THE THIEF is definitely a fit for "Best Science Fiction Novel" (the top category) and "Best Alien Sci-Fi Novel.” One can quibble about whether it qualifies as space opera for "Best Space Opera Novel" - I leave that to your discretion.

  • Nominations are open through 12/18. The finalists will be announced, and final voting takes place 12/19-12/31.

You can find the nominations form here: https://discoverscifi.com/nominate-the-best-sci-fi-books-2024/

Happy Thanksgiving!

How writers celebrate holidays, lol. Completely accurate, and appropos as I squeeze in The Universe Within editing before, around and after Thanksgiving festivities.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my American friends! May your weekend be filled with family, friends and fellowship. And turkey. And pumpkin pie. Or pecan. Possibly football or parades. Whatever brings you joy.

Thedas

I’ve taken a momentary detour from Amaranthe to Thedas - I’m playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I don’t spend nearly as much time playing video games as I used to; writing is a full-time job, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I’ll always play a Bioware game (admittedly, Baldur’s Gate 3 got me this year, too - it was incredible, in all the best Bioware-style ways).

Anyway, Veilguard is an absolutely gorgeous game!

Classic Rock Gods

So the neighborhood we moved into is brand new and very much still being built out. Last week, they finished the streets for the final block and put up the street signs - which was when we came to a glorious realization:

Our entire neighborhood is an homage to the gods of Classic Rock.

These are all the street names:

Page (Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin)

Plant (Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin)

Bonham (John Bonham, Led Zeppelin)

Daltrey (Roger Daltrey, The Who)

Entwhistle (John Entwhistle, The Who)

Lennon (John Lennon)

Clapton (Eric Clapton)

Zevon (Warren Zevon)

Frehley (Ace Frehley, Kiss)

Simmons (Gene Simmons, Kiss)

How awesome, right? It feels like a labor of love on the part of the developer. Perhaps a tribute to the music that shaped their youth.

There is one downside, though.... When we picked our lot, we didn't know the full breadth of our options, as most of the streets didn't yet have names. And now, #MrJennsen must forever live with the devastating knowledge that he missed his one chance to live on Zevon Lane....

Library 3.0

As promised, I give you a finished (for now) library! And the best part is...we found a home for the book cover posters (with lots of room to grow). As is so often the case, it was Mr. Jennsen’s idea, because he's awesome.

By the way, has anyone seen our hardbacks of 2001 and Rendezvous With Rama? Maybe on the side of the highway somewhere Those are literally the only 2 items that we lost in the move from Montana-with-a-layover-in-an-apartment-and-storage-unit. (We finally gave up searching and ordered replacements, so they're in the pics - but those aren't the *right* copies....)

NOW it's a home.

Since many of you have inquired, the last 3 photos are zoom-ins of (1) science fiction, (2) near future scifi/cyberpunk, (3) science, computers and other nerdy non-fiction. Caveat: I've leaned pretty heavily on my Kindle these last 10 years, so my physical scifi collection is no longer as representative as I'd like it to be; I'll be working on rectifying that.

Europa Clipper is on its way

It's a busy week for space enthusiasts (have you spotted Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS?). The long-anticipated Europa Clipper mission is officially underway. The craft launched Monday morning on a Falcon Heavy rocket, bound for that most beguiling of icy Jupiter moons, Europa. It will arrive at its destination in 2030 (!?! We seriously need faster spacecraft engines pronto - or engines that use much less fuel, thus are able to take more fuel and travel faster....)

Once there, Europa Clipper will hunt for organic chemicals on the icy surface, as well as other signs of a habitable environment and evidence for the ingredients of life. It will also characterize Europa's ice shell in detail. This work could identify good spots at which a life-hunting lander could touch down and operate - BUT IT WILL ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.

...not yet.

Starship and the Future of Rapidly Reusable Rockets

In an absolutely incredible feat of engineering, SpaceX has caught Starship's Super Heavy booster in the Mechazilla arms on the first try! What a sight.

After a succesful launch and orbit, Starship itself completed a planned soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean as well. All in all, a hugely successful 5th test flight of Starship.

One day soon, this will all be routine. Like we do now with the hundreds of Falcon 9 launches and booster landings, we'll go, "Oh, did Starship launch again today? Another moon trip, maybe?" And I look forward to that day.

But for now, WOW.

Aurora-palooza

It was quite a week for aurora watching in the U.S. (and in many other parts of the world, I believe). The first wave hit here at my house Monday night, and I was so ecstatic to get to see them in person for the first time in my life! I stood in my front yard and took a couple of really terrible photos that I won’t share here, because….

A stronger solar flare let loose later in the week, and Thursday night was a show for the ages. Family and friends back home in Georgia even got to see them. I’d done a bit of reading on how to take better pictures, but honestly, they were so much stronger and more dramatic, I didn’t have to do much work.

These are still horribly amateurish photos, taken with my phone without a tripod, but they’re mine. :D

Did you get to see the northern lights this week? I’d love to see any pictures you took!

A New Abode

Wait, this is not Montana...is it? I mean, there ARE mountains. But why is there a lake? And far less wood paneling? A thread in which I answer these questions and more.

Tl;dr: We've moved down the road to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho! (If you subscribe to my Buy Me A Coffee program and watch my livestreams, you already know this, but it’s new info for the rest of you).

The rest of the story: Actually, we moved a year ago. But we were camping out in an apartment while we built a house, and that was just so very uninteresting, I didn't mention it. But now things are exciting again.

First, why the move? A couple of reasons, but to encapsulate them, a beautiful view does not a life make (who knew?).

While wandering the woods was lovely, after a while I chafed against the isolation and lack of access to the trappings of modern life. #MrJennsen sucks at early retirement and, after two years chopping trees while wearing flannel , decided he was bored and wanted to get back in the engineering game. A series of frustrations when too much snow and impassable roads kept me from getting to the (distant) airport to travel for some family medical emergencies brought the problems into sharp relief.

Luckily, just a few hours down the road existed the equally lovely (if less wild) city of Coeur d'Alene. It, too, has mountains, rivers and lakes (Lake CDA is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen). But guess what it also has? Coffee shops and boutiques and theaters and a Best Buy and, well, people!

So here we are.

Now for a tour of the pictures!

1) My working space. The desk is a motorized standing desk, so I don't turn into a sloth while writing. No blinds? It's okay, they're getting installed tomorrow. That banner is just ridiculous, isn't it? #MrJennsen insisted on hanging it there. Swearz.

2) What I see when I'm *standing* at my desk. Gaming, comics, collectibles, science/space books, duplicates of some scifi books and, in the bottom right corner, a bit of a TBR stack. (Note: the rest of the scifi books will be going in the library - more on that soonish.)

3) The view out the window by my desk.

4) The bookcases on one wall of the main living room. I made a solar system out of my solar system glasses. :) (Close one, thermostat nemesis, but no dice! )

5 & 6) The view about 15 minutes down the road. I think it speaks for itself.

7) The patron saint of our home. Wherever Alex and Caleb live (in books), Akeso watches over.

Is this a good move? No, it's a WONDERFUL move. I have a feeling we'll stay this time.