musings

To The Moon

Two of my short stories, APOGEE and SOLATIUM, are trying for the moon again! Overnight, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket carrying (among numerous NASA and commercial payloads) the Lunar Codex, Samuel Peralta's passion project, a beautiful collection of stories, art, music and more. I am honored beyond words to have my these stories reach the stars and find a home on the moon!

It'll be a little while before Blue Ghost attempts a lunar landing, however. It will spend the next 25 days in Earth orbit, undergoing a variety of systems checks and gathering data. It will then conduct an engine burn and hopefully reach the moon 4 days later, where it will orbit for 16 days before attempting a touchdown in Mare Crisium.

If the landing is successful, Blue Ghost will deliver the Lunar Codex to its home on the lunar surface. Then it spend 2 weeks capturing imagery of the lunar sunset and provide critical data on how lunar regolith reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk conditions, before retiring with the lunar night.

<tech>

This conversation with Mr. Jennsen took place 7 years ago, while I was writing RUBICON, but it’s just as funny (to me) as it was back then. As I said then:

“If you can't laugh at yourself, what are you working for, right? I give you the essence of my characters, distilled to their purest features. *Warning: cursing follows. Because Alex.*

Also, if anyone wondered if my husband really reads my books, I believe he has now dispelled that notion in glorious style.”

Predictions Progress Report

Five years ago, at the dawn of 2020 (not forseeing the crisis that awaited us in a mere two months), I made the following predictions (and asked for your thoughts on Facebook):

We're in the 2020s now, and this had damn well better be the decade where some mind-blowing technological advances happen. With that in mind--

Which of the following do you think we are MOST LIKELY to have in 2030:

(1) A fully functioning lunar base, where astronauts live and work on the surface for 6+ months at a time and (rich) tourists visit.

(2) Boots on Mars, and not the robotic kind.

(3) Effective anti-aging/life-extension medication or treatments - not to make us immortal (yet), but to extend our *healthy* lifespan well into the 100s.

(4) Practical brain-computer interfaces - chips in our brains, or at least subcutaneous/on-skin hardware that communicates with our brains.

(5) Discovery of microbial alien life in our solar system and/or confirmation of a clear technological signature (advanced alien life) out there.

5 years later, #1, #2 and #5 (microbial) are looking reasonably likely to be achieved by 2030. #3 and #4 are moving a little more slowly, but I’m hopeful we’ll see the beginnings of them within a decade.

You know what wasn't on this list of mine? Artificial General Intelligence. Leaving it off * might * have been an error on my part....

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I am super excited for what 2025 is going to bring. Grand doings in Amaranthe for certain. A bucketload of Starship flights (Starship on the moon?). Webb revealing more wonders of the universe. Me learning how to take a proper aurora photo? Well, let's not get too carried away....

I hope this year holds much promise for you, too. Here's to the future!

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.

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.

The Universe Within Update

And the first draft of THE UNIVERSE WITHIN is complete!!

It clocks in at 64,451 words, which is a hefty chunk considering all the [skipped scenes] and [vague notes and instructions] and [half finished chapters], lol. *motions at Alex and Caleb and all those rich, fully formed worlds and stories that burst to life wherever they go*

I don't think a story has come together this quickly since Abysm, which is really saying something. But boy, do I have a ton of work ahead of me. I was flinging brackets left and right as fast as I could type them, just to get the plot out of my head and onto the page.

So, yeah. Time to grab the fire extinguisher..

The Future Is Going to Be Weird

Well OF COURSE brain chips are going to replace phones. One of my safest "predictions," to be honest. And I love that the future is going to be weird!

““The Future is Going to Be Weird.” Elon Musk Predicts Brain Chips Will Eventually Replace Phones”: https://thedebrief.org/the-future-is-going-to-be-weird-elon-musk-predicts-brain-chips-will-eventually-replace-phones/

(Going to Need A) Bigger Coffee Mug

New hobby: collecting coffee mugs. In order to make the cut, a mug must meet two criteria: (1) it must be quirky or geeky, and (2) it must be giant - I am not sipping espresso over here.

My first acquisition was this awesome mug of one of my most favorite movies since I was a child! (I also have Jaws socks....) The size isn't conveyed very well by these pics, but it just might hold the big man himself.