More mountains! This is Aiken Canyon, about 40 minutes from our house. First time there, will go again.
P.S.: It'll probably snow tomorrow....
Confession Time
Hello, my name is G. S. Jennsen. I'm a writer, and I...have too many characters. It's been 18 hours since my last new character.
This is the Dramatis Personae for RIVEN WORLDS VOLUME ONE, coming soon to an ebook near you. I had to split it into 3 pictures, just so you all could read the names.
I'm taking nominations for violent deaths in ALL OUR TOMORROWS (sure, a few of these are already dead, but more need to go). Someone help me.... ;)
Originally posted on Facebook.
The Best Kind of Birthday Road Trip
Oh hi, mountains! #BirthdayRoadTrip
Of course, I'm working while riding. When you're a writer, every vacation is a working vacation.
Originally posted on Facebook.
Is It Science Fiction
* tongue firmly in cheek *
I find I can't really argue with any one point here. (Sure, I could *pretend* to argue that not all sci-fi violates the laws of physics, but then I'd just be That Person Who's No Fun At Parties....)
Originally posted on Facebook.
Quantum Spackle
Perseverance's First Panorama
NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover got its first high-definition look around its new home in Jezero Crater on Feb. 21, after rotating its mast, or “head,” 360 degrees, allowing the rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument to capture its first panorama after touching down on the Red Planet on Feb 18.
Mastcam-Z is a dual-camera system equipped with a zoom function, allowing the cameras to zoom in, focus, and take high-definition video, as well as panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface. With this capability, the robotic astrobiologist can provide a detailed examination of both close and distant objects.
Learn more at: https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8873/nasas-perseverance-rover-gives-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-landing-site/
Originally posted on Twitter.
Sunset on Mars
Sunset....on Mars, captured by Perseverance.
Left navcam image acquired on Feb. 23, 2021 (Sol 4) at the local mean solar time of 16:40:58. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Image post-processing: Michael Seeley
Originally posted on Twitter.
Dare Mighty Things
Okay, I promise this will not turn into the All Perseverance Page. But this week it is!
Percy's parachute had a hidden message embedded in its bright red pattern. Spelled out in binary code was the phrase "DARE MIGHTY THINGS."
That's the spirit, guys and gals! I love engineers. I love scientists and space nerds. Percy is inspiring the world right now, but so are the humans who made it all possible.
Oh, AND - there's a family portrait plaque welded to the top of Percy's frame. It depicts Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, Perseverance and Ingenuity.
https://apnews.com/.../mars-rover-parachute-secret...
Thanks to Bob Wilson for the link!
Originally posted on Facebook.
Perseverance Perseveres to Land on Mars
Amazing pictures and info from NASA's briefing about Perseverance landing on Mars!
Pictures (top to bottom, left to right):
1) The view from the sky crane (also referred to as a "rocket-powered jetpack") as it guided Percy down to the surface. * wow *
2) A shot of Percy descending under parachute, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (an impressive craft in its own right).
3) A much higher resolution, color version of the first image posted shortly after Percy’s landing.
4) And because these rovers LOVE taking pictures of their feet, a brand-new image of one of Percy's wheels and the surrounding soil and rocks.
The NASA spokesperson said "Perseverance continues to be highly functional and awesome and I'm exhilarated."
The mast housing the "real" cameras will be deployed on Saturday and start snapping pics soon thereafter. We should also have VIDEO of the landing early next week. NASA is planning to hold another update press conference on Monday.
NASA has gotten quite good at social media in the last several years, and the Perseverance Twitter account is already an absolute gem. Follow it! https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere
Originally posted on Facebook.
Library Reorg
Portal
Alex on her first scouting run in the Siyane, back when she was just a young, starry-eyed explorer? I think yes.
"Portal" by Shai Daniel: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oO5b0O
Originally posted on Facebook.
STARSHINE's New Cover
What is this? STARSHINE has a new cover?!
I've tried to keep a similar feel and color scheme, so it fits in nicely with the other covers, while giving it more of a dynamic, exciting theme (spaceships!).
The new cover is live on the ebook already. It should be available on the paperback within the week. I'll also have new paperback stock later this month for my store.
I know, all of you already HAVE Starshine, so this doesn't actually affect you. It's cool - just enjoy the shiny.
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Sci-fi nerds and aficionados, I'm about to derail your day. The HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF SCIENCE FICTION, which tracks down how sci-fi terms were first used, and then evolved over time, launched this week: https://sfdictionary.com/
One of the main goals of historical lexicography is finding antedatings, as instances that push back the earliest known use of a term are called. By poring through oodles of issues of old sci-fi, including the massive trove of them scanned by the Internet Archive, the site's creator has made some truly delightful discoveries — often discovering that well-known sci-fi terms were used a lot earlier than readers may have suspected: "Deep space" was first used in 1921, "ray gun" in 1923, and "teleported" in 1931 ("The essential elements of sea-water, minus the undesirable saline properties, can be teleported to Mars", in Clark Ashton Smith's "Planet Entity").
The dictionary also illustrates the complicated interplay between imaginative literature and the real world. The words "graviton" and "biotechnician," for example, first appeared in science fiction sources before being adopted in the real world.
Read more about the Dictionary at Boing Boing: https://boingboing.net/.../the-historical-dictionary-of... and (if you have a subscription) the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/.../science-fiction-dictionary.html - or just go straight to the source and dive in: https://sfdictionary.com/.
Originally posted on Facebook.
NGC 2841
It is one of the more massive galaxies known. A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. This sharp view of the gorgeous island universe shows off a striking yellow nucleus and galactic disk. Dust lanes, small, pink star-forming regions, and young blue star clusters are embedded in the patchy, tightly wound spiral arms. In contrast, many other spirals exhibit grand, sweeping arms with large star-forming regions. NGC 2841 has a diameter of over 150,000 light-years, even larger than our own Milky Way. The featured composite image merges exposures from the orbiting 2.4-meter Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope. X-ray images suggest that resulting winds and stellar explosions create plumes of hot gas extending into a halo around NGC 2841.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, Subaru, Roberto Colombari.
Originally posted on Twitter.
Plotting Riven Worlds
So I started working in earnest on ALL OUR TOMORROWS (hey, if you haven't finished ECHO RIFT yet, the next book is called "All Our Tomorrows" ), but after writing a bunch of words (15K and change - the progress meter is up and running on the website now), I realized there were a couple of plot arcs that I really needed to have nailed down hard, from beginning to end, in order to get them right in this book.
Well, one thing led to another, as they do, and now I give you the visual outline for the 3 remaining books in the Riven Worlds series!
I know, it looks way complicated, but it's all good - this should represent over 350K words of action, battles, drama, suspense, romance, terror, badassery and joy. I won't tell you which ones are which, but the columns are titled such things as "Alex/Caleb," "Nika/Dashiel," "Concord," "Rasu," Eren" and...so on, all with lots of dotted lines interconnecting them.
The Medulla Nebula Supernova Remnant
What powers this unusual - and stunningly beautiful - nebula? CTB-1 is the expanding gas shell that was left when a massive star toward the constellation of Cassiopeia exploded about 10,000 years ago. The star likely detonated when it ran out of elements, near its core, that could create stabilizing pressure with nuclear fusion. The resulting supernova remnant, nicknamed the Medulla Nebula for its brain-like shape, still glows in visible light by the heat generated by its collision with confining interstellar gas. Why the nebula also glows in X-ray light, though, remains a mystery.
Learn more here: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210118.html
Originally posted on Twitter.
Happy Echo Rift Release!
A New Lease on Life for Juno and InSight
Fantastic news for space nerds! NASA has extended the Juno mission, which was scheduled to end later this year, until 2025, and detailed plans to send the spacecraft on investigatory flybys of Europa, Io and Ganymede. More stunning images and exciting science will be coming our way.
NASA has also extended the Mars InSight mission through the end of next year. InSight isn't as exciting as Juno, what with it just sitting there on Mars banging away at the ground, but it's still doing important work, and now more of it.
Galaxy In A Globe
What do you get the sci-fi writer in your life? The galaxy, of course! But not *just* the galaxy...the universe it inhabits!
#MrJennsen rocks at Christmas. :D
Happy Holidays
My BFFs and I wish you all the safest, healthiest and happiest holidays you can wrest through sheer force of will out of this insane year.
Originally posted on Facebook.