The Rhapsody of Space

See what I did there? ;)

From NASA: “For millennia, musicians have looked to the heavens for inspiration. Now a new collaboration is enabling actual data from NASA telescopes to be used as the basis for original music that can be played by humans.

Since 2020, the “sonification” project at NASA’s Chandra X-ray Center has translated the digital data taken by telescopes into notes and sounds. This process allows the listener to experience the data through the sense of hearing instead of seeing it as images, a more common way to present astronomical data.

A new phase of the sonification project takes the data into different territory. Working with composer Sophie Kastner, the team has developed versions of the data that can be played by musicians.”

Listen and learn more here.

Spotify Audiobooks

Do you have a Spotify subscription? Well, as of today, you can use it to listen to audiobooks, including mine. Spotify Premium now comes with 15 hours a month of audiobook listening for no additional cost (you can also buy audiobooks a la carte). See all my audiobooks here: https://open.spotify.com/search/g.%20s.%20jennsen/audiobooks.

Noted: the Spotify interface for finding and browsing audiobooks is still really, really basic (you can't click an author or narrator name to see all their work, or sort by order in the series, for instance). It will improve, but until then, if you need a reminder, you can see my recommended reading/listening order here: https://www.gsjennsen.com/amaranthe-universe.

Does it seem like there's a lot of news about audiobooks lately? That's because there is! It's the hottest segment in the business, and the industry is undergoing rapid innovation (and a bit of turmoil). May you listen in interesting times.

Nostalgia Portal

Amen to this! I bought literally hundreds, if not a thousand or more, books at Waldenbooks from the ages of 5 to 17 (or rather my wonderfully indulgent and supportive parents did)! And when Waldenbooks didn't have what I wanted, I went downstairs to B. Dalton - because my local mall had BOTH OF THEM.

Those were truly the salad days...

Source Tweet

“Heading to the mall today with my wife and many daughters.

I know they won’t be there, but I’d like to imagine that if I searched hard enough, I just might find a portal, or a secret door that leads to an area in the mall that has stores like this:”
— @EpicSoloGames

Jupiter In Ultraviolet

This newly released image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the “Great Red Spot.” Though the storm appears red to the human eye, in this ultraviolet image it appears darker because high altitude haze particles absorb light at these wavelengths. The reddish, wavy polar hazes are absorbing slightly less of this light due to differences in either particle size, composition, or altitude. 

For more, go here: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-provides-unique-ultraviolet-view-of-jupiter/

Webb's Stunning Infrared View of the Crab Nebula

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. Since the recording of this energetic event in 1054 CE by 11th-century astronomers, the Crab Nebula has continued to draw attention and additional study as scientists seek to understand the conditions, behavior, and after-effects of supernovae through thorough study of the Crab, a relatively nearby example.

Now exquisite, never-before-seen details help unravel the supernova remnant’s puzzling history. For more, go here: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/webb/the-crab-nebula-seen-in-new-light-by-nasas-webb/

Webb's Spectacular View of M51

How incredibly lucky we are to have the Webb telescope in our lives, bringing us incredible images like this one! Damn, I love space.

What is it, besides breathtaking? M51, a nearby spiral galaxy (close enough to spot with binoculars if conditions are right), taken by Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument.

See the article by the always great Phil Plait for all sorts of details on how the image was captured and what it actually shows us: https://badastronomy.substack.com/p/jwsts-view-of-the-magnificently-dusty

New Interview

Anyone want to take a deep-dive into my weird brain? I'm thrilled to have been interviewed by awesome fantasy author C. Borden on her blog. We talk about the Amaranthe universe, Medusa Falling, Marlee as a character, sci-fi inspirations, what being a lawyer taught me about writing, doing conventions as an introvert, and much, much more.

https://authorcborden.com/2023/10/06/author-spotlight-g-s-jennsen/

Protostar

From Webb’s newest observation:

Herbig-Haro (HH) objects are luminous regions surrounding newborn stars, formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from these newborn stars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. This image of HH 211 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals an outflow from a Class 0 protostar, an infantile analog of our Sun when it was no more than a few tens of thousands of years old and with a mass only 8% of the present-day Sun (it will eventually grow into a star like the Sun).

The image showcases a series of bow shocks to the southeast (lower-left) and northwest (upper-right) as well as the narrow bipolar jet that powers them. Webb reveals this scene in unprecedented detail — roughly 5 to 10 times higher spatial resolution than any previous images of HH 211. The inner jet is seen to “wiggle” with mirror symmetry on either side of the central protostar. This is in agreement with observations on smaller scales and suggests that the protostar may in fact be an unresolved binary star.

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/nasa-s-webb-snaps-supersonic-outflow-of-young-star

Meet the Newest Member of the Jennsen Family

Dragon Con wasn't actually the most exciting thing I did last week. Meet Cassini Leeloo Jennsen, named after the Best Spacecraft and the Best Supreme Being. We'll call her "Cassi."

She's a 10-week-old Havanese, doesn't weigh half an ounce (okay, 4 lbs), and is utterly joyous and pure of spirit. Everything is new and interesting and worthy of nomming, and she has already thrown our life into total chaos. Cooper is * very * confused about this new intruder, but he's being so amazing with her; I predict they will be BFFs in no time.

Dragon Con Booth

Me at Dragon Con last week, doing Dragon Con things. All the thanks to Carole for the tremendous help setting up the booth, James Hunter and the guys at Shadow Alley Press for absolutely pwning a metric f*ckton of book boxes with brutal efficiency, Claire for holding down the fort like a pro when I had to act like a writer on panels, and of course Katie Cross for being a rockstar of a boothmate. It was a fantastic (and exhausting) four days of talking on panels, hanging out with author friends, and meeting so many awesome readers.

Podcast Interview

I had a great time chatting with fellow sci-fi author JR Handley on the Blasters and Blades Podcast this week! We talked about taking SF worldbuilding to 11 (or 12...), cooking in space, spaceships, how weird alien species can get, what's next for Amaranthe, and so, so much more.

You can listen to the podcast at multiple places:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/5db7_8Di9Nw

Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blasters-and-blades/episodes/Episode-278-GS-Jennsen--Starship-Captain-e2859h6

BitChute: https://www.bitchute.com/video/5db7_8Di9Nw/

Rumble: https://rumble.com/v387i13-episode-278-gs-jennsen-starship-captain.html

Amaranthe Novels In Hardback

A year and a half after I started the project, I'm thrilled (and relieved) to announce that all 20 Amaranthe novels are now available in hardback!

You can get them from Amazon, Barnes & Noble's website, Waterstones and many more online retailers. To celebrate, I've also added the ability to special order signed hardbacks from my website. What does "special order" mean? Well, it's still not practical (or cost effective) for me to maintain hardback stock at my home. If you buy a signed hardback, I'll order one from the printer; when it arrives, I'll inscribe it and send it to you! This means it'll take several weeks for you to get your book - but chances are you've already read it, so.

https://www.gsjennsen.com/paperback-store?category=Signed+Hardbacks

Of course, you can still order signed paperbacks from me and get them in a couple of days!