The Results Are In

You guys rock (of course, I already knew this ). Despite only being out for 3 weeks, THE THIEF won 2nd place in Discover Scifi's Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024 (So Far)! I could not be more thrilled. I adore this book so much, and it makes me happy to know you all do, too.

You can see the Top 10 here: https://discoverscifi.com/the-best-sci-fi-releases-of-2024-so-far/

Forge of God

Wow. This book. (Forgive the ratty, beat-up mass-market paperback, but used bookstores are awesome.) Yes, it took me until now to read it, and I regret that delay.

Haunting, at times grim and depressing (so be warned - this is not high action/adventure), but also an achingly beautiful love letter to our precious blue marble and the equally precious humans who inhabit it.

The Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024 (So Far)

My readers are the absolute best. THE THIEF has only been out for 2 weeks, but you've spoken up so much that it's now in the running for The Best Sci-Fi Book of 2024 (So Far) over at Discover Sci-Fi. And hey, Eren deserves every bit of recognition he gets (he would agree, I think).

If you're so inclined, head over and vote! https://discoverscifi.com/time-to-vote-first-half-of-2024-best-scifi/

Alex, what have you done?

It’s time for the occasionally annual celebration of the unofficial theme of the Amaranthe series:

This year, it struck me that this excerpt from INVERSION between Alex and Nika is rather on point.

Miriam wasn't on scene to exclaim "what have you done?" when Alex did this on Portal Prime in VERTIGO, but I'm pretty sure Caleb *thought* it, lol.

Of course, the answer to the question, "what have you done?" was "save everyone, obviously."

I wonder what utterly audacious stunt she's going to pull off in THE UNIVERSE WITHIN?

Starship Soars In Test Flight #4

Starship's fourth test flight went so beautifully! As before, it cruised around the planet for around 40 minutes. This time, the SuperHeavy booster not only survived re-entry, but completed its landing burn and a soft splashdown in the ocean, intact.

And the big news: the ship survived re-entry through the atmosphere, completed its flip and landing burn and splashed down as well. Now, the trip down was spicy AF, and it landed beat up, with the landing flaps hanging on by a thread. But it made it, which is *more* than SpaceX was expecting today (the focus was on making it through the atmosphere without, well, exploding).

Every test has achieved so much more than the last; the iteration SpaceX is able to achieve is incredible.

MisCon 2024

That's a wrap on another amazing MISCON (https://www.miscon.org/)! A huge thanks to Katie J Cross, the best friend and booth collaborator I could ask for, to Justin Barba for pulling off the herculean task of organizing a crazy, entertaining celebration, and to Robert Olson for keeping us all endlessly caffeinated and entertained. It was awesome to spend the weekend meeting readers, writers and fans of all things geeky, and hanging out with Kristine Endsley, Thomas Gondolfi, Hunter Cowles Wallace, Sanan Kolva, C E Chester, Grant Theron, and Peter Jones (I'm definitely forgetting some lovely people).

NOW, how about we do a "The Thief" launch this week?

(FYI: links are to Facebook profiles)

GS Watches TV and Movies, May Edition

(1) All the rumors were true. The Fallout TV show was pretty great. Maybe a little weird for people who haven't played any of the games? Maybe not. Delightfully silly, absurd and fun. Violent, sure, but frankly not as much as I expected. Lucy was pitch-perfect, the Ghoul was the villain we all love to hate, until we just love him, and even Maximus grew on me by the end.

(2) Shogun was beautiful, heartbreaking and haunting, but also uplifting in the end. It pulled no punches about the culture and practices of historical Japan, yet somehow made you fall in love with the place anyway. It didn't try to "update" the story for our modern sensibilities. It's been a long, long time since I read the book, but my sense is, it stayed pretty close to the source material.

(3) Godzilla Minus One was...sweet! It felt like an homage to the old Japanese Godzilla movies in the best ways, and didn't let its cautionary themes about the toil war takes overwhelm its story of the importance of found family. And, you know, killing Godzilla.

(4) Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, though? Possibly one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. And I say this is an unashamed lover of terrible disaster and monster movies. It wasn't just nonsensical and boring. It was BAD.

Feel free to disagree with me on any of these! We all love (and hate) what we love (and hate).

At the Sun's Edge

Check out this incredible image of the solar flare that caused* our aurora party last weekend!

*Okay, technically this is not the exact flare that triggered the auroras, but it was captured in the same time frame from the same region. :)

Via APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240515.html

“Pictured, a large multi-pronged solar prominence was captured extending from chaotic sunspot region AR 3664 out into space, just one example of the particle clouds ejected from this violent solar region. The Earth could easily fit under this long-extended prominence.”

SETI and Dyson Spheres

First, a disclaimer: I doubt that any of these initial candidates will pan out. Striking gold the first time we pan for it seems unlikely; we'll likely need to both refine the process and develop even more powerful, refined instruments.

But, I think this is a superior way to conduct SETI research. The truth is, in order for a civilization to be advanced enough for us to find them across the vast distances involved, they're likely going to need to be able to construct Dyson structures.

Now, whether we want to attract the attention of a species so advanced is another question (interestingly, one I'll be talking about on a panel at MisCon next weekend!). But we should definitely be looking!

“A Study Suggests We Found Potential Evidence of Dyson Spheres—and Alien Civilizations”: https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a60780331/dyson-sphere-evidence-alien-civilizations/

“For more than half a century, scientists have wondered if searching for technosignatures like Dyson Spheres from super-advanced civilizations could help us discover intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Two new studies analyze data from star-gazing satellites to develop a framework for eliminating false positives or potential natural explanations in that search.

Each study found evidence that a handful of stars among the millions observed contain excess radiation that’s consistent with potential Dyson spheres and can’t be immediately explained away as a natural phenomenon.”

And if you want to deep-dive into the science of this research, here’s a piece on the always excellent and thoughtful Centauri Dreams blog: https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2024/05/18/seven-dyson-sphere-candidates/

Extinguishing The Stars

While I was waiting for the edits for The Thief to come back, I dashed out a new short story! I can't tell you much about it right now, except that (a) it is a prequel of sorts to the third Cosmic Shores novel (the title of which you will discover at the end of The Thief), while also being a completely stand-alone story, (b) I LOVE it, and (c) you'll be able to read it this fall.

Northwest Indie Bookfest

I had a great time this Saturday at the Northwest Indie Bookfest. The wonderful Auntie’s Bookshop in downtown Spokane hosted the event, which included 5 regional writers’ groups and 20+ authors doing signings, readings and presentations. I got the total benefit of meeting new readers AND local authors (potential friends!). Props to Amber Laura for being an awesome table-mate and general collaborator. :)

I wish I could tell you what I was so, ah, enthusiastically describing in the second picture, lol.

Solar Eclipse

I was so jealous of the people who grabbed a spot beneath totality; the videos were incredible. I’m definitely visiting my old residence of Colorado Springs in 21 years when the next one comes around!

Here’s a couple of my favorite pictures from the eclipse (though there were so many).

Credit:

Image 1: Joshua Intini (https://twitter.com/Intini_WX/status/1777428414560932136)

Image 2: Erik Kuna (https://twitter.com/SuperclusterHQ/status/1777504797890854927)

Image 3: Peter Forister (https://twitter.com/forecaster25/status/1777434179136819497)

Image 4: NASA (ISS) (https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1777822160087818714)

10th Anniversary Celebration

Mr. Jennsen took me out to a lovely dinner this weekend to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Starshine's publication and the start of this crazy book journey. (You can read all about that HERE, if you missed it in the newsletter).

The many wonderful thoughts you all shared about my books and the ways they've impacted you absolutely bowled me over - my heart is full. I truly have the best readers in the multiverse. Thank you all so much!

Starship Soars

Welcome to the future of spaceflight, everyone! This week, in its third test flight, Starship made it to space, oribiting the planet for around 40 minutes before heading home. No, it didn’t make it all the way to a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, but that’s what testing is for, and it traveled so much farther, for so much longer, than ever before. I was a little twitchy after the second explosive test, but I’m now very optimistic for the future of this spacecraft and what it means for our journey to the moon, then onward to Mars and throughout the solar system.

Now enjoy these absolutely stunning photos of the flight: