Tsana Dolichva's Blog, page 2

Quick note on terraforming Galilean moons

This post comes from an "Ask Tsana" comment.
Sam Keola asked:

Aloha from Hawai'i again Tsana! I have a hypothetical question. If in the very distant future we had the technology to terraform, would it be best to terraform Callisto and Ganymede or set up domed bases? Ganymede is suppose to have an ocean similar to Europa, but I'm not sure if that's "world wide". Your thoughts on terraforming!

The main problem with terraforming either of those moons is their gravity isn't large enough to keep any...

Review: Polymer by Sally Rogers-Davidson

This  review is posted as part of my Australian Women Writers Challenge. I have cross-posted it on my review blog.

Polymer by Sally Rogers-Davidson is a science fiction story which I would categorise as adventure. Apart from being in first person, it reminded me of pulpy SF adventure stories from way back when. Except with a female protagonist and, like, more female issues than would ever have come up in those books.

The main story takes place within the pages of a long-lost journal writte...

Other Foreign Skies

This post is a response to a question I got on my Ask Tsana page.

Sam Keola asked:

Love the views of Jupiter from Ganymede and Io. How large would it appear from Europa or Callisto? And how large exactly would the sun appear? (I know tiny as hell, but another lovely picture would be amazing.)

The mathematical answer to that is explained in this old post. And I was going to link to my first set of Jupiter images but I have come to realise I made a mistake when I made them and Jupiter is smaller...

Cool article

Browsing the internets, I came across this rather neat article about Earth's final solar eclipse (many, many years hence). Check it out here. It talks about the moon moving away from the Earth until one day it will be too small to completely cover the sun in our sky.

If that sounds familiar, it might be because of this post I wrote about the moon being closer to the Earth in the (now cancelled) TV show Terra Nova. (Hint: not for the reasons they said in the show.)

Review: When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett

This review is part of my Science Fiction Australian Women Writers Challenge. You can check my progress here and about the challenge in general here. Since starting the challenge, I have started a review-only blog and this review is cross-posted there.

When We Have Wings by Claire Corbett is set in a vaguely near future Sydney where the rich can fly thanks to having wings implanted on their backs.

Before I get into talking about the story, I want to point out that, from a physics point of view,...

Review: Black Glass by Meg Mundell

This review is part of my Australian Women Writers Challenge (see banner at side). Since starting the challenge, I've started a dedicated review blog (with fantasy as well as SF books reviewed) here. This post is cross posted from said other blog.

Black Glass, debut novel by Meg Mundell, caught my eye because it was shortlisted for Aurealis Awards in both the SF and YA categories. (And being written by a woman, hence counting towards my SF Aussie Women Writers Challenge also helped.)

The narrat...

Destroying the Earth

This post is inspired by a question I got on my Ask Tsana page. Katrina asked:

I'm trying to come up with a simple (haha) and plausible way to destroy a planet to kick things off for a story but am having trouble getting the science right.

One of the first sites I visited to figure this out was this Geocide site: http://qntm.org/geocide

Under the Geocide in fiction page (http://qntm.org/fictional), the author says, "The Sun Crusher is a relatively small ship which carries a small number of...

Review: The Rhesus Factor by Sonny Whitelaw

The Rhesus Factor by Sonny Whitelaw has been sitting on my harddrive for a few years, waiting for me to finally get around to reading it. The Australian Women Writers Challenge gave me the push I needed to pick it up. The Rhesus Factor can be downloaded as a free pdf from Whitelaw's website (you have to click on the link in the left menu).

In essence, The Rhesus Factor is an eco-thriller. Set in the near future when the Gulf Stream has stopped, climate change is decidedly noticeable and...

Sciencefail rant: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

First things first: sorry it's been a while between posts. Life has been busier of late and I haven't quite had the brain space to devote to writing a serious sciencey blog post. Until now. I was reading Across the Universe by Beth Revis, a recent YA science fiction book set on a generation ship and just as I got up to the "ooh, things are getting interesting" plot-thickening part, I was smacked in the face by an epic science fail. This is what I am now going to rant about.

There will be...

Review: Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz

I stumbled upon this book quite by accident after following a link that took me to the author's website. When I saw she had written a steampunk novella set in Australia, how could I possibly resist buying it? I didn't really need the added incentive of being able to count it towards the Australian Women Writers Challenge. And before you argue, steampunk counts as science fiction because of the technological and scientific sentiment inherent in (the characters) inventing new old tech.

Wanted...