Laura Montgomery's Blog, page 11

LibertyCon After Action Report

LibertyCon was tremendous fun.  This year I attended more readings.  I got to hear Martin Shoemaker read from his upcoming novel–which I will definitely be getting.  Monalisa Foster read from her contribution to the anthology, To Be Men.  “Cooper” is a haunting story, and I’ll be picking up that one as well.  Les Johnson talked about the development of graphene, from the long search for the miraculous stuff to the startling realization that it had been in front of them all along.  I left too...

LibertyCon is this Weekend!

I’m so excited to be attending LibertyCon in Chattanooga, Tennessee this weekend.  I will get to see my science fiction friends, old and new, and attend all sorts of cool panels and events.

This year, now that I have conquered the obstacle of producing books in paperback, I will even have an author table.  Thanks to my marketing maven friend Cheri, I will have a poster and bookmarks, too.  I’ve sent books ahead.  I am, of course, nervous about whether anyone will stop by my table, but life is...

High Justice, Lawyers in Space, and Space Law for Writers

Because I’m a space lawyer in my day job, I’ve been told that I should write a book on space law for science fiction writers.  I’ve been thinking about that.  Over at GroundBasedSpaceMatters.com, my space law blog, I do the occasional review of near-space, near-future science fiction.  I review the story to illustrate a point concerning space law.  Sometimes the writer gets it right. Sometimes not.

What I’m thinking is that I should collect these essays eventually and put them out as a book. ...

Space Law Article

For those of you who enjoy the legal issues in my Ground Based Universe, you might be interested to know that I have a short article addressing space treaty issues in the new edition of the Astrosociological Insights newsletter.  You can find it here.

The summary gives you a sense of how the outer space treaties don’t need to be used to stifle private industry in space:

[T]he interpretation and implementation of much of the treaty raises many questions of first impression. This means that all...

EARLY SPACEPORTS is available for free

EARLY SPACEPORTS is available on Kindle Unlimited for free for the next few days.  For you Waking Late fans who’ve been pondering whether to try the Ground Based Universe, this is your chance to check it out.  These stories have lawyers and space law, and are much more bourgeois, but that can be a good thing.  Take a look and see what you think before the price goes up.

From the blurb:

In the late 21st century, orbital industry floods the world with riches, riches which can wash up against th...

Cover Survey for LIKE A CONTINENTAL SOLDIER

My Waking Late trilogy is almost done.  It started with SLEEPING DUTY, the story of a space marine trapped on a lost medieval colony planet.   OUT OF THE DELL continues the story, and now the third one, LIKE A CONTINENTAL SOLDIER, is with its final beta reader.

This means I’ve started working with my fabulous cover artist Phil Smith on the cover itself.  In a case of an embarrassment of riches, he provided two sketches–with typography placeholders–that I love.  I love them so much I can’t dec...

Now published: Causes of Separation

For those of you who enjoyed Travis J.I. Corcoran’s The Powers of the Earth, the sequel, Causes of Separation, is out!  I just picked up a copy and am looking forward to finding out what happens next.

The Powers of the Earth is the tale of a near-future, secret lunar colony, genetically enhanced Dogs who are now people (those of us with dogs know that this has long been true), AI, and Earth’s decision to invade the Moon.  The book is both an answer and a homage to Robert Heinlein’s The Moon i...

Midway Writer’s Conference: After Action Report

I announced at Sunday dinner last week that I was going to a writer’s conference.  My father and one of my sons looked appropriately interested.  My husband rolled his eyes.  He informed them that this “writer’s conference” meant I was having lunch with Jessica.  Jessica, who writes fantasy as J.M. Ney-Grimm, was my college roommate.  We lost touch over the years, but I found her again at The Passive Voice and we’ve been in contact ever since–if only by email for the most part.

We do have pho...

Space is Elsewhere

I have a new short story I’m finishing up.  It’s called Rapunzel, and is a tale of first contact.  The cover is done, but the story itself won’t be ready to go for a couple of weeks.  It belongs in neither my Waking Late nor Ground Based universes, so I’ve been mulling how to categorize it.  Also, there’s at least one other story in the pipeline that doesn’t fit either universe.

The answer arrived last week from one of my students.  In my space law class at Catholic University’s law school, w...

Op-ed and Paper on Outer Space Treaty

In addition to writing science fiction, I practice space law. In that side of my life, I’ve been working on a scholarly paper for the Mercatus Center about the Outer Space Treaty. One part of the treaty requires the authorization and supervision of non-governmental entities in outer space. The FAA has indicated it thinks this means it has to deny private actors access to space if someone isn’t regulating them. This is wrong.

I discuss why this is wrong in an op-ed at RealClear Policy here.  I...