Kate Rauner's Blog, page 17

Visit the True Golden Age of Scifi With These Zines # scifi #sciencefiction #magazine #goldenage

[It’s the time of year for auld lang syne. This post is a few years old, but still one of my favorites. Kate]

The 1950s were the Golden Age of Science Fiction. You may recognize the names of zines like Astounding Science Fiction, Thrilling Wonder Stories, and Imaginative Tales. But there were many more.

I recently found a couple real gems: fantascience magazines Peon and LEER, both published by Charles Lee Riddle. Independent publishing didn’t start with ebooks and Amazon – it was well underway with only snail-mail to rely on. These magazines were true labors of love, since Riddle was active duty military and so forbidden to make a profit on his zines.

Peon and LEER could have been lost, but Riddle’s son Bob Riddle has posted their history and several almost-lost editions.

Publishing in those days involved typing the stories on a mimeograph stencil master with a manual typewriter. He had his own mimeograph machine and equipment but still had problems with the print quality or transferring artwork to the stencil, as he pointed out in several issues.

There were pen-like tools, with points and wheels and ball-shaped knobs on the ends that looked like they belonged in the hands of a dentist. Plastic templates were his source for clipart.

[Look for] some familiar names from the world of Science Fiction that appear as contributing authors.

Hmm… Bela Lugosi?

Don’t spend another minute reading this blog post. Instead, download pdfs of these wonderful magazines with their articles and stories from scifi’s past. They’re delightful, and I thank Bob Riddle for sharing them with us.

Dinos in a Winter Wonderland #dinosaur

If you still think of dinosaurs as sluggish reptiles dragging their tales through fetid swamps, you’re behind the science.

Millions of years ago, an entire spiky, feathery and beaked menagerie of dinosaurs thrived in polar habitats… While the Cretaceous world was a bit warmer, with no polar icecaps, winter could still be harsh. “There would have been ice and snow in the three-month-long, dark winters,”… Dinosaurs nested in these places and stayed year-round Smithsonian

Dinosaurs lived in both of Earth’s polar regions, and since the 1980s, evidence has accumulated to show some species actually thrived despite the long nights and harsh climate.

The raptor-relative Troodon was a feathery, eight-foot-long dinosaur with large eyes. While rare elsewhere, Fiorillo says, “it is the overwhelmingly abundant theropod dinosaur [in Alaska.]” The small-carnivore’s large eyes may have given it an advantage, especially during the dark months. Smithsonian

It’s nice to see science catch up with what every dinosaur-loving kid has known forever: dinos ruled everywhere.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year #MerryXmas #MerryChristmas2021

This year, I hung my ornaments on an agave flower stalk from my yard here in Southwest New Mexico, USA. Agave put out amazing flowers, but only once. The plant dies but its single dried stalk remains, sometimes for years. I cut off at least eight feet of stalk below the side arms where the flowers bloom, and it’s still eight feet tall.

Best wishes to you and yours throughout the holiday season.

Do Not Fire Up Your Spaceship and Leave Earth

I don’t usually pass on jokes because humor is a dangerous thing, but I couldn’t resist:

This is a joke, it is only a joke. If FB were about to destroy the planet, you wouldn’t get a warning. (Another joke! Come on, people. Oh, and Happy Solstice – one of Earth’s annually reoccurring orientations we humans particularly enjoy.)

Thanks to Bob Riddle and his Que Tal in the Current Skies.

Happy Birthday, Stunning Short Stories – Scifi & Fantasy Anthology in Top 20 Every Month for a Year! #amreadingfantasy #shortstories #scifi

With three author friends, I published a collection of eight short stories in science fiction and fantasy. The book has remained in the top twenty of its Amazon categories for a year! And won the 2021 NM/AZ Book Awards for eFiction. Thank you, readers

Don’t miss this superb collection. Claim a free ebook from Amazon and other favorite on-line stores, all the major digital formats.

Click here now and choose your favorite store: books2read.com/StunningShortStories

Also available in paperback. Great stocking stuffer, and no supply chain delivery delays! Receive the ebook today. Paperbacks printed in the USA (also UK, Canada, Europe, and Australia.) Click now.

Tags: Science Fiction Anthologies, Action & Adventure Literary Fiction, Fiction Anthologies

Asteroids – how many are there, and do they all orbit between Mars and Jupiter? #asteroid #asteroide #solarsystem

Answer #1: Lots

Answer #2: No

This animation is jaw-dropping. Sun in the middle, colored orbital paths for the planets. Jupiter is the outermost shown, then Mars’ orbit closer to the Sun, then Earth and the rest of the inner planets. The size of the asteroids is wildly exaggerated so you can see them… but even knowing that… that’s a lot of asteroids all over the solar system.

Thanks to asterank.com Click and visit the site for a full 3D view where you can rotate, zoom, and pan.

Terraforming Mars – Fusion Generated Plasma? #Mars #Colony #scifibooks

Mars is cold and practically airless. Even if we discover a way to add atmosphere, with no protective magnetic field, gases will be stripped away as we watch. And cosmic and solar radiation will continue to fry the surface.

Unless…

Sometimes, actual science beats science fiction. Researchers have now come up with an even better way that we might be able to make Mars habitable… Once the generator landed on Phobos, it would subject surface material to extreme heat until it morphed into a gaseous state or at least vaporized. An electrical current would then be zapped through that gas or vapor to ionize it… With every orbit around Mars, the ring would be reinforced with more plasma until it built up a powerful enough current that would be similar to the magnetic field which surrounds Earth. SyFy

Click Now to Join a Colony on Mars, eBook Available from Favorite on-line Stores

Fusion reactors would be needed to generate enough power, but fusion is only 20 years away, isn’t it? (Hasn’t it been 20 years away for generations? Well, bound to be true someday.)

In my science fiction series, the colony ultimately arrives at a terraformed Mars in a very different way. Check out the final book in the series to find out how.

Don’t worry about starting at the end. Each book covers a different generation with a different hero , each on their own journey through danger on the deadly Red Planet. Or, do yourself a favor and buy all five stories in a value-priced box set.

Click Now and Follow the Colony through Generations, eBook Available in Major Formats from Favorite On-line Stores

Oh baby, it’s cold outside… scifi to curl up with #amreading #scifi

Winter is closing in, at least if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere. My dog curls up tighter when I call for walkies at dawn.

I’m pounding away at my new story: pilots clearing space junk from orbit. This is a real life problem too, as years of defunct craft collide and scatter around the Earth. Where will it lead? Will we be trapped on Earth by our own trash?

One of the latest collisions was intentional. USA Space Command says of a Russian test:

“The test so far has generated more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and will likely generate hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris.” USSPACECOM

Astronauts at the International Space Station sheltered in their docked spaceship for a couple hours in case dodging debris required a quick evacuation.

Shenanigans in space threaten my scifi pilots too. I’ll let you know when I release the trilogy. I’ve got two books drafted so far, so it’s coming… it’s coming…

In the meantime, curl up with some exciting winter reading, available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited too. Click now to check out a dozen stories.

This small bundle is available until December 12th, so click now.

Happy Reading

Average Dinosaurs #haiku #sciku #dinosaurs

Boring dinosaurs
Grazing Mesozoic fields
Have the most to teach

A perfectly dull Hadrosaurus that could still get as big as an elephant, so a herd would have been something to see.

Beyond the flashy teeth and horns, the most plentiful dino herds give us something special: numbers.

Less hyped, more common species are where learning happens. These were the dinosaurs that altered ecosystems depending on what plants they ate and even where they walked, trampling some areas and letting others grow. They often were the food our favorite carnivores relied on. And these dinosaurs were so abundant that they’re more useful for paleontologists who want to know how dinosaurs varied, how they grew and other basic facts. Thanks to Smithsonian

Happy Thanksgiving #turkeyday

Happy American Thanksgiving, and to our Canadian friends, why not roast another turkey?

Birds in my backyard, in the mountains of Southwest New Mexico, stay alert and escape the dinner table.

Enjoy your holiday