Kate Rauner's Blog, page 46

Science Fiction Story with Real Science and Wonderful Young Woman Hero #scifi #sciencefiction #physics #reading

[image error]Two races of humans, several alien species, multiple starships and planets – this story ranges across a galaxy in Marcha Fox’s Beyond Hidden Skies.

The Brightstar family is moving from a safe but restrictive planet to a dangerous outpost world. Creena is a young teenager, a hybrid of the two human races, angry at her brother, in constant trouble for breaking rules, and also my favorite character.

As her family travels via starship to their new world, she seems to be accidentally trapped in an escape pod that launches to the wrong planet. But it may not have been an accident – a powerful man is trying to manipulate her father.

Creena’s reactions are realistic without being annoying (well, only appropriately annoying for a young teen) and her problem-solving feels plausible. Her longing to be back with her family is something I can relate to.

Fox infuses her story with the physics of space-time. The ships are traveling near the speed of light, using Time Dilation Modules. Three main subplots spin out in the book, involving Creena and various members of her family and some interesting comrades they find along the way.

As the characters navigate relations with alien species and space-time, they ponder the role of logic versus feelings, and debate taking action themselves versus trusting the Universeto provide. Growing up for Creena and her brothers requires confronting and overcoming “a serious challenge, [to] learn the meaning of courage.”

This is the first volume in a series, so all those ships, worlds, and species continue over the course of three more books, all available now. Cool.

What others are saying

“I really got involved in the story. I found it quite imaginative and entertaining. I felt that the author did a wonderful job of portraying a young teenage girl, full of fire and yet torn in so many directions.” Jay B. Cutts

“I’m a sci-fi space fan and this story ticked all my boxes.” Wendy Scott

“The authors background with NASA plays a big role in the development of these books. I read the entire series.” Dawn Ireland

Personally, I like real science in my science fiction, but one reviewer said “too much techno-babble.” sterling r walker

Most Basic to Life #biology #science #poem #poetry #whatislife

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Code?

Are you alive?

How do you know?

What do you look at

To see if it’s so?

Is it because

You oxidize food?

Consume and create

Organic

Molecules?

Or the homeostasis

That you maintain?

Do you need cells

To be in the game?

What if the planets

Hold a surprise?

Organized data

May say you’re alive.

Kate Rauner

Thanks to sciworthy.com for raising the question, even if there’s no consensus answer. For you and me, “I think therefore I am” may work as well as any other answer.

Peace Force, a Harriet Walsh novel #scifi #sciencefiction #ebook #amazon #giveaway #read #review #bookreview

[image error]Science fiction with humor, that’s Peace Force. On a planet colonized long ago by humans, Harriet is unemployed and newly homeless. She’s recruited by a crazy robot (funniest robot since Hitchhiker’s Guide’s Marvin) to become the sole member of the police force on a planet that’s so peaceful, it doesn’t need a police force.

Or so it seems.

As new-hire training turns real, Harriet picks up an orphan pickpocket partner, an artificial intelligence car that can’t wait to get out of the garage, and a retired police officer who isn’t ready to leave it all behind.

The story is good entertainment and there are two more books in the series. Comments on Amazon call it a fun romp. Though there is a darker twist at the end I wasn’t expecting, I think the description is spot-on: “It’s good clean fun, written with wry humor.” And the day I’m posting this, it’s free on Amazon.

Blogging note: this is new. When I pasted my post into WordPress, it grabbed the Amazon link and inserted a really-big picture of the book cover with a “buy it now” and “free preview” button. Hmm. Is this convenient or annoying? I wonder who’s paying whom for the link? I took the big buttoned image out this time… but it is slick. Do you like slick?

Here’s a Fun Monthly Roundup of Scifi Books and More #scifi #sciencefiction #review #bookreview #reading

[image error]I’ve found a neat site you should definitely check out, Alasdair Shaw’s monthly roundup.

Here you’ll find science fiction books you’ll want to read, interviews with authors, and also walking guides to ancient sites, outdoor activites, and more. Click on over and wander around – have fun.

[image error]Check out Alasdair’s own scifi too.

Struggling with newfound sentience and desperately trying to repair itself, The Indescribable Joy of Destruction is a ship trying to find a new home. In a galaxy torn apart by generations of civil war, that isn’t an easy task. Tired of being used as a killing machine, it has a huge decision to make: hide and save itself, or help other artificial intelligences achieve freedom. Unable to make the decision alone, it revives the sole human aboard – the enemy officer who crippled it.

Ancient Tragedy is a Stunning Ice Age Find #paleontology #Siberia #mummy #poem #poetry

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Credit: Michil Yakovlev/SVFU/The Siberian Times

Forty thousand years concealed

In the arctic frost,

Mummified from tip to toe,

A baby that was lost.

Millennia did not erase

The tragedy we found.

A mare whose foal,

Just two months old,

Fell, was trapped,

And drowned.

How many days

Did she graze

Along that fatal shore?

Calling for a baby gone

Who would respond no more?

A herd, like time,

Is never still,

And soon away will drift,

To leave behind,

For us to find,

Her unintended gift.

Kate Rauner

This story reminded me that we share a lot with Ice Age animals.

Paleontologists found the mummified body of the young horse inside the 328-foot-deep (100 meters) Batagaika crater during an expedition to Yakutia in eastern Siberia… Its mummified remains were so well-preserved by icy conditions that the skin, the hooves, the tail, and even the tiny hairs in the animal’s nostrils and around its hooves are still visible.

Water, Water Everywhere in the Galaxy #exoplanet #space #NASA

[image error]Scientists have shown that water is likely to be a major component of those exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) which are between two to four times the size of Earth…

Hopefully atmosphere observations in the future — of thick steam atmospheres — can support or refute the new findings.   Goldschmidt Conference

Many of these detected exoplanets are larger than Earth, but it sounds like a lot of that extra mass is water – up to 50% of the planet’s weight, while water on Earth is only 0.02%. Our watery blue world is a desert in comparison.

It makes me wonder… if our Sun had more heavy elements, would Earth be larger? Would it have captured more of the solar system’s water? Would you and I be fish?

We have earlier generations of stars to thank for any watery world including our own. Hydrogen is, of course, everywhere – the most abundant element starting from the Big Bang. But heavier elements owe their existance to fusion within stars and subsequent nova and supernova explosions. That includes oxygen. So water seems to be common in the galaxy.

 

Who-Dun-It Meets the Laws of Robotics #scifi #asimov #sciencefiction #robot #robotics #review #bookreview

[image error]I read Robots of Dawn to discover how Asimov tackled sex – repressed and free-love versions. The book was important to at least one teen struggling with sexual identity.

Sex ais mostly discussed rather than experienced in the story, but there is one sexual encounter – gently done. Asimov published the book in 1983, so I guess he was rather late to the topic as compared to other Giants of Science Fiction.

The story is a who-dun-it puzzle based on Asimov’s famous Three Laws of Robotics. He wrote several stories where a robot is trapped in some bizarre behavior when the laws conflict. Here, a robot’s positronic mind has been destroyed, which leads to a political crisis between two roboticists on the planet Aurora, which further leads to detective Baley being called to solve the case.

Asimov tries to lift the story from merely a puzzle to something important to humanity by saying Aurora-humans must have humanoid robots to colonize new worlds before occupying them. And that Aurorans can somehow forbid Earth-humans from exploring new worlds. This isn’t convincing to me, but doesn’t really matter to the story.

The book is pure Asimov. While events do occur, the story is told in lengthy conversations among the characters. I read the book in many short sittings, but read every word and got through without trouble. I call the style Socratic. Characters question each other back and forth in static encounters. This can drag, and one character even complains to Baley, “I know you must have everything repeated and repeated.”

The robots are barely described. Asimov sometimes goes into great detail on settings, even basic settings like a dining room, so this seems odd. Maybe it’s because Robots of Dawn is the third book in the series and he thinks I already know.

All robots seem to be humanoid, and two are called humaniform. (Here’s a detail: a male-shaped humaniform robot is fully functional. As Star Trek’s Mr Data is fully functional. I told you this story involves sex. And in case you think Asimov’s story is fantasy, think again – sexbot-induced social change is on the horizon.) Asimov’s character also spends a lot of time in bathrooms and thinking about bathroom behavior. Aurorans have holographically enhanced bathrooms. Nothing gross, though.

I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say

Baley uncovers enough to settle the political issues, and he solves the robotics puzzle too in a neat twist that turns the book into a prequel to his famous Foundation series from the 1940s.

I read an old paperback edition from my town’s public library. The introduction promised that not a single word had been omitted from the original 1983 hardcover book.

I’ve included links to an ebook edition in this post. In reviews on some of Asimov’s other works that were transmogrified into ebooks, I’ve seen comments warning they’d been badly edited. I can’t say if this book was re-edited, but reader beware. Maybe you can find an old paper edition.

What others are saying on Amazon

“By the time this third installment was written, some of the tech was already looking and feeling a little obsolete–but Asimov is regarded as a master for good reason.”

“The book kept me guessing about the solution to the mystery. The only problem I had is that the book felt a tad contrived with the social situation.”

“This book has very little action. Almost every little detail is intellectualize then analyzed to the nth degree . It makes reading rather sluggish.”

I agree with these comments from Amazon readers, but I also found it easy to finish as laong as I took my time. Robots of Dawn was easier to read than Asimov’s earlier Foundation, and most readers enjoyed Robots and the entire robot series.

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

[image error]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 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.

[image error]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.

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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.

Federation Diplomat Scifi – how history informs science fiction #scifi #sciencefiction #history #stories #author

[image error]Today I’m pleased to present a guest post by E J Randolph, author of a fascinating scifi series that follows a diplomat solving planetary problems. Though there’s plenty of action and good characters, it’s EJ’s unique perspective I especially enjoy. Take it away, EJ.

I use history in my science fiction. Strange as it seems, to write about the future, I have to know the past.

My main character is a Federation diplomat who goes to planets troubled by civil unrest, and she brings about peace through unusual but still historically valid methods.

That means I have to know how insurgencies develop.

There is a continuum that all insurgencies follow. First there is a movement. The government cracks down. The movement organizes. The government cracks down with violence. The insurgents pick up weapons, and a shooting war starts.

You may have noticed something. The government is driving the escalation of violence. In the news, the rebels are always portrayed as instigating things. No, the government is unwilling to share any power or address any issues.

Consider the problem: Does anyone willingly give up power?

Yeah, now you know why insurgencies seem to have an innate dynamic, why they seem unstoppable. Because the government has mishandled things.

And, that my friends, is a lesson of history.

Start reading EJs books with Retrograde: Some Principles Are Timeless and continue on with the series. Visit her at randolphweb.wordpress.com.

Looking for a Good Read? Check Out Reviews Here including my book :) #review #bookreview #scifi #sciencefiction #fantasy

Thanks to N K Chavush for reviewing my scifi story about a near-future Mars colony, Glory on Mars. Authors can be the hardest critics, so it’s an honor to be his Book of the Week.

[image error]Lately there has been a buzz with Mars being at its closest to earth for a long time and appearing bright in the summer night’s sky. Kate Rauner’s genius writing style brings the red planet even closer to us and is so original that it’s a lot different to other science fiction space novels. The characters work so well together and fit well into the alien scenery.

If you’re looking for a good scifi/fantasy read, check out the reviews here by author N K Chavush.

Then check out N K Chavusk’s own book, Anto: Curse of the Hidden City, also available in the UK

[image error]When something dark and evil is headed towards Anto, an underground city that is unknown to man, the Anthidden tribe will do anything to protect their very own existence. Only one soldier: Tarmus has what it takes to save the city, but will it be enough against what’s coming?