December 2023 - unexpected connections
Hi Everyone,
I’m in the midst of editing The Lost Starchart (a working title, I’ll probably change it before release). It’s been fun to work on because the protagonist is a curmudgeon in a way that I really enjoy. The book is loosely related to the Encoded Orbits series, but the story goes in an entirely different direction (with mostly different characters). But, it won’t be ready until deep into 2024.
Unrelated to my writing, I found out today that a new season of Connections is just out—and I couldn’t be more excited (the picture above is from one of the earlier seasons). I saw the original ones, as reruns, when I was teenager and loved them. Basically they’re history documentaries, but they follow unexpected connections through time. Like how automated looms resulted in computers, or how coal tar resulted in modern pharmaceuticals.
This news came to me through a podcast I regularly listen to—Ologies (a podcast about science, history and other interesting things—and it makes me laugh). The episode I turned on this morning happened to be an interview with James Burke, the host of Connections. It sounds like he has found all sorts of new, weird and fantastic connections.
Connections, along with The Nature of Things (a long running science documentary series) both inspired me to go into science. And going into science is what got me writing science fiction.
As an unrelated tangent, yesterday my workplace put on a screening of the documentary True Survivors, a climate change documentary with a message of hope. While I was there I got to meet one of the new hosts of The Nature of Things.
How’s that for unexpected connections? (I suspect I’ll start watching the new season of Connections this weekend.)
What I’ve been reading
I recently finished Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge and Ledge by Stacy McEwan, two very different fantasy novels and both were fantastic.
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi really pulled me in (I finished the book in a couple of days). It turns out there’s parallel world where Godzilla-like monsters roam free—but it’s being kept secret. The protagonist gets to be part of a scientific expedition to that world. Hijinks ensue. The novel was pure escapism and I loved it.
Until 2024,
Jeannette
Check out this book by a friend:
On an icy, barren world, a starship dreams of doom…
Throughout the galaxy, the reclusive alien race known as The One are incapacitated by terror.
On the planet Luddeccea, wolf-human hybrid Volka harbors a terrible secret…a secret that must explain her nightmares.
Trapped on a luxurious asteroid, pleasure ‘bot 6T9 struggles to find purpose—until he receives a message from an Unidentified Caller.
The worlds of The One, Volka, and 6T9 are about to collide.
The galaxy will be shaken to its core.
The starship is waking.
Grab a free copy here.
My Books:
Hope is the Thing With Feathers - direct or from the shops
Encoded Orbits
Fractured Orbits - direct or from the shops
The Alien Algorithm - direct or from the shops
Subject 34 - direct or from the shops
Settler Chronicles
Day 115 on an Alien World - direct or from the shops
Far Side of the Moon - direct or from the shops
Abandoned Ships, Hijacked Minds - direct or from the shops
The Alien Artifact - direct or from the shops
And if you aren’t already a subscriber, what’s stopping you (especially if you have read this far)?