Sometimes I question why I follow so many aesthetic mood-board type accounts on Twitter, why I spend so much time on there, but then I get some real inspiration, often from rather unlikely vectors. Such as this pair of posts yesterday from two different users … Continue readingTaking Earth into the 23rd Century
It seems in my space-opera universe the world might be all but godless but ghosts are abundant; indeed, proof of the omnipresent ghost cult can be found in quite a few of my stories. But in every case so far the spirits of the dead … Continue readingTo Love a Ghost
Recently I’ve been bouncing around several story concepts, but none have lit a fire under me that tells me “I wanna write this now! Ooh…yay!”; it’s been more like “eeeh…maybe someday”. But then I started listening to “Earthbound”, a wonderful ambient piece by Dreamstate Logic, … Continue readingA Far-Future Duology?
I’ve yet to publish the story, but I have finished it: a slice of life at the dawn of my alternate timeline’s space age. One of the big supporting characters is a friend of the protagonist: Muffy, a luscious tan platinum-blonde teenage girl with a … Continue readingTaffy’s Life: A Few Thoughts
Well, I went to Los Angeles and it turns out I love it; I’d move there in a heartbeat if I could afford to, and that’s the only place I’ve been able to say that for. Anyway, my latest escapade to the Southwest stimulates and … Continue readingThe Sun Belt in my Alternate History
I know I’ve spent a few days brainstorming for the first Mars mission in my science-fictional alternate history, but already I can’t help but plot out things even further for the timeline of early spaceflight. In particular, after the first Mars landing in 1963, what … Continue readingAn Odyssey to the Outer Solar System?
Years ago I established that in my alternate-historical/science-fictional setting a Russian-led expedition is the first to reach Mars in 1963, 22 years after the first manned spaceflight, and 14 years after the first landing on the Moon. Now that I’ve written up the first flight … Continue readingWorldbuilding the First Mars Landing
In my post “The Boon of Young Motherhood” I proposed a kind of generational division of labor: sex and babies for the young, career work for the old. After all, fundamentally you can work a job far later in life than you can have a … Continue readingToward a Generational Division of Labor?
Having given some thought to my alternate timeline’s space program recently, I’ve been doing some research on space history in our world. One aspect that stands out to me is how much more capable a super-heavy-lift launcher (like the Saturn V, SLS, or SpaceX Starship) … Continue readingAll I Ask is a Tall Rocket…
I’ve finished writing up my story of the denizens of the Astoria, Oregon boarding house, weighing in at 17,000 words, which I will release sometime later this year; on Christmas Night 1941 they see live on their television the first manned mission to outer space, … Continue readingMy Lunar Program After “Wings of Fire”