For the curious reader of science fiction (scifi) and fantasy
The Boston Globe has already put online the top ten commercials to be run during tomorrow’s Superbowl broadcast! What more do you need? Watch the commercials now (some of them are pretty good!), and then you can read a good book or watch cat videos during the game!
Here’s one from Audi. Watch the rest here.
We’re starting a new circuit around the sun, and what better way to launch than with a book sale? I agree. Starting today and for the next five days, the ebook of my novel The Rapture Effect is just $.99 at all the usual places. That’s less than the cost of a candy bar at the movie theater, and will last far longer!
If you’re one of those discerning people who already owns it, please pass the word. And thank you.
Here’s one of my favorite blurbs from another writer:
“A lively dance of ideas—first contact, interstellar war, artificial intelligence, alien culture—and it moves at a rapid pace, from Earth through cyberspace to the Horsehead Nebula, and various points between. It’s well-worth the trip ticket.” —Roger Zelazny, author of Lord of Light
This is a photo of last night’s full moon, shining through the star atop a Christmas tree in Beirut (from AP, via NPR). This is the first full moon on Christmas since 1977, and the last until 2034! Our skies are cloudy here in Boston, but I hope you get to enjoy it!
Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas! To those who don’t celebrate Christmas, blessings on your day!
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Jesus! Many happy returns!
Straight down, on a tail of fire, that’s how. Anyone who’s read science fiction of the 1950s (Tom Corbett: Space Cadet being a particularly fine example), or seen Destination Moon—or, come to think of it, watched any Apollo landing on the Moon, knows that.
After several attempts, and several failures, SpaceX succeeded with a nighttime launch on December 21, hurling a satellite into orbit, and sending the first stage back to make a soft landing at Starbase Canaveral. It’s not just for show, though the sight was a beautiful one. The purpose is to bring down the cost of space travel by making it possible to reuse these rockets, instead of letting them burn up in the atmosphere or slam down in the ocean.
This is a remarkable achievement for SpaceX, and another step toward more affordable space travel.
Great photos at theverge.com…
and a comparison of this achievement with the recent landing of the New Shepherd rocket from Blue Origin. (Hint: New Shepherd was an outstanding achievement, but this one went higher, faster, harder—and launched an actual satellite in the bargain.)
Like many people I know, I’ve been finding it hard to believe that Christmas is almost upon us. It just doesn’t feel like it; maybe it’s the unseasonably warm weather, or maybe it’s the feeling that we’re whirling round and round the sun faster every year.
See if this helps. It’s the U.S. Air Force Band, making a flashmob appearance at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum last year. Enjoy.
Pay no attention while I try to figure out if this blog feed is working. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll be right back.
Here’s wishing a happy and blessed Easter to all who celebrate Easter! And a happy and blessed fine Spring* evening (or day, if you’re far enough west of me to still have daylight) to everyone regardless of what you celebrate!
We had a lovely day of gathering with good friends and good food (maybe a little too much of that last), followed by a good nap. I was intending to go for a bike ride when I got home from our gathering. But the recliner got to me first.
*Make that a fine Autumn evening for my friends south of the equator.
I just came across this series of animations a couple of weeks ago. Any dog person has to love Car Park.
And if you liked that, this is from the same studio, Bird Box:
Check out their home page for a bunch more. Great stuff!
And sending back pictures! Including a picture of its own shadow on Mars. That unbelievable Rube-Goldberg system of landing worked. Brilliant! What a happy looking crew at JPL. Well done!
For writers like me who are self-repubbing our backlist books as ebooks—and for that matter, for indie writers of all stripes—one tough if not impossible sell has been libraries. There simply hasn’t been a reasonable way for individual authors to get their ebooks into a system where libraries could buy them. Most library ebook (and audiobook) lending is handled through Overdrive, a distribution system you’ve probably dealt with if you’ve ever borrowed an ebook or audiobook from a library. (I myself download a lot of audiobooks, which I listen to on my Zune while walking Captain Jack or doing housework. They all come through Overdrive.) Well, Overdrive is not a friendly system to get your books into if you’re an individual author-publisher. Some of my colleagues have been trying and trying, and still don’t have their books in there.
Today Smashwords announced a distribution deal with Baker & Taylor, which has been around forever as a print book distributor, and one that many libraries order from. B&T now has an ebook distribution network called Axis360, which offers ebooks to public libraries. And books published through Smashwords will now be eligible for distribution through Axis360. This is great news for writers, and for libraries and library patrons (I hope).
The news from Smashwords also includes distribution to the Blio ebookstore and app. You can read the press release from Smashwords for more info.