Robert Heinlein once wrote a book called The Number of the Beast, a fun frolic about a scientist who invents a time/space device and his family. However, unbeknownst to most of his fans, Heinlein also wrote a parallel novel called The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes. The two novels begin…
As you’ve (hopefully) seen, on April 30th, SpaceX successfully launched its first crewed ship, which delivered the two astronauts safely to the international space station. It was the first piloted space flight from US soil in nearly nine years and the first new spacecraft in nearly 40 years. Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken said the…
Here’s a snippet from Chapter 26 (at the moment – numbers may change as I edit): Lontano wove through the crowd, heedless of toes beneath his shoes or elbows in his face. He got to the corner and spotted Tell’s ginger mop just ahead. Tell’s left arm was draped around the waist of a statuesque…
On this day in Space history, May 19, 2000, the new space shuttle “glass cockpit” made its debut. The old Atlantis cockpit had four cathode-ray tube displays and 32 different gauges and indicators. Replacing these were eleven new flat-panel, full-color display screens. The new technology made it far easier to pilot the shuttle (plus, it…
Science News has a great article about the latest on Mars. According to the latest data, even though pure water just doesn’t last on the surface, brine might last for up to six hours. NASA’s Curiosity and Phoenix landers have found salts known as perchlorates in the soil, which might hint at the possible existence…
May 4-10 is Children’s Book Week. What are some favorite books from your childhood? Here are some of mine: Goodnight Moon is a lovely read-aloud book for small children. The pictures are colorful and full of interesting details. My mother would end each section by asking “Where’s the mouse?” and my sister and I had…
Here’s a short sample of a scene I’ve been working on. Tell and Lontano are flying to Atlanta, Georgia to record their new album with the band. “I could definitely get used to this.” Tell dropped into the window seat and stretched out his long legs. He peered out the window at the tarmac, squinting…
This is an interesting novel, though a bit of a slow-read in spots. You wander amongst several story lines (a pirate, collectors and storytellers, an innkeeper and the moon, Fate, and several mortals who seem entwined in the above stories) to reach the ultimate conclusion of all tales at the end of the book. Here’s…
Turns out, if you can find just the right temperature and pressure, you can make a substance boil, steam and freeze at the same time. Here’s a video of cyclohexane alternating between solid, liquid and gas.
It’s International Children’s Book Day today. What were some of your favorites as a child?