The next book is turning into an epic. Decided I needed more delta-v to pull it off. This oughta do it.
Sweet Maria’s, fueling writers and rocket scientists since 1997.
Envelopes
Is cannibalism appropriate for middle grade? Asking for a friend…
But seriously, this next book is shaping up to push the envelope. Several envelopes. All the envelopes, maybe.
image: Twemoji (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Twemoji12_1f914.svg), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en, unaltered
Starship launch
SpaceX successfully launched Starship this week. Here’s some perspective on what that means for our future in space.
From the article:
“This means that, within a year or so, SpaceX will have a rocket that costs about $30 million and lifts 100 to 150 metric tons to low-Earth orbit.
Bluntly, this is absurd.”
And very very cool.
Ars Technica
Hunger
“Hunger, or the fear of it, has always played a major role in determining the actions and attitudes of man. In every age and every land people have starved…”
More light reading in preparation for the next book in the Generation Mars series: Food.
Light reading
Some light reading for the next book. In 1945, thirty-six men volunteered for the first scientific study of the effects of starvation. It wasn’t pretty.
Really feeling sorry for my main characters right now. I had a cookie about an hour ago, and my stomach is already grumbling.
(Astute followers will notice this wasn’t in the to-read stack image I posted recently. Research requires flexibility.)
So much to read
My current to-read stack, in no particular order. (This is in addition to a gazillion papers and articles on orbital dynamics, Earth-Mars cyclers, starvation, malnutrition, and food production on Mars that I am reading for the next book.)
What’s in yours?
Surprise
I just listened to the latest episode of the Song Exploder podcast, which discusses Green Day’s Basket Case (https://songexploder.net/green-day). Turns out that the epochal ode to questionable mental health started out as a love song. Go listen to a few minutes right now, from 2:45 to about 5:10. Or listen to the whole thing if you want. I’ll wait…
That’s about how writing a book works for me (minus the crystal meth). Honestly, I don’t know exactly how I do it. I have an idea for a story; I read a bunch of stuff; I start typing every day: fragments, Socratic dialogues, technical notes, whatever bubbles up into my consciousness; eventually, the story begins to take shape and I move out of the journaling phase and into the real writing. And then surprises happen: ideas that sound good one day seem terrible the next; minor characters suddenly take on personalities that require a major plot thread; other threads that seemed critical lose their meaning and are cast aside. Finally, almost mysteriously, there is a book, and I can say with certainty that it ends up nowhere I might have guessed when I set out with that first idea.
I love that. The surprise is why I write. I can’t speak for others, but I would guess that even the most organized and methodical writers cherish that surprise when it happens. I hope they do.
(image: first draft of Kerouac’s On the Road, cc-by-sa-2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kerouac_ontheroad_scroll.jpg)
Ingenuity
Ingenuity was a goofy idea (let’s fly a helicopter in near-vacuum) that worked out better than anyone expected. 72 flights, more than two hours total air time, 11 miles ground distance covered, all on another planet in air that is less than 1% as thick as Earth’s. Bravo!
Ars Technica Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Dawn Colony
“What brought you to Mars?” said Ori. The adults in the colony had grown up on one planet then decided to move to another. Why they did this was a topic that interested all the kids.
“It was the culture,” said Katy. “I realized Dawn was the greatest experiment in human culture ever conducted, so I came to see it myself. I only planned to be here one year, but then the Schism occurred.” Ori knew that term meant the time when the Martian colonists refused to return to Earth. “I knew the changes that would cause would be profound,” said Katy, “and I had to be here to record them.” She paused, remembering. “That’s partly true, at least. But, also, I loved what I saw happening on Mars and wanted to be part of it. So, when the last transport left for Earth, I stayed.”
—
From Water: Generation Mars, Book Three. Available now at https://www.amazon.com/Water-Generation-Mars-Book-Three/dp/1733731067
Image: Dawn Colony mission patch
Zombies?
The opening was a ramp leading down into darkness. Tomás went into a small booth next to the hole and flipped some switches. The darkness below suddenly blinded them with brightness as the lights came on and reflected up at them from the blue-whiteness of the ice. Their visors quickly attenuated the difference in lighting, and they were able to see again.
“That should keep zombies away, no?” said Tomás.
The kids looked at him questioningly. Katy cleared her throat. “Tomás is referring to an old computer game from Earth. We don’t need to worry about zombies.”
“Si, not now,” he said.
She slugged him in the arm. The kids smiled.
—
From Water: Generation Mars, Book Three. Available now at https://www.amazon.com/Water-Generation-Mars-Book-Three/dp/1733731067
Image: my own