Let's Get Off This Rock Already!
An Author's Adventures in Space Travel, Science Fiction, and Worlds Beyond
56 years ago today1, Apollo 11 made the first manned landing on another world. Ask the average American about it, and they'll likely be able to name the mission's commander, Neil Armstrong, who famously made his “one small step” speech as he climbed out of the Lunar Module Eagle; they might also remember Edwin “Buzz”... Continue Reading →
A few Roman legionaries shirk their duties during the Siege of Jerusalem, 70 AD. Antics ensue. (Historical Fiction) (Complete)
Some of you may remember my previous posts about secret Apollo missions: Apollo 18, the ill-fated landing which fell victim to rock spiders, and Apollo 20, a joint US-Soviet effort which recovered a living alien from the far side of the Moon. Both are fictional, of course. One is a horror movie, the other a... Continue Reading →
The 1990s were not a good time in the former Soviet Union. When the central government fell, it wasn't just a political collapse, but a collapse of just about everything---the military, the economy, society itself. Ethnic tensions erupted into raging civil wars; rushed free-market reforms threw countless millions into poverty; amid political turmoil, President Boris... Continue Reading →
It was on October 7, 1959, that the dark side of the Moon finally came into the light. Mind you, it was never "dark" in a literal sense; all parts of the Moon undergo a complete day/night cycle, with the far or "dark" side being lit when the near one is in shadow, and vice... Continue Reading →
The absolute smallest angular distance resolvable by the human eye is 28 arc-seconds1. That's about 0.008 degrees, or the apparent size of a quarter at 132 meters, and for those of us not blessed with impeccable vision, that value will be a lot worse. Thankfully modern technology far surpasses the limits of human eyesight, seeing... Continue Reading →
The longer one hangs out in alternate history circles, the more one starts to hear a common lament: "Our genre is about so much more than World War II and the American Civil War! Why do our most popular stories always involve Confederates or Nazis?" My own showcases of the genre have not exactly helped... Continue Reading →
Happy Halloween, everyone! We haven't had a proper Halloween special since my review of Event Horizon, all the way back in 2019, so I'm here today with something appropriately spooky: a conspiracy theory. Read on to uncover tales of ill-fated missions and doomed space travelers... First in space? Yuri Gagarin is recognized as the first... Continue Reading →
This piece is going to be about something very local. While I know I have a far-flung readership---just last week, I had visitors from Germany, South Korea, Thailand, and Poland, among others---it may still be of use for those of you who will one day visit the great state of Oregon. And for those who... Continue Reading →
Hello, all! I'm following up on last week's book review with... another book review! I've been reading a ton lately, so you're probably going to get a lot of these---and where Deep Black was sci-fi, the usual theme for this blog, today's exploration is in another genre entirely: alternate history. We will be taking a... Continue Reading →
