Zenn Scarlett & Under Nameless Stars

18/09/2020

So, Edgar Rice Burroughs had it right all along! Yes, the graceful attack-frigates of the "Pirates of Venus" are certain to now be carving a path thru the phosphine-clouds of the Venusian stratosphere. Pirate pix, plz. TY.

A team of scientists will examine the astrobiological prospects for phosphine on Earth’s hellish twin

24/01/2020

Yikes! Explora-droid! A recent Sci Am article considers the so-far-fruitless hunt for intelligent life beyond Earth and attempts to deal with Fermi's query "if life is out there, where the heck is everyone?" Their take? Well, first of all, if self-replicating machines are the obvious way to cross interstellar distances, we should've been knee-deep in beeping explora-droids by now. We don't seem to be knee-deep in these devices. [ 76 more words ]

A recent Sci Am article considers the so-far-fruitless hunt for intelligent life beyond Earth and attempts to deal with Fermi’s query “if life is out there, where the heck is everyone?” Their take? Well, first of all, if self-replicating machines … Continue reading →

07/01/2020

Aaaand… another one bites the dust. Always a drag to learn one of your heroes was just another grab-ass fu***it.

Isaac Asimov loved large numbers. He was born a century ago this month, and when he died, in 1992, he was both the most famous science fiction writer in the ...

22/11/2019

Lots of excitement bubbling up about the off-world life potentially lurking, swimming, feeding, breeding, having organizational invade-the-Earth meetings deep under the ice-covered oceans of several moons orbiting gas giants... right in our own solar system’s back yard! Sweet. Except for the invasion stuff. So what can Earthly black smokers and other underwater vent environments teach us lowly Terrans about the living systems waiting to be discovered on Europa, Enceladus, etc. [ 154 more words ]

Lots of excitement bubbling up about the off-world life potentially lurking, swimming, feeding, breeding, having organizational invade-the-Earth meetings deep under the ice-covered oceans of several moons orbiting gas giants… right in our own solar system’s back yard! Sweet. Except for … Conti...

03/10/2019

Do Elon's Mars-colonizing ships carry some unwelcome passengers? Any NASA spacecraft bound for any planet in the Solar System goes through some serious de-germ-ifying before it launches. The last thing we Earthers wanna do is dump a load of our microbes all over a planet that MIGHT be hosting the answer the Really Big Question: is our world the only life-bearing rock in the universe? [ 94 more words ]

17/08/2019

So, any certified sci fi geek, or even casual news watcher, knows that so far our only visuals of exoplanets amount to a couple of pixels of light and not much more. But some crafty scientists flipped the script. They sorta reverse-engineered how Earth would look to someone viewing it from far, far and far away using our pitiful, Terran, 21st century level of telescopery. [ 45 more words ]

So, any certified sci fi geek, or even casual news watcher, knows that so far our only visuals of exoplanets amount to a couple of pixels of light and not much more. But some crafty scientists flipped the script. They … Continue reading →

25/07/2019

by P.G. Galalis Here’s a ten-step guide to writing while parenting: 1. Make some coffee or tea. Head to your special writing place. Close the door and boot up your computer, put a fresh ribbon in the typewriter, or select the perfect pen and creamy paper for your current work in progress. Summon t...

25/07/2019

by Dan Brotzel I have a list of all the books I've ever read. Well, not ever. But since 1993 at least. It began with a red spiral-bound exercise book. At first, I didn’t just write the names and authors at first. I had pretensions of becoming a literary journalist and was ambitious enough at the t...

15/07/2019

by Deborah Walker Productivity gurus love routine and habit. They say you should have a regular bedtime and a regular time to wake up. I don't do that. But I am an early riser and no stranger to 5 am. It should have been easy for me to test this productivity habit.

09/07/2019

Welcome to the July edition of the SFWA Market Report.

07/07/2019

Start a new series this summer with the latest Humble Book Bundle from Open Road Media. Get great books at a great price, and support SFWA.

01/07/2019

by Deborah Walker A few months ago, I began to hear great things about Robin Sharma's bestselling, new book, "The 5 AM Club." Sharma is a productivity guru whose work is 'embraced by rock stars, royalty, billionaires and many celebrity CEOs'. When I heard the glowing testimonies from more ordinary f...