SciFi | M Thomas Apple Author Page

How Star Trek helped NASA make better shuttle names

August 8, 2025
MThomas

Gorog summarised in the memo:

This group comprises millions of individuals who are deeply interested in our space programme

The name “Enterprise” is tied in with the system on which the Nation’s economic structure is built.

Use of the name would provide a substantial human interest appeal to the rollout ceremonies scheduled for this month in California, where the aeronautical industry is of vital importance.

It is really too bad that the shuttle looked nothing at all like the Enterprise (Constitution class).

And an odd coincidence that the original name chosen by NASA was…

…Constitution…

ChatGPT is frighteningly good at writing literary analysis…

August 5, 2025
MThomas

🧾 Conclusion

Adam’s Stepsons takes the core questions of Blade Runner and distills them into a tight, character-driven drama. It lacks the sweeping visuals of Villeneuve or the noir cityscape of Scott — but it delivers something arguably more intimate:

A quiet horror — and quiet triumph — in the collapse of identity, where the artificial doesn’t just mimic life…

It replaces it.

Over the weekend (my first with no student work to grade — finally! — since April), I decided to ask our “old” friend ChatGPT if it could analyze my sci-fi novella Adam’s Stepsons. Really, I was just curious what it would say.

It said…a LOT.

It correctly interpreted the title (something that many readers apparently didn’t get). It correctly identified the main themes as part of a “post-humanism” sub-genre of science fiction. And once I gave it three short excerpts (from the near the end of the story), it gave a frighteningly accurate thematic and symbolic analysis of the entire novella…just from three short excerpts of a total of about six pages.

I won’t copy all it gave me (you all can go try on your own and see what it says!). But let me share what the program thought were key themes:

Long time, no…

August 5, 2025
MThomas

Hi, everyone. I haven’t written a blog post in a very long time.

For various reasons.

I’ll see if I can start posting a few entries on recent science events in a few days (for starters, four astronauts finally arrived at the ISS, the first replacements following the Boeing Starliner fiasco).

But for right now, I want to follow up this short post with some analysis I got from our friend ChatGPT…

…about Adam’s Stepsons and Bringer of Light. Stay tuned!

Interstellar! If only…

September 26, 2024
MThomas

According to Thorne, who served as a consultant on the science of Interstellar, quantum mechanics could hypothetically explain a way to time travel via wormhole. So far, it’s a thought experiment that leads to the conclusion that you’d lose information along the way—not very practical.

First off, I’m incredibly annoyed at the way WordPress has screwed up the “quotation” function. It seems they are more focused on encouraging bloggers to use AI to write.

Uh. I don’t need AI. I blog. The end. WTH is the point of using AI to write my thoughts? It’s already being trained to USE my blog in the first place! Idiots.

OK. Second, the Popular Mechanics article I’m linking to is entitled “Interstellar travel is possible if we break into a higher dimension, scientists say.”

Only, that is NOT what scientists say. It’s still a thought experiment!

“The fungus among us”: biohybrid machines and mushrooms

September 3, 2024
MThomas

Researchers at Cornell have come up with a novel way to control a walking robot: with a mushroom.

Cornell explained in a press release that these four-legged “biohybrid” robots were built by researchers who literally grew mycelia, the belowground connective threads that allow fungal communities to communicate, into the robot itself.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/mushroom-robot-brain

This is a little freaky…

This robot is alive. Incorporated into its electronics are living fungal tissues that change the robot's behavior when exposed to intense light. That and more of the best from @ScienceMagazine and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: https://t.co/dpFdWgt11M pic.twitter.com/0uC1oy0TCH
— Christie Wilcox (@NerdyChristie) August 30, 2024

Believe it or not, there actually is some science behind Star Trek: Discovery’s “spore drive.” This robot is just one small step…

Psyche! There are no “mycelial network” in space, and the drive would only work if we could somehow find a fifth spatial dimension (this was discussed a few years ago).

Too bad the spore drive is “laughably ridiculous,” said one scientist, and if all Star Trek ships had one, over half its episodes wouldn’t have happened.

Oh well. At least a “sporebot” is possible.

Hmm.

Short story short listed!

May 6, 2024
MThomas

One of my SciFi short stories has been shortlisted for an award (newly created category).

More details when they are available!

(FWIW I referenced the short story in the beginning of Bringer of Light, when Overseer Martin Velasquez asks about the results of a “Marshall” game. Worldbuilding…)

IndieReader Approved!

April 16, 2024
MThomas

In BRINGER OF LIGHT, M. Thomas Apple crafts a satisfyingly complex future where mankind has moved off Earth but must fight and struggle against the harsh realities of physics—and each other—in order to survive.
https://indiereader.com/book_review/bringer-of-light/

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Today’s quote

April 3, 2024
MThomas

A bad administrator is more concerned with reports than with decisions. He wants the hard record which he can display as an excuse for his errors.
Lord Leto II

What is the next “unfilmable” scifi book to hit the big screen?

April 1, 2024
MThomas

The story of the last 20 years of pop culture is, in many ways, the Victory Of The Nerd: Comic book films, gaming adaptations, the general adoption of deeply nerdy genre trappings like time loop stories, superheroes, and more, all making billions of dollars at the box office as geek obsessions infiltrate the body mainstream.
https://www.avclub.com/dune-other-great-unfilmable-sci-fi-novels-1851370740

AV Club suggests these five:

God Emperor of Dune (book 4)

The Caves of Steel (Isaac Asimov)

The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula LeGuin)

The Sirens of Titan (Kurt Vonnegut)

The Player of Games (Iain Banks)

One of the main problems that some “classic SciFi” doesn’t get made into movies is that their plots are, frankly, often ridiculous or cheesy.

What would you want to see on the big screen finally?

New reviews for Bringer of Light!

April 1, 2024
MThomas

Bringer of Light holds appeal for its imaginative setting and thought-provoking themes. Readers who appreciate a blend of speculative technology and introspective musings on the universe will find this book a stimulating read…For fans of science fiction, M. Thomas Apple’s novel offers a glimpse into a future filled with wonder and complexity.
— 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Literary Titan

Bringer of Light is a highly recommended read for fans of gripping sci-fi with a deeper, more resonant meaning at its core.
— 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟K. C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite

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