M Thomas Apple Author Page

Science fiction, actual science, history, and personal ranting about life, the universe, and everything

New Year 2019: Year in Review / Preview

January 1, 2019
MThomas

Yes, it’s been yet one more year of writing, rejection, and reflection.

But let’s focus on the writing! Fortunately, more is on the way in 2019.

  • My science fiction novella Adam’s Stepsons continued to receive awards. Which is why I’m giving it away for free starting tomorrow!

That’s right: If you forgot to give a gift to a friend, relative, or neighbor, you’ll have your chance to gift a free ebook for five straight 24-hour Earthdays in January. I’d post the actual dates, but due to the laws of physics the dates change depending on where in the universe you are.

Titled Destiny in the Future, this 240+ page book also features a preface and introduction by yours truly that also analyzes and places it in proper time/place/societal context. All proceeds from this book will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

Check back here for a preview in February 2019.

  • The long-awaited novel Children of Pella will be available by Summer 2019. The first draft has been beta-tested and as a result, three additional chapters are being added. The first in a series of (probably) three books about a new mankind settling Mars, the story revolves around a group of misfit asteroid hunters facing discrimination and political intrigue as the old nation-state order on Earth and the Moon collapses.

Check back here for free downloadable previews in March 2019. Advance review copy readers will get a free ebook and paperback copy. More info on the way!

 

Not anthropomorphic but anthropogenic climate change SF

December 24, 2018
MThomas

Yes, climate change is real.

Yes, some of these five classic SF novels from Tor are really about pollution and not climate change per se.

Yes, that doesn’t really matter.

The Sheep Look Up is still the best of the bunch. And (not surprisingly) somewhat prophetic.

Le plus chose change…

(P.S. Happy Yuletide. Bwah ha ha…)

Who’s up for some Mars skating?

December 23, 2018
MThomas

MarsSkating

Just in time for Christmas!

The Korolev Crater, 51 miles wide and over a mile deep of ice. Perfect spot to place a colony or two.

Or play a massive game of ice hockey. Game on!

You must not go into the Wood at night!

December 21, 2018
MThomas

woods

Check out this free five-minute reading of “The Magic Wood,” by Henry Treece, one of many New Apocalypse poets who influenced Neil Gaiman’s dialogue in Sandman. Available only for the next 29 days.

Truly creepy. With Great Pleasure at Christmas (great title, BBC).

Link courtesy of the wordsmith Neil, himself, @neilhimself. Thanks!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06w8xl5

Two of the greatest Science Fiction authors of all time, were both born on this day December 16 – Arthur C. Clarke in 1917 and Philip K. Dick in 1928.

Note that I always put “Sir” in quotes, because, basically, $%# that BS. Clarke may have conceived of (NOT invented) the satellite, but PDK (NOT a “Sir”) has had infinitely more influence on modern society.

So I’m calling PKD “Esq.” Also a Pope. Remember that “All statements are true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, and true and false and meaningless in some sense.” Hail Eris!

Anyway, thanks to blackwings666 for the reminder…

via SCIENCE FICTION LEGENDS: ARTHUR C. CLARKE & PHILIP K. DICK — blackwings666

Wandering Earth and the future of SciFi — the China syndrome?

December 8, 2018
MThomas

foldingbeijingChinese science fiction has been up and coming for a while now. The work of Liu Cixin, for example, earned the author (or translator, not sure which) a Hugo Award. (I reviewed and found the Three-Body Solution to be full of interesting ideas but bogged down with poorly written dialogue, unexpected shifts in voice and style, stereotypes, and two-dimensional characters.)

And, of course, China is about to (re)discover itself as a major player on the world stage. Complete with the “only our civilization can save humanity” trope, a.k.a., just like the US.

So it was just a matter before Chinese cinema followed suit. Continue Reading

Unworldly and unearthly — by definition. A low rumbling at very low frequency, barely discernible at first until shifted up two octaves.

Imagine living with this constant mild 15 mph wind all the time. Imagine what the wind sounds like when the global dust storm hits.

via Listen here to wind on Mars — the first it has ever been captured —

Joseph Octave Lewis: Franco-American Trojan

November 30, 2018
MThomas

JLewis-1850s(?)A few weeks before my mother passed away, I finally had the chance to do what I had wanted to do for years: Visit the sites where my French-Canadian ancestor had been.

The problem was, I could only figure out one specific location, and that was only due to guessing based on an old photograph: a “cabinet card.”

My mother had insisted for decades that she had French-Canadian ancestry. Her grandmother Carrie Lewis Connally was French, she claimed. But I always wondered.

Lewis doesn’t sound terribly French.

Continue Reading

Nine years and blogging

November 29, 2018
MThomas

104A5381-9880-4D74-837C-6316D30C2076

So WordPress tells me I started blogging here nine years ago today.

Really? I should have more far more posts by now 😅. What was that New Year’s resolution again?

The predictive space powers of Linda A Langworthy

November 28, 2018
MThomas

Apollo-Soyuz_Test_Project_patch.svgI’ve made good progress on my mother’s high school manuscript — up to Chapter 9 (out of 15). Taking notes while I type, particularly about cultural references and language usage, I came across one interesting prediction:

“The space program of the two major nations [US and Russia] were joined after the moon project because it was cheaper to outfit; also, with the world’s greatest minds working together, better vehicles could be built.”

This was written a full 9 years before the joint Apollo-Soyuz (or Soyuz-Apollo) Test Project in 1975 that basically ended the “space race” started by the launch of Sputnik.

Written by a 17-year-old in 1968. The reality was more complicated, but still, heck of a prediction. Go, Mom!

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