Eclipse Chronicles II
We didn’t get the best viewing weather for the eclipse. After a bright and cloudless weekend and a sunny start to Monday, a front moved through the area, covering the sky with clouds for about six hours. We did experience night falling in the middle of the afternoon, and the remarkable experience of a sunset that covered 360° of horizon. Still, even a cloudy eclipse is worth experiencing. Even better, we gathered at one of our favorite wineries. An afternoon of sipping wine took the sting of the clouds away.
I picked up a Vaonis Hestia telescope before the eclipse. This clever little device provides a 25x telescope and mount that uses your smartphone as the image-processing system. It worked very well, and I’ve been having fun tracking sunspots across the Sun’s face with it. I’ll also try it out on the moon and other bright objects once we get clear nights.
Book Notes
I’ve started moving away from offering my books only on Amazon. Starting this month, Sellenria is available on Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, and Barnes and Nobel. In addition, I’m selling it directly to you via my website, allowing me to offer a lower price. See below for a discount code to pick up a copy at half off on the website.
Our Books
Sellenria: The Starship and the Citadel
Chuck Boeheim, Daniel Elswit
Believing in the impossible may be my only chance of survival.
As a professor of archaeology at the University of Trondhjem, my life revolved around telepresence digs and simspace classroom lectures—stable and predictable, exactly as I preferred. But the discovery of a peculiar artifact — a gem owned by my ancestor — upended everything. Now I’m in a dire situation, stranded on a pre-technological planet hundreds of light-years from civilization. A fey swordswoman has made me her apprentice after saving me from a creature that couldn’t possibly exist. I became advisor to the king. And now all three of us are fleeing an assassination plot. It’s mad enough to be a fantasy simspace, but it’s deadly real.
The most confounding part is that these people think my ancestor was an ancient warlock and that I’ve returned with his gem to wield his magical powers in the fight against the Blight. I’m a man of science, of order, of logic; I don’t believe in magic.
But that’s not the way this world works.
Cut out the middleman. Order direct and save! Get an additional 50% off with code EZOTYXNG if you act before May 1! See all buying options
What We‘re Reading
Visit our archive of reviews and recommendations on the Books We Like page of our website. You‘ll find over one hundred recommendations in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Non Fiction.
To Each This World
Julie Czerneda
Shortly after Humanity has settled on New Earth, Origin Earth fell mysteriously silent. New Earth in turn launched sleeper ships to extend humanity’s foothold to other planets. Then, the Kmeth arrived with instantaneous travel and a proclamation of their friendship with humans.
Yet, the true nature of this friendship remains ambiguous. Humans and Kmeth are fundamentally different and are constantly on the brink of misunderstanding. What does “friends” imply—equals, wards, or competitors? Henry m’Yama t’Nowak, the human Arbiter, is chosen to be the sole point of human contact demanded by the Kmeth. He must make sense of their alienness.
As sleeper ships report successful colonization, the Kmeth are alarmed. They demand the recall of all humans to New Earth for protection against an alien threat that they won’t specify. Henry, pilot Killian and sentient shuttlecraft Pip, venture through a Kmeth Portal to save the colonists. But from what are they rescuing them?
Czerneda’s aliens go beyond the typical humans-with-funny-ears found in much SF. They are driven by distinct biological imperatives and present unique motivations. She explores how interspecies communication might be possible when common grounds are absent.
Buy on Amazon
Time is the Simplest Thing
Clifford Simak
After humanity discovers that space travel is impractical, they turn instead to mind travel, projecting their consciousness to explore alien worlds through technology that is the monopoly of the Fishhook corporation. Shep Blaine, one of Fishhook’s explorers, encounters a strange entity during one of these journeys, which offers to swap minds with him. He knows that others who have had alien encounters disappear from the company and he must flee for his life.
As Shep seeks sanctuary, he encounters the products of Fishhook’s legacy – the people who have been displaced by alien technology, the people who fear and demonize those with mental powers, and those who have simply grown poorer while the rich became richer. For a novel written in 1960, it’s remarkably relevant today.
For those not familiar with Simak, he was considered the pastoralist of his generation of science fiction writers. His prose is written in a gently homey midwestern style that calls intolerance what it is. If you haven’t encountered his work before, pick this up on Kindle Unlimited and give it a try.
Buy on Amazon
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Caladon Heit wants to prevent the destruction of everything he knows. Together, the ship’s crew must overcome the ferocious marauders and brutal empires that seek to eradicate them all.
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