Hello again, Reader.

This is rapidly becoming the 'how has Mark injured himself now' newsletter, as while my finger is now completely healed I've managed another foolish thing. You know how everyone says not to use cotton buds (Q-Tips) in your ears? They're not kidding. A moment of inattention and now I have a perforated eardrum. Luckily it's not too bad - after the initial pain of actually doing it there's no lasting aches, just a slightly muffled sound and the feeling that it's full of water. I can still hear, although the higher pitched sounds are muted, and the doctor says it should sort itself out in a few weeks. I consider myself lucky that I've not done anything particularly nasty, I can still write and do everything I could do before, even if music is a little less exciting and I need to turn the volume up on the TV slightly. But I am curious - what's the mildest injury you've ever had that nevertheless took a while to heal? Nothing too graphic please! In writing news, the sequel to 'Return of the Martians' is now plotted out, and the first draft begins... Poor Amy and George have quite the journey ahead of them.

Space News

Keeping Our Sense of Direction Dealing with a Dead Sensor

Last time I said I was still obsessed with the Ingenuity helicopter, and so I Hope you'll forgive me for highlighting it again this time. One of the sensors has broken, meaning they need to use a clever little workaround to keep flying. Once again they're sending a software patch up to the surface of Mars! Given that whenever I let Windows update itself I get a 50/50 chance of something breaking, I can only hope they have a better QR team than Microsoft (spoiler: they do).

Source: NASA Mars Exploration Program

Other Books To Check Out

I've gathered a few great books from independent authors like me, I hope you'll check them out.

And let me know if you have any books to recommend! I'm particularly interested in indie authors, but anything you've read and loved would be awesome.

The Void: The Stone Legacy Prequel

Free

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Cover of 'The Void' - an eldritch medallion

Would you give your life to save the world?

Ludovic Stone was the arms-bearer and right-hand of Archmage Alastor an Ulbrecht and Sorceress Lianna; protecting them throughout the years from political threats and standing by their side through the hardships they faced due to their stature.

A failed assassination attempt against Lianna prompted Alastor to act and perform a grievous ritual to tap onto the power of the Void, the dark forces beyond the universe. Has he betrayed his friends and family to gain power? Can Lianna stop Alastor before it's too late? Will she and Ludovic be able to save the world from the evil warlock he has become? What if it was all just a lie?

The Ones You Meant To Save Series Boxset Books 1-6

Amazon

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Cover of 'The Ones You Meant to Save' - A trio of figures watches a space battle

The power's out. The city's infested. Aliens are invading. It might be game over for humanity.

When aliens invade, an unlikely hero steps up.

Captain Win's desperate bid to complete his mission to save the world might be a bust. How do you defeat an endless army of aliens? Even with some aliens on humanity's side, a friendly shifter fighting shoulder to shoulder with him, and what's left of the military up in arms, things still look grim.

Reviews really help authors out, I bet you never buy something online without checking the reviews and ratings first, right?

Well here's a great way to do it - a huge list of books in Kindle Unlimited that could use your help. If you have KU, then they're free to read, and it's really easy to leave a review when you're done.

Don't have KU? Curious about it? You can sign up here for two free months, and if it's not for you then you can cancel even before they ask you to pay! amzn.to

Once you're in, check out this list of great SciFi books:

storyoriginapp.com

Helping Indie Authors Twice - Sci-fi Kindle Unlimited Titles to Review!

Get these books fast! This promotion ends July 20th!

Strange News

Why we need fairies

I write urban fantasy along with science fiction (check out Jacob's War if you want to see what I've done so far), and love the idea of fairy tales as explorations of the unknown and morality tales.

But stories about the fae have fallen out of fashion, as we've become more scientific, explained more of the world around us, and put away our ancient beliefs. Now they're relegated to the children's section, pigeonholed as 'Disney stuff' and not taken at all seriously.

But they were good enough for Shakespeare, Conan Doyle, and many more. This essay argues very eloquently that we need fantasy, we need explanations for the world around us. I suspect that has a lot to do with the rise of conspiracy theories, modern fairy tales that try to make sense of a world that frequently doesn't.

What do you think? Whether or not you believe that fairies exist, I think the idea of them is vital.

Source: UnHerd

Miscellany

'How to murder your husband' writer sentenced for murdering husband

Life imitating art just a little too closely. And interestingly, the essay she wrote wasn't admissible as evidence, but there was overwhelming proof that she was in fact responsible.

Source: BBC News

The worst covers of classic books

We all know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and yet we all do. And if you based a decision on whether to read these classic works of literature by these images, you'd be forgiven.

Source: Book Riot

A monument to a moth

As humans we love to erect monuments and statues to our heroes, memorialising and celebrating great achievements. And in recent times we've (quite rightly) begun to examine those achievements through a modern lens and find that some of these people are not the kind we want to lionise any longer.

But I think this moth will stand the test of time, despite taking part in a deliberate genocide...

The prickly pear was introduced to Australia by the first colonists, and with no natural predators in the country it quickly ran rampant. By the start of the 20th century there was a prize offered for a method of eradicating it, since it was covering the land so densely as to render huge portions of it unusable. An area the size of the UK was covered, not something you can go in and clear out by hand!

Pesticides, chemicals and even fungi were tested and found wanting, so the scientists took the risky step of introducing yet another invasive species... but this time they did at least check whether it might go rogue.

While the pear hasn't been completely eradicated, it's now so well controlled that this tiny moth has earned its monument.

Source: Atlas Obscura

And Finally

I'm so glad to see so many of you here, and hopefully you've enjoyed my email enough to have read this far.

I'm curious, and wonder if you'd indulge me - what was your favourite part? Just hit 'reply' and let me know, so I can make sure this newsletter is as appealing and useful to you as it can be.

Are you a writer too? A reader? Are you looking for more great books to devour, or just curious what goes on behind the scenes for an author?

I hope to hear from you! And as thanks, here's what an art-generating Artificial Intelligence made of my book title 'The Fairies Want Me Dead'...