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February 4, 2023
The self-promotion storm is over.
Hello again, Reader. Or welcome, if you're new!
My book is out! It launched on 1st February, and by the time you read this the eBook and paperback should be available worldwide on Amazon. Don't forget that if you're in Kindle Unlimited, you can read it completely free, too. A few people have already read it, and they've loved it (which is a huge relief, as I'm sure you can imagine) and there are even a couple of wonderful reviews up.
'put together so well that it just dragged me in and kept me totally entertained until the end.' Five-star review on GoodReads goodreads.com
But enough about me - there's plenty in this newsletter to be getting on with! I've some great book recommendations and some remarkable news stories to share...
Space News
What time is it on the moon?
We might not think about it, but the sun does rise and set on the moon. Every fourteen days you'll go from the brightest day to the darkest night, which makes for a very long lunar day! Up to now, any visitors and missions have kept time based on their place of origin, often UTC or Universal Coordinated Time. When the position of the sun in the sky can't be used to determine whether you should be asleep or awake, then why not keep in sync with the support team back home? But there's a subtle problem. If you want to navigate on the moon, wouldn't it be handy to have a GPS-like system so you don't get lost? Satellite based navigate uses extremely accurate clocks, and by determining the time difference between the signals from neighbouring satellites, you can work out your position. If those clocks are wrong, though, so is your location. And this is where Einstein sticks a spanner in the works. We can't use the same time base as Earth, since gravity makes clocks run slower and faster - and gravity around the moon is different. It's not just that the mechanisms are affected differently by gravity, it's literally that time slows down in stronger gravitational fields, so if we're going to make sure we don't fall in a crater, we need to decide how time will work on the moon...
Source: Nature
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.
Swarm
Free
The town of Drachton is crumbling, with crime and violence perpetuating around the clock. The authority's answer is Swarm-a revolutionary new prison.
Swarm is a correctional facility like no other, harnessing the power of the inmates' subconscious minds for the benefit of the town.
The facility is a work of genius, and the town soon begins to prosper.
But the newfound hope doesn't last long. When cutting-edge technology merges with humankind's ancient biological roots, what kind of monster will emerge?
After The Green Withered
Free
The face of the country changed forever when the rain stopped falling and the green withered. Now water is the global currency and one power controls it all.
Enora Byrnes lives in the aftermath. Her life is dominated by regulations and duty to family and society. After transitioning from student to working member of the community, she becomes part of an entity that controls everything from water credits to borders. But experience is a great teacher, and it becomes clear that not all is as it seems. As Enora delves deeper into the outside world, she will be faced with startling truths and frightening realities. In the end, she must decide how far she will go to retain her humanity.
Spit City Hustle
Free
Tristram Boxley, a disgraced captain of the Dawn Alliance Navy, struggles to make a living as a bouncer until a late-night encounter opens an opportunity. But even with his special ability-to stop time around him-life as a bounty hunter turns out less glamorous than his childhood hero made it seem...
SFF Book Bonanza!
A selection of the finest speculative fiction, free for a limited time.
A Science Fiction and Fantasy giveaway, literally dozens of free books which means there's something here for everyone. It's neatly categorised too, so it's never been easier to find your idea read!
Pick up a couple today, and then drop the author a line, telling them what you think! Believe me, it really makes a writer's day when they get an email like that.
Strange News
Fairy Forts in Ireland
I've mentioned before that I'm fascinated by how we tell stories to make sense of the world around us, and how those stories often invoke the supernatural to explain something we don't understand. One great example is that of the so-called 'Fairy Forts' in Ireland. Ring forts were common in the medieval period (approximately the eighth to twelfth century) when Ireland was mostly rural and local chieftains and rulers built sturdy defences to protect themselves and their valuable cattle. It's believed that with the arrival of the Vikings, these fell to ruin as they were no longer required, and surprisingly quickly they became associated with the supernatural. Ghosts and similar apparitions were often reported, and eventually the fae were supposed to be living there. Such beliefs saved many of the forts from being scavenged for stone, as they were elsewhere in Europe, as to upset the sidhe was to invite misfortune and death upon yourself. Now there is legal protection for such monuments, but there are still those who feel that the 'fair folk' can look after themselves.
Source: Atlas Obscura
Miscellany
Were the Gnomes of Wollaton Park Intelligent Light Forms?
I mentioned these Gnomes in a recent newsletter, but this is an interesting take on the story. Rather than magical creatures, it speculates that they are interdimensional beings, who appear to us as forms of light. It ties in with theories of 'earth lights', orbs and ball lightning which have also been suggested as being behind many UFO sightings.
Source: deadbutdreaming.wordpress.com
DNA testing for Santa
OK, I'm late with this story, but I can't resist. A resourceful 10-year-old didn't trust her parent's assurances that Santa was real, and so took it upon herself to gather DNA evidence from the milk and cookies she left out for him. Now, DNA fingerprinting is beyond the means of even this clever young girl, so she enlisted the local police force to assist her. I won't spoil the ending, but there was some remarkable findings from the carrots she sent them...
Source: Ripley's Believe It or Not!
A bear on Mars
Pareidolia, or the tendency of humans to see faces in everything, has been responsible for a number of conspiracy theories about super-intelligent aliens being hidden from us by NASA. While such theories are of course untrue, I defy anyone not to see a very clear (and quite friendly-looking) bear in this image from the HiRise orbiter...
Source: HiRISE
And Finally
The pink fairy armadillo not only has a great name, but just look at it:
And yes, it is actually real! It's the smallest of armadillo species, lives only in Argentina, and spends so much of its time underground that we barely know anything about it. Sadly they don't do well in captivity (one screamed eerily if anything was moved around in its habitat) and they're extremely vulnerable. But who wouldn't want the equivalent of an armoured hamster living with them?
Source: Atlas Obscura