Hello again, {$name|default:'reader'}. Or welcome, if you're new!

While the editing of the next 'Martians' book is continuing, I've commissioned a designer to create the cover for me. Obviously I want it to tie into the cover of the first book, and Amy's Story too, while illustrating a key moment from the story and hopefully being appealing and intriguing. They've nailed it. Although I do have a couple of minor changes that I'd like to see made, so I won't be sharing it just yet. All going well, the next newsletter will be a cover reveal! Yes, you lucky folks will be the very first to see it, before Twitter, Facebook, or whatever other new social media platforms spring up between now and then. I know we're never supposed to judge a book by its cover, but we all do. It's a vital part of the package, illustrating the tone of the story and ideally intriguing the reader to ask questions which can only be answered by reading the novel. It can also grab the eye when a potential reader is scrolling past hundreds of books, looking for their next read. Another important part of that package is reviews. Whenever I'm looking to buy something, I check the reviews even before I look at the price. I'm very fortunate that readers seem to love my writing, and are kind enough to leave reviews to help future readers decide whether my books are for them or not. There's a truth in writing that 'reviews are for the reader, not the writer', but I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate it whenever someone has something nice to say! Whenever the writing (or editing) gets tricky, it's great to see a positive comment from somebody who enjoyed a story I told, and reminds me that the effort is all worth it in the end. So thank to all of you who have left reviews of my work - it really does help, and I appreciate it so much.

Space News

One Year in a Mars Habitat

Four volunteers have just been locked into a simulation of a Mars habitat, to see how living and working on the red planet might work.

CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) is a 1,700 square foot 3d printed space designed to resemble a possible Mars base. The inhabitants will only be able to communicate with 'Earth' by a delayed link, to simulate the isolation they would experience if they were really millions of miles away. They will use VR to perform tasks on the 'surface', and the primary purpose of the experiment is to explore the logistical and psychological challenges of living on the Martian surface.

The volunteers will grow some of their own food, since in a real mission any supplies will most likely need to be sent ahead of time. Any fresh produce would be a welcome change from pre-packed and shelf-stable rations. Astronauts on the ISS look forward to resupply missions for that reason, since they only occasionally get fruit and veg that haven't been sitting in a jar for months.

There will be two further experiments of this kind, each lasting a year and building on what we learn from this one.

What do you think about this? Would you volunteer?

Source: nasa.gov

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.

Free!

storyoriginapp.com

Near future space adventure with a touch of the fantastic

The Martian monarch's clandestine journey to Earth alongside the enigmatic captain is not as clandestine as she had hoped. Only hours after their departure, Special Agent Casey Celestene of the Martian Royal Guard discovers a sinister force working against her ruler. All alone and with the odds stacked against her, Casey must confront those who wish harm for the monarch, even if it means sacrificing her own life. Fear and doubt grip her, but she must break through and take a stand in order to save the queen-no matter what the consequences may be.

Science Fiction Summer Sale

storyoriginapp.com

From now until August 15th check out this incredible collection of Sci-Fi books! Whatever your tastes, you're sure to find something absolutely perfect for your summer reading.

Strange News

A nuclear-powered passenger ship

Back in the 1950s, nuclear power was going to change the world, but only for the better. Promises of power so cheap it wouldn't even be worth calculating a bill never materialised, and the less said about plans for using nuclear bombs for excavating canals the better.

But the optimism wasn't entirely unreasonable. There's a reason that so many military ships are nuclear powered now, allowing them to spend as long at sea as their crews can safely manage. Removing the need to carry tons of coal or oil would make any ship more efficient, so why should it be limited to the Navy?

Enter the NS Savannah. Build in 1959 as a merchant vessel, it was also expected to carry paying passengers, which it did for only around three years. It sold out throughout that period, and the only reason it didn't go longer was that carrying cargo was more profitable.

The reactor was removed in 2018, but the vessel was defuelled and retired in the early 1970s, when the costs of handling the fuel became too high to retain profitability. Today the ship is a museum piece, somewhat like Concorde, a reminder of a future we almost had.

Source: npr.org

Miscellany

Downloading the universe

ESA's Euclid telescope will be probing the very origin of the universe, and downloading over 100GB of data every day - double what the James Webb telescope is sending.

Source: esa.int

Disable a driverless car with a cone

The rollout of driverless cars is probably inevitable, but they're not without problems. Groups of protestors, fed up with malfunctioning self-driving vehicles, have discovered that simply placing a traffic cone on the front can shut them down.

Source: vice.com

Space-worthy Software

Cubesats open up the possibilities of university students or other enthusiastic amateurs flying their own scientific experiments into space, but how do you go about making sure your software is up to the job?

Source: hackaday.com

And Finally

Last time I was praising the cooler weather, but since then we've had to put the heating back on again. Hard to believe it's July at the moment, especially when the US and Southern Europe are basically on fire in a killer heatwave. If there was still any remaining doubt that the climate is getting more and more extreme, hopefully the past few years of record-shattering weather will startle the last few non-believers into understanding.

On a lighter note, if you enjoy science and humour, you probably already know about XKCD:

And Babylon 5 is getting remastered for a BluRay release at the end of the year.

Source: xkcd.com