Hello again, Reader. Or welcome, if you're new!

Last week, Martyne and I went for a morning with a local blacksmithing place - and came home with this!

A wrought iron rose, held in my hand.

We spent a few hours learning the basics of forging (the very basics, I should point out). Heating the metal in a traditional coke-fired forge, hammering and shaping, adding texture and finally connecting it all together.

We're very proud of how it turned out, and we had a fantastic time! If you fancy making a rose of your own (or pretty much anything - there were people there making everything from candlesticks to axes and even a longsword) then check out Oldfield Forge. They were extremely professional, very patient and I highly recommend them if you're interested in hammering bits of hot metal.

Speaking of hot metal...

Space News

A metal asteroid

I don't just throw these newsletters together you know! If all goes well, the Psyche mission should have launched by the time you're reading this. It's a NASA probe to an asteroid called, well, Psyche.

This one appears to be made of more metal than usual. How much, exactly, is one of the things this probe is designed to discover. But it's entirely possible that it has (or had in the past) volcanoes spewing out molten iron!

Source: Read More

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.

Promise of a Monster Killer

This janitor cleans floors and hunts monsters.

Some pasts do more than just haunt you. Some pasts can kill.

Solomon Ivy owns a bloody track record of killing monsters. He's the most ruthless stone-cold killer you'll ever meet. With magic in one hand, a gun in the other, there hasn't been a beast he's failed to take down.

The only thing better than burying evil is seeing the look in its eyes when you're shovelling dirt on its face. The one rule that keeps a hunter alive is to keep moving forward and never look back.

But when Ivy's past finally catches up to him, he has unfinished business to take care of. A promise to honour. And a monster to kill.

Free!

Dead Blood City

Drowning might be like going to sleep. It would be nice to sleep forever - leave everything behind in the waking world.

Secretly psychic Detective Saoirse Reilly has just returned to duty after killing a man. Her shrink might be convinced she doesn't want to die but she's not. Disrupting Reilly's plan to end her life is the kidnapping of Delaney Bascom on the eve of the blood moon.

Even psychics can get blindsided.

This case isn't what it seems and Reilly may not be the only supernatural freak in Boston.

Reilly will have to face her own demons and a family of ancient monsters if she hopes to bring the girl home alive. Domenico Alderisi, a club owner with a bad habit, is determined to stand in her way. And he's stronger than he looks. But Reilly has the dubious support of Emrys Somerled, a forensic psychologist with a cellar full of secrets and the magic touch.

The blood moon is coming.

Will Reilly save the girl and find a reason to live?

Buy it now!

Tears of Heaven

Rogue demons. Dangerous doesn't begin to describe them.

Nephilim. Half angel, half mortal. That doesn't begin to describe them, either.

Both walk the earth. Both are deadly.

When they come together, the collateral damage to humans can be devastating.

Nephilim Del and Marrin have been assigned to send three rogue demons back to Hell. The demons have kidnapped children, and they have a plan. The two hunters are supposed to work with a partner - not a welcome addition as far as they are concerned.

Even Nephilim can be killed, and Del hasn't recovered from their previous job. Injured even more in a surprise attack, Del is facing the real possibility of permanent damage and worse.

Marrin is a brilliant warrior, but not as experienced as Del. She'll need every bit of his strength to survive the coming battles. Or they could prove the end of her thousands of years of living. Life is something Del isn't ready to give up yet.

With the unspeakable horrors the demons will unleash and the children's lives on the line, Del will have to find a way to save them. And herself.

Buy it now!

Artificial Stars

There is a Secret the Universe has been Hiding. And there are some who will stop at nothing to keep it secret.

Every once in a while, in a quiet corner of the universe, artificial intelligence start discovering that it is alive. But few realize it for long before being brutally snuffed out by one of the shadowy assassins even legends can't recall.

Elaine loves working in the galactic power station. But when an outage claims the lives of hundreds of her alien neighbours, she will do anything to stop it from happening again. Teamed up with an intrusive newborn AI and a kind alien with creepy death-reading powers, Elaine discovers that everything she thought she knew about the universe is based on one life-altering lie.

Embark in this exciting science fantasy quest, where AI meets humanity in an unexpected twist. "Artificial Stars" is the thrilling first novella in a captivating series that explores the bounds of creation, the power of friendship, and the indomitable spirit of those who dare to save worlds.

Buy it now!

Strange News

The strange roots of 'Rocky Horror'

There might be a thousand movies to watch this 'spooky season', but one of the most enduring has to be 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'. Based on the original stage show, it's a wonderfully camp Sci-Fi story.

This article examines the perhaps surprising lineage of 'Spook Shows' - interactive film screenings that included seances, actors and even sensory surprises as part of the experience. Audiences throwing rice and toast at the screen during 'Rocky Horror' can be considered a rebirth of this original idea.

But the seance shows go even further back, of course. The Spiritualist movement of Victorian times was less about entertainment, but many of the themes used by stage magicians and theatre entertainers grew out of the seances by people such as the Fox sisters.

Source: Read more

Miscellany

• Neutrino telescopes - peering deeper into the cosmos.
• Tiny nuclear reactors to use on the moon?
• Human sacrifices over... cake?

And Finally

Sci-Fi has long imagined rotating space stations, providing artificial gravity by the speed of their spin.

And the latest visualisation I've seen is absolutely gorgeous. Created by Erik Wernquist, it showcases a spinning interplanetary cruise-liner with impossibly-large windows to give its passengers unparalleled views of the solar system.

Although, inexplicably, there's only one passenger aboard.

It's a short film, but visually stunning and beautifully evocative.

Source: View film