Hello there, {$name|default:'reader'}. I hope you're having a great week.

I've had conversations with other authors recently, about the various things we need to do to get our books out there.

We all got into writing for a love of creating worlds, characters and plots to engage and enthral our readers, only to discover we also had to learn page layout, cover design, marketing, and a thousand other tasks. While you can out-source those (and traditionally published authors tend to do so, or at least the publisher does) a lot of it falls on us as independent authors.

And some of it is hard. Not just the writing alone, but all the attendant tasks require a certain amount of knowledge, and a lot of decisions. A new author can be overwhelmed very easily. Take a simple decision, for example - you need a website. So how do you go about doing it? Google 'how to set up a website' and you'll be presented with more options than you can count. Even assuming you pick one, you're then forced to decide what goes on an author's website. Then there's a choice to make about newsletters... and before you know it, you're tucked up the foetal position, rocking back and forth muttering 'I just wanted to write a story'.

Luckily, I'm a tech-minded person. I've been creating websites for longer than I care to admit, and am pretty up-to-date on the latest developments. So, I figured, I was well-placed to cut through the confusion and offer some advice on 'how to' do some of the harder things.

I've started recording YouTube videos to show authors how to do some of the daunting tasks that they face, and helping them make the thousand tiny decisions that this can entail. I've managed to condense setting up a basic author website down into ten minutes!

I firmly believe that just getting started with the bare minimum is better than trying to create something 'perfect'. In writing, we often say 'you can't edit a blank page', meaning you should just get on and write something, anything, so you can fix it up later. No-one's first draft is perfect, and that can apply to pretty much everything we do in life. Start with something quick and easy, then build on that.

If you're curious, that video is here. It's applicable to more than just authors, but obviously that's my main focus for now.

Space News

Space is Hard

An image from the Odysseus Lunar Lander

Private space exploration is doing some remarkable things these days. Once the sole preserve of nations, companies are landing hardware on the moon and performing their own science experiments.

Take Intuitive Machines' Odysseus Lander, for example. Carrying some payloads for NASA it successfully soft-landed on the surface of the moon in February, making it the first purely commercial craft to do so. It's also the first to use purely cryogenic propellants, which is an important milestone for NASA's delayed Artemis project. It's the first American probe since 1972 to reach the moon intact.

Unfortunately, it fell over.

It's not even the first to do that - Japan's SLIM lander had a catastrophic engine failure just 50 metres from the surface, and it ended up completely upside down. Luckily, it was still able to do some important science while its batteries lasted, and the mission was still counted a success.

Odysseus is on its side, which limited its ability to use solar power to charge its batteries, but it still managed to send some data back. It's at the Southern-most landing site ever attempted, which is important as there is a race to land at the South pole to investigate the possibility of water ice there.

In each case, the engineering behind these craft is remarkable, allowing them to still do useful science even when it seems like everything has gone wrong. My phone gets confused if I hold it upside down to take a picture, so let's celebrate the achievements rather than the problems.

As always, Scott Manley has great insight and some animations that illustrate the situation perfectly.

Source: space.com

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.

https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/51b23d4e-e234-11ee-b4a8-3bb4513ceefd

Free

The war has just begun. A broken earth. A failing military. An alien invasion.

In the aftermath of the Hives invasion of earth, the society of the old world was shattered, and in response to the possibility of the aliens return, the authoritative Collective took hold of the sphere.

Alexander King a loyal soldier of the Collective discovers that on a mission that the Hive's presence is stronger then commonly believed, and that its secrets may be far too powerful for any military effort

With his new information, it becomes vital that the Collective act fast, for if they don't, the world will be destroyed beyond repair...

Complex, subversive, and fast paced. Hive is a book you don't want to miss!

https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/9099e1f2-e20b-11ee-a808-7be49511fcb3

Free

See how it all began. Three Prequel stories to The Dragon Eater.

These three tales tell the story of Tharassas before the Tharassas Cycle, including the origin of the hencha queens, the ce'faine, and the colonization of the Highlands, essential companions for the four novels that make up the cycle:

The Fallen Angel

Charlie Fah, Cha'Fah to most of the world, has never fit in with the other citizens of Gully Town, thanks to his darker skin that sets him apart. But one day, an Angel arrives on a supply run from Earth, and what happens next sets Charlie on a new path that will turn his life upside down.

The Last Run

Sera is the last runner from Earth, bringing badly needed supplies to the Tharassas Colony across a twenty-five year gulf between the planets. Jas works on a hencha farm to make ends meet, harvesting berries from the semi-sentient plants. Neither one that knows their lives-and worlds-are about to change forever.

The Emp Test

Jey awakens to find himself in the care of a handsome stranger-a cheff from one of the mountain tribes. Afraid for his life, Jey has no choice but to let the man take care of him and his broken leg. Avain is on his Aud'ling-the coming-of-age test that requires him to spend a couple months away from his own people. The two of them will have to come to an understanding if they're going to help one another.

Strange News

Burj Al Babas

Following on from the last newsletter's article on 'Failed Utopias' and planned cities, we have another one. But this one isn't a brutalist art colony.

Burj Al Babas is almost a thousand Disney castles near the Black Sea in Turkey.

Originally planned as a luxurious development for wealthy foreigners, the appeal was undeniable. Live in your own, private castle, surrounded by trees and with easy access to a Mediterranean climate and lifestyle. And at $370,000 to $500,000 a pop, it wasn't as exclusive as some other 'vanity projects' like the Palms or World in Dubai. Nor as likely to erode into the ocean.

Indeed, by 2019 about half of the development had already been sold - over 500 have been built. Or rather, started. But the developer went bankrupt, Turkey's economy collapsed, and a number of complaints from the locals about building Disney-esqe castles rather than more locally inspired designs were raised.

Now, it's another ghost town. None of the castles are finished, although at a first glance, the photos might suggest they are indeed complete. Look closer, though, and you can see a lack of roads, sewage pipes waiting to be laid, and debris scattered around.

I'm sure one day we'll see some inventive planned community spring to life and work flawlessly, but with the evidence on hand, it's clear to see that this is harder than it looks.

Source: architecturaldigest.com

Other Books To Check Out

Miscellany

Search every picture taken from the ISS on an interactive map. They've never photographed my house, it seems!

Source: eol.jsc.nasa.gov

Watch the Varda capsule return from orbit all the way to earth.

Source: youtube.com

Toki Pona - the world's smallest language.

Source: youtube.com

And Finally

I recently learned about something called 'Fan-binding'.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the idea of Fan-Fiction - extending or altering the world of a book or movie that you loved, without the official authorisation of the rights-holders. It's been going on for longer than you might imagine, too. Most modern readers might be familiar with Harry Potter fan-fic, or the fact that Fifty Shades of Gray started as Twilight fan-fic, but you can find examples from pretty much every century. There was fan-fic of Gulliver's Travels at the time, and you could argue Dante's Inferno was biblical fan-fic (and yes, my own 'War of the Worlds' sequels definitely qualify).

But what does seem to be new is fans of the fan-fic phenonenon (say that 5 times quickly) binding copies of their favourite pieces.

And some are true works of art! In fact, the creative process seems to be the point for most fan-binders. Some embrace found and re-used materials, while some of the end results are indistinguishable from high-end professionally bound books. Often created as gifts for friends, these works (like the fan-fiction itself) often skirt the boundaries of copyright law, but as labours of love there is plenty to like about this movement.

Source: Atlas Obscura