Hello there Reader! I hope you're having a great week.

It's been a hectic time here, lots of comings and goings keeping us all busy. My writing is still plodding along, despite the other draws on my attention, and I'm also still working on getting news of my books out there into the world.

On that note, I see I've had a good few new signups to this newsletter - if this is your first time here, hello! Feel free to drop me a line and tell me about yourself, or just sit back and enjoy the grab-bag of fun and interesting stories I've run across in the past fortnight.

Space News

Fixing Voyager

Back in November, the Voyager 1 space probe stopped sending us data.

Launched in 1977, it's now officially reached interstellar space. So servicing the remotest man-made object in history (now over 15 billion miles away) comes with a few challenges.

Firstly, and most obviously, you can't just pop out there with a spare part. So any repairs need to be software-based. Secondly, if you get it wrong, you might lose contact altogether. And thirdly, it takes almost a full day for your instructions just to reach it.

Luckily NASA has some very smart people, and the computer they loaded on board in the mid-seventies is relatively simple. They could tell it was still receiving and understanding commands, but not replying with the telemetry and science data we expected. Narrowing the fault down was the first step in fixing it, and they quickly determined it was a single chip of memory that had gone bad. It was decided to relocate some of the vital software into new locations in memory, shoehorning bits of code into spare corners of other chips.

Remarkably, it worked! We're getting telemetry data again, and the next phase is to re-enable the science data. Since Voyager 1 and 2 are our only probes so far into deep space, they're doing literally unique things.

Source: blogs.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.

Buy it now

storyoriginapp.com

We are all pawns in the games the gods play...

When a prophecy brings a priestess to his humble home, Arme must abandon his tranquil existence to become the nation's only hope, a celestial warrior tasked with protecting an unborn child carrying an even heavier burden than he.

Whispers of invaders threaten the safety of all, testing the bonds of love and the limits of honor, bringing forth the long-forgotten might of the heavens back into the world of mortals. As the flames incinerate all in their path, divided nations and broken families must band together to save the innocent and rise from the ashes of war.

Request a review copy

storyoriginapp.com

One starship against the galaxy.

A planet facing invasion. A starship with monstrous enemies. Can a mission into uncharted space prevent a world's destruction?

When young academic Caladon Heit is recruited to protect his homeworld, he leaves behind the woman he loves and embarks on a near-suicidal journey to a distant planet.

As Cal learns the hardships of space travel, he grapples with the knowledge that failure could cost the lives of everyone he's ever known. The peaceful life he knew becomes a precious memory. Unknown terrors stalk through the depths of space, ready to crush his world and enslave its people.

As the journey through the stars grows ever more perilous, Cal finds the hidden bravery needed to fight for survival. It will take all his wits to escape the clutches of the remorseless void-pirates that hunt the region.

Hideous enemies await the starship Fidelity behind every moon and asteroid. The mission will demand sacrifices from everyone to reach its destination. Will they reach salvation? Or will Cal and his homeworld be annihilated?

https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/6ecb3da8-bbc0-11ee-a24b-fb48466087bc

Free

As torn petals of a rose fall, a hero must rise in a race against destiny.

What starts as a fairy tale rescue spirals into an intricate web of dark fantasy laced with intrigue and magic. After the downtrodden merchant Kaine saves the runaway Princess Lydia from an unexpected monster, he feels inexplicably drawn to her. Lydia's uncanny knowledge of his deepest secrets looms over him, suggesting she knows more about him than he has revealed.

However, there is little time to investigate this mystery. The princess is betrothed to the magic wielding Throatian Kingdom, and Lydia's father has rewarded Kaine with a job offer he cannot refuse.

As the rehearsal dinner for Lydia's arranged wedding unfolds, tension simmers amidst foreign customs and whispered conversations. The Throatian Royal family, draped in magic, is keen to forge an alliance with the Darian Kingdom. Meanwhile, Lydia, now fully aware of her royal responsibilities, summons Kaine for a private meeting in the chilling stillness of the graveyard. Her impending wedding signifies more than a pact of sword and sorcery, and something else-dark and twisted-stirs in the shadows.

With time dwindling short, and the ceremony happening the next day, will Kaine unshackle himself from his past to embrace the guardian he is destined to become? Or will the ties binding him to Lydia be torn apart like petals in the wind?

Journey with Kaine and Lydia as they attempt to prevent a war and save a kingdom in the first volume of the Symphony of Crowns and Gods series.

Strange News

Cicadas have a very peculiar lifecycle.

When they emerge from their cocoons they live for about four weeks, during which time they eat, mate and each female will lay hundreds of eggs. The noise they make while trying to attract mates is distinctive, loud and often very annoying.

The eggs then hatch; the 'nymphs', or larval stage, fall from the trees and burrow into the ground to start the whole cycle again.

But unlike most other insects, the cicadas don't do this every year. Or at least, the ones in the US don't. Along with a couple of other species, they stay underground for years.

There are a number of 'broods' in the USA, but the two largest are 13 and 19. Usually represented by roman numerals, Brood XIII stays hidden for 17 years, and Brood XIX for 17 (so no, the number is not their periodicity). Exactly how they synchronise their emergence is unknown, but it's thought that the long incubation periods help them to avoid predators, and the prime numbers are an evolutionary adaptation so that the two broods rarely interact, allowing minimal competition for resources.

But every 221 years, they coincide. And 2024 is one of those years.

The last time this happened, the US was barely a country. Thomas Jefferson was president, and the periodic nature of their gestation hadn't been discovered. The colonists knew that from time to time they were plagued with an outbreak of insects, but did not yet realise it was the same brood returning.

There are some great citizen science projects being set up for this rare event, so if you live somewhere that cicadas are common, check out the link.

Source: Atlas Obscura

Other Books To Check Out

Miscellany

The Hero's Journey. One of the clearest explanations I've ever seen.

Source: youtube.com

Plant rare and endangered crops in your own back garden.

Source: Atlas Obscura

Professional escape room designers take it very seriously.

Source: Atlas Obscura

And Finally

I'm never sure about cover versions of songs. Sometimes they can be done well, sometimes they feel like the artist didn't really understand the original properly, and lost something in the interpretation. Obviously we're usually predisposed to prefer the first version we've heard, so it can sometimes be jarring to discover that a song you identify entirely with one artist isn't in fact 'theirs'.

But covers aren't going away, and one place that showcases some of the very best is an Australian radio station called 'Triple-J'. They have a regular spot called 'Like a Version' where an artist will come in and play a cover version absolutely live - and often the results are phenomenal.

If you like Massive Attack's "Teardrop", then I think you'll love this interpretation by Norwegian artist AURORA.

And even non-fans of Taylor Swift could enjoy G-Flip's take on 'Cruel Summer', if only for the lead singer's flawless transition to drums part-way through.

Source: youtube.com