Essays by space scientists and engineers on the coolest ways and means to get humanity to the stars along with stories by an all-star assortment of talespinners abounding with Hugo and Nebula award winners: Ben Bova, Mike Resnick, Jack McDevitt, Michael Bishop, Sarah A. Hoyt and more.
Some humans may be content staying in one place, but many of us are curious about what’s beyond the next village, the next ocean, the next horizon. Are there others like us out there? How will we reach them?
Wonderful questions. Now get ready for some highly informative and entertaining answers.
And the other co-editor Jack McDevitt is the Nebula Award–winning author of The Academy [Amazon link] series, including The Long Sunset [Amazon link]. McDevitt posted about the new release of the book in paperback: Blog #80
As co-editor, I am of course not objective about the collection. Nevertheless I can’t avoid mentioning that the fiction is compelling. What might it really be like to board an interstellar vehicle on a mission to a nearby star that will take years or decades? That some of us would realize, going out, that we would not live long enough to return? And what would it feel like to actually visit another star?
When a tiny space probe hurtled past Pluto in 2015, no one could know that its most amazing discovery would remain hidden for years. Only when a long-lost Soyuz is destroyed in the skies above Siberia does the truth begin to emerge.
About to embark on NASA’s first expedition to the outer planets, the crew of the spacecraft Magellan learns someone else has beaten them by a few decades: a top-secret Soviet project codenamed Arkangel. It was a mission that began before most of them were even born, and the Kremlin believes it drove their most trusted crew mad.
During their long race to the Kuiper Belt, astronauts Jack Templeton and Traci Keene unwind a decades-old mystery buried in the pages of a dead cosmonaut’s journal. Challenging their own beliefs about the nature of humanity, they will soon confront the question of existence itself.
Check out also Patrick’s other novels, Farside and Perigee.
A half-century after it was released, “2001: A Space Odyssey” is still supplying light amid the darkness. It’s considered not just a great film but an important and influential work of modern art. An astonishing marriage of sound and image, man and machine, there’s nothing simple or obvious — nothing monolithic — about it.
With no help from cinematic CGI, its vision of the 21st century and beyond seems uncannily prescient and profound. Before we’d even landed on the moon, “2001” showed us how privately operated spacecraft would one day take us there.
Life’s biggest mystery — our place in the universe — would be an empty question were it not for director Stanley Kubrick and author Arthur C. Clarke’s vision of what comes next. There is no “Star Wars” without the Star Gate, no “Close Encounters” or “Contact” without the monolith. HAL was a perfect preview/early warning of Siri and Alexa and our AI-dominated near future.
In Part One we look at the film’s origins in 1960s New York when Kubrick and Clarke first met. We visit Kubrick’s former penthouse apartment, where the two believed they saw a UFO, and then recall their trip to the 1964 World’s Fair. We explore the unorthodox production and try to discover how “2001” went from opening night bomb to counterculture icon. We’ll hear from effects wizard Doug Trumbull, actor Keir Dullea, film critic Carrie Rickey, “2001” scholars Michael Benson (“The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’“) and Jarice Hanson, as well as superfan Tom Hanks, who has seen the movie more than 200 times.
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Here is a terrific scale model replica of the Discovery One spaceship in the movie:
Largest Scale Discovery One Prop Replica On Sale Now HobbyLink Japan, in partnership with GomoraKick (Kaiyodo International), presents a limited-edition 1.6-meter scale replica of ‘Discovery One’ prop featured in film “2001: A Space Odyssey”
Sano, Tochigi, JAPAN: Today, HobbyLink Japan Ltd., an internet retail business specializing in sales of hobby products and collectibles to customers worldwide, announced the exclusive US distribution rights for a limited-edition 1/10 scale 3D-CAD replica of the original ‘Discovery One’ spaceship prop made famous in Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed 1968 sci-fi classic ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.
The company, a leader in its niche for nearly 25 years, now expands its portfolio with HLJ Select, a new brand for premium merchandise, to better serve the acquired preferences of memorabilia collectors globally. In collaboration with GomoraKick (Kaiyodo International), HobbyLink Japan Ltd. proudly offers the ‘Discovery One’ spacecraft prop replica exclusively to the United States market:
Most precise, largest scale (1/10) replica of the original movie prop, measuring 160cm (approx. 5 feet 3 inches) in length
● Each single piece is created through Hollywood-class 3D-CAD printing paired with meticulous handcrafting by world-renowned Japanese modelers
● Individually-sculpted, unique spine module containers and side panels
● Superior detail in the piping, heat dissipation fins, and fuel tanks of nuclear engines
● Perfectly recreated antenna array based on original movie images
● Cockpit illumination via 4 remote-controlled LED lights
● Luxury acrylic display stand and photo-etched acrylic name plate included
Front view of the Discovery One model. Credits: HobbyLink Japan
About HobbyLink Japan Ltd.:HobbyLink Japan Ltd. is an internet retail business based in Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Founded in 1995, the company started out offering Japanese model kits to international customers out of a small apartment in Tokyo, Japan. Today, HobbyLink Japan Ltd. operates a custom-built office and state-of-the-art warehouse in scenic Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, and offers over 120,000 hobby products including anime & action figures, model kits, Gundam products, hobby publications, and other collectibles at domestic prices, shipping to over 220 countries worldwide. In addition to retail sales (B2C), the company provides wholesale (B2B), third-party logistics and e-commerce services (3PL/3PEC). With a culturally diverse team of over 75 Japanese and international employees, HobbyLink Japan Ltd. was awarded the ‘Gold Trusted Service Award’ for ‘Outstanding Customer Service’ in 2018 by Feefo. Learn more at https://hlj.com/corporate-profile.
If you are looking for some fun space reads during the holiday season, check out Jackie Kingon’s “science fiction comic mysteries”. She sent me the following excerpts of reviews for Chocolate Chocolate Moons:
“Kingon’s prose is often as snappy as her settings…delightful”
—Kirkus Review
“This book is provoking allegory with satirical elements that mock the weight loss industry and society’s view of eating as a whole.”
—Online Book Club
“A humorous romp, sure to please many a reader.”
—Midwest Book Review
Molly’s Bistro, owned by Earthling Molly Marbles, is doing well in Mars’ capital of New Chicago. Virtual Vittles, a virtual-reality restaurant, has opened nearby, but when its dining experience leaves customers hungry, they make a beeline for Molly’s place. She and Virtual Vittles owner Rick Frances eventually collaborate on a dining event; unfortunately, it ends with Rick found dead at Molly’s Bistro. Molly, who previously helped detectives solve a different mystery, works the murder case…An undeniably fun tale with a protagonist who can apparently handle anything…
Here are the first three short films in a series underway at DUST called Glimpse, each offering a view of the impact of a future technology:
** “Circuits”
If you could control all your devices from a tattoo on your arm, would you feel safer? What if that sense of security was an illusion? “Circuits” presents a glimpse into the future of…body modification.
** “The Stork”
The birth of a child makes every parent nervous. Technology makes the process safer, but our biological impulse to worry still seeps into the experience – no matter what. “The Stork” is a glimpse into the future of…birth.
** “Sebastian Moller”
What happens when a chef takes his craft from experimental to extreme? What would you pay to savor a food that’s never been tasted before? “Sebastian Moller” is a glimpse into the future of…haute cuisine.
Co-editor Les Johnson is a NASA physicist and author. Check out the list of his books at Baen.
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