Trackbacks
-
[...] Astro Guyz Astro Guyz: …read [...]
-
[...] catch our reviews of the Fiction River Anthologies No Humans Allowed, Christmas Ghosts, Alchemy and Steam and Recycled Pulp. Share [...]
The Sky is Waiting.
Search AstroGuyz
Custom Search
Advertise on Astroguyz!
 |
|
 |
 |
Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New.� A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
�
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth�s shadow is apparent in the image.
Review: No Humans Allowed
On sale now!
�Your droids,� says the unnamed bartender in a famous sci-fi flick, �they’ll have to wait outside.�
Perhaps, cyber-discrimination is a pressing social issue in a �galaxy, far, far away…� But what if those protagonists ever manage to turn in table on humanity?
That’s the challenge facing writers featured in this week’s review. No Humans Allowed out from Fiction River publishing features a series of unique short story tales, all with one caveat: the main protagonist character driving the story cannot be human. The challenge was put out at a writer’s work shop, and the authors delivered magnificently. And no, writers couldn’t get away with humans that merely had magical abilities or superpowers; the tales herein all feature non-human main characters, with no pesky humanoids mucking up the story-line with their primate drama. Extra points were awarded for writers who could spin a tale with no humans in sight.
Here you’ll find intelligent derelict spacecraft searching for purpose, Goblins looking for romance, and enhanced intelligent underpants struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
Think about it: how many non-human intelligences do you know? And yes, anthropomorphizing dogs and/or cats was kinda a gray area we’re assuming for the writing exercise as well. Putting thoughts and motivation into a pair of �smart� underpants as it tries to come to terms with a world where humans are extinct reminds us of Douglas Adams’ concept of what a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias would have to come to terms with as they suddenly materialize over the surface of a distant planet.
Likewise, one can only imagine what would go through the mind of an ancient space probe as it lazily drifts around the core of our galaxy. I can’t help but think that those Voyagers and Pioneer spacecraft might feel a little �used and abused� by humanity, which simply cast them off for eternity. Perhaps, V’ger was justified in returning to wipe out the Earth in the first Star Trek film after all…
Fun fact: we once did a back of the envelope calculation of just how many derelict alien spacecraft might be orbiting around the Milky Way Galaxy.
No Humans Allowed really gives these budding authors a chance to stretch out and create convincing non-human characters and place them in equally alien universes, a tall order for a short story. The short story format is really challenging in this regard, as the author is really up against it in terms of development and world building.
Be sure to check out No Humans Allowed, for either a great summer read on a blue-sanded alien beach or under the skies of good old Earth.
-Also, be sure to check out our other Fiction River compilation reviews, including Universe Beneath, Recycled Pulp and Alchemy and Steam.
-And don’t forget, with next month’s total solar eclipse coming up, we’ve got lots of original eclipse-fueled science fiction tales at our store, including Exeligmos, Shadowfall and the Syzygy Gambit. Two, Peak Season and Class Field Trip, center specifically around the August 21st, 2017 total solar eclipse. I challenged myself to write just one eclipse-themed sci-fi tale, and came up with about a dozen ideas.
�