The Sky is Waiting.
Available for pre-order!
The West has never been wilder… as a veteran of the 2011 & 2012 NecronomiCon, we’ve noticed the enduring fascination with fans in all that is Steampunk. Strange, in that said genre really doesn’t have a flagship franchise such as a Trek or Star Wars. Or at least, not yet. [Read more...]
On Sale Now!
The West has never been weirder… This week, we look at the Steampunk sequel to The Buntline Special with The Doctor & the Kid by Mike Resnick out from Pyr Books. [Read more...]
Out this December from Pyr Books!
Ever wonder why this existence of ours just doesn’t seem to make since most of the time? Believe me, the thought has crossed our minds here at Astroguyz HQ as we see the likes of the Kardashians and what not trending. Perhaps there’s a multitude of universal possibilities out there, branching off from our own bizarre existence… [Read more...]
Out in July from Pyr Books!
Looking for a Steampunk comic book thriller for the summer? This week we look at George Mann’s Ghosts of War out from Pyr Books next month. Fans of this space will remember our review of the first book in the series by Mr. Mann, entitled the Ghosts of Manhattan. [Read more...]
The siren song of alternative timelines is a tempting one. Are there other realities blossoming constantly from our own? Is there a reality out there where Brittany Spears is president, or World War II never happened? Or are things finitely probable but largely impossible? This week, we take a look at Paul McAuley’s new book, the Cowboy Angels out from Pyr Books.
An expanding genre in the realm modern Sci-Fi is the retro-science fiction novel. More appropriately classified as an alternate history work of fiction, this sub-sub genre has been christened with the sleeker term of Steampunk as of late. Hollywood movie goers have been exposed to Steampunk via such flicks as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow and may not even have known it. Of course, most trace the genre to William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s 1990 landmark book The Difference Engine, but we would contend that you could trace the look and style back to the 1927 film Metropolis, or even the works of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells…of course, they lived in the steam era, and were instead writing what they thought of as future fiction… [Read more...]
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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: Himmler’s War by Robert Conroy
On sale now!
Historical “What If’s?” often make for great fiction.
What if the South had won Gettysburg? Or if the U.S. had never entered World War I? Or Roosevelt never built the bomb at Einstein’s urging? These are just some alternate histories that are intriguing to consider. Or are we in fact living in an alternate timeline now? [Read more...]