The Sky is Waiting.
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What would you do with a Clone Army? Long the dream of many a would be supervillain, just such a possibility is the central plot in this week’s science fiction review.
We’re talking about Starbase: Human, book seven in the Anniversary Day saga by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, out in May 2015 by WMG Publishing. Yes, it’s one of the final books in our review backlog, but we long ago vowed to finish off the entire Anniversary Day saga. [Read more...]
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Things are heating up in the Retrieval Artist Universe.
We just finished Book Five in the Anniversary Day Saga, entitled The Peyti Crisis. Out earlier this year courtesy of WMG Publishing, this eight part series by prolific author Kristine Kathryn Rusch follows a surprise attack on Earth�s Moon and the confusion and mystery that follows.
You can read our reviews of Book 2 (Blowback), Book 3 (A Murder of Clones) and Book 4 (Search and Recovery) as well. [Read more...]
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Things are heating up in the Retrieval Artist Universe. �We recently completed book four in the eight book Anniversary Day saga by Kristine Kathryn Rusch as part of our ongoing campaign to catch up with the growing pile of review books that have stacked up while we were on a one year sabbatical.
The Anniversary Day saga follows the aftermath of a massive attack on human colonies on Earth�s Moon and the efforts to uncover just who was behind them. Fans of the series and this space will recall our reviews of Book 2: Blowback and Book 3: A Murder of Clones. We�ve also reviewed The Enemy Within by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, as well as one of our all time faves, the Diving into the Wreck saga. [Read more...]
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Things are definitely heating up in the Retrieval Artist Universe. One thing we arrived back home to after our year-long great American road trip this past year was a stack of books from the sci-fi Anniversary Day saga. We�d read and reviewed Blowback, the second book in the installment, so we eagerly jumped right back in to the eight book series and recently finished A Murder of Clones for review this week. [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.
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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: Masterminds by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
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Never let it be said that we don’t get around to each and every review book sent to us… eventually. Such is the case with this week’s featured review, Masterminds by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, out from WMG Publishing. A Retrieval Artist novel and the final climatic installment of the Anniversary Day saga, Masterminds brings the action-packed saga to its thrilling conclusion. Fans of this saga and this space will recall our reviews of Blowback, A Murder of Clones, Search & Recovery, The Peyti Crisis, Vigilantes and Starbase Human. [Read more...]