Welcome!
Welcome to my new website and to the blog page. I will be using this space to post information about characters, story lines, scientific concepts, and anything else of interest featured in the Space Unbound series, or to address questions from readers that merit wider visibility. What I will NOT do is bore you with mundane aspects of my life, the kind of things that might populate other blogs (unless, of course, I win the Hugo :-).
The post below—from December 10, 2020—is really more of a mission statement for the Space Unbound project than anything else. It is not indicative of the kinds of posts that will follow, so your welcome to skip it.
Just a note about Through a Forest of Stars. You may encounter two paperback editions of this book, an old one and a new one. The first edition was published in 2017, before I realized it would become Book 1 of the Space Unbound series. That edition has since been “un-published.” The current edition, now available on Amazon and elsewhere, is the revised one, published in 2020. It’s essentially the same as the original, but edited to reflect its status as the starting point of the series. It has been given a new cover and book design. Some technical and scientific details have been updated, and the timeline of the story has been more clearly delineated. Beyond that, the narrative remains virtually unchanged. Still, if you somehow end up getting the older paperback edition in a purchase, contact me and I will gladly send you the new one, free of charge.
Book 2 in the series, Sun Wolf, is the direct sequel to Through a Forest of Stars and is available in both paperback and e-book formats. Book 3 is in the works. So, if you’re interested in hard sci-fi—grounded in real science extrapolated into the near future, mixed with action, adventure, and mystery, featuring engaging characters and story lines that move along briskly—then this series is waiting for you to climb aboard. The launch window is now open. I hope you will join me in the continuing adventure and wonder of Space Unbound.
December 10, 2020
Why is it called Science Fiction?
The “fiction” part is obvious—stories born from an author’s imagination, not from real-life events. But it’s the “science” part that has become more elusive over the years. From the day I finished reading Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles at age 12 to the present, the kind of science fiction that drew me in features the “Big Idea” as a main character in the storyline. The Big Idea, in this case, is the “what-if” scientific concept, plausibly extrapolated from real science of the day, and propelled into the future by curiosity and imagination.
That flavor of science fiction—now called “hard” sci-fi—was the main ingredient in the works of the older masters like Arthur C. Clark, Isaac Asimov, Hal Clement, Poul Anderson, and others. But today, when I walk down the “Science Fiction” isle of any bookstore (digital and brick-and-mortar alike), most of what I see is actually fantasy genre, or various “-punk” subgenres, Earth-bound tales of post-apocalypse and alien invasion. But science fiction grounded in plausible science, from beginning to end, seems underrepresented today compared to the days of Asimov and Clark. If that’s due to a vanishing audience for it, why even care?
I care for several reasons. On the surface—and for sheer readability—scientific puzzles in the real world, sought out by real scientists, are rich with wonder and entertainment value. Are there any mysteries greater than the miracle of life, of mind, and the nature of the physical universe? Woven into a character-driven story, either as a backdrop or as the central theme, those mysteries can be the stuff of page-turners.
Another reason to care about real science in fiction is that it can stimulate a reader’s curiosity and encourage the mindset of critical thinking and a respect for the truth. I believe those qualities are absolutely crucial today, more than ever. Not only for our personal well-being, but for the survival of civilization. Critical thinking is the practice of dispassionately examining all sides of an issue for veracity while passionately seeking the truth no matter how well (or not) the results align with whatever belief systems you operate on. As one of my favorite science advocates, Neil deGrasse Tyson, once said: “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”
Yet another good reason for putting real science back into sci-fi is that it has illuminated so many revelations in Nature that serve beautifully as metaphors for what it is to be human, to live in harmony with each other and with the planet that gave us birth. Take symbiosis, for instance. The biological phenomenon of symbiosis captured my imagination as a young graduate student studying mycorrhiza in the rain forests of Costa Rica. Beyond its fascinating biology, the process of symbiosis struck me as a most brilliant and far-reaching metaphor of interconnectedness. That epiphany stayed with me ever since and became a natural theme for Through a Forest of Stars.
Or take James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis, a science-based theory a half-century old suggesting that our Earth is, in a very real and detailed sense, a living organism. Putting aside the controversies in the scientific community still surrounding this radical idea, the power of it, even as metaphor, is undeniable. It touches upon every significant human endeavor, from politics and the environment, to relationships, psychology, and spirituality. These are some of the Big Ideas in both Through a Forest of Stars and its sequel, Sun Wolf. Along with current developments in quantum physics and cosmology, they will undoubtedly reappear in forthcoming books of the Space Unbound series. Stay tuned!