End of the World? All New Adventure Story on Amazon’s New Vella #shortstories #amreadingfantasy

Return today to the thrilling days of… serials. From Dickens to Buck Rogers to me 🙂 serials are classic, and Amazon now offers “stories told one short episode at a time.” What do you think? Does this fit your busy day? Try it out with my tale of doomsday and con artists: Armageddon, One Sucker at a Time.

Armageddon, One Sucker at a Time

My story’s final episode’s been posted, so binge straight through or savor the tale one episode at a time, your choice.

Flint Benning has an underground stash of freeze-dried food to last for decades, a career in black operations, and expertise in survival. Surely the world’s elite will pay him for the ultimate Armageddon hide-away. So why is he bankrupt? Flint will die a pauper in the rubble of humanity’s despair, until he meets dooms-dayers with more imagination. The end of the world is going to be fun. Armageddon on Amazon Vella

Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dystopian, Teen & Young Adult, Action & Adventure

New to Vella? Scifi, fantasy, romance, historical fiction, humor, mystery, LGBT fiction, and more – stories in all genres. Read the opening episodes of any story for free, then unlock more enticing episodes with purchased tokens. Only pay for what you read!

8,000 tons of Space Debris Threaten Modern Life #space

Our daily lives on Earth depend on satellites in space. Weather forecasting, telecommunications, GPS, and increasingly the internet too. But defunct craft, discards from old launches, and smashed debris from collisions are filling the skies. Even astronauts on the International Space Station have to conduct special maneuvers to avoid larger chunks or hide out in their docked Soyuz spacecraft until junk passes by. The sky once seemed so vast, but today, we’ve cluttered it up with millions of pieces of trash.

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We may even be limiting our ability to travel into space.

Spacecraft to clean up the mess are being designed and tested. Here’s one international effort about to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ultimately, such craft will attempt to attach to dead satellites and push them toward Earth to burn up in the atmosphere. Eek! I hope they take the size of whatever survives to crash on land into consideration. But first comes a test using two devices:

Using a magnetic docking technology, the servicer will release and try to “rendezvous” with the client, which will act as a mock piece of space junk [and] carry out this catch and release process repeatedly over the course of six months. NPR

What a great basis for science fiction, don’t you think? I’m currently writing a story that launches newly minted pilot Winnie Bravo to clean up space junk. She’s based on the Moon, and there’s more than orbiting debris to worry about. Her space adventure turns deadly. The book will be released later this year, but you don’t have to hold your breath waiting! Subscribe today to my newsletter and I’ll keep you posted, but I’ll never sell your address or pester you with spam (promise, I’m too busy writing.)

Click here now to sign up, and I’ll see you on the Moon soon. Receive a free short story today as my welcome gift to you 🙂

7 More Minutes of Terror! Mars Perseverance Rover to Land – Be Ready #Mars2020 #Mars

Only one week to go! On Feb. 18, 2021, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover (aka Percy) makes its final descent to the Red Planet, landing via a sky crane. Mars is too far away for mission controllers to help; the car-sized craft’s programming is all it has to rely on. The maneuver’s been used before, in the “seven minutes of terror” that we all endured when Curiosity landed. But still, I’ll be holding my breath (with a few gasps interrupting the seven minutes.)

Here’s what NASA has planned:

The mission will explore Jezero crater, which scientists speculate was a 250 m (820 ft) deep lake about 3.9 billion to 3.5 billion years ago. Jezero today features a prominent river delta where water flowing through it deposited much sediment over the eons, which is “extremely good at preserving biosignatures”. The sediments in the delta likely include carbonates and hydrated silica, known to preserve microscopic fossils on Earth for billions of years. Wikipedia

NASA has a great resource site: download lots of information, learn how to participate and watch the mission, and there are activities for students. The first interplanetary drone helicopter is aboard this mission, and I can’t wait to find out how that works out.

Until humans land on Mars in real-life, we make-do with science fiction. Join settlers in the first, near-future colony. Struggle for survival. Battle the deadly planet and sometimes each other. Set on the real-Mars as science knows the planet, my stories are full of action and suspense mixed with a vision of how you might one day live your life on the Red Planet. Click now and read the individual books at Amazon and other favorite stores, or get the value-priced box set, also available at Amazon and other favorite stores.

Holidays are Here – Get Ready With Free Reads You Can Share #scifibooks #giftideas

The 2020 holiday season is going to be… different. You can find and share good reads – how’s that for love at a safe distance? Subscribe now to my newsletter and you, your friends, and family can join me on Mars, Saturn’s moon Titan, and more: throughout December receive free eBooks in favorite formats (Kindle, EPUB, PDF and more) plus something special for signing up now.

Click here now – right this minute – and subscribe so you don’t miss out. Happier Holidays!