SciFi Saturday News – Darth Vader As Martyr?, How To Speak To Aliens, And Baby Stars
I missed last week (due to being offline) so there are a zillion awesome stories I could cover this week. I’m giving you the ones I think will inspire you to write.
More Star Wars: The Force Awakens Teasing
JJ Abrams shares “Could the First Order exist as a group that actually admired the Empire? Could the work of the Empire be seen as unfulfilled? And could Vader be a martyr? Could there be a need to see through what didn’t get done?”
Communicating With Aliens
SETI has released a free eBook that deals with the problems, pitfalls, and advancements that we’ve made in the quest to communicate with aliens. If you’re looking for the premise for your next SciFi romance, this eBook is gold!
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/nasa-releases-free-ebook-about-communicating-with-aliens/
On that topic, scientists want to send modern messages to aliens in space
Dr Jill Stuart, space policy expert at the London School of Economics, shared that (this is a quote from the article, not her) ‘the messages featured on pictorial messages should be carefully thought out before deploying into space. She said that the attitudes of people have significantly changed over the past 40 years.’
The Martian And Space Technology
Folks in the space community are raving about The Martian. Much of the technology currently exists (either in testing or in reality), including the deep-space habitat Matt Damon’s character uses.
“Imagine a world where severe storms, tornadoes, and flash flooding are no longer a threat to human life. Or a time when flying from London to Australia takes less than an hour.
Picture a future where our understanding of the dawn of time and the fabric of the universe are so sophisticated that time travel becomes more than just theory.
All of these emerging technologies are being worked on right now”
Space Nurseries
First Woman In Space
“Valentina Tereshkova travelled into space in 1963 in a craft programmed to ascend but not descend. This was compounded by the fact she had no toothbrush.” I love this woman.
Getting Drunk In Space
Valentina Tereshkova went to space without a toothbrush. Modern astronauts are testing special drinking glasses. Ballantine’s ‘Space Glass’ is the world’s first whisky glass designed to work in gravity-less conditions.
Who Owns Space?
Dr Jill Stuart, space policy expert at the London School of Economics, had a fascinating lecture on who owns space. If a private corporation discovers and lands on an uninhabited planet, does this company own it? If they mine an asteroid, who owns the minerals?
What SciFi news did you find inspiring this week?
Subscribe To My Release Day Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.
Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.
Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.
When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?
Buy Now:
On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO
On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html
On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/releasing-rage-cynthia-sax/1122455646
Topics: SciFi News | Comments Off on SciFi Saturday News – Darth Vader As Martyr?, How To Speak To Aliens, And Baby Stars
SciFi Saturday News – New Star Wars Droid, Hamburgers In Space and Robot Love
I’m deep in the writing cave for the next 10 days, cut off from the SciFi world and completely offline. I wrote this on Thursday. If aliens visited on Friday or that blasted JJ Abrams leaked another teaser for Star Wars over night, that won’t be covered. (grins)
Next week, SciFi Saturday News will be posted two days late, on the Monday, for the same reason.
BB-8 – A New Star Wars Droid
I LOVE R2-D2 so I’m super stoked that Star Wars will introduce a new droid character.
Lucasfilm concept designer Christian Alzmann shares
“J.J. wanted something rolling on a sphere, so I tried a lot of different designs developing that idea. He would give direction on the kinds of shapes to use, and that led to a personality for the droid. Of course, the original sketch had very pleasing, round shapes, so you kind of figured it wasn’t going to be a very serious or angry character. Ultimately, BB-8 developed out of a back-and-forth process with J.J. where he gave feedback on each iteration of the design.”
Robot Love
Top academic Dr Helen Driscoll shares “Robophilia may be alien now, but could be normal in the near future as attitudes evolve with technology.”
Astronaut Chris Hadfield Rates Space Movies
My favorite astronaut Chris Hadfield talked about the accuracy of popular space movies. “Gravity made me wince. They changed the laws of physics. The characters were completely wrong.”
Great Views From Space
The Guardian compiled some of the most gorgeous views from the International Space Station. These will inspire any SciFi writer!
Colonies On Mars
Space Hamburger
Astronaut Scott Kelly took a pic of his space hamburger. I hoped it tasted better than it looked!
Star Trek Into Darkness And Underwear Scenes
Alice Eve talked about that infamous underwear scene in Star Trek Into Darkness.
“I’m an educated, independent woman and I decided that would be a fine thing to do and me and J.J. [Abrams] did it and there was nothing underhand or awkward. Then it kind of took on a life of its own. But I don’t think that’s what will remain of that image.”
“I think what will remain is the movie, the power, the fact that its like a Princess Leia moment. The fact that it’s something that’s allowed to be iconic, aside from the male moments being iconic. Yes she’s an intelligent, strong, educated woman who…also has a six-pack.”
What SciFi news inspired you this week?
Subscribe To My Release Day Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.
Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.
Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.
When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?
Buy Now:
On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO
On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html
On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/releasing-rage-cynthia-sax/1122455646
Topics: SciFi News | 1 Comment »
SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek Beyond Leonard Nimoy Tribute, New Star Wars Characters, And Awesome Space Photos
These are some of the interesting SciFi developments I spotted this week.
Awesome Photo Of The Twin Jet Nebula
The Hubble Space Telescope snapped one of the most gorgeous photos I’ve ever seen. As Amanda Kooser shares
“A two-lobed nebula blossoms outward from a central star system. Jets of gas extend in elongated bubbles.” Read the entire article if you wish to learn more about nebula.
Astronauts Drink Recycled Urine
From the beautiful to the gross. (grins) Ellen Brait shares
“What’s the difference between American and Russian astronauts on the International Space Station? The Americans drink their urine, the Russians don’t.
“It tastes like bottled water,” Layne Carter, water subsystem manager for the ISS at Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Center told Bloomberg. “As long as you can psychologically get past the point that it’s recycled urine and condensate that comes out of the air.”
Condensate is the collected breath and sweat of the crew, shower runoff, and urine from animals on board the station.”
A Closer Look At Ceres
I love referring to real planet names in my stories. I usually add something to them. Ceres would become Ceres IV because they’re not the same planet. But I think it’s important that we are familiar with the names.
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft snapped this awesome photo of Ceres. Ceres is small, no bigger than 590 miles at its widest point (compared to Earth at 7,926 miles – http://www.space.com/17638-how-big-is-earth.html ) but it is fascinating, a great setting for a story.
More Planets! Kepler 452b
“The discovery of Kepler 452b, a planet orbiting a star similar to our own sun and just 4 percent larger and 10 percent brighter, hit the news recently. Detected by the Kepler Space Telescope, the planet is a so-called “super Earth” with five times the mass of Earth and a 60 percent larger diameter. Kepler 452b orbits its star every 385 days, again very similar to our own world.”
“On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun”.
Star Wars, JJ Abrams and Kylo Ren
JJ Abrams continues to drive me and all other Star Wars fans crazy with teasers about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This week, he was talking about Kylo Ren, the mysterious broadsaber wielding hooded character.
“Kylo Ren is not a Sith.” JJ Abrams shares. “He works under Supreme Leader Snoke, who is a powerful figure on the Dark Side of the Force.”
Star Trek Beyond Tribute To Leonard Nimoy
Because the Star Wars hype isn’t enough to drive me bonkers, the cast of Star Trek is adding to the excitement.
“The cast of ‘Star Trek Beyond’ have paid a moving tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy through a new video created as part of their Star Trek: To Boldly Go charity campaign — a cause that was near and dear to his heart.”
Zachary Quinto, Star Trek Beyond’s Spock, shares.
“Leonard was an actor, a champion of the arts and a true inspiration to so many. Through his legendary portrayal of Spock, he influenced countless scientists and artists, myself and the rest of the cast included. It was an honor and a privilege to know him and to call him a friend. Leonard’s love for the human spirit shone through everything he did. He touched lives around the world and he is greatly missed.”
So true!
What SciFi news did you find interesting this week?
Subscribe To My Release Day Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.
Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.
Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.
When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?
Buy Now:
On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO
On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html
On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/releasing-rage-cynthia-sax/1122455646
Topics: Guest Post | Comments Off on SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek Beyond Leonard Nimoy Tribute, New Star Wars Characters, And Awesome Space Photos
SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek’s Marta, Star Wars VII Favorite Characters And More
I always privately track SciFi developments (a requirement for any SciFi erotic romance writer). I was chatting with a reading buddy this week and she mentioned that she’d love to know about them also.
So I’m starting a weekly round up on my blog with some of the SciFi news I found especially interesting.
RIP Yvonne Craig
Others might remember Yvonne Craig as Batgirl. She will always be Marta, the green slave girl on Star Trek to me. A trained ballerina by training, she enthralled Captain Kirk with her sexy dancing. Though it never took much to do that. (grins) Captain Kirk hit it with every female alien he met.
More Star Wars Trailers
OMG I can’t wait until Star Wars – The Force Awakens releases and the studio is killing me slowly with the trailers.
Here’s a link to one…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc2v7izk8w
You had me at “The Force is strong in my family.”
Favorite Star Wars VII Character
Still on the topic of Star Wars, J.J. Abrams, the director, talked about his favorite character.
“I can only say that Gwendoline Christie is my favorite. She just killed it. You think, “Well, what? It’s wearing a costume.” But it’s a lot to wear and to have a performance when you’re wearing that requires a different kind of skill set and an additional talent, and she’s got it. It’s an incredible thing to work with her. I am glad that a character has been designed that is visually as stunning as that is, because she deserves it and the fans do to. When I first saw that design my mind was blown because it looked so undeniable.”
Did I mention how excited I was about this movie?
Mars Rover Selfies
Curiosity, that playful Mars Rover, has jumped on the selfie trend. His latest photo was taken at Buckskin, one of the rock targets.
As Jonathan Amos shares, “Curiosity manages this smart piece of planetary photography in the same way that any human would take a selfie – by holding a camera at arm’s length and framing its own form.”
Space Elevators
Some crazy Canadians are working on a space elevator.
As Andre Mayer shares, “The classic conception of a space elevator is a giant cable tethered to the Earth’s surface near the equator, with a counterweight out in space beyond geostationary orbit (approximately 36,000 kilometres up).”
On a side note: The inventor of the latest space elevator is kind of cute.
Aurora Borealis From Space
What SciFi news did you find interesting this week?
Subscribe To My Release Day Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.
Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.
Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.
When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?
Buy Now:
On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO
On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html
On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/releasing-rage-cynthia-sax/1122455646
Topics: SciFi News | Comments Off on SciFi Saturday News – Star Trek’s Marta, Star Wars VII Favorite Characters And More
