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Spaceman Barbecue by Peter Wood

8/23/2014

Spaceman Barbecue fully embraces the pulp fiction adventure stories of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. I am not talking about stories with lurid covers of scantily clad women being carried off by horrible monsters. I refer instead to stories found in Boys Life and other “Adventure” magazines. These stories usually had a softer science element and an underachieving protagonist who found new focus and confidence as the adventure progressed. I loved those stories and practically grew up on them. In “Spaceman Barbecue,” the adventure begins with the event I prayed for as a child: a crippled spaceship landing in the nearby woods.

Kevin Bayer from Sporadic Reviews said: Spaceman Barbecue, by Peter Wood, is a Twilight Zone-esque throwback with a happy ending.

Cyd Athens from Tangent Online Reviews said: Hank has withdrawn into depression since his father died several years ago. Commander Matt Brannigan of Space Command gets trapped in an alternate reality when his ship crashes behind Hank’s trailer. At first Matt doesn’t believe what has happened. Darlene, dropping off their son, Billy, for a visit with Hank, doesn’t believe what Hank tells her about Matt. The story pushes all the right emotional buttons—making the reader want to kick Hank in the butt to get him motivated, and hoping for a miracle for Matt.

Wendy Sparrow said on Goodreads: A spaceman lands on Earth with his alien accoutrements which mean nothing to him if he can’t get home. His plight inspires the man he lands near.

McKenzie Richardson said on Goodreads: There was not a single story that I did not like, some I felt were just okay, most were good, and a few were extremely amazing. Four fell into the last category and include "Compositon in Death Minor", "Spaceman Barbeque", "From a Stone", and "A Trip to Lagasy". I would strong recommend these four stories. “Spaceman Barbecue” - 4 stars- Very funny. Charming story.

Peter Wood, an attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina, lives with his surly cat and forgiving wife. Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, and Tampa, Florida, he watched Star Trek and Outer Limits episodes and listened to vintage radio shows like X Minus One. Pete’s literary heroes include Bradbury, Vonnegut, and Hemingway. His stories have appeared in Stupefying Stories, Daily Science Fiction, and Bull Spec. He hopes “Spaceman Barbecue” heralds a new genre, Southern Fried Science Fiction.

Other Far Orbit posts featured on this blog:

Musings on NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Project and Sam Kepfield’s “Open for Business”
Bear Essentials by Julie Frost
Composition in Death Minor by K.G. Jewell
Spaceman Barbecue by Peter Wood
Far Orbit Interview on SciFi4Me.com
Great News from Sporadic Reviews!
Guest Blog on Fantasy Café (they wanted to hear about Grand Tradition SciFi
Good Choice Reading Interviews Far Orbit Authors Tracy Canfield, Jacob Drud, and Kat Otis
My intro for the Far Orbit Anthology
Launch Day!!!
Inspiration… perspiration… exhilaration…

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Bear Essentials by Julie Frost

8/17/2014

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Julie Frost’s entertaining story Bear Essentials can be found in the Far Orbit anthology. Bear Essentials is a spaceship voyage story – one of the most familiar Grand Tradition science fiction tropes. Spaceship voyage stories were a logical progression from the popular sailing ship adventures of last century that featured daring captains who visited strange locations populated by even stranger inhabitants. Bear Essentials falls within a subset of these spaceship stories; one that revolves around a small vessel crewed mostly by family members. Well known SF stories featuring family owned or operated ships include The Rolling Stones (The Family Stone in Great Britain) published in 1952 and the TV series Lost in Space (1965 -1968).

Author Julie Frost continues in this tradition by introducing us to Captain Russell Fisk and his daughter Mandy who pilot the tramp freighter the Inquisitive Tamandua from one potential catastrophe to another. The character of Captain Fisk resonates with the empathetic reader because he isn’t the aloof steelyeyed adventurer. Instead, he is a harried fallible father who worries about everything—his ship, livelihood, crew, passengers, cargo, and his daughter's changing relationship with the mechanic.

In Kevin Bayer’s review of the Far Orbit anthology (Amazon, Goodreads, and Sporadic Reviews) he tells us, “… And I think my favorite was Bear Essentials, by Julie Frost, about a small trading vessel run by a grumpy man and his adult daughter, along with their small crew. This tale has them transporting a live bear from one world to another, along with an unusual passenger, and discovering something amazing along the way. I definitely want to read more stories about this crew (especially if that bear comes back).”

Cyd Athens’ review at Tangent Online Reviews called Bear Essentials “a fun romp.”

Julie Frost lives in the beautiful Salt Lake Valley in a house full of Oaxacan carvings and anteaters, some of which intersect. Her work has appeared in Cosmos, Azure Valley, Stupefying Stories, and Plasma Frequency. She whines about writing at www.agilebrit.livejournal.com, or you can follow her on Twitter via @JulieCFrost. A prior adventure in this timeline, “Illegal Beagles,” is available for free download at the author’s website www.agilebrit.livejournal.com.

Other Far Orbit posts featured on this blog:

Musings on NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Project and Sam Kepfield’s “Open for Business”
Bear Essentials by Julie Frost
Composition in Death Minor by K.G. Jewell
Spaceman Barbecue by Peter Wood
Far Orbit Interview on SciFi4Me.com
Great News from Sporadic Reviews!
Guest Blog on Fantasy Café (they wanted to hear about Grand Tradition SciFi
Good Choice Reading Interviews Far Orbit Authors Tracy Canfield, Jacob Drud, and Kat Otis
My intro for the Far Orbit Anthology
Launch Day!!!
Inspiration… perspiration… exhilaration…

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6 Tech-Based SciFi Writing Prompts

8/15/2014

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The Plastisphere
Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have discovered a diverse group of microbes thriving on flecks of plastic that pollute the oceans. Most of the flecks are about a millimeter in diameter. This newly dubbed “Plastisphere” has created new habitats for microorganisms that are different from those found in the surrounding seawater. Researchers have found at least 1000 different types of bacteria thus far including many individual species that have not been previously identified. How will these new microbial communities affect the ecosystem? Can we exploit the plastisphere to sequester carbon dioxide and combat global warming? Will someone exploit the plastisphere for nefarious purposes (i.e., transporting toxigenic or pathogenic organisms, plugging up harbors, polluting beaches, or contaminating water intakes)?
http://www.whoi.edu/news-release/plastisphere

Embrace the Bugs
About a trillion microorganisms colonize our bodies making each of us a walking, talking “superorganism.” Our microscopic passengers play an important role health as well as disease. When our microbiome is imbalanced, we are prone to inflammation, arthritis and toxic megacolon. We also have a decreased ability to digest and utilize vital nutrients. Rebalancing the microbiome seems to be important and medical scientists are now using fecal transplant pills—yup, pills containing concentrated fecal bacteria -- to stop recurrent Clostridium difficile infections of the gut. Our sanitized, disinfectant- and antibiotic-laden Western culture is waging war on the superorganism and the bugs are fighting back! What would happen if we embraced the bugs? Could we use bioengineering to augment our individual microbiomes? Would we become superbeings or organic sludge? Could this be used for nefarious purposes?

Micoorganisms That Eat Fireworks
Every year millions of people flock to their local parks to watch firework celebrations. We’re not the only species that likes fireworks; some bacteria are able to eat the oxidizers (perclorates) used to generate these pyrotechnic displays, What if there were bugs that could eat gunpowder, explosives, and other things that go boom? How would that change our world?
http://www.biotechniques.com/news/A-Microbe-that-Likes-Fireworks/biotechniques-344646.html?utm_source=BioTechniques+Newsletters+%26+e-Alerts&utm_campaign=b0f4ef3d71-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5f518744d7-b0f4ef3d71-87750825

High Tech Space Debris
When NASA landed the one-ton, nuclear-powered Curiosity rover on the Red Planet, heaps of debris were scattered across the Martian landscape. We have landed tons of foreign substances (including radioisotopes) on the surface of Mars since 1971. We know that organisms adapt to new challenges. What if this new set of foreign nutrients stimulates the growth of organisms that thrive on these substances? How would that affect colonization? How would they affect spacecraft returning to Earth from the red planet? Does Mars need its own Environmental Protection Agency? Other foreign objects have been landed or crashed on other planetary bodies, the moon being the largest receptacle of space debris.
http://io9.com/5966206/this-is-all-the-beautiful-space-litter-left-on-mars-by-nasas-curiosity-rover/

Tatoo-based Biobatteries
Sounds strange but the science is real. Could these be used to power wearable or implantable electronic devices?
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/tech-edge/4433475/Tattoo-bio-batteries-produce-power-f rom-sweat-

Urban heat’s effect on the environment
Urban environments are hotter than rural environments. This changes the normal flora and fauna. Urban vermin (a catchy name) are not subjected to the harsh winter temperatures that their rural brethren face so they live longer and breed more. What happens to us as the world becomes more urbanized? Sounds like a dystopian theme.
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2014/07/urban-heat%E2%80%99s-effect-environment?et_cid=4064233&et_rid=490707858&location=top

Self-healing smart beads detect and repair corrosion
What if humans are considered corrosive influences to buildings and pipes?
http://www.battelle.org/media/press-releases/battelle-develops-self-healing-smart-corrosion-beads

You may be interested in the following SciFi Writing Topics…
6 Tech-based Writing Prompts
5 Books for Aspiring SciFi Writers

…and general SciFi articles.
SciFi Writers – The Shamans of Modernity
SciFi and the Dangerfield Effect
SciFi Authors and Editors as Agents of Change
What Would Your Robot Say?
What Were the First SciFi Stories You Read?
Earth Day – April 22, 2014

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Composition in Death Minor by K.G. Jewell

8/13/2014

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Composition in Death Minor is a mélange of American noir fiction, dystopian fiction, and modern tech-based world building – characteristics that upon first blush, appear to be more closely associated with cyberpunk motifs than science fiction in the Grand Tradition. Noir science fiction emerged at the end of the Golden Age (1938-1950) when a number of established writers began to explore new themes and new science fiction styles. The cynical and stylized perspective of classic noir fiction became increasingly popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers (1955), Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room! (1966), and Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) are some of the best known examples of noir science fiction from this era.

Noir science fiction had a significant impact on science fiction films and they had a formative effect on the cyberpunk movement that emerged in the early 1980s. Composition in Death Minor continues the noir tradition and author K. G. Jewell introduces us to Sophie Devine, a hard-as-nails assassin and concert cellist. She has a job to do and she does not like assholes.

K.G. Jewell lives and writes in Austin, Texas. His stories of short speculative fiction have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, and Unidentified Funny Objects. He's working on novel relating the further adventures of Sophie Devine, cello player and intergalactic assassin. His website, which is rarely updated, is lit.kgjewell.com.

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5 Books for Aspiring SciFi Writers

8/11/2014

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I wanted to share a few unusual book titles from my reference library that may be useful for aspiring science fiction writers.

Guesstimation 2.0: Solving today’s questions on the back of a napkin by Lawrence Weinstein. Published in 2012 by Princeton University Press.

No, you don’t need to be a mathematician to be a science fiction writer, but it is helpful if you can make rough, common sense estimates to check “facts” obtained from the internet. Crowd sourcing facts on the internet is easy but many times the result is based upon word-of-mouth solutions, implausible factoids, and false assumptions. Most editors will not check your math so the ability to do a little fact-checking can keep some smarty pants from pulling the wings off your latest creation after it shows up in print. The first volume of this duo, Guesstimation: Solving the world’s problems on the back of a cocktail napkin is more readable and elementary but Guestimation 2.0 has more examples an author might need to address in an SF story. Written by math and physics professors at Old Dominion University, these delightfully concise works remind us that a close answer - an estimate - is often good enough for everyday activities.

Working with Bitches: Identify the 8 types of office mean girls and rise above workplace nastiness by Meredith Fuller. Published in 2013 by Da Capo Press.

Before you start giving me the stink-eye, let me explain. Stories are about people their passions and anger, revenge and redemption, adversities and triumphs, and how the characters are shaped by, and relate to their environment. The more we know about people, the more believable our characters can be. Writers with a dangling Y chromosome sometimes have difficulties writing believable female characters and creating a believable mean female can be even more difficult. I am not recommending this as a self-help book but rather, a study of negative female archetypes in the workplace. The book provides some potential motivations for these archetypes and examples of how others react to them. The author, a psychologist and career counselor with 30 years’ experience dealing with workplace nastiness, provides an interesting mix of motivations and descriptions that could help your characterizations.

Wondrous Beginnings edited by Steven H. Silver and Martin H. Greenberg (2003) and Before They Were Giants edited by James L. Sutter (2010).

These books contain the first published stories of some of the best known SF authors, past and present – stories written when these superstars were just like us, SF fans with stories and dreams. The interviews (Giants) and introductions (Beginnings) provide glimpses into the genesis of these first stories and the beginnings of a writer’s career. Wondrous Beginnings includes 22 first sales from writers Murray Leinster, Julie E. Czerneda, Orson Scott Card, Hal Clement, Anne McCaffrey, Arthur C. Clarke, L. Sprague de Camp, George R. R. Martin, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jack McDevitt, Stephen Baxter, and others. Before they were Giants has stories and contributions from Ben Bova, Charles Stross, China Mieville, Cory Doctorow, David Brin, Greg Bear, Joe Haldeman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Larry Niven, Michael Swanwick, Nicola Griffith, Piers Anthony, R. A. Salvatore, Spider Robinson, and William Gibson.

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Skinny Dip

8/6/2014

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Up North Stories. It is amazing how smells and fragrances trigger old memories and feelings. I was in a crowd of people one evening and a familiar fragrance transported me to another time…

Cathy was two years behind me in school. Her delighted laughter greeted anything that caught her imagination—leaves artfully tangled in a spider web; the smell of wet sidewalks after a summer rain; dandelion wishes; and lightning bugs.

Hopscotch marks had to be honored whenever they were discovered—it didn't matter what she was wearing, where she was going, or how late she might be. One two one - two one - two one and return.

Her enthusiasm was infectious. She danced and twirled to music from the radio, singing the lyrics fearlessly; unabashedly enjoying the moment. Cathy loved modern music from exotic, far away AM stations; WOWO in Ft. Wayne, CKLW in Canada. Delicious, frowned-upon music that reached our town only after sunset.

Her perfume reflected her personality. Skinny Dip was exuberant, uncomplicated, unmistakable. It caught your attention like the tickle-belly hills near Black River or an unexpected giggle in the back of the theater. That smell, her smell would follow me for days. It permeated my clothing, it lived in my pores. I could smell it when no one else could.

Skinny Dip has long been discontinued but it found me that evening, wafting on the night breeze. It tickled, it comforted. It made me smile.

You may be interested in these Up North Story posts
New Feature: Up North Stories
Skinny Dip
Radio and the Fabric of our Lives
Early Reading Experiences

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Spaceman Barbecue by Peter Wood

Bear Essentials by Julie Frost

6 Tech-Based SciFi Writing Prompts

Composition in Death Minor by K.G. Jewell

5 Books for Aspiring SciFi Writers

Skinny Dip

@BascombJ

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Spaceman Barbecue by Peter Wood

Bear Essentials by Julie Frost

6 Tech-Based SciFi Writing Prompts

Composition in Death Minor by K.G. Jewell

5 Books for Aspiring SciFi Writers

Skinny Dip

​@BascombJ

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@BascombJ