In my alternate timeline my sci-fi stories take in, Nikola Tesla gets into electronics, successfully inventing the transistor around the year 1900, speeding up computing as we know it by half a century. But with this newfound windfall, what becomes of his dream of wireless … Continue readingReal Wireless Power: Toward Teslapunk
I thought I was chasing a snowstorm that magical Christmas Night in 1941, but I found far more than the rarity that is a white Christmas on the Oregon coast. A Christmas Day out on the town in Astoria, flakes dancing in the multicolored lights … Continue readingThe Christmas Rocket
It won’t be too long before I’m leaving on my jaunt to Cascadia — not even two weeks from now — so now is not a good time to start writing a story. It’s always a good time, however, to brainstorm for stories! And lately … Continue readingAn Outer Solar System Odyssey: More Thoughts
Microsoft Windows is of course the dominant operating system on the personal computer, with Linux dominating basically everything else (even smartphones; Android is based on Linux). What if that was different? I’ll go through a couple of scenarios, one hewing more closely to real life … Continue readingOperating System What-Ifs
Sometimes I question why I follow so many aesthetic mood-board type accounts on Twitter, why I spend so much time on there, but then I get some real inspiration, often from rather unlikely vectors. Such as this pair of posts yesterday from two different users … Continue readingTaking Earth into the 23rd Century
Recently I’ve been bouncing around several story concepts, but none have lit a fire under me that tells me “I wanna write this now! Ooh…yay!”; it’s been more like “eeeh…maybe someday”. But then I started listening to “Earthbound”, a wonderful ambient piece by Dreamstate Logic, … Continue readingA Far-Future Duology?
Although it’s utterly beyond our engineering prowess today, we know the physics required to travel anywhere in the universe in the blink of an eye…from the point of view of the traveler. And without any g-forces either. Enter Robert L. Forward’s “gravitational catapult”. We manipulate … Continue readingAre We in a Higher-Dimensional Worldship?
I know I’ve spent a few days brainstorming for the first Mars mission in my science-fictional alternate history, but already I can’t help but plot out things even further for the timeline of early spaceflight. In particular, after the first Mars landing in 1963, what … Continue readingAn Odyssey to the Outer Solar System?
Years ago I established that in my alternate-historical/science-fictional setting a Russian-led expedition is the first to reach Mars in 1963, 22 years after the first manned spaceflight, and 14 years after the first landing on the Moon. Now that I’ve written up the first flight … Continue readingWorldbuilding the First Mars Landing
Having given some thought to my alternate timeline’s space program recently, I’ve been doing some research on space history in our world. One aspect that stands out to me is how much more capable a super-heavy-lift launcher (like the Saturn V, SLS, or SpaceX Starship) … Continue readingAll I Ask is a Tall Rocket…