science fiction

Project Hail Mary Trailer

The first trailer for the PROJECT HAIL MARY movie has dropped (and the official movie poster)! It's a surprisingly fullsome trailer, while also being mostly setup for the actual story.

I absolutely loved this book. The odds of any Hollywood adaptation of a scifi IP being worthy of the book are always low, but they managed to do it with The Martian, by the same author (Andy Weir). Accordingly, I'm optimistic! What do you all think?

SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK:

It’ll all come down to whether the movie nails Rocky. Gosling’s character may be the POV and main character, but Rocky is the star of the book.

See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m08TxIsFTRI

Foundation TV Show

Who's watching Foundation? Talk to me about it.

I bounced off of Season 1 HARD due to its radical departure from the books. I was greatly offended. Now, normally I try to be somewhat forgiving when Hollywood strays from the source material, because I understand that books and TV/movies are different storytelling mediums, with different strengths. But this was FOUNDATION, the series that made sci-fi my book (and ultimately writing) genre of choice, way back when I was a teenager. It was beloved, and it felt like Hollywood took the name and some characters and did whatever TF they wanted to with it.

BUT, Season 2 was well received and popular. And now the Season 3 trailer looks, frankly, fantastic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C53xEOdxz70). And I'm wondering if maybe I should just get over myself and enjoy some cool sci-fi visual entertainment.

Yay or nay?

Lilac City Comicon

I had a booth at Lilac City Comicon in Spokane for the first time this weekend. Doing a “hometown” convention was so nice! I got to sleep in my own bed at night, and I knew where everything was, and I didn’t have to worry about forgetting anything. The Spokane Convention Center is a lovely venue, and I had a terrific time with my booth-mate and BFF, Katie Cross.

3 Body Problem

Netflix's 3 Body Problem exceeded my expectations. It managed to stick fairly closely to the book's fascinating plot, while westernizing the story, crafting engaging characters and adding the kind of human drama TV viewers expect.

The novel makes for excellent science fiction, but like too many scifi novels, the characters are not its strength. The show fixed that weakness. Benedict Wong was a standout, and Liam Cunningham is always fantastic.

Book Two (The Dark Forest) features a significant time jump, and I'll be interested to see how well the show's creators handle the shift in setting and characters.

P.S.: I've heard that Netflix is throwing money at Seasons 2 and 3, which may be filmed together. Not sure that will entirely solve the challenges of adapting the books for TV, but it should make for some gorgeous space scifi visuals!

The Many Faces of Motoko

A collage of the many adaptations of Ghost in the Shell over the years: manga, anime and film.

I deeply appreciate the 1995 movie as a genuine work of art, but I'll always be a 2002 girl. IMO, Stand Alone Complex was the pinnacle of episodic anime. I rewatched it for the millionth time just a few weeks ago, in fact (such a shame that it’s only 2 seasons + a movie). I’m always excited about another new adaptation on the way, but it’ll be difficult to top SAC.

Murderbot Trailer

Did you catch the Murderbot trailer yet? (If you don’t know, the upcoming Murderbot show on Apple TV+ is based on Martha Well’s hugely popular series of sci-fi novellas featuring, well, Murderbot).

I’ll be honest: they’re leaning into the humor a lot more than I expected. Yes, the books *are* humorous, but with a darker tone woven into MB's internal monologue. This is practically slapstick in its over-the-top comedy. That being said, I hope it's great!

Direct link in case the embed doesn’t work for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw7DfayGSIA


Buy Me A Coffee, If You Like

It's my once a year reminder that I have a fun Buy Me A Coffee program you can subscribe to if you like (think Patreon, without all the heavy-handed rules and fees). It comes with different tiers, so you can subscribe to exactly what you want and nothing more!

- monthly wallpaper downloads from my book covers and other art

- montly livestream chats, where we cover space news, tech advancements, scifi media, my books and whatever else you inquire about...oh, and I read excerpts from my current WIP

- you get every new ebook 10 days early

- you get to listen to the new audiobook as Pyper is recording it

Check out the program here: https://buymeacoffee.com/gsjennsen

Silo Season 2

Finished Silo S2 last night. I have quibbles, and the pacing was uneven, but it was quality TV. But what I most appreciate is that despite what I imagine was fairly significant Hollywood pressure to do so, they continue to NOT force Juliette into the standard "heroine" archetype. Instead, she remains entirely what she is: an engineer.

When she turned to Solo and said, "I need something to draw on," then ran for the chalkboard, I laughed out loud. Being married to an engineer, I recognize this behavior all too well.

Not going to lie, she reminds me a fair bit of Alex, too. Cranky, at times rude, oblivious to common social cues and manners, determined to pursue what she knows to be true no matter what.

The Notebook

At various times in the last 10 years, key parts of Aurora Renegades, Aurora Resonant, Asterion Noir, and Riven Worlds have all been brainstormed in this notebook on long drives.

When I initially posted this pic on social media, in real time, I said, “Wonder what I'll write in it today?”

Now, of course, I know what I wrote in it. And that’s all I’ll say about that. For now. ;)

I have words on the moon!

It's a historic day for private space exploration. Early Sunday morning, Firefly Space's Blue Ghost stuck the landing, making it the first fully successful private, commercial moon landing!

On a tiny nanofiche onboard Blue Ghost reside two of my short stories, "Apogee" and "Solatium," as part of the Lunar Codex. All the thanks to Samuel Peralta for making so many writers' and artists' dream come true.

Blue Ghost is ALSO carrying a bucketload of science. Instruments will investigate the structure and composition of the moon’s mantle, the heat flow at different depths beneath the lunar surface, the interaction of solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field, and the impact of solar radiation on the lunar surface.

The lander also carries the Lunar PlanetVac, which is designed to collect regolith from the lunar surface that could be returned to Earth as part of a separate mission, and the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment, which will test the ability to use GPS signals at lunar distances.

Blue Ghost will operate for about 14 Earth days on the lunar surface. On March 14, Firefly expects to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse when the Earth blocks the sun above the moon’s horizon. How amazing is that going to be?

Athena Mission

That’s one heck of a selfie, Athena!

This image is from the Intuitive Machines Nova-C “Athena” lunar craft, which is currently headed toward the moon for a scheduled March 6 landing.*

* Wholly incidentially, with a digital recording of three of my short stories, Venatoris, Re/Genesis and Chrysalis, on board (along with hundreds of other stories, novels and art). I am super excited!

The gang's all back together

I'll have more to say about * this * in a few weeks, after more people have finished The Universe Within and I've caught my breath from many goings-on. But over here, we're getting this party started.

P.S.: For those of you who haven’t seen this kind of image from me before, this is a storyboard outline of the next book, created in an app called Plottr. Each row/color corresponds to a character or related set of characters. I won’t give them all away, but blue is Alex and Caleb. The content of the blocks is strategically blurred out so you don’t get spoiled way, way early - but maybe it gets you thinking about what those blocks could involve. :D