musings

Hyperion

My big Birthday present from Mr. Jennsen, guys: a special edition of Hyperion from The Broken Binding. Pictures will never convey how absolutely stunning this book is. Gobsmackingly beautiful.

Time for a confession, and a bit of a ramble. I've been reading scifi since I was 13 years old and writing it for 15 years...and until this year, I'd never read Hyperion. YES, I know it's considered one of the greatest scifi books ever written. YES, I know it's beloved by millions, who rant about it at every opportunity. How do you know I know? Because I've owned a beaten-up mass market paperback of this book for 35 years. It's followed me across the country and through my many moves, and been shelved in every single one of my houses. I always intended to read it.

So why hadn't I? My excuse is that I always believed Dan Simmons to be just a horror writer, in the vein of King and Koontz; which is fine - I've read some King and a lot of Koontz in my time - but I just couldn't bring myself to believe that he could write great scifi, or not the kind of scifi that I love, anyway. If you read the book description, it's about a monster called the Shrike who's killing everyone - obviously it's horror! So I let it sit.

Then, in February, Mr. Simmons passed away, and the accolades poured across the internet in a tidal wave. I read so many impassioned testimonials about this book, I was blown away. So in honor of Mr. Simmons' laudable career, I decide I would read it.

Um, so...Hyperion is an INCREDIBLE book. It is literary (in the true sense of the word - the plot is structured as an homage to The Canterbury Tales, and this story-telling style absolutely elevates the novel in myriad ways). It IS science fiction - in fact, every page is jam-packed with scifi concepts. Far-future humanity spread out amongst the stars; FTL travel, rejuvenation therapies; hundreds of exocolonies. Advanced AI plays a large role in the story (seemingly benevolent, but with interests and goals beyond our comprehension). It explores the consequences of time dilation on relationships and the impact of a post-scarcity, abundance society.

And, yes, it IS horror. The Shrike IS a monster that kills people in violent ways (it may also be much more than that - TBD). As such, it's not what I would characterize as a "happy" book. The backstories of the main characters are often tragic, and they're facing a terrible trial.

But above all, it is simply beautifully written. Every sentence feels lovingly crafted. I loved almost every minute of it.

Now, it does end on a cliffhanger - and not a gentle one. Drops you straight off a sheer cliff. This is a 4-book series. I'm currently about halfway through book 2, and the story has taken a turn into areas I did not entirely see coming. I will say that so far Book 2 is not AS good as Hyperion, in large part due to the absence of the Canterbury Tales "pilgrims' stories" structure. But it's still excellent, and I am invested.

So here's my unqualified endorsement, 30+ years after I first acquired the book: read it if you haven't.

P.S.: Mr. Jennsen also wrapped all my presents in space- and book-themed wrapping paper, then set them on the counter 4 days early so I could enjoy it.

BMAC

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. Perks include:

- monthly wallpaper downloads from my book covers and other art

- monthly 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

- getting every new ebook 10 days early

- getting to listen to the new audiobook as Pyper is recording it

Learn more here: https://buymeacoffee.com/gsjennsen

Emerald City Comic Con After-Action Report

TL;DR: it was awesome!

First off, the venue is just lovely. The con takes place across 2 convention centers, but the Writers' Block is in Summit, which is a new building, and it shows. The floor is carpeted and the ceiling is high with tons of skylights; even when it's cloudy (hello, Seattle....), the space is bright with natural light.

I'm a big fan of the "Writers' Block" setup, where all (or most) of the author tables are together in one place, complete with a giant sign hanging overhead so people can find it. I got to hang out with a bunch of authors (my favorite people after #MrJennsen, family and readers) all weekend. And most of the people who came down the aisle were there because they love books, so it was a target-rich environment.

Book sales were fantastic - comparable to Dragon Con, and my costs were much lower. I sold out of The Thief way early (the IAP award caught people's fancy!), so I'll bring many more copies of it in the future. Medusa Falling did great as well. Starshine always sells by far the most number of copies - but the people who love cyberpunk *really* love cyberpunk, so I'll always bring Machina as well. (Note: The Universe Within has also done well when I've brought it instead of The Thief, but, inside baseball: pitching readers on 5 different titles is too overwhelming; 3 to 4 is the sweet spot.)

Mr. Jennsen and I simply love Seattle and the whole Puget Sound region. We don't live there for several good reasons, but we get tempted every time we visit, and I'm so happy to live within driving distance of it now.

Deep Edit Is In the Books

And that's a wrap on the deep edit of The Theory of Everything! Next up, a fine-toothed-grammar/style-comb, then off for more objective editing.

When the book opens, things are in a bit of disarray. Nika and Mesme have vanished off to parts unknown, Morgan and Olivia are trapped on Mshak, and the Dzhvar are getting in the way of everything by accelerating their attacks.

And a First Draft

There. Now it's a FIRST draft. What does that mean? No brackets. A theoretically complete book that I could hand to someone to read, and not have to caveat it with "but I haven't done X yet, and I still need to Y, and there are placeholders for Z."

Now to tweak and edit and slave and agonize and generally bring it up to the standard that has kept you guys around for 23 books.

Zero Draft Achieved

And that's a wrap on the Zero Draft of THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING! 117K words...good lord this book is a beast, and it has been a ton of work to wrangle it into submission.

Lol, who am I kidding? I haven't wrangled it yet - that's next. But I did commit a whole host of heart-pounding encounters, stunning revelations and emotional moments to the page.

So have a little teaser for one of them, and celebrate with me.

2025 Year In Review

It's time for a 2025 Year in Review! The immediacy of social media means important posts are quickly forgotten in favor of the Next New Thing, and I think it's important to pause every now and then and celebrate the many good things that happened as the year flew by.

I published 2 novels: THE UNIVERSE WITHIN (wrapping up the Cosmic Shores trilogy of stand-alone sci-fi adventure novels) and LIMINAL SPACE (the first book in the final trilogy of the Amaranthe universe).

THE THIEF was a rock-star of a novel this year, winning the Indie Author Project Sci-Fi Book of the Year and being named one of the best Alien Sci-Fi Novels of the Year by Discover Sci-Fi. (Yes, yes, and there was a tiny kerfuffle around the SPSFC in which The Thief was thrust into a semi-starring role. Let me tell you, going viral on X is not for the faint of heart....)

Five of my short stories landed on the moon! Thanks to the incredible Lunar Codex project and Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines' groundbreaking missions, "Apogee," "Solatium," "Venatoris," "Re/Genesis" and "Chrysalis" will reside forever in the stars.

I was a Pro at Dragon Con again this year, speaking on some fascinating panels, selling books and meeting awesome readers and authors at what is seriously the craziest geek con on the planet. I also attended Lilac City Comicon and the Local Author Celebration by the Community Library Network, fulfilling a promise to myself to put down roots in my new Inland Northwest home by getting involved in the regional author community.

Oh, and I sold my 700,000th story. Thank you, all of you, for enabling me to do what I love!

Favorite book I read this year? House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds; I deeply love that book. But it was a reread, so favorite first-time read of the year? Probably Ancilliary Justice by Ann Leckie; it deserves all the accolades it received. Favorite non-fiction? The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene; the prospect of multiverses is real science, guys.

Favorite video game? Baldur's Gate 3, again. It should be Clair Obscur, but I disliked the narrative rug-pull at the end. Also, Kingdoms Reborn turned out to be a delightful city-builder of a game!

What about 2026? THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING will definitely release, and I'll start writing NAKED SINGULARITY, the final novel in the 25-book Amaranthe saga (* sobs *). More regional author events are on tap, including my first time appearing at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle. I believe there's another lunar landing or two (or...four??) on the schedule, too.

I'm genuinely happy with the year 2025 shaped up to be, and excited for the opportunities waiting to ambush me in 2026.

How about you? What were the highlights of your 2025?

RPGs in our Gaming Future

The Game Awards were last week, a gaming event that, not surprisingly, hands out a bunch of awards (Clair Obscur cleaned up, deservedly so), but is more anticipated for its upcoming game trailer reveals. And boy, it did not disappoint for us sci-fi fans.

First up, a total surprise that came out of nowhere: Fate of the Old Republic, a "spiritual successor" to (but not direct sequel of) Knights of the Old Republic, one of the best stories in video gaming history (and definitely the best Star Wars story in video gaming history). It's being made by Casey Hudson's new studio; Casey was the Executive Producer of KOTOR and, of course, the Mass Effect Trilogy.

The trailer tells us almost nothing about the story, but eagle-eyed viewers quickly identified that the crashed ship in the trailer is the Leviathan, Revan's capital ship before the events of KOTOR - so that's a huge tie-in to the story. See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAmkl1jL0fo

I am officially SO excited. Hopefully an in-progress remake of KOTOR (and 2, I believe) will release before FOTOR (we love our acronyms). As an older game, the mechanics of KOTOR are really, really clunky, which prevents a lot of newer players from experiencing what is an incredible story.

SECOND, we got a new, extensive trailer for Exodus, and a release window. (See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c80LMt_Uxs) That release window is, unfortunately, "early 2027," so still a ways to go. I honestly wasn't too surprised by this, though I'd hoped for holiday 2026. The trailer reveals more of the story and how it centers on your protagonist. (By the way, the player character in the trailers is the default, but they can be either male or female and will be completely customizable, yay).

With these games plus the upcoming Expanse game, the future is bright for sci-fi RPG gaming. But maybe not in 2026....

Warp-Drive Nacelles?

New paper just dropped! Dr. Sonny White, the physicist who took the energy requirements of Miguel Alcubierre's warp drive concept from "theoretically plausible but practically impossible" to "hmm...potentially doable," is continuing to pick away at the science and design concepts of such a drive.

Now he's refined the design of a theoretical warp drive, shifting from a single bubble to multi-nacelle channels, allowing for greater efficiency, stability and controllability.

Next, we just need to find the dollop of exotic matter required to create the field (and a few engineering breakthroughs, but we'll get those), and off to the stars we go!

Read more about the new design: https://thedebrief.org/new-warp-drive-propulsion-concept-moves-fictional-starships-closer-to-engineering-reality/

The Archimedes Engine

I finally finished this behemoth! The fact it took me so long should not be taken as a diss on the book - it's actually quite, quite good.

It felt like a return to form for Hamilton (I didn't overly love the Salvation trilogy, though I own the hardbacks for their drop-dead stunning covers....) He dialed the worldbuilding up to 11 (the worldbuilding in the Night's Dawn trilogy being pegged at about 17 ), while also crafting a final third packed with fast-paced action and edge-of-your-seat suspense. Reminded me of Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained, which is my favorite PDF tale.

Perhaps most importantly, it brought the game world of EXODUS (website: https://www.exodusgame.com) to vivid life by letting the reader live in it for a thousand pages. This made me even more excited to play the game, which is the highest purpose of every game tie-in novel.

Local Author Celebration

I had a fantastic time at the Local Author Celebration at the Hayden library last weekend! I talked all things writing SciFi and Fantasy on a panel. I sold some books, hung out with several author friends I’ve made since moving to Coeur d’Alene, and most importantly (my secret, true goal), got to meet a bunch more local authors - of which there are so many. I'm stoked to learn that the CDA/Spokane area has such a vibrant writing scene.

Thanks so much to the Community Library Network (the network of suburban CDA libraries) for hosting this inaugural event, and for all the hard work the librarians and volunteers put in to make it a success. Here's to many more!

The Genesis Mission

(No, not the Star Trek one, though that was the first place my brain went when I saw the announcement….)

How groundbreaking is the Genesis Mission going to be?

"Priority areas of focus include the greatest scientific challenges of our time that can dramatically improve our Nation’s national, economic, and health security, including biotechnology, critical materials, nuclear fission and fusion energy, space exploration, quantum information science, and semiconductors and microelectronics."

On the one hand, it's being spearheaded by the federal government, so it might be bloated, bureaucratic, and spend billions of dollars while never actually accomplishing anything.

On the other hand, the major AI players are all in. And the govt is handing over the entire federal database of historical science data to fuel it.

You probably know that I generally favor private enterprise and competition as the best path forward for the most progress for everyone. But "the Manhattan Project" is so well-known for a reason; sometimes, every now and then, a goal is so big that only the full force and weight of the U.S. government can hope to accomplish it.

Genesis is promising a revolution in biotech, space exploration, quantum computing and energy - everything us futurists dream of. It makes me extremely twitchy that "the catch" might be government control of its fruits, but I also can't help but be excited by the possibilities. What about you? How do you all feel about it?

As an aside, I saw a theory offered on X: that the government really does have crashed UFOs and a host of alien technology, and with Genesis they're planning to credit AI with coming up with all this technology they actually already have, so they can finally deploy it. In the past, I would've rolled my eyes and kept going, but all the recent, genuine reveals in the UFO space are now causing me to go, "Eh...it's not outside the realm of possiblity!"

Learn more here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/11/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-unveils-the-genesis-missionto-accelerate-ai-for-scientific-discovery/