Breaking News & Random Musings on Space, Technology, Sci-Fi & the View From A Writer’s Window
Patrick Stewart was a consummate gentleman and a tremendous actor. I’m so grateful that he brought these wonderful characters to life for us. Rest in peace, good Sir.
Graphic by The Old Timers Guild: https://x.com/OldTimersGuild/status/2116103315436323078
October 17th was our acerbic, sharp-witted, slightly recalcitrant heroine’s birthday. So Happy -260th Birthday to Alexis Mallory Solovy Marano, daughter of Commandant and Commander Solovy, first Prevo and savior of humanity four times over. Think she can make it five?
A few days ago, I had reasons to revisit this scene from near the end of Continuum, and it made me smile. Three powerful personalities thrown together to clash against one another at a moment of intense crisis.
And it hits a bit different once you know what you know....
I had a great time at the Halloween S-XPO in Spokane this weekend. Ghosts, goblins - and books! I brandished a minimally compliant Halloween costume - I was a Celestial, can't you tell? I had a stellar tiara and everything….
Did my first ever outdoor event on Saturday. The weather Friday was terrible, so I was worried, but yay for sunshine.
P.S.: Is the Naked Singularity cover marked out? Yes, yes it is. Guys, this cover is SO AMAZING - it’s my favorite of all 25. When you see it for the first time, I want it to be in high-res, stunning color, not some tiny thumbnail.
Mr. Jennsen scored these lovely vintage Foundation paperbacks for me this weekend. I'd never seen this particular cover art before!
Road trip means it's time to bring out THE notebook. The one in which, way back in 2015, I brainstormed Aurora Renegades and Resonant. Then, on the next road trip, Asterion Noir. About 2 years ago, Shadows & Light (sorry not sorry for that final scene tease ).
And now, the next saga.
What an incredible vacation our trip to Seattle for PAX West was! Allow me to spam you with 154 - I mean 8 - photos.
Seattle brought its A-game, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I *know* it's usually overcast and drizzly, but 3/4 of our visits, the weather's been great. Makes it difficult not to move there...but I know better, dammit.
Despite the fact that PAX has grown into a juggernaut of a worldwide gaming convention empire, it honestly felt exactly the same as it did when we attended 14 years ago. A heavy emphasis on small, independent PC gaming studios, tabletop gaming and TCGs. Tons of playable demos, tournaments and freeplay for fun.
There weren't many AAA game studios there, but we did go to a jaw-dropping The Witcher 3 panel, where we saw half an hour of gameplay from the upcoming Songs of the Past expansion. And Mr. Jennsen got to immerse himself in the nostalgia of his beloved '80s adventure games at a panel with Sierra Online alumns, including Jane Jensen (no relation, lol, but I did write about her Gabriel Knight series just a few weeks ago), and the FMV gaming retrospective museum.
Somehow, despite visiting Seattle at least 5 previous times over the years, we had never gone to Pike Place Market. Why didn't anyone tell us how cool it is? Fresh fish and flower stands, hidden alleys with quirky stores full of genuinely unique items, endless levels that wind down to the waterfront.
10/10, do recommend. Good show PAX. Good show, Seattle.
Pictures:
1) How much fun did I have? This much fun.
2) and 3) Seattle was seriously showing off all weekend.
4) Then and Now: me playing game demos at PAX in 2012 and 2026. Not much has changed, lol.
5) Do I have a weakness for giant robots shooting lasers in space? YES I DO.
6) I somehow did not know that this game released earlier this year. It's a survival/strategy/base builder game, and you get to play as Janeway. YOU GET TO PLAY AS JANEWAY.
7) Golden Age Collectibles at Pike Place Market. This is one of the coolest stores I have ever had the pleasure of entering. At first glance, you think they have the standard geeky memoriabilia and trinkets you find at every geek store or convention. But no; 80% of the items, I had never seen anywhere before. We made out like bandits.
8) BLMF Literary Saloon (also at Pike Place Market). When you walk in, it looks like just another hole-in-the-wall used bookstore. It is not. You wouldn't believe the SF gems hiding in this chaos. Interesting astronomy/physics books, too! And I assume all the other genres. The owner was delightful & displayed ready knowledge of any book we mentioned (including its location in the store if he had it). He and Mr. Jennsen geeked out over Neuromancer - then he and I geeked out over Foundation. What a wonderful store!
So there you go. Now to finish the first draft of Naked Singularity!
The speculative, intrigued smirk of a speculative fiction author, mid-panel discussion on "What makes science fiction, 'science fiction'?" at MisCon this summer.
So what might be going through my mind at this moment? Smug confidence that I've got a zinger of an answer to the clever question an audience member is asking? Delight at how awesome and insightful the discussion is turning out to be? (<-this one was definitely true) Or is an entire new world and story exploding into my mind in this instant, discussion be damned? Or the perfect solution to a thorny plot problem materializing, triggered by something a panelist just said (which would definitely result in delight breaking through to my expression)?
The thing you must understand about an author, and doubly-so a spec-fic author, is that at any given moment, even if the conversation we're having with you is engaging and fulfilling, odds are at least 50% that characters are chattering away in our head. Supernovas are exploding. Ships are firing. Dramatic reveals are unfolding.
We apologize for our distraction--it's not you, it's us--but we always have one foot in another world, and there's simply nothing to be done about it.
Thanks to Steven Sears for sending me the pic, and his lovely wife and awesome spec fic author Jessica Brawner for capturing it!
For the record, I dislike air travel. Not flying as such, but the incredible hassle the whole operation has become. Nonetheless, I must concede that it provides many opportunities for brainstorming, working through plot issues, and writing words.
These are my transcribed audio notes from my trip last week. Not the words on Naked Singularity that I WROTE, mind you - and those were quite substantial. These are just my random thoughts while driving or walking through the airports. So many threads to weave together and arcs to bring home!
Also, that last bullet header might or might not involve something unrelated to Amaranthe...
I tell ya, they will just put ANYONE in the paper these days.... ;)
I’m happy to report that a good time appeared to be had by all. Attendance was great for such a niche topic, and honestly, the questions came in fast and furious! Hopefully I answered them well. I wish I had some good pictures from the event, but while the venue was comfy and welcoming, the lighting was not conducive to quality photography.
A good time was had by all! Or, well, by me, anyway. ;) It WAS cold and rainy (though it was in the 80s right up until the moment the con began, lol - Montana is always unpredictable that way); in the picture of the panel below, you can’t tell just how cold we were - but we were! Luckily, it was fairly cozy inside the vendor hall, so I was able to debut my new Rocky tshirt one day. :D
I had several long-time readers stop by to chat, which was so awesome. And hopefully created many new readers.
I spoke on a panel discussing “Indie By Choice,” and moderated two panels: “AI in Fiction vs AI in Our Reality” and “What Is Science Fiction?” Both turned out to be really fascinating discussions, with great perspectives from the panelists. I spoke on a similar panel about AI at Dragon Con last year, and it was fascinating how much opinions have evolved in a single year; everyone is taking AI much more seriously now.
You all know I’m a gamer. Especially story/character-driven RPGs. Story/character-driven SCIFI RPGs? My happy place.
This past weekend was a big one for gaming, with a ton of trailers and reveals from the Summer GameFest, Future Gaming Show and PC Gaming Show. Most importantly, we got to see 20 minutes of EXODUS!
And I’m really happy with what I saw. The character animations, cut scenes and combat all looked much improved over earlier glimpses. Cue the hype meter! EXODUS will release in early 2027 (hopefully).
You can watch the full 20 minutes of gameplay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOLJh9EEQOw.
P.S.: The Jun PC shown is just the default - you can customize your character’s gender and appearance.
P.P.S.: You get an Awakened dog as a companion! (Not a pet, a friend - he’s sentient.)
P.P.P.S.: They should’ve let a marketing person or voice actor do the commentary. The game producer is not exactly charismatic, lol.
Back in November, I gleefully shared the news that a brand-new Stargate show was under development - a continuation of the universe helmed by the major writers and producers of the previous shows. (You can see that post here: https://www.gsjennsen.com/supermassive-black-holes/2025/11/21/stargate).
Well, just as it was set to begin filming, Amazon has killed it. The stated reason? “Amazon execs were concerned that [Martin] Gero’s take on the series would not have broad appeal beyond the franchise’s already dedicated fanbase.” (Article on the cancellation)
As a member of said ‘already dedicated fanbase,’ I’m pretty disgusted. And I am not alone. The internet, and X in particular, is ablaze with outrage from Stargate fans. It sounds as if Amazon wanted another generic, sanitized, vaguely scifi show designed for “modern audiences,” and the creators refused to abandon the history, characters, themes and feel of Stargate.
Joseph Mallozzi, one of the primary producers and creative minds behind SG-1 and Atlantis, is making no bones about his frustrations, arguably anger, over this decision. Here’s his announcement tweet about the cancellation: https://x.com/BaronDestructo/status/2061963285428330923. Since then, he’s been sharing posts from fans and actors and articles about the cancellation. Michael Shanks, who played Daniel Jackson in SG-1, has been even more vocal; you can follow him here: https://x.com/MichaelShanks.
There are two separate change.org petitions to save the show (https://www.change.org/p/amazonstudios-revive-the-stargate-franchise and https://www.change.org/p/save-the-new-stargate-series-let-martin-gero-build-the-future-of-the-franchise ), and a website collecting all the initiatives to try to save it here: https://bringbackstargate.com.
Will these endeavors succeed? Almost certainly not; petitions and email campaigns rarely work. But every now and then they do! Apple and Netflix in particular are very active in the sci-fi space, so it’s always possible they will see an opportunity and scoop up the IP. So if you feel so compelled, make your voice heard.
Zero-point energy is creeping out of the realm of scifi and toward reality, as Dr. Sonny White - the man who advanced Alcubierre’s warp bubble concept from ‘fanciful math’ to ‘maybe conceivably possibly within our reach one day’ - continues to prove he's the real deal. His company, Casimir, Inc., has exited “stealth mode” to announce the pending 2028 commercialization of MicroSparc, a chip that the company claims uses customized microscale geometries to capture unlimited ‘free’ energy from the quantum world.
Zero point energy, a favorite tech of science fiction from Stargate to, well, me, is based on a real process called the Casimir Effect (hence the company name), and Dr. White believes he can make it practical. If he pulls it off, it will revolutionize energy here at home and in space.
Read all about it here: https://thedebrief.org/free-energy-from-the-vacuum-warp-drive-pioneer-unveils-battery-free-microsparc-that-allegedly-draws-power-from-the-quantum-vacuum/
You guys.... *wipes a tear away* They'll keep me company, right beside my desk. Every day.
I try not to boast, but today, I'm so proud of what I've created. This universe and these characters will live on forever, in the world and in my heart, and I could not be happier.
And when this arrives on the day you start outlining the final book in earnest, well...emotions are going to be experienced.
Books 2-4 of the Broken Binding special editions of the Hyperion Cantos arrived. I'll be honest, I don't think I've ever seen more beautiful books in my life. Words fall short of capturing how stunning they are.
My #1 career goal isn't to see my books on the screen in movies or TV series - it's to have a full-out, every flourish Broken Binding edition of the Aurora Rising novels. Or, you know, all of them. ;)
ST: SNW Season 4 will debut July 23 on Paramount+, and a big trailer has dropped.
Season 3 was very uneven, with many divided opinions among fans. But this trailer looks seriously epic. Imploding planets, dinosaurs…and that black hole scene!
Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FaPm2QTy5w
Wonder what I wrote…?
