Science Meets Science Fiction

Welcome to my first blog entry. Let me say a few brief words about myself.

I’m an aspiring Science Fiction writer, living in Manhattan. This summer, I will be seeking agent representation for my first Science Fiction Thriller: Prometheus Blue (click to read the first few pages). I’m a professional engineer and an avid science fiction fan. I read almost everything, from the classics to the most outrageous SciFi out there, although I must profess that I don’t ever seek out vampires, zombies, demons or angels. Lately in SciFi I’ve been reading Evan Currie, BV Larson, Andy Weir, Arthur C. Clarke, Tom Wolfe and I’ve had a recent fascination with Jessica Jones graphic novels.

That’s enough about me for now.

I’ve been working on my own writing for about 10 years now. Nothing published and I haven’t tried. Until now.

But for years, I’ve had this idea…

What if the world learned, in a globally televised event, that the planet would be utterly destroyed in 700 years? And there was absolutely nothing we could ever do about it? I’m not talking about some infectious disease that’s going to wear us down over time. Not a war, not a mathematically predicted event (with deference to Mr. Asimov). No.

I’m talking about a 10-million-degree ball of nuclear fire the size of our Sun hurtling towards Sol at 2700 kilometers a second. This isn’t a mere Planet Killer – this guy’s going to take out the Sun and all the inner planets and leave the outer planets drifting aimlessly in space, without light, heat or purpose.

OK, the world has a few hundred years to think about this, right? We’ll get our act together, won’t we? Our great leaders are going to step right up, lead a grand conversation with the world’s top scientists, figure out the best possible plan for the human race, get everyone on board, and execute it selflessly without regard to wealth, power, religion or politics. Right? And we’ll protect our environment and we’ll keep everybody working in harmony. Most likely, we’ll carve out a peaceful way to get to the stars and we’ll all help each other get through this together, right?

Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

So how do you think it would play out? How do you think Humanity would evolve over the centuries as the end of the world approaches?

• Would we kick the can down the road?
• Would we try to kick its ass right away?
• Would current generations be willing to spend their treasure, their blood and their environment on something that by definition, would only help people 25, 20 or even 5 generations into the future?
• How important to us is the world of 2713, anyway?

So if we decided to escape the planet, who gets to go? We can’t offload 6 or 7 billion people, right? And if every planet from Mercury to Mars will be obliterated, that means Jupiter, Saturn and all the outer planets will be set adrift in the universe, without a home, without a central star, just cooling away in the black. Not much of a home.

No, we’ve really got to get to the stars. Humans need warmth, water. The joy of a spring day. We need to find a goldilocks planet.

But we don’t have any credible way to get there, not even close. Our fastest ship would take 70,000 years with current technology.

I’ve written the first 2 books of my THIRD STONE series (thanks to Jimi Hendrix for that inspiration). Prometheus Blue gets us started. Starting in the year 2025, we learn of the threat. Here’s my planned back cover text:

Hard-charging US President Amanda Lexington assembles a global nuclear coalition in a futile attempt to destroy the indestructible. Driven by her enormous ego and sky-high electoral support, she faces her greatest test: Will she destroy our environment, and sacrifice blood, treasure, and America’s security in a selfish gamble for her place in history as Humanity’s savior?

Jeffrey Knowles runs the world’s largest private Space Exploration company. His goal is to get Humanity off the planet. He is vigorously opposed by Lexington and the American people as elitist and exclusionary. Can he invent a way to the stars? Who would get to go?

David Destine made his millions stealing retirement savings. Now he seeks new relevance and starts a phony religion to stop Lexington’s environment-destroying nuclear coalition by using any means, including terror, to further his objectives.

*   *   *

I’ve planned the Third Stone series as a Science Fiction Thriller. Prometheus Red takes over from Book One, and completes the near future timeline. Then in Book Three we’ll skip ahead a few centuries to see how humanity is coming along in its quest to save itself.

Science Meets Science Fiction

The title of this post is Science Meets Science Fiction. I’ll be relying on hard science whenever possible. For example, I have proven to you, dear reader, that a sun-size star cannot be stopped, cannot blown up or even diverted by human forces. Not ever. I rely on clearly explained science, physics, math and astronomy to convince you of this. I’ll explain it in much more detail in a future post.

What else?

• I’m going to explain to you exactly how much power it would take to Blow Up a Star and how much nuclear fuel that would take;
• I’m going to explain to you how truly magnificent and powerful a star is and I’ll show you exactly how indestructible these billions years old nuclear engines actually are;
• You’re going to learn how even the greatest rocket ever built – the Saturn V – would make only an infinitesimal dent in a journey to the stars.

But story is everything. Above all else, this is a thrilling story of humanity’s pathetic attempt to deal with its greatest challenge. I aim for fast pacing, heart-pounding suspense and great, complex characters.

I’ll be seeking agent representation later this summer for my first book, Prometheus Blue. Prometheus Red is in final draft and will follow in the fall 2019.

Does the story potential intrigue you? Let me know. I’d love to hear from you. It might help me get published too!

As mentioned, in future posts I will present some hard science for you to consider. I’ll have an excerpt from Blue. I’ll point to some of my inspirations, many of which show up in my stories.

It’s gonna be fun.

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