“Close Enough” came from the expression “close enough for government work.” What would that look like over galactic or planetary distances? How badly could a non-responsive agency botch things? And what kind of NORMAL people might put themselves in a position to depend on that agency? Here’s the blurb: Could a Messier object be any … Continue reading
“The Red Barrens” really did start out as a simple wordplay on The Red Barron. I picked the title first, and then tried to work out what it was about. BARRENS and RED made me think of some other planet (okay – my obsession with going to Mars may have played into it), and since … Continue reading
The expression “The Wolves Will Come” was supposed to be a negative and represent a danger; colonists are on the run from their enemies, and they are forced to leave their home and their elderly behind. I wanted the elder to be abandoned by necessity, but proudly, not as a victim. It wasn’t until I … Continue reading
Artificial Intelligence is on its way; I believe it may actually be here already, but it’s not widespread or commonplace as it will be. Just about every invention eventually escapes from its creator (patents only last for so long, and we as humans are always building on the work of others), so it will only … Continue reading
“The Sheila Wulf Chitinoid Sessions” is NOT about problems with space crabs. I just wanted to play with the mistake we make about assuming that other life (and people) have to be the same as us, looking and behaving like something familiar to us instead of something alien. And if we can have tools and … Continue reading
“In Robert’s Memory” started out with the idea of a sort of Titanic in space, awaiting rescue after a calamity. The pun of a title may have been the germ of the story – but I’m not sure. This is a story about a ship’s computer whose memory becomes contaminated by human inhabitants. In a … Continue reading
Happy Holidays! Looks like Christmas doesn’t come up much in my fiction (like ONE TIME), so it’s a struggle if I want to stay topical with these fractured fragments. How about this – The 46th anniversary of the end of the final Apollo mission (17) was Wednesday (the mission was December 7th through the 19th), … Continue reading
