Stories from Space Passes 5000 Downloads!

Stories from Space Passes 5000 Downloads!

Good news, everybody! Stories from Space, the humble ship that launched one year ago (as of last week), has surpassed 5000 downloads – 5,346, to be exact. And since the show first aired, 43 episodes have been released. Doing the math, this works out to about 0.83 episodes a day, 14 downloads a day, and about 124 downloads an episode. Of course, that’s just the averages. Some episodes have done better than others, and the number of downloads has fluctuated over time (though the trend is upward).

It appears that of all the host platforms, Apple Podcasts was the greatest source, accounting for 1,359 downloads (or 26.32% of the total), followed closely behind by Spotify (1,153 downloads; 22.33%). According to the analytics, the following episodes were the ten most popular:

  1. The Great Filter Hypothesis | Guest: Dr. Robin Hanson – 371 views
  2. The Alcubierre Warp Drive | Guest: Dr. Harold “Sonny” White – 364 views
  3. Behind The Scenes At NASA | Guest: Nancy Atkinson – 260 views
  4. We’re Going to Mars! – 258 views
  5. Where Are All the Aliens? The Transcension Hypothesis – 198 views
  6. Building An Elevator To Space! | Guests: Dr. Peter Swan & Adrian Nixon – 160 views
  7. Where Are All the Aliens? The Planetarium Hypothesis – 155 views
  8. What Is The Future Of Space Law? | Guests: Christopher M. Hearsey & Nathan Johnson – 149 views
  9. Going Interstellar | Guest: Les Johnson – 140 views
  10. Marschitecture | Guest: Vera Mulyani – 124 views

According to my publishers at ITSPMagazine, this is a pretty good start. Now if we could just get some sponsorship, we’d be in business! In addition, I’m interested to know what subjects people are interested in and want to know more about. This could be anything from historical tidbits, past & future missions, and general knowledge stuff to concepts in astrophysics and the wild and wonderful world of the truly deep and speculative stuff.

The show is growing, ongoing, and evolving. And I’m hoping interested parties will share their ideas on where it should go. Let me know in the comments!

Good News! Stories from Space Picked up by ITSP Magazine!

Good News! Stories from Space Picked up by ITSP Magazine!

This news has been a few months in the making, but with the final preparations underway, I feel like it’s time to announce it! In a few weeks, I will be launching my podcast series – Stories from Space – with the Intersection Of Technology, Cybersecurity, And Society Podcast (ITSP), a highly-respected channel that hosts multiple shows. Each of these is dedicated to exploring the past, the present, and the future of humanity’s relationship with technology and the profound effects it can have on our society.

Continue reading “Good News! Stories from Space Picked up by ITSP Magazine!”

What’s Next for Me and My Writing?

What’s Next for Me and My Writing?

Hello all! As you may remember from my last post, I just finished work on my latest novel, the Frost Line Fracture. This book is the third installment in a trilogy known as the Formist Series, which began with the publication of The Cronian Incident in 2017 (followed by The Jovian Manifesto in 2018).

If all goes as planned, the book should be available for purchase by November. And with the series complete, the three books could also be available together as a box set sometime next year. Granted, this is all great, but it leaves me with the question…

What’s Next?

Continue reading “What’s Next for Me and My Writing?”

The Formist Series is Complete!

The Formist Series is Complete!

After four years, countless hours, and no shortage of rewriting, the third and final installment in the Formist Series – The Frost Line Fracture – is finally complete! You know what that means, don’t you? Now begins the long process of editing, revising, consulting, and reviewing. And if all goes well, the book should be released in late Fall/Early Winter.

One thing I noticed about writing this last book, it brought up a significant issue of mine that I’ve noticed only once before. Namely, I hate writing third installments! I am not sure if this is something all writer’s go through or if it’s just me. But dangit, it’s true in my case!

Continue reading “The Formist Series is Complete!”

First Review for The Cronian Incident (the Audiobook)

First Review for The Cronian Incident (the Audiobook)

My good friend and fellow writer, Rami Ungar the Writer, recently posted the first review for audiobook version of The Cronian Incident! Here’s what he had to say:

“I read the book when it first came out, and was interested to hear the audio version. Suffice to say, it did not disappoint. Part mystery, part look at what humanity could be like one day, it’s a great story paired with a top-notch narrator. Totally recommend.”

Thanks, Rami, good to have you in my corner! Also, I happened to notice that the audiobook has five ratings so far, with an average rating of 4.8 stars out of five! This is certainly an encouraging thing to see when consulting your book’s listing for the first time.

It’s even more encouraging considering that the audiobook has only been out for a few weeks! Now if I could just convince more of the reading public to leave reviews, I’d really be cooking with gasoline!

In addition, I have some more news about the Formist Series – the trilogy for which The Cronian Incident is the first installment – but it warrants its own post. Stay tuned…

The Cronian Incident Audiobook Has Just Been Released!

The Cronian Incident Audiobook Has Just Been Released!

It’s finally happened! After years of work, Castrum Press has delivered and released my first published novel, The Cronian Incident, in audiobook format! The story is narrated by Steve K. Rausch, a voice actor whose good work I can personally attest to! After listening to him a few times, I’ve come to hear a certain Keith David quality to it (another gifted voice actor/regular actor).

Continue reading “The Cronian Incident Audiobook Has Just Been Released!”

Two More 5 Star Reviews for The Cronian Incident!

Two More 5 Star Reviews for The Cronian Incident!

I’m a happy man! While I wasn’t looking, two more readers posted their thoughts on my first novel on Amazon. And they were quite nice! Both were 5 stars and they offered some highly encouraging words to boot. Here is the latest:

Continue reading “Two More 5 Star Reviews for The Cronian Incident!”

The Ten Day Book Challenge: Day One

The Ten Day Book Challenge: Day One

Well, it seems that I have been roped into another challenge. Somehow, I thought these days were behind me the moment I began using this site strictly for professional reasons – you know, like book releases and promotions. However, when a friend and colleague nominates you, you got to step up! And hey, this challenge seems kind of fun and it is a way for writers (and aspiring writers) to share their influences.

Okay, so here are the rules of this challenge!

  • Thank whoever nominated you with big, bold print. If they have a blog, link to the post where you got tagged there.
  • Explain the rules.
  • Post the cover of a book that was influential on you or that you love dearly.
  • Explain why it was so influential to you.
  • Tag someone else to do the challenge, and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Okay, so my first act is to say thanks to RAMI UNGAR for the nomination, and you can find him at ramiungarthewriter.com. And here’s my selection for the challenge, the time-honored classic 1984.

1984_cover

I know, I know, everybody claims that 1984 is their favorite book, and apparently it is the novel that people lie about having read the most. But I actually have read it, three times now, and I can say without hesitation or doubt that it is one of the most influential books I’ve ever read.

The book was initially recommended to me by one of my high-school English teachers (Mr. David Gamble). He taught us Post-Colonial Literature and 1984 wasn’t on our syllabus, nor was it part of the senior English curriculum that year. But as he put it, this was a book that we all needed to read before we went off to college, university or whatever else we were doing with our lives. It would change the way we saw the world, he said.

That summer, I borrowed a copy from my mother and began digging into it. At first, I was only able to read a few pages at a time since I typically read before bed and had an early morning job that summer (like most summers when I was a student, I was working construction). However, I took the book camping with me and managed to finish reading it in a few sittings. I was so engrossed that I stayed up late just so I could finish it. And when I was done, I felt haunted, moved, inspired, and terrified all at once!

Needless to say, Mr. Gamble had been right, it DID change the way I saw the world! And twice more since University I’ve gone back to the book to re-read it with more appreciative and mature eyes. I even keep a list of quotes from the book that have had an enduring impact on me. All of them are taken from the Goldstein Manifesto, which (lesser-known fact) was the part of the novel Orwell wrote first. In this respect, the Manifesto is the part of the novel where Orwell is speaking directly to his audience, conveying his thoughts on history, politics, and human evolution:

“From the moment when the machine first made its appearance it was clear to all thinking people that the need for human drudgery, and therefore to a great extent human inequality, had disappeared. If the machine were used deliberately for that end, hunger, over-work, dirt, illiteracy and disease could be eliminated within a few generations.”

“But it was also clear that an all-round increase in wealth threatened the destruction – indeed, in some sense was the destruction – of a hierarchical society.”

“In earlier ages, class distinctions has not only been inevitable but desirable. Inequality was the price of civilization. With the development of machine production, however, the case was altered.Even if it was still necessary for human beings to do different kinds of work, it was no longer necessary for them to live at different social or economic levels. Therefore, from the point of view of the new groups who were on the point of seizing power, human equality was no longer an ideal to be striven after, but a danger to be averted.”

“In more primitive ages, when a just and peaceful society was in fact not possible, it had been fairly easy to believe it… But by the fourth decade of the twentieth century all the main currents of political thought were authoritarian. The earthly paradise had been discredited at exactly the moment when it became realizable.”

See? Still holds up even after all these years!

Okay, now it’s my turn to nominate someone, and I choose Fallacious Rose from butimbeautiful.com! I’ve always found her to be a very interesting woman and would like to hear what books have spoken to her over the years.