Category: IAmAFreeRadical

Sorry, folks, I was ill yesterday, and spent a lot of time sleeping. Our story so far: Francoise and Amelie, having been picked up by the trillionaire Tolliver, have been taken from North Africa to France. There, Francsoise is genetically modifed, and given AR (augmented reality) implants in her. Once she has them, she begins… Continue reading Belatedly, Becoming Terran, #5

Our story thus far: the starship Hawking, having arrived at the nearest classical black hole to Earth, about 2800 light years away, the scientists and their assistants are deep in the research, to where some occasionally forget to eat or sleep. The last episode is at https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=405 , while the series of posts begins at… Continue reading 11,000 Years, #4

This article came up the other day, a conversation about whether sf helps shape the future: https://nautil.us/does-science-fiction-shape-the-future-543468/ , and had some interesting thoughts. Well, except for one that annoyed me: Andy Weir comes off, well, as a lightweight. Among his comments is “No, it doesn’t, we’re just entertainers.” Perhaps he is – if that’s what… Continue reading Thinking about SF

Our story so far: Francoise and Amelie, having been picked up by the trillionaire Tolliver, have been taken from North Africa to France. There, Francsoise is told that he intends to have her genetically modifed, and AR (augmented reality) implants in her. The last episode is at https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=398 . This series of excerpts begins at… Continue reading Becoming Terran, #4

You should read https://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/2024/04/we-gotta-talk-about-publishing/ “We Need to Talk About (Trad) Publishing” She’s absolutely correct. I was flirted with by one of the majors, sent them 11,000 Years and a copy of the review that was in the May-June ’22 Asimov’s, at the editor’s request, in Aug. of ’22. In mid-Nov, I sent a polite email, inquiring… Continue reading Why I’m with Novus Mundi

Our story thus far: The Terran Confederation starship Hawking has arrived at the nearest classical black hole to Earth, about 2800 light years away. There was an incident when they arrived, and now… The last excerpt was at https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=396 , and the series begins at  https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=387 11,000 Years, #3 A week later, Phelan was standing… Continue reading 11,000 Years, #3

Tonight, I’m going to speak a bit about my PoV characters. The first thing is that this is about becoming Terran, not about being some part of it. Since that’s the case, we have to look at people from all over the world, not merely privileged men from one place. It’s also about all of… Continue reading About two of the viewpoint characters in Becoming Terran

Becoming Terran, Our story thus far: the unnamed young Fulani woman has caught the attention of Tolliver (a trillionaire), and he hires her to spy for him. Part 1 is here https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=379, and the previous excerpt is at https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=396 Chapter 2: BEGINNING TRAINING Over the next week, Francoise and Amelie were given immunization cocktails, the… Continue reading Becoming Terran, excerpt #3

Our story thus far: the Terran Confederation starship has arrived at a black hole. Dropping below lightspeed, the run into some rubble, and there’s a casualty, but the damage is contained. The series of posts begins at https://mrw.5-cent.us/?p=387 And now, #2 In the next compartment there was a crash, and a stream of blazing dust… Continue reading 11,000 Years, #2

Late summer of 2018, I was speaking with a co-worker, who’d published three books. He let me read the first, and he had his own superheroes in it. As I was finishing it, I talked for a while about superheroes, and wound up writing two pieces: one, “What’s Wrong With Superheroes and Supervillains”, which was… Continue reading How 11,000 Years came to be written