Trending The New Year From The Past

When I signed up for the New Year Blog Hop I wasn't exactly prepared. I just thought it was a fantastic idea created by Carrie Ann Ryan who organized this hop. It is so cool with many fantastic authors participating, and great prizes too. You'll find me under the link Trending The New Year From The Past. Yes, that sounds weird for a link to my blog. I put the title where the blog link should have been! It doesn't matter because here I am!

To talk about a most memorable new year's memory it has to be the January I won a coveted spot in a hard to get into creative writing workshop held by a well known author. I had to submit a short story, and it won me a spot! It was such a thrill. And I thought yeah, I'm there. I've got to be good to be one of the chosen few by this author. The dreams of becoming the next Nora (Roberts) filled my head. 

It's funny  how aspiring authors have so much to learn about writing and crafting stories, the industry and becoming published.That was several years ago. Since then, I've learned. It's not so easy to get through those doors. It takes work and luck and then more work. Since I've always worked hard on the crafting  aspect, the most important thing I learned was how the industry changes constantly.

I believe the most important changing trend today is the advent and rise of digital publishing. And with it, many authors that couldn't find a place are publishing and are here to stay! The trends say it is a great time for authors and for the publishing industry in general.  

As for me, well I have several lofty writing/publishing goals for 2012.  But unlike the younger me, I now look at this industry with a more realistic eye. Here's hoping we all achieve our goals as we trend into the new year, and that we have learned much from the past. 

Happy New Year! Continue on with this fabulous blog hop where many prizes await you if you leave comments on the participants blogs. I'll have a special giveaway on my blog too. Just leave a comment to be in the running here.

Go to Carrie's Blog first, and from there you can access all the blogs in this New Year Blog Hop! The grand prize is a Kindle Fire! Oh and the next prize is an $80 gift certificate! So go out and have fun hopping!

Kaye

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

LOVELY NEW BOOK COVER

A Twelfth Night Tale

A MEDIEVAL YULE

Blurb

A fortnight ago she left him.

Marcus of Windom stood alone in an empty castle without Lady Liana by his side. The frigid winds brought forth by the Yule Season pressed upon him. He pulled the parchment from whence he carried it and read her chilling parting words once again. I can no longer live as your lady-wife… If ever she returned would her sensual warmth be enough to melt the ice she had caused to form around his broken heart?

~~~~~~

About this little tale...

The publication of A Medieval Yule was a surprise, as I hadn't planned to submit it.  This short is set in the 12th century, and is  from the hero's point of view. It was originally created as a gift for  family. 

When I began research on all things medieval history for my  SFR/Time Travel books,  The Quantum Portal Series, I also wrote this one. Unlike the series, this isn't SFR. It is purely a historical romance.  A few parts have made it onto my websites in the past. But it has now been revised and updated for publication.

The cover artist is the talented Nika Dixon. I think this cover is beyond gorgeous! This book is part of the Red Rose Publishing 12 Days of Christmas stories. RRP is offering a Kindle Fire as a giveaway for one lucky buyer.

Release date -- Monday December 19, 2011!

Kaye

Blood Red Moon Eclipse

A total lunar eclipse like the one on December 10 is a rare event. If you can see this in your area, it is one not to be missed. If you can't get a good view, then catch this unusual total lunar eclipse event Live at: events.SLOOCH.com

According to Space.com

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, casting the moon completely in shadow. The eclipse will start at around 7:45 a.m. EST (4:45 a.m. PST, 1245 GMT), when the shadow of the moon inches across the lunar disk.

The celestial show will be visible from parts of North America, with those in the western portions of Canada and the United States particularly well placed for the event. People in Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia should also be able to catch sight of the reddened moon.

The celestial show will be visible from parts of North America, with those in the western portions of Canada and the United States particularly well placed for the event. People in Alaska, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia should also be able to catch sight of the 

"For people in the western United States, the eclipse is deepest just before local dawn," NASA scientists said in a statement. "Face west to see the red moon sinking into the horizon as the sun rises behind your back. It's a rare way to begin your day."

By 9:05 a.m. EST (6:05 a.m. PST, 1405 GMT), the moon will be fully engulfed in a glow that could range from light orange blood red. (Video: Return of the Blood Red Moon) 

Skywatchers in the central time zone may get only a short glimpse, as the moon will set while it is only partially eclipsed, before the total stage begins, Alan MacRobert, senior editor of the magazine Sky & Telescope said in a statement. Unfortunately, people farther east will also miss out on the opportunity due to the setting moon and rising sun.

Photo by David Paleino

NASA Confirms Alien Planet in Habitable Zone

How Exciting!

Kepler-22b -- planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star!

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft telescope has confirmed the discovery of its first alien world in its host star's habitable zone, the just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist. It has also found more than 1,000 new exoplanet candidates, researchers announced December 5th.

The new finds bring the Kepler space telescope's total haul to 2,326 potential planets in its first 16 months of operation. These discoveries quadruple the current tally of worlds known to exist beyond our solar system, which recently topped 700.

The potentially habitable alien world, a first for Kepler  named Kepler-22b, orbits a star very like our own sun. The discovery brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet like our own — one which could conceivably harbor life.

~~~~

This is such exciting news! What do you think? Do you believe intelligent life exists on other worlds? How about aliens who are much the same as we are? 

Kaye

Curiosity -- Up Up And Away!

They did it! They launched Curiosity, the best NASA rover yet on its mission to Mars on November 26. I watched this launch and held my breath in awe. As always...

From NASA -- launched its newest, largest and most sophisticated rover yet to Mars on November 26, marking an important step toward the ambitious goal of one day landing humans on the surface of the Red Planet.

The Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity rover, lifted off early on Friday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After an 8 1/2-month journey, the rover is expected to arrive at the Red Planet in August 2012. Once on the surface, Curiosity will investigate whether the planet is or ever was habitable.

The rover,  equipped with 10 different instruments, which allow it to dig, drill, and shoot a laser into rocks and examine the chemical makeup of Martian soil and dust. The mission will help scientists understand the environment and atmosphere of Mars, which will be essential for planning a manned mission to the planet.

"The goal is to send humans to Mars and return them back again safely — in order to return them back safely, we really need to know about the surface properties," Doug Ming, a co-investigator for the Mars Science Laboratory, said in a news briefing Wednesday (Nov. 23) from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

  Artist's concept of a future Mars mission shows astronauts near a lander on the Red Planet

***

What do you think about future missions that will take humans to Mars?

See my previous post on this Mars Mission ~ Here ~ 


Kaye

Can't Get Enough ISS

If Space is the final frontier, then orbiting Earth aboard the ISS is just the beginning. Earth from Space: Amazing Photos by Astronaut Ron Garan...

 For all who've ever yearned to look out the window of the International Space Station (ISS) and see the magnificent Earth pass by beneath, Michael König created this time-lapse sequence of photographs. Ron Garan and the crew of expeditions 28 and 29 took the photos on board the ISS from this past August to October.

König says the photos of Earth from 217 miles (350 kilometers) up — a typical orbital altitude for the ISS —  were captured at a rate of 25 pictures per second. Very little color adjustment or other digital editing was done to the images before they were stitched together.

 "In my opinion, the original footage already has an almost surreal and aesthetically visual nature," König explained at Vimeo, the site where he uploaded the video. However, he sped up the footage. "This is way faster than real time."

This is an impossibly impressive video. You can check it out here: Viemo 

Let me know what you think...

Kaye

Curiosity and The Red Planet

Mars at the boundary between dark and day with an area including Gale Crater as it catches morning light

Are we ready for a new Mars mission?

NASA's most advanced mobile robotic laboratory, which will examine one of the most intriguing areas on Mars, is in final preparations for a launch from Florida's Space Coast on Nov. 25. The Mars Science Laboratory mission will carry Curiosity, a rover with more scientific capability than any ever sent to another planet.

Scheduled to land on the Red Planet in August 2012, the one-ton rover will examine Gale Crater during a nearly two-year prime mission. Curiosity will land near the base of a layered mountain 3 miles (5 kilometers) high inside the crater. The rover will investigate whether environmental conditions ever have been favorable for development of microbial life and preserved evidence of those conditions.
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This is such a exciting event for us and for seekers of SF and R for sure. The future holds many possibilities to explore Mars.

What do you think about the idea of sending manned explorers to Mars in the not to distant future? Sounds very exciting to me!


Kaye

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Asteroids. Near Misses...

This is very exciting and a little freaky too. 

How close is too close? Here is what NASA scientists have to say about the Asteroid 2005 YU55 that will fly very close to Earth -- slightly closer than our moon's orbit. And it all happens today November 8th.

From NASA: Scientists will be tracking asteroid 2005 YU55 with antennas of the agency's Deep Space Network at Goldstone, Calif., as the space rock safely flies past Earth slightly closer than the moon's orbit on Nov. 8. Scientists are treating the flyby of the 1,300-foot-wide (400-meter) asteroid as a science target of opportunity allowing instruments on "spacecraft Earth" to scan it during the close pass.

Arecibo radar observations of asteroid 2005 YU55 made in 2010 show it to be approximately spherical in shape. It is slowly spinning, with a rotation period of about 18 hours. The asteroid's surface is darker than charcoal at optical wavelengths.

NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

If you'd like more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects go Here

If you're interested in the Deep Space Network go Here

So, how close do you feel is too close?

Kaye

Space Station View...

I love the idea of being 'out there' looking down on Earth

This is a night time view of the United States' Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains cities taken by the Expedition 29 crew from the International Space Station

FROM HYPERSPACE TO HALLOWEEN

Shifting gears, moving out of hyperspace and on to another space... Halloween!

It is a fun and even spooky time of year for many. So in light of that I have to ask-- can you write a Halloween SFR story? Of course you can! There are many authors who mix SF and paranormal, ghosts, ghouls, and so on. There are spooky things happening in stories in the fall. 

So how about you? Do you have a story that you'd like to share? If you would I invite you to leave a LINK (buy link or freebie) to Your Story in the comment section of my blog. Share the Halloween fun with others, be it SFR, Paranormal or otherwise!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

Love in the Afterglow of Hyperspace

Fellow SFR author Jessica Subject has a blog post titled, Science Fiction Romance: How do you "do" aliens? She talks about the different humanoids we authors create as our alien characters, among other things. She also shares several enticing passages from her books that highlight her ideas. Her post made me think about other aspects we as SF/R authors need to explore.

Everyone who knows me knows I write way out imaginative alien characters bar none. But really, writing Sci Fi and Sci Fi Romance is so much more than creating way out characters.

It is my belief the world building of an alien culture/character is the most important thing you can do. You really have to do your studying for this. For me it takes a tremendous amount of research. 

Sure, it's still fiction, but if I can't lace my stories with plausible scientific theories it just won't work for me. Now that's not to say I drone on and on about quantum physics. No way, that would bore even me.  But alien cultures can be very complex and difficult to execute. I do have to know what I'm trying to relate to a reader. Yet I also give myself lots of flexibility while creating imaginative possible worlds and realities. 

Take that awesome theory of traveling faster than light speed--one of my favorites by the way.

Think about this— from my understanding, in Star Trek, the characters travel at warp speed. (Warp 1,2 3 4, etc.) Technically the speed of light is approximately 186,282 miles per second. According to Star Trek, calculating warp speed goes by the warp-cubed method. (X^3) X to the third power. So warp-1 would be speed of light. Warp-2 would be 8 times the speed of light and so on. 

Fast yes, but did they ever even leave the Milky Way Galaxy? Remember when Voyager got lost in the Delta quadrant— still in our own galaxy. According to the Trek idea, our own galaxy is teaming with intelligent life. Thousands upon thousands of planets with advanced cultures. Science fiction, yes. But based on theories and technology we are verging on now. Still that's a lot of fodder for a writer's imagination!

Okay- moving on to FTL hyperspace and event horizons. Though traveling at FTL (faster than light) varies, speeds could actually reach billions of miles per second. Now we can travel to distant-- Galaxies. Find more life—as much as we know now about quantum physics—there are thousands of galaxies with billions of stars, millions of planets and possible advanced life and cultures. Kind of boggles the mind doesn’t it? 

Take the ancient starship in Stargate Universe (SGU) It is traveling at FTL. Faster than light speed – like millions of times faster or else they couldn’t be jumping past all those galaxies. Whoa!

So in reality, we mere earthlings will have to master and amass so much technology and knowledge before we can even explore our own galaxy, much less others. Well hey, that’s why I love Science Fiction. It lets me live outside the normal realm of present day knowledge and reality as we know it. And I can create imagined worlds, aliens and cultures that could possibly exist somewhere out there.

And those sexy encounters between alien characters from totally different evolutionary backgrounds? I love exploring how they would interact and relate to each other. Here's a line from my SFR story, An Alien Presence: 

'...In his star travels, he adored meeting humanoid females. Sensual, hot mammalian women heated his cooled blood to a fevered pitch...'

So what is your take? Do you like to watch read or write SF/R? If so, what level of technology do you like to see? Do you like aliens that are super sexy and very different from us?

Kaye

Virgin Galactic

Is Space Travel Closer Than We Think?

Las Cruces, N.M. officially joined the list of major space centers Monday when a newly completed terminal and hangar facility was turned over to British billionaire Richard Branson and his commercial space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic.

The company aims to launch paying customers beyond Earth’s confines from the new $209-million futuristic-looking facility, named Spaceport America.

“Today is another history-making day for Virgin Galactic,” Branson said at the event.

Virgin Galactic said it has taken about 455 reservations for the ride. The price per flight for a would-be space tourist is $200,000. 

Instead of launching people directly into space with a rocket, Virgin Galactic plans to do the following: A rocket plane with six passengers will be attached to the wings of a White Knight mother ship, flown to 50,000 feet and released. The rocket plane's engine then will ignite and propel the passengers into suborbit.

The spaceship is designed to climb to the edge of space, about 60 miles above the Earth's surface. At that suborbital altitude, people experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. 

Virgin Galactic’s sleek carrier aircraft and spaceships are made by the Spaceship Co. in Mojave, where the planes are currently undergoing test flights. Branson hopes to make its first passenger flight as next year. 

Branson named one of the ground terminals the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space.

The gateway will house preparation facilities for company’s passengers, which it calls astronauts. There is also a mission control center and an area for friends and family.

What are your ideas on Virgin Galactic and space flight? Do you think we are actually on cusp of traveling to deep space? Exploring the Galaxy, even mastering the technology of faster than light speed? (More info and ideas on FTL in a later post) 

But for now, what do you think?

Kaye  

Stunning Harsh Ice Blue Planet

While I am still thinking about Antarctica the coldest place found on our Earth, and Kat Holmes story Frozen... (see the March 30 post)  I thought it would be a good idea to share a bit of information on the research about an entire ice-covered planet from one of my stories. (This one is co-written with another SF author-- more on that later)

I started working on the idea for the “Ice Blue” Planet featured in this SF story a while back. I wanted to make it as scientifically plausible and realistic as possible, since a big part of the story's action takes place on its surface.

This SF planet is stunningly beautiful when seen from space. It  is cast with perpetual blue shades that has the look of predawn light. It has a dense but breathable atmosphere. Covered in heavy drifts of bluish tinged snow, ice storms and chilling winds prevail. This planet is  naturally in a distant orbit from its sun, with short seasons and temperatures that dip well below the freezing mark even at the warmest time.

Yet it is still inside what scientists call the Goldilocks Zone. Simply put, this zone is an area around a star with an orbiting Earth-like planet that has the ability to sustain life, even if harsh conditions abound on the planet's surface. Also known as the habitable zone (HZ).

Why choose an inhospitable yet beautiful planet like this one for a setting? This particular story is not actually about the planet but more about mounting a defense against hostile aliens who invade and destroy other cultures. So the planet specs lend well to the story. And there is an interesting human-made aspect on the surface of this planet.

What do you think of a planet like this as a setting? Do you like it when  setting mirrors the events taking place in a story? What would you do if you were to encounter such a harsh and inhospitable place? Not to mention the aliens who have invaded it.

Kaye

SAYING FAREWELL...THE FINAL FLIGHT

Goodbye to the Space Shuttle Discovery

The space shuttle Discovery prepares for flight at Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Feb. 23. Discovery launches with a crew of six astronauts on February 24 on a mission to the International Space Station – The Final Flight.

Space shuttle Discovery lit up the sky at sunset as it roared off Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on its mission to the International Space Station. The STS-119 mission was the 28th to the space station and Discovery's 36th flight. Discovery delivered the final pair of power-generating solar array wings and the S6 truss segment.

  

STS-26 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle 103, mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters, rolls out of Kennedy Space Center's vehicle assembly building. This high angle view looks almost directly down of OV-103, ET, and SRBs nose cones and the mobile launch pad. .

Backdrop by a blue and white Earth and the blackness of space, the Space Shuttle Discovery's docking mechanism (top foreground), payload bay, Remote Manipulator System Orbiter Boom Sensor System, vertical stabilizer, and orbital maneuvering system pods appear in this photo taken by a STS-119 crewmember during the 12th day of flight in March 2009.

NASA... Where do we go from here?

Catastrophe Looming?

Recently I finished a bunch of research on solar flare activity for a story I'm writing. Interestingly enough, on Monday the sun let loose its most powerful eruption in more than four years disrupting radio communications and generating concern around the world. But it could have been a lot worse, experts say.

Despite its strength, Monday's solar storm was a baby compared to several previous blasts, and it provides just a hint of what the sun is capable of. A true monster storm has the potential to wreak havoc on a global scale, knocking out communications systems, endangering satellites and astronauts and causing perhaps trillions of dollars in damages.

The sun's activity cycle is ramping up, so more storms will likely be coming our way over the next few years. That's not to say the big one is imminent, experts say — but you never can tell. And analysts warn that humanity is more dependent than ever on the high-tech equipment that can be affected by a solar storm, the stakes are higher than in the past.

Wow! That's what I said upon hearing this news. When I contemplated this story, I asked the question 'what if' the sun went crazy and caused real potential danger for an earth-like planet? My SF story is close, too close to reality.

According to my research, solar storm events come in several different flavors.

Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation that send waves of photons streaming toward Earth. The scale measuring their strength has three general categories – Class C, Class M and Class X – with Class X flares being the most powerful. Monday's Valentine's Day solar flare registered a Class X2.2 on that scale.

Other storms, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), are large clouds of plasma and magnetic field that erupt from the sun's surface, sending lots of particles our way. Both flares and CMEs have the same root cause — a disruption of the magnetic field in the sun's outer atmosphere. And both events can affect life here on Earth.

The most severe damage comes from the powerful CMEs. Particles from these outbursts take longer to reach us — up to three days. But when they get here, their interaction with Earth's magnetic field can cause massive "geomagnetic storms," which have the potential to wreak long-lasting havoc around the globe. Monday night's storm produced both a big solar flare and CMEs.

~Oh boy~
It's hard not to be excited and a little weird too, because my story has a lot of this same kind of looming catastrophe. Of course my stories are all about the romance, and this one is no different. Sub plots are also as important in SFR as the romance.

In the light of what occurred on Monday, I would like to share an unedited excerpt from my latest story. Most of the action takes place on an orbiting Space Station just below the Planet's exosphere. The Astroscientists on Starlab who are actually searching for life on other planets, have just discovered what could spell disaster for their world. 


Karla stood in the tight-nit area of Starlab’s main research hub and peered over Frank’s shoulder, viewing the monitors as Jay stood next to her.

Frank cleared his throat then spoke. “During my watch last night, I raised the remote UV filters on scope two and aimed it directly at our sun.” He paused and looked up at Karla. There is no doubt our sun's solar flare and CME activity is increasing at a much too rapid rate. Last night's event eruption registered a massive Class X9.6, with more data coming in as we speak. Our planet is in peril. If CME continue to bombard us at this high rate, well, I don’t have to tell you where we are headed.”

* * * *

From his shielded high orbiting spacecraft above the planet, he observed the humans on their space station as they bristled about in fear. Their own sun was about to destroy their world…

Kaye

Photos from Monday's actual sun flare activity available from Space.com

Aliens Among Us?

The Ancient Astronaut Theorists say so. Aliens have always been here, and helped to shape our history.

I'm home sick today and for several hours I've been watching Ancient Aliens on the History channel. Sounds like an odd place for this type of programing, but not really. Projected theories, past, present and future abound in this show. It's the perfect show for someone like me. 

For instance, the moon is hollow. Aliens placed it in Earth's orbit for us. Yeah it's true. So the rhythmic motion of the moon on the Earth could have caused life to evolve here. Is the moon artificial-- is it a satellite and somewhat like the Death Star in Star Wars?

Here's another-- the missing link-- is it possible that an advanced culture from some distant solar system intervened in human evolution? Wild concepts, right?  But not so much if you have a Science Fiction brain! Here's one-- Are Angels (translated messengers) really ET extraterrestrial beings? Travelers from distant planets? For sure this stuff is fodder for a SF author

Kaye

Finding Solutions

While working on Forbidden Destiny, the second book in the Forbidden Series, several factors surfaced.

At the end of Forbidden Love I left my characters hanging out in deep space, traveling at FTL toward T’Kon’s distant galaxy. The opening of the new story had to punch, as well as touch on how they came to be where they were as a reminder.

Since this story has scenes on Asconage, T’Kon’s home planet, I needed more development about that big turning point, namely, the rule of no interspecies mating. More questions. What will the Asconage Council do when T’Kon faces them? Characters and situations need to change in order for a story to develop well. So will the Council make an exception in T’Kon’s case? Will they change the rules?

I think not.

So what will happen? For the purpose of this story, I came up with an adventurous and dangerous (for the characters) idea. What if T’Kon plans a temporal leap to reset time? Lots of interesting dilemmas conflict and action could happen within this scenario. Yet I know my hero, and he will not— for long leave the love of his life behind. So now what?

And then again I could have been left with a similar conclusion as in the first book. That darn rule of no interspecies mating and facing the wrath of the Asconage Council. I had to deal with how to get around it, resolve the issues.

I was reminded of a cool series I’m watching that airs on the SyFy channel on Fridays. It’s called Merlin. In this particular Arthurian Legend, a young Merlin becomes servant to a young Arthur, because King Uther (Arthur's father) has banned magic from Camelot, and Merlin must practice magic behind the King's back,  as he protects Arthur, the future king of Camelot at all costs. We know that in Arthur’s future, Merlin the Wizard and magic are part of Camelot. 

Also, in this version, Arthur's future wife, Guinevere is working in Camelot as a servant. We know how that will eventually turn out, even though the two will not let their relationship develop because nobles cannot merry servants. Well, not yet. Even worse, only Nobles can become Knights. Things will change. One of the things I like about this series is the way hints are placed throughout alluding to what a future Camelot will be like under Arthur's rule. Even though for now Arthur adheres to his father's wishes. And he is just now developing his own way of believing. Cool premise.

So it is in my story as well. Remembering that T’Kon is the future ruler of Asconage, gave me an idea. Even though the future will find change afoot, brought about by T’Kon, I had to deal with the present situation.

Finding the right solutions that allow for changes inside a story and within the characters isn’t always easy. Working through the problems presented during the writing of  Forbidden Destiny was challenging. Though this second story is a bit heavier and shows more of T’Kon’s culture, working out the dilemmas my two lovers, T’Kon and Maya faced was an exhilarating experience for me.

Forbidden Destiny coming in 2011. If you'd like to read the blurb click the title.

Kaye

Another Superman Movie? Really?

In the quest to find super heroes, here's a new one for you. Superman, yet again.

Henry Cavill, the star of Showtime's "The Tudors," has been cast as iconic superhero Superman in a film to be directed by Zack Snyder, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures confirmed in a statement Jan. 30.

"In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen," Snyder said. "I also join Warner Bros., Legendary and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and 'S' shield."

Cavill will be seen later this year playing Greek warrior Theseus in director Tarsem Singh's action picture "Immortals," and opposite Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver in the thriller "The Cold Light of Day."

The 27-year-old actor was reportedly on the shortlist for "Superman Returns" when McG was to direct it, but when Bryan Singer took over the project he went with Brandon Routh instead.

Some fans don't, and didn't like either of these choices for their hero. Many die-hard Superman fans were hoping for Tom Welling from the TV series Smallville (Clark Kent/Superman) for this latest endeavor. 

So are you a Superman fan? What do you think? Which actor would be your choice for this iconic roll?

Kaye

Challenger -- Do You Remember?

NASA recalls darkest moments...

The space shuttle Challenger STS-51L spaceflight ended in tragedy on Jan. 28, 1986, 73 seconds after liftoff. Seven astronauts died that day, when the Challenger space shuttle was destroyed.

It was NASA's first in-flight calamity, and it dealt an especially severe blow to the millions of teachers and students watching on TV to see Christa McAuliffe, a civilian high school teacher from New Hampshire, become NASA's first Teacher in Space.

Today is the 25 year anniversary of that fateful day.

The loss of Challenger was later attributed to a failed seal on one of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters. An investigation board concluded that cold weather prevented a rubber O-ring from maintaining its seal, allowing hot gas to leak and damage the shuttle's external fuel tank and the hardware attaching the booster to the vehicle. The right solid rocket booster separated from the shuttle, and the fuel tank broke apart, causing the orbiter to be torn apart by aerodynamic stresses.

"The problem was a design flaw, complicated by the weather situation which was unrecognized at the time by the appropriate managers," Hale said. "We wished that we had the foresight to stand up collectively and say, 'Look, it's too cold a day to launch, we just ought to wait for a warmer day.' In retrospect it seems so simple; at the time, it just didn't happen."

Veteran shuttle astronaut Ron Garan, who is slated to fly to the International Space Station in March aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, said the anniversaries of Challenger and the other accidents highlight the lessons learned from those events. "It's a time to reflect and it's a time to remember those people who have sacrificed to get us where we are," Garan told SPACE.com. "A lot of the lessons learned in this business are written in blood, and if we don't learn from them, those people died in vain."

~~~~
So where were you on that day? Were you watching from a classroom like many students?

Kaye

Character Connections

My ongoing quest to create intriguingly mysterious outrageously sexy  and sensually unbelievable realistic characters... Or Hey, who is that guy?

I'm working on creating several characters for a new story, yet again. Now I know other writers who don't use or need a deep process to make their characters work for them in a story. They can just start writing and the character comes alive for them and develops on its own. I say great for them.

As for me, I need something more. Maybe it's because I usually write SFR but I really have to know inside and out, those who are the people, or aliens as the case may be in my story in order to make them realistic.

I don't use the typical character sketch lists you see floating around everywhere. I prefer a great method created by romance author, Alice Orr. She holds workshops on writing and in my opinion, this is one of her best.

Here is a very brief description of her character method:  

Just start writing about your character from birth to the present and let it rip. You can go back and fill in blank spaces later if need be. Look inside your character and see what makes him/her tick--what they feel about everything from being born to the nicks along the way of life. How they relate and handle everything. Ask your character questions. Write it like you're writing an article about someones life, or doing an interview. It really feels like uncovering a mystery. Then you'll have something to pull from when writing your story. Having the plot idea in mind first is helpful in creating your characters. That way they won't be hanging there out of context. 

For me, this method does make sense and my characters seem to become so much stronger and more real. Since I do a lot of Sci-Fi world building and alien characters, I've found this process truly opens up my worlds. It does helps me uncover things I may miss in the new world or culture I'm creating. Really. Because to know my characters well is to know more about their cultural life too.  Once I get going with it, my characters reveal hidden secrets about themselves and their world that I may not have even thought about.

Oh, and did I mention it's great fun. It doesn't take forever either. The other perk is that doing this can jump start a lagging creative process, and thus helps me get that story written.

I actually do this for all my characters, secondary and villains as well. All I can say is, this works for me. I feel I create better stories and deeper characters than if I just started writing without this character building process.

Anyway, I'm just sharing what helps me as a writer. How about you? What is your process when creating a new character? Do you have something you can share that has helped you along the way?

Kaye

(In the photo: V-MODA clothing designed by Terri King.)