My First Science Fiction Story Published

As some of you know, I have long enjoyed science fiction, both as fascinating reading and also as a nice addition to my introductory astronomy classes. For 30 years, I also kept a diary of science fiction ideas that occurred to me, and might make the basis of good stories.

In the last year or two, I have joined a writing group and am trying to create some SF short stories of my own. I have a full bulletin board of eloquent rejection slips from some of the finest science fiction magazines in print (as, I gather, all beginning writers must collect,) But now, one of my stories has been published, in a Mars-theme anthology called "Building Red," from a small independent press in St. Louis called Walrus Publishing (and the book is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mission-Mars-Building-Ja…/…/1940442079 )

The story, based on a real discovery about Mars, takes place in part inside a cave on the flanks of one of the four giant volcanoes on Mars' equatorial bulge. Instead of the sanitized, squeaky-clean NASA version of a future Mars colony, I tried to imagine one that's crowded, smelly, and has its share of loners and misfits.

The story is entitled "The Cave in Arsia Mons" and it appears together with Mars stories by a number of writers, some of whom have a longer publishing record in SF than I do.

More generally, for a topical index to science fiction stories that have good astronomy in them, see my web page at: 

http://www.astrosociety.org/scifi 

Summer Science Fiction

With the summer vacation and the season of science fiction blockbuster movies now upon us, it's a good time to think about reading a science fiction book in the coming months. If you like science, but all you know about science fiction is what you see on TV or in the movies, you might be pleasantly surprised by how much more scientifically realistic and how much more filled with real human emotion some written works of science fiction can be.

But it can be hard for the beginner to find the best science-oriented science fiction.  There are so many books available, many of them more devoted to fantasy than real science fiction.

On my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Fraknoi I keep a set of images and captions that may be useful if you are on the lookout for some science fiction authors to get to know.  When you get to the Facebook page (which is called "The AstroProf"), clic on the small "Photos" link in the header box. That takes you to a new page and then you can click on "Albums" to see collections of some of my favorite astronomy photos, bumper stickers, and more. 

One of the albums consists of photos and brief discussions of some of my favorite science fiction writers. For each author, I list a little about why I like him and suggest a book you may want to start with.

In addition to the recommendations in this album, I also keep an annotated web list of science fiction stories with good astronomy in them. If you want to see good portrayals of the planets, black holes, or time travel in science fiction, you might check out my list at:http://www.astrosociety.org/edu/resources/scifiprint.html

Here's wishing you a summer of starlit skies and good reading.