Something FUN To Do (with a great deal of CARE!!!) Today

Posted on FACEBOOK this morning (like I said, it's currently -18 F here in Minnesota)

Guy Stewart

https://www.facebook.com/guy.stewart.946

Something FUN to do today (and any other day it's 40+ degrees below the freezing point of water. At this moment, in Minnesota, it is -18F....1) Clear a path from your microwave to a door that leads outside. Make sure there's nothing to trip over; 2) WARNING!!!! DO NOT ACT LIKE AN INVINCIBLE TEENAGER!!! (This means YOU N, N, Z, J, L, M, R, R...and any OTHER person reading this who had me as a science teacher!) 3) Get heavy winter gloves handy. 4) Get a sturdy coffee cup. 5) Fill the cup 2/3 full of water. 6) Put it in the microwave on high for (about) 3 minutes or UNTIL THE WATER IS BOILING HOT (literally BUBBLING). 7) PUT THE GLOVES ON!!!! Grab the cup in one hand and make your way AS QUICKLY AND SAFELY AS POSSIBLE to the door. Open it, take a step out and THROW THE WATER (NOT, NOT! NOT!!! THE CUP!!!!!) into the air. 9) Marvel at the wonder of Nature or the Universe or God (choose your supernatural "explains the weirdness of the world" point of view)! Let me know what you think! THIS IS NOT FOR YOUNGSTERS -- TEENS OR OLDER TO ELDERS (I'm almost 70) but kidlings can watch!

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 699

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”
SF Trope: Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi) – "Stories centered on climate collapse, resource wars, adaptation to extreme environments, and societal breakdown due to environmental disaster.” PLUS Reality Blurring – “Deep dives into advanced VR, simulation theory, and the philosophical questions of what's real versus simulated (e.g., The Matrix but with more nuance).”
Current Event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upload_(TV_series)

Zhi Zonghan Li found himself laying on his back, shivering.

For several moments, all he could do was blink, unable to move his arms or legs. He tried, but he couldn’t even move a finger. Abruptly, he felt extremely tired. He tried to stay awake, but even though he felt more than one of his fingers move, he fell asleep.


Zhi Zonghan Li found himself laying on his back, sweating. It pooled in his navel. It dripped maddeningly down his sides. The droplets slid into his eyes, and even though he blinked repeatedly, some of the stinging sweat stung enough for him to squinch his eyes tightly. He tried to talk, but all he managed was a wheezing rasp. He fell asleep again.


Zhi Zonghan Li found himself laying on his back, breathing slowly, calmly, and no longer naked. He didn’t remember noticing that his first two times waking up. He moved his hands. The fingers worked fine. He curled his toes and found they also worked just fine.

Then he tried to sit up and found he was strapped firmly to a table – a surgery table, he was fairly certain, based on the straps around his wrists, across his chest, at his waist, and thighs. He was also naked. He didn’t remember being naked before, though he was fairly certain he’d been dressed in something before.

A face suddenly appeared above him and said something in English. He knew he didn’t know much English, though he’d worked somewhere in the Solar System where he’d spoken English as a matter of convenience. He tried to respond, but the hand of the body attached to the face smiled while placing the hand gently over his mouth. They spoke, the voice oddly asexual, “Don’t move. You’ve been in suspended animate for the past few months. Don’t try and talk either, give your vocal chords a chance to warm up. You could damage them if you tried to use your voice like to talk…or scream. Look up then down to tell me you agree, Zhi Zonghan Li.”

He wanted to tell the face that they could call him Zhi. All of the English-speakers he’d worked with used the abrupt truncation of his name as a matter of convenience. He went along with it because they usually mushed his name-sounds into a Western rush to speak. The face said, “You’ve been sleeping for several months. You were put under because your skills in climate designing were deemed too important to allow them to die with your body.” He must have widened his eyes because the voice said, “Don’t worry. The climate disaster was averted while you and most of the rest of the wealthy world slept.” The face – he realized what he’d recognized as a female face – was actually that of a very young man.

Zhi Zonghan Li found his voice, albeit a bare whisper, “Solved it?”

The face grimaced, looked around then leaned closer and whispered, “Not exactly…”

Name: ♂ China
Image: https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/C2nVRtyWKDsGheTkefwup8-970-80.jpg.webp

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: I. Why Does STAR TREK Mean So Much To Me?

This isn’t inspired by anything but my own thought processes. I’ve written on TREK several times…er…I guess like THIRTY times. If you go right, scroll down to STAR TREK and click on it, you’ll see what I’ve written so far. Read and comment if you’d like, but I’ve been having some new thoughts lately after my wife and I watched two separate ST episodes – the first time Q appeared…and the LAST time Q appeared.

If you DON’T know anything about Star Trek and Picard and Q, here’s some bits of pertinent information:

STAR TREK: “The franchise began with Star Trek (The Original Series), which premiered on September 6, 1966, on Canada's CTV network.[4] In the United States, it debuted on September 8, 1966, on NBC. The series followed the voyages of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise, a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, and television westerns such as Wagon Train.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek)

STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION – “an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired from September 28, 1987, to May 23, 1994, in syndication, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, it was inspired by Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the latter third of the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet starship, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), in its exploration of the Alpha quadrant and Beta quadrant in the Milky Way galaxy.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

JEAN LUC PICARD: “Jean-Luc Picard is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise, most often seen as the commanding officer of the Federation starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). Played by Patrick Stewart, Picard has appeared in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) and the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as the feature films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). He is also featured as the central character in the show Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023).” I will note that the actor Patrick Stewart, is also a highly “decorated” individual: “Sir Patrick Stewart is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of stage and screen, he has received various accolades, including two Olivier Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for a Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards, four Emmy Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama in 2010.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Picard)

Lastly there is Q: “Q is a fictional character, as well as the name of a race, in the Star Trek franchise, appearing in six of the ST franchise series…as well as in related media. The most familiar Q is portrayed by John de Lancie. He is an extra-dimensional being of unknown origin who possesses immeasurable power over time, space, the laws of physics, and reality itself, being capable of altering it to his whim. Despite his vast knowledge and experience spanning untold eons, he is not above practical jokes for his personal amusement, a Machiavellian or manipulative purpose, or to prove a point. He is said to be almost completely omnipotent and continually evasive regarding his true motivations.

“Beginning with the pilot episode of The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", Q became a recurring character, with pronounced comedic and dramatic chemistry with Jean-Luc Picard. He serves as a major antagonist throughout The Next Generation, playing a pivotal role in both the first and final episodes.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(Star_Trek))

I’m going to stop here for now as I’m sure there’s plenty there to familiarize yourself with – and in the hope that these tidbits will help you make sense of what I’m REALLY on about!

Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/United_Federation_of_Planets_Flag.svg/1280px-United_Federation_of_Planets_Flag.svg.png

IDEA ON TUESDAY 698

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

Old Horror Story/Series “for kids”: Goosebumps Books 
H Trope: Abusive Parents (with a touch of SF)
Event: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2536926/Sharon-Glass-trial-Boy-12-testifies-starved-locked-closet-fathers-girlfriend.html (Rewatched an old, old movie a few nights ago with this precise theme: “Forrest Gump”...Tropes don’t grow old.)

Austin Ventura stood in his room. What should he do? What could he do? Carlos Rodriguez Cruz – his best friend since kindergarten – had run off somewhere. Worse yet, he’d been gone for anywhere from a few minutes to four hours. Austin texted Carlos’ sister, Paulina, “You still there?”

“Not going anywhere. Really.”

“Can I come over?”

“Here?”

“Where?”

“Meet me at the school.”

“I can get there in ten.”

“No car. Give me an hour.”

“Why?”

“Walk.”

“I can come and get you,” Austin clicked. He waited. His screen dimmed to dark. She wasn’t going to answer. Shaking his head, he left the house, walking out the

front door. Mom and Dad had long ago given up trying to keep him in the place – he’d “escaped” so many times…and they’d had to pick him up from the police station for curfew violations so many times, that they’d finally said if he was going to go out whenever he felt like it, he could pick himself up.

They refused. He tested their resolve exactly once. That was the night he had to walk home from down town Minneapolis. His parents insisted the cops turn him out. The also lied about how far away they lived – they said they were staying in a nearby hotel. It had been just before Christmas. Austin was twelve.

When a cop car stopped to nab him, it turned out it was the same one who’d grabbed him the first time. The lady had said, “Your parents made you walk home?”

Miserable – even in his fancy Columbia ReflectiveHeat Brand – in just his jacket and Converses, the cop relented and gave him a ride home. When he dropped Austin off in front of the mansion, he’d leaned forward, looked at the entryway and said softly, “I can file for child abuse if you want...”

“No!” Austin had exclaimed. The publicity would ruin Dad. Mom would never speak to him again. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

The cop had made a face, shrugged and said, “Suit yourself, kid. But if you ever change your mind,” he’d squirted a contact email to Austin’s cellphone then went on his way.

Austin-in-the-present shook his head and sighed, the only lesson he’d learned that night was that he had to be a helluva lot sneakier from then on. And he’d learned exactly how mad Dad could get. He set off to meet Paulina.

Names: ♂ Mexico, Mexico; ♂ Minnesota, Italy (= “baby in the woods”, “foundling”); ♀ Spanish form of French name
Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niGRrH6DL.jpg

JAX LUNAR LUMBER Chapter 13.5 A BRIEF INTERLUDE WHILE I TRY SOMETHING NEW!

On the way to the neighborhood Home Depot for the obligatory weekend project as well as a load of flowers and potting soil, I started musing on my hitch as a “yard ape” for a company called Knox Lumber. We, too were busy this time of year, and it was a familiar feel whenever I went to one of these stored. Know was one of the original “Do It Yourself” (aka DIY) stores, a precursor to today’s Lowes, Menards, and Home Depot. Eventually bought out by Payless Cashways https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payless_Cashways

The rumor in the store was that you could build an entire house by waiting patiently for a year while EVERYTHING went on sale…Rolling down the driveway, I suddenly had a thought and snickered. When my wife asked, “What?” I shook my head. “No, what?” I reiterated the train of thought above, then added, “I was wondering if it would be possible to build a colony on the Moon using just what you could buy at Knox?” We pondered it for a few moments, then suddenly said in unison, “Yes!”

Inspired by Matt Weir, the result of my musings continues below.

It just turned into 2026 three days ago, so I went back to Chapter 3 and copied the following:

"Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin were the first of 12 human beings to walk on the Moon. Four of America's moonwalkers are still alive: Aldrin (Apollo 11), David Scott (Apollo 15), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17)" -- four men left who walked. How many people flew to the Moon and back? In addition to the 24 Apollo astronauts, four others are slated to follow them for the first time in 50 years in November of 2024...”

Couple things, NASA just announced Artemis WON’T be going to the Moon until 2027…so that’s changed. “In all, 24 American astronauts made the trip from Earth to the Moon between 1968 and 1972. Three astronauts made the journey from Earth to the Moon twice: James Lovell (Apollo 8 and Apollo 13), John Young (Apollo 10 and Apollo 16), and Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 and Apollo 17).”

Nextly, “Four of America's moonwalkers are still alive: Aldrin (Apollo 11), David Scott (Apollo 15), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17).” (https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moon-walkers/)

Charles Duke is 90. Harrison Schmitt is 90. Edwin “Buzz Aldrin” is 95. David Scott is 93. I’m thinking that in another 10 years, all of the “First Men On The Moon” will be gone.

All of that to say, I think I’m going to play around with writing pieces of SnapFix (aka as flash fiction to normal folks!) in this world I’ve managed to create! Pieces LESS than 1500 words. I’m also not going to NECESSIARILY finish them on the blog on the off chance they might be “good enough” to submit.. I AM going to follow my “rules” for writing SnapFix. You can see my Reels on the subject here: https://www.instagram.com/guy_stewart75/

Select Your Genre
Choose An Overarching Theme
Use One Or Two Key Characters
Make Every Sentence Count And Don’t Rush
Prompt Visualization
Start In The Middle
Use Descriptive, Concise Language
Deal With A Single Conflict
Create Surprise And Provide A Twist
Present A Memorable Last Line
Write A Powerful Title
DRAFT!

DRAFT!

DRAFT!

That’s it for this week! Later!

Resources: The Moon Trees, https://www.urbanforestdweller.com/we-almost-forgot-about-the-moon-trees/ ; https://www.space.com/moon-colonists-lunar-lava-tubes.html

Image: https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YkAeUwwE2aksDqd5tgwyec-970-80.jpg.webp

Sold A STORY TODAY!!! "High Carnival" -- that's all I know right now!

Just so you know, my short story, "High Carnival" was accepted today at AMAZING STORIES online today! What's it about? "What if NASA launched space missions from mobile platforms using local airports? What if they made sure there was a safe place on each launch for a truly determined person to go into space?"

 IF you read

MARTIAN HOLIDAY,

my hard science fiction

novel, PLEASE consider posting a review!

 Thanks!

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 697

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them? Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: The Quest
Event: http://contemplativequest.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice's_Adventures_in_Wonderland

Světlana Angelika pursed her lips, looking out over the hectares of forest. In the MSP Vertical Village, it was mostly deciduous trees – oak, maple, patches of white-barked birch, poplar – with a sprinkling of pine trees. The concourse she and Uthman Aali were on was packed with people. Not a hundred thousand, for sure, but too many to think. “We need to go somewhere,” she said abruptly, speaking in the too loud manner of all the inhabitants of Vertical Villages everywhere.

Uthman gave her a look that said, “You’re crazy.”

She slugged him in the shoulder. It was a little kid move – but then, they’d been friends since they were three years old. “No, I’m serious. We need to go somewhere real.”

Without changing his stare, Uthman said, “We can go up to the six hundredth floor...”

“No! I don’t mean here. This is all so...boring. We need to go,” she pause, “through a looking glass.”

“A what?”

“A looking glass! Haven’t you ever read Alice in Wonderland?”

“I might have seen a threevee of it once. Wasn’t it a cartoon?”

“Yes – and no, you haven’t seen this. Lewis Carroll wrote a novel, it’s true. But he was a mathematician. His logic is all over the book. Math. Everything.”

Uthman snorted, “It sounds like science fiction.”

“It’s fantasy – she steps through a mirror.”

“If it’s math and logic, it’s science fiction.”

“There are talking rabbits,” said Světlana. “And a talking, disappearing cat. As well as a talking, smoking caterpillar, talking mice, and soldiers made of playing cards.”

“OK. You win. It’s a fantasy. But what does it have to do with us? What kind of mirror can we jump through? I’m sure there are some here – but...”

“The windows. We can jump through one of those.”

“A window?”

“Come on, let’s go to the outer walls. We’ll leap through one of those!” She turned and ran, Uthman running after her.

Names: ♀ Czech, Roman; ♂ Arabic, Hindu 

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: Why Are Guys STILL Being Left Behind By Speculative Fiction?

Using the Programme Guide of the World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland (to which I was unable to go since I hadn't retired yet!), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Programme Guide. The link is provided below…

Are Boys Left Behind in YA? Many YA novels have strong female protagonists. Does this mean boys are forgotten completely? What do boys read these days?

Marieke Nijkamp

Django Wexler

Peadar Ó Guilín

Sebastien de Castell

Val Ontell

Why are boys left behind right now in YA Lit? “Because,” the Trope says, “It was all about boys before and it’s HIGH TIME girls got their own stories! Boys have ALWAYS gotten it better than the girls!”

OK – I do read current YA SF, but let’s start in the past: I grew up on Robert A Heinlein, Andre Norton, Alan E. Norse, John Christopher, and Madeleine L’Engle. Yes, Heinlein’s characters were almost exclusively boys – that’s who he was trying to get into reading.

Today, girls dominate science fiction for young adults, with the shining stars of course, being Katniss Everdeen (HUNGER GAMES), Honor Harrington (Series), Meg Murray (WRINKLE IN TIME series), Cordelia Vorkosigan (VORKOSIGAN SAGA), Beatrice, aka Tris (DIVERGENT series), Lauren Olamina (SOWER series), Max Ride (Series), Miranda Evans (LIFE AS WE KNEW IT), Lina Mayfleet (EMBER series), Amy Martin (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE series), Juliette (SILO series), (THE LUNAR CHRONICLES series), Lilac Laroux (THESE BROKEN STARS series), Lessa (DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN series), Menolly (DRAGONSINGER series)…you probably get the idea.

Boys? Well, there’s…Thomas (THE MAZE RUNNER series), Luke Skywalker, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin (ENDER series), Doon Harrow (EMBER series), Miles Vorkosigan (VORKOSIGAN SAGA)…I’m sure I left some out.

However, I find the logic of having more heroines in science fiction self-defeating. While I have no PROBLEM with them and I’ve read and loved many of the books I’ve listed above, and I have no trouble admitting I was a boy who had little trouble reading girls as main characters. Maybe I’m unique…

My problem is that boys don’t read. They’ve NEVER been readers – I’ve known this viscerally as a boy who spent more time reading than playing sports; and there are statistics that back me up as well:  https://www.brookings.edu/research/girls-boys-and-reading/; and current surveys only only confirm that the "gender reading gap" is getting worse: https://testprepinsight.com/resources/us-book-reading-statistics/#:~:text=A%20Gender%20Perspective,the%20first%20two%20book%20types:

It seems like science fiction writers today are so intent on redressing sexism in society that they’ve stopped worrying about drawing boys – especially boys who are from other cultures and races – into the world of the future, that I would have challenged the writers in this group to name a Mexican boy who lives in the future and makes a positive contribution. A Somali boy? A Jordanian boy? How about a deaf boy? An Australian Aboriginal boy? A Dakota boy? Where are they in the future? Do we have Chilean boys living on Mars (which would make SENSE, actually!)?

Nope. Girls dominate the future – even in my own work http://theworkandworksheetsofguystewart.blogspot.com/search/label/Heirs%20of%20the%20Shattered%20Spheres%3A%20Emerald%20of%20Earth, but I’m working to change that.

Trying to find them in the current crop of YA lit would be an exercise in futility. I’m trying to change that – read this: http://cm-cdn.cricketmag.com/ProductImages/pdfs/sample%20issues/CKT1301.pdf, but I’m not good enough yet to get lots of my work published.

So where are the boys in the future? Where?

Image: http://www.popstaronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/604025_D001_07127_CROP.jpg