Last week I posted the first four chapters of THE KINSHIP to Authonomy, a social networking site for writers, readers and Harper Collins editors. See my previous post for more details.
I’ve had a warm welcome there and my book’s rank has risen over 1500 points, can be found on 22 Bookshelves and three Watchlists. I still have about 500 to go before I can be anywhere near the top five realm required for editorial review, but hopefully that will be within reach soon.
One of the best comments I’ve received so far is from Star Trek anthology author Geoff Thorne who said:
“Well, this is a keeper. The dialogue is awesome; the world you’ve constructed seems real. It has history, depth, breadth and texture but at no time seems contrived. . .I like the characters, not just because they’re interesting but because I actually like them.”
I really couldn’t have asked for a better review. Thanks again, Geoff!
In the meantime, voting is still open, so please if you’re at all interested in science fiction, read my first four chapters and if the story strikes you, back my book.
I recently joined Authonomy, a community/social networking site “for writers, readers and publishers, conceived and developed by book editors at HarperCollins.” The first four chapters of my book THE KINSHIP is now available on Authonomy, so if you’ve been the least bit curious please go check it out. If you like it — and I hope you do — please back my book by adding it to your bookshelf. This will raise the book’s rank and increase my chances of garnering an editorial review.
To get you started, below is the opening hook:
“You know we’re breaking mission protocol.” Lieutenant Jana Randall yanked up her sleeves.
Tang of alcohol, stab of a needle in each arm. The medtech at the rundown clinic hooked Jana to the cell separator that would remove the microscopic markers from her blood, tools the Kinship used to track its agents.
Her partner Rodrik ignored the medtech. “And your point is?”
“Without the Kinship nanomarkers, we’re off the Grid,” she said. “If anything goes wrong–”
“Domek’s scanners will pick up our signatures.” Rodrik slapped microderm patches on his own IV nicks, his dark brows knit together. “Then we’re dead anyway.”
The Domek Cartel sold weapons and drugs all over the quadrant. She had been working with Rodrik to infiltrate the organization for months.
He leaned in close. “They’re starting to trust me. I can’t do this without you.”
Jana nodded. If they closed the deal and secured the information on the cartel’s trading routes, then the Kinship could shut down Domek in the whole sector.
“You can re-inject when this is over. Enjoy the freedom for a change.” Rodrik smiled and kissed her, a quick slip of tongue over lip laced with a note of ginger from their last meal.
1. Entanglement describes the liminal relationship between two quantum particles that exist in “superposition,” a mix of states that can only be resolved when a physical property is measured. Think of the transporter in Star Trek: When someone is transported to another location they are technically in two places — and two quantum states — at once until their pattern is completed. Scientists have actually transported data using entanglement over 89 miles. Another way to phrase it is: “measuring a property of one particle instantly determines the property of another,” and before that measurement is taken the particle exists in all states at once.
2. Superposition refers to the state in which two quantum objects are comprised of some combination of all the possible states of a system or as Wikipedia explains: “. . . if the world can be in any configuration, any possible arrangement of particles or fields, and if the world could also be in another configuration, then the world can also be in a state which is a superposition of the two, where the amount of each configuration that is in the superposition…” In the blast from the past commercial above, there is a quantum moment where the peanut butter and chocolate are neither peanut butter nor chocolate, but in a superposition of being both at once. Until you eat it. Then it’s just yummy.
3. Spin is what makes subatomic particles like electrons act like tiny bar magnets. Quantum mechanics allow subatomic particles to be in both an up and down position simultaneously.
4. Coherence refers to atomic particles acting in sync with one another, sort of like “a gathering of consummate musicians playing jazz together (‘quantum jazz’) where every single player is freely improvising from moment to moment and yet keeping in tune and in rhythm with the spontaneity of the whole. It is a special kind of wholeness that maximizes both local freedom and global cohesion.”
5. Schrödinger’s cat is a thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrödinger, who also came up with the term “entanglement,” in 1935 to illustrate the conflict between how matter behaves on a micro as opposed to a macro level. In the experiment the cat is put in a box with hydrocyanic acid that may or may not be released, killing the cat. At this point the cat is in a state of superposition — both dead and alive — and the act of observing it dissolves that state and forces the cat into one state or the other.
7. Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is created when elementary particles called bosons are cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero. In this state quantum effects become observable on a macro level.
8. A spin bath is “a clutch of subatomic particles interacting cleanly enough to reveal quantum fluctuations spreading like ripples on a still pond.”
9. Entangled particles could travel as fast as 10,000 times the speed of light. Which kind of violates all the rules about space and time. Yay!
10. A bit has two possible states: 0 or 1. Picture it as an arrow on a sphere pointing to the north pole (1) or the south pole (0). A qubit is a quantum bit that can exist in any state in between 0 and 1 — and does exist in all of those states simultaneously until its state is measured.
11.Scientists have transmitted “a pair of entangled states of light into separate corners of an ultracold atomic cloud, stored them there briefly, and then sent them back on their separate ways without completely destroying the quantum link in the process.”
12. What’s an atomic cloud look like, you ask? You get one (an image of one) on your iPod with software called Atom in a Box. WANT.
13. An upcoming International Space Station experiment will test the transmission of photons from the Space Station to Earth using quantum entanglement. What do you want to bet the first message transmission will be “The cat is alive?”
I’ve been letting the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica sink in before posting about it, but I have had a bit of fun commenting over on Brad Templeton’s Battlestar Blog and Kenneth Hynek’s post Sometimes a Great. . .Ellen? about the Fifth Cylon reveal. I’ll recount here what I’ve said there and also add in a few new thoughts. This post contains spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the “Sometimes a Great Notion” episode, be warned. (more…)
Since tonight is the premiere of Battlestar Galactica’s fourth and final season, I was prepared to highlight all the great female characters in the series (I’ve already highlighted Kara and Sharon).
Money quote from women’s studies professor Sue Brennan, who screened the show for a course called “Gender, Race and Sexuality in Pop Culture” at Ohio State University:
“On Battlestar Galactica, these are not damsels in distress that the men have to save, and that’s appealing particularly for women of my generation in their late 20s and 30s,” she said. “We were raised thinking about equality and I think Battlestar Galactica attracts women who maybe weren’t interested in sci-fi in the first place but now watch the show because it has so many strong female characters.”
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA returns this Friday with its last season, the first episode of which is called “Sometimes A Great Nation.” Here’s the latest teaser trailer:
Note that Romo Lampkin is back and he’s in custody for some reason — the teaser shows him being escorted down a corridor by several guards and later I’m pretty sure that’s him with Zarek shaking hands in a cell. Also note that in the teaser the words pop up “Who is the final cylon?” and then we see a shot of Dualla.
It’s probably all a huge fake-out, but it’s still fun to dissect it. Not too long ago I theorized that the Fifth Cylon was Dualla and threw around some ideas I called the Aurora Theory, but I admit Dualla doesn’t have the emotional impact the show has been promising.
I still maintain my original idea that Dualla is the Fifth Cylon is a compelling one. However, the new clues have given me a few ideas to toss around about Kara “Starbuck” Thrace, Baltar, and others. Namely, we’ll likely see three reveals in this last season rather than just the one everyone seems to be fixating on:
The identity of the Fifth Cylon
Starbuck’s true identity
The identity of the “one whose name cannot be spoken”
What follows is my revised take on some of the old and new clues.
I’m blogging today over at Writers At Play about experiencing an Inspiration Point — the role setting plays in a story. Whether you’re a writer finding inspiration in the most unlikeliest of places or a reader who just adores great world-building, please stop on over and chime in the discussion. An excerpt:
I’m probably dating myself here, but do you remember watching “Happy Days” and hearing about Inspiration Point? Back when Ron Howard still had hair, he played Richie Cunningham, middle child of the Cunninghams from the slice of life of 1950s Americana that aired 1974-1984. Inspiration Point was the middle of nowhere place teens went to make-out, but I always think of the title when I’m somewhere that inspires my writing. (And you thought I was going to talk about making out?)
I’ve had a warm welcome there and my book’s rank has risen over 1500 points, can be found on 22 Bookshelves and three Watchlists. I still have about 500 to go before I can be anywhere near the top five realm required for editorial review, but hopefully that will be within reach soon. 
