While I was out on medical leave, some very cool space news happened. Astronomers announced on April 10 that they had finally captured a picture of something most people thought we’d never see: a black hole. This was very early on in my recovery, but even I recognized how monumental that little news notification on my iPhone was.
If you haven’t heard about that yet or read about it, click here.
I had to read about it in pieces, but I read everything I could find over the next few days. (Of course, the fact that a woman is the face of this discovery was also very cool!)
Space has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I was even in Young Astronauts in junior high and seriously considered studying aerospace engineering in college.
Although I obviously did choose that path, I still find myself staring up at the night sky and wondering what all is out there.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch and I have this (and many other things) in common. In fact space, particularly space travel, is the inspiration for not only a new Fiction River Presents, which she edited, but also a new Storybundle, which she curated.
About the Space Travelers Storybundle, she says:
When most people think of science fiction, they think of space, that final frontier. They think of traveling in space or living in space or being in space. Eventually, they come back to Earth and think about things like time travel or futuristic gadgets, but ask the normal person what they imagine when someone says “science fiction,” and they respond “space.”
I know my love for sf came from my love for space. I discovered both at the same time. I watched the Apollo program throughout my childhood, and the same year I discovered Star Trek, I also watched human beings land on the Moon. That fired my imagination so firmly that I think nothing can shake those two things apart. Space is something, for me, to look forward to.
Space is hope.
Space isn’t always hope, not for the people (and creatures) involved in this Space Traveler bundle. Sometimes space is adventure. Sometimes space is scary. And often space is fascinating—like nothing we’ve seen before.
Click here to learn more about this bundle—which includes WMG books Duplicate Effort, A Retrieval Artist Novel by Kris, Sector Justice: A Seeders Universe Novel by Dean Wesley Smith, and Fiction River Presents: Space Travelers.
The latter, which also released as a standalone product last week, is the latest in the Fiction River Presents magazine line, which features reprints of some of our favorite Fiction River stories. (To read more about Fiction River and its subscription options click here.)
Here’s the synopsis for Fiction River Presents: Space Travelers:
Pulling from the list of her favorite stories for this volume of Fiction River Presents, editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch takes readers on a thrilling journey. From little rovers exploring the planets where humans cannot yet go, to human explorers flung into realms of space/time beyond their knowledge and experience, to aliens who drop in for a visit to Earth for purposes only they can fathom—these travelers entertain, sometimes terrify, and always fascinate.
With this tantalizing volume, Rusch asks the reader, “Wanna go for a ride?”
Table of Contents:
“Tendrils” by Leigh Saunders
“Moonfall” by Lisa Silverthorne
“The Rock of Kansas” by Eric Kent Edstrom
“Hot Jupiters” by Steven Mohan, Jr.
“Embedded” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Ice Dogs” by Kris Austen Radcliffe
“Closing the Big Bang” by Michéle Laframboise
“Time, Expressed as an Entrée” by Robert T. Jeschonek
Click here to buy the new volume on its own.
And in other space news, Kris’ latest Diving Universe novel, The Renegat, is now available for ebook preorder.
Here’s the synopsis:
As a young recruit, brilliant engineer Nadim Crowe accidentally destroys an entire Boneyard full of ships. Now, decades later, he ends up on the crew of the Renegat, the only ship in the Fleet ever sent on a mission backwards to investigate an ancient Boneyard.
Something invaded that Boneyard and the Fleet wants to know what. Or who.
The Renegat: The only ship the Fleet dares risk. The Renegat: A ship of misfits and screw-ups sent on an impossible mission. All alone in deep space.
A thrilling new addition to the Diving Universe.
Click here for more information on that.
So much space. So little time.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.