science fiction (5)

Moments and Metaphors...

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Credit: Pete Saloutos/Getty Images

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Comets, Philosophy, Science Fiction

On a recent morning, in Lower Manhattan, 20 scientists, including me, gathered for a private screening of the new film Don’t Look Up, followed by lunch with the film’s director, Adam McKay.

The film’s plot is simple. An astronomy graduate student, Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), and her professor, Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), discover a new comet and realize that it will strike the Earth in six months. It is about nine kilometers across, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The astronomers try to alert the president, played by Meryl Streep, to their impending doom.

“Let’s just sit tight and assess,” she says, and an outrageous, but believable comedy ensues, in which the astronomers wrangle an article in a major newspaper and are mocked on morning TV, with one giddy host asking about aliens and hoping that the comet will kill his ex-spouse.

At last, mainstream Hollywood is taking on the gargantuan task of combatting the rampant denial of scientific research and facts. Funny, yet deadly serious, Don’t Look Up is one of the most important recent contributions to popularizing science. It has the appeal, through an all-star cast and wicked comedy, to reach audiences that have different or fewer experiences with science.

Don’t Look Up isn’t a movie about climate change, but one about planetary defense from errant rocks in space. It handles that real and serious issue effectively and accurately. The true power of this film, though, is in its ferocious, unrelenting lampooning of science deniers.

After the screening, in that basement theater in SoHo, McKay said: “This film is for you, the scientists. We want you to know that some of us do hear you and do want to help fight science denialism.”

Hollywood Can Take On Science Denial: Don’t Look Up Is a Great Example, Rebecca Oppenheimer, curator, and professor of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History/Scientific American

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The Lighthouse...

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Creators Brian Haberlin and David Hine take "Jules Verne's Lighthouse" into the depths of deep space piracy starting this April. (Image credit: Image Comics)

Topics: History, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Spaceflight

Widely considered to be the "Father of Science Fiction," the famed French poet, novelist, and playwright [known] as Jules Verne celebrates what would have been his 193rd birthday this year. 

Born Feb. 8, 1828, Verne ushered in the grand era of speculative fiction with his classic novels, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "From the Earth to the Moon," "Around the World in 80 Days," and "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

Now one of Verne’s lesser-known works from 1905, "The Lighthouse At The End Of The World," is being adapted for the first time into a five-issue comic book miniseries at Image Comics premiering in April. Orchestrated by the veteran creative team of Brian Haberlin and David Hine ("The Marked,'" "Sonata"), "Jules Verne's: Lighthouse" gets a sci-fi twist and casts readers into the high seas of outer space for a swashbuckling cyberpunk saga.

Here's the official synopsis:

"Jules Verne's: Lighthouse" is set at the edge of the galaxy, where there is a giant supercomputer known as the Lighthouse. The only brain powerful enough to navigate ships through a Sargasso of naturally occurring wormholes, potentially cutting months or even years of a spaceship's journey. Three humans, one alien, and a nanny bot have manned the remote station for years in relative peace until the arrival of Captain Kongre and his band of cutthroat pirates threatens the future of civilization and reveals that each of the Lighthouse crew has been hiding a shocking secret. He who controls the Lighthouse controls this part of the galaxy."

Exclusive: A little-known Jules Verne adventure novel scores a sci-fi comic book series with 'Lighthouse', Jeff Spry, Space.com

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Vote Here

“HUNT OR BE HAUNTED

A Lovecraftian JRPG where you have to consume monsters to survive

Our game Celestial Tear: Lost World is a semi-finalist in the Ultimate Game Idea contest and we are in need of as many VOTES as we can get. This cross-genre space adventure takes action turn based combat and mixes survival mechanics into a fun and sometimes terrifying adventure as consuming grotesque creatures and taking on their abilities is the only way to protect your sanity from the ever haunting Void.

The Haunting Void

Each of the three playable characters can all consume monsters by eating or salvaging their organs or body parts into weapons or gear. Uzu, the fighter, can fashion enough monster parts to create permanent weapon upgrades while Jake, the gunner, can use them to make ammo and other expendable resources. Trask, however, can eat the monsters, absorbing their physical traits and some abilities until she completely metabolizes the energy.

Crafting

This will be a fun, engaging game where battles become varied and exciting as players can choose and execute these unique traits and abilities that the characters naturally possess in conjunction with the varied and weird monsters they consume. They will travel across this weird and almost organic-like planet where caverns seem more like the bowels of a rotting monster than the stony walls of an eroding cavern.

Action Turn-Based Battles

Blending elements of sandbox, survival, and horror with classic, active turn-based, Japanese role-playing style battles, Celestial Tear: Lost World presents a new cross-genre experience unlike anything seen before. With retro pixel-art graphics and a lush, dynamic 16-bit soundtrack, the world of Celestial Tear: Lost World provides an immersive Lovecraftian experience as players travel across this gritty, dark anti-universe. Fans of Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, and even the classic Eternal Darkness will all find something to relish in this cosmic, terrifying adventure.

Click here Vote for Celestial Tear: LOST WORLD for the Ultimat Game Idea

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Odes to the Multiverse

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Odes to the Multiverse is a collection of short works consisting of vignettes, meant to be digested in small doses, accompanied by several longer short stories for more leisurely enjoyment.

This book features punk scifi, space opera, horror & urban fantasy vignettes and short stories featuring cosmic tales of distant worlds and strange futures where earthbound horrors unfold. This omnibus invites you to marvel at the macabre and maleficent; and embrace the weird and wonderful.

Odes to the Multiverse is available for Kindle and in Print from Amazon, as well as a number of other retailers.

See full list of retailers here: https://tonyarmoore.com/books-by-tonya-r-moore/odes-to-the-multiverse/

 

 

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DREAMNASIUM is FREE!

it's October.

Actually we're two thirds of the way through so I thought it was a good time to remind folks.

DREAMNASIUM is a fully scripted FREE audio podcast telling four stroies with bonus commentary episodes over a three month span.The episodes are adapted from my short stories.

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We worked really hard on these and i think you'll love them. You can find the entire season...

on SPOTIFY

on STITCHER

on PENDANT AUDIO

on APPLE PODCASTS

We'd like do be able to justify a second seaqson so, if you like it, please leaves us some st3ars and reveiws. This pushes the show to the front of the various algorithms which puts more eyes on the thing. 

My motto is MAKE NEW THINGS. This a really fun, really good, ABSOLUTELY FREE new thing.

We'd love to do a second season so, ya know, help us out.
 

GT

 

PS

Oh, I almost forgot!

We're nominated for a STACK of AUDIOVERSE AWARDS. 

PLEASE COME AND VOTE!

AUDIOVERSE AWARDS!

 

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