Sideshow

Time of the Gr’nar, by Bruce Gehweiler & C.J. Henderson, is the first story in the Byanntia series, and was published as a two part story.

In technological terms we have the interstellar equivalent of canoes (I’m being kind with that comparison, it’s probably closer to the level of kick boards). We haven’t even left the kiddie pool, and yet Rocket Scientists Say We’ll Never Reach the Stars.

Yes, I understand that it will take a phenomenal amount of energy to reach even the nearest star in anything approximating an endurable amount of time. But this pronouncement is being made just a bit too soon, given that we haven’t yet been able to send human beings much farther than the Moon, our nearest neighbor. European civilization had hundreds, nay, thousands of years of naval experience before they had the ability to colonize the Americas (even once the Americas were “discovered” it took another 200 years for Europeans to establish permanent residences). Will we reach the next star over in my life-time? I honestly doubt it, but never? That dog won’t hunt.

Science Fiction Trails Review, was the first review on SpaceWesterns.com. It started out as an anthology edited by David B. Riley and has since become an annual magazine. I’d really like to see more people submit reviews of Space Western works. Check out The (Nearly) Complete List of Space Westerns to see works that I’d still like to have reviewed.

Using a powerful computer model, researchers discovered clumps and streams (trails even) of Dark Matter winding their way through the Milky Way.

How Beautiful the Herd on the Dark Matter Range was the first story submitted to SpaceWesterns.com by Jens Rushing. He later revised and expanded the story to receive an honorable mention in the Writers of the Future contest.

I was thrilled to have been able to republish Catskinner Sweet and the Twirling Teacups of Deadwood City, by James S. Dorr. The story originally appeared on Nuketown, back when it offered free fiction online.

Two recent news stories have garnered my attention:

1. The confirmation of of the hypothesis that there is water on Mars (and hence the potential for life)
2. The report that Earth like planets should be quite common in the universe

All I can say about that is: YeeHa!

The Green Hills of Earth, performed by X Minus One is based on a story by Robert Heinlein. I’ve been told that it’s a steamer tramp story, but it reminds me much more of Gene Autry vehicle (a saddle tramp in Spaaaaace).

The Preacher was submitted by David Riley, who is also the editor of Science Fiction Trails, an annual magazine of Science Fiction set in the Wild West.

The first “Space Western” album that I was introduced to was Sundown on Venus by the Jet Black Berries. Sundown on Venus, a Jet Black Berries retrospective by Eric Reanimator was the first non-fiction article by an outside writer that was published on SpaceWesterns.com.