My author interview is out, published in the Astounding Analog Companion. There, I discuss the premises of my new story, Maragi’s Secret, a novella set in a distant future where humanity has taken to the…. sky. The full story is available in the current May-June 2024 issue of Asimov’s.
There’s some cool factoids for the hard-SF aficionados out there, plus photographs of me learning to fly a glider (taken by my wonderful father at the time). It was a fantastic experience, even if I did not pursue that activity. There, you learn to respect the three ‘Ws’: wing, weather and wind. I had a few bad landings (not shown on the pics) before getting the hang of it (ha-ha).
The world-building was, and still is, challenging. And fun, even if the plot seems to swerve in unexpected directions!
I consulted several sources about living in altitude, health problems, not forgetting the perils of dirigibles, especially in the first part of the XXth century. You would think lifting humans in a floating balloon would be a simple volume-weight equation, but the engineering challenges and the huge size of those mastodons, with the then-available materials, were daunting.
Nowadays, the are start-ups trying to push the concept off the ground (in the literal sense). Beside slow traveling, transporting heavy loads over harsh terrain, if time is not of the essence, can be done.
I love to illustrate writing hurdles, so here is one below. That manuscript was a hard act to follow, to say the least.
There may be several stories coming up in this universe, so stay tuned!
Echoes of a Sunday artist 