Weird Wednesday: Orion Battleship

A "small" Project Orion ship

Today's edition of Weird Wednesday features the Orion Battleship.

But first, a little history:

Sponsored by the U.S. Government, Project Orion dates back all the way to the late 1940's and officially began in 1958. The idea was to explode nuclear devices behind a space ship and ride the shock wave forward. 800 atomic blasts later, and you've ridden an atomic hop ball into orbit. Keep it up and you could even get to Pluto and back in under a year - if you managed to stay in one piece.

July Update

Well I have been a very bad blogger and twittererer. But I do have an excuse. No, it's not something quite as cool as having George Lucas demand I write the screenplay to Indiana Jones 5 or anything like that. But I have been very busy with the cool day job.

Sharp-eyed readers will note my tentative release date for MI#2 has come and gone. That is disappointing, but since my workload isn't going to let up any time soon, I am re-tentatively assigning the new release date of early August (how's that for vague?)

Also, my new email address is jon@jonmac.me. Don't ask, it's a long story. But if anybody has sent me an email and I never responded, it is because my old domain got all messed up. This new one works great, though :)

Weird Wednesday - The Evolution Machine

First, check out this article from New Scientist about The Evolution Machine. It's OK, I'll wait.

I love the description in the first paragraph of what sounds like a mad scientist Lego Machine mixed with Dr. Frankenstein designer labware and tormented bacteria. And, it would all fit on the desk in your dorm room or spare bedroom:

"Say hello to the evolution machine. It can achieve in days what takes genetic engineers years. So far it is just a prototype, but if its proponents are to be believed, future versions could revolutionise biology, allowing us to evolve new organisms or rewrite whole genomes with ease. It might even transform humanity itself."

That last line is pretty bold, but it's the aim of a geneticist from Harvard Medical School named George Church. His group has created this machine designed to "evolve" biological organisms using "highly directed evolution." This method of genetic engineering has been christened MAGE - Multiplex Automated Genome Engineering.

Mythik Imagination #1 Reviewed

There's a good review of Mythik Imagination #1 at Frida Fantastic. Frida really knows her speculative fiction, and has a good breakdown of the three stories in MI#1. I like these kinds of reviews because they give you such a great idea of what the stories are like, you can decide if they might be for you or not.

While the above is for the readers out there, this next bit (also from Frida) is for you writers: How To Get Book Reviewers To Ignore You. I can't believe there is even a necessity for such a post, but apparently many Indie Authors have a problem with following directions and common sense. So go read it and don't let it happen to you! Er, wait... Better go quick before I take the link down - I just realized the more people who eliminate themselves from the writer gene pool means better odds for me ;)

Anyway, check out Frida Fantastic.  Even if you are interested in none of the above, she has great in-depth, insightful reviews. She really cares about reading and readers. And probably has too much of a soft spot for Indie Authors. Just remember Lester Bangs' advice from Almost Famous. And that's my review of the reviewer :)

Coming up tomorrow: Another exciting edition of Weird Wednesday.

FYI - Barnes & Noble and iTunes Added

It looks like the distribution to Barnes & Noble and iTunes has finally gone through for Mythik Imagination #1. So that's the good news..

But.

Since this blog is the "behind the scenes exclusive view" of all things Mythik (we are all about transparency, right?) I will say that I'm still not entirely happy with what the Smashwords Meatgrinder and I came up with in regards to the formatting of all the Smashwords versions of MI#1 (which includes iTunes and B&N.) I am a bit hesitant, though, to upload a new version to "fix" what isn't really broken. I might make it worse (haha, a very minor version of the "Unintended Consequences" scenario from the last Weird Wednesday.) Anyway, the problem is that sometimes the chapter breaks seem to cut off the titles. I was sure when I first downloaded and tested, it worked fine, but now it looks like it doesn't. It's very frustrating, after following the Style Guide so carefully. Anyway, I will try to make improvements with #2. On the flip side, I was very pleased with the Kindle version.

And in other FYI news, I'm making the final revisions to the print edition of MI#1. I think it will look really cool. So stay tuned for that.

I'm really excited about the MI#1 Podiobook. I'm behind schedule on that, but it should be a cross between the old CBS Radio Mystery Theater and a spoken-word Twilight Zone. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to "make use of time, let not advantage slip." Ha that's Shakespeare - who says the SF genre isn't literate? But I've got some good actors lined up and hopefully will get it done soon.

I'm still struggling to get MI#2 finished. So much to do, so little time...

What projects are you working on?

Disco Friday

Ha, fooled you. It's not Disco as in late '70s music and ducks, but Disco as in Disco-very. Get it? I know, whatever.

Anyway, here are a few things I've discovered in my virtual travels that you might find interesting:

• Book Trailers for Promotion - Yay or Nay? - This is a nice little overview of the Book Trailer Phenomenon. Okay, cool. But you really have to look at the hilarious videos at the end of the post. I mean, really. Right now. I know everybody always says everything is hilarious, and everybody always says look right now blah, blah, blah, but in this case it really is really funny. If you've published a book or even considered it, these vids will be especially hilarious. Okay, I'm not going to use the word hilarious any more. Thanks to Lindsay Buroker.
• How to rise above the self-published slush pile - A great point-by-point guide that any Indie Author would do well to study. Thanks to Frida Fantastic.
• HitRECord.org - This just might be my favorite place on the internet. Which might seem odd, considering I haven't been there in ages. To tell the truth, it is a bit overwhelming to me, and I could easily spend hours there. You can find me as Jon Mac and check out some of the stuff we've RECorded. Now with work and writing and publishing and whatnot, I don't have the time, but hopefully that will change soon. You are no doubt very busy, too, but you should still try to check it out. If you are a creative type at all, HitRECord will make you feel like a kid in a candy store. It's a treasure trove of artists, writers, videographers, editors, singers, musicians and more. Everybody can use everybody else's stuff and there are always a lot of amazing collaborations going on. If you like to be more of a looker than a doer, then there are plenty of projects/art/music/conversations to see, hear and feel (yes, they even make physical objects as well as media of the electro variety.) You can take part as little or as much as you want. Thanks to Joseph Gordon-Levitt (aka Regular Joe.)

Do you have any cool links you'd like to share?

Interviewed by Nicholas Olivo

I've been lucky enough to be interviewed by Nicholas Olivo. He also has funny posts and very good Scrivener tutorials, so I recommend you check out his site even if you skip my interview.

Since we're being all personal and whatnot, I'll take this opportunity to say "Thanks, Nick!" It is actually really cool that somebody I didn't know took the time and interest to find out more about Mythik Imagination and me.

All right, I need to get back to work.

Thanks, stay Mythik and stay tuned :)
-Jon