Lucy in the Sky

The film is inspired by the true story of Lisa Nowak, a former NASA astronaut who was arrested for attacking the girlfriend (also an astronaut) of another astronaut with whom she’d had an affair.

In the film, the protagonist, played by Natalie Portman, is called Lucy Cola, a highly trained astronaut, who thanks to hard work and evident talent is selected for a ten-day mission on board the ISS (International Space Station).

On returning, however, Lucy feels changed. Everyday life on Earth seems to her empty and useless compared to the experience she lived.

Her husband, who works as PR at NASA, is unable to understand the psychological change she has undergone. And so she, who in the meantime continues to train to be able to participate as soon as possible in another mission, befriends Mark Goodwin (played by Jon Hamm, that one from Mad Men), also an astronaut (divorced and with two young daughters), and two other colleagues, finding in them for the first time people who share the same mood. Mark’s friendship, in particular, leads to an affair, in which however she seems more interested than he is.

I can’t tell you more to avoid any spoilers, as the cinematic story, despite having the same ending as the real one, gives its own interpretation to subsequent events.

I have to say that I really enjoyed the film, and I’m pretty surprised that I only found negative reviews on the web. I believe that this is a beautiful psychological analysis of a character offered to the public by exploiting the potential of cinema. In this regard, the director’s choices are quite original. For example, the choice of continuously changing the aspect ratio of the image to contrast the expanded vision (of the cinema screen) of being in space, or even just of living situations that bring back the thought to that experience, to the 4:3 of TV used to narrate that silly everyday life in which Lucy can no longer find her own dimension.

But what is particularly beautiful is Lucy and the way Portman portrayed her.

I felt a lot of empathy towards her. Although her behaviour in the end was obviously exaggerated (and in any case it does not seem to correspond to the real facts), I could understand the exasperation she felt in feeling alone and betrayed as a woman in a world of men who accuse her of being “too much emotional” (even if in her work she is precise and cold as none of them know how to be), in having lost everything that mattered to her (returning to space and a family person very dear to her).

I believe that anyone who has had great disappointments in life (in the private or professional domain) can understand the state of mind of those who, having reached the apex of something, feel ill-suited to returning to “normality”, as if they feel like an alien trapped in a monotonous and insignificant world.

In short, I loved it.
If psychological dramas with an astronautical background appeal to you, I suggest you watch it.

The Moon and self-publishing in Varese

In 2019, during which the fiftieth anniversary of the first landing on the Moon was celebrated, I returned to Varese to teach, for the third time, my “Self-publishing laboratory in multimedia systems” for students in Communication Sciences and Communication Sciences and Techniques at the University of Insubria. And in conjunction with this course, I spoke at a conference, together with three other speakers, dedicated to the day of the landing of Armstrong and Aldrin on the Sea of Tranquillity, which took place on 20 July 1969.

Compared to previous years, first of all I managed to go to Varese in October, for the first time not just before the end of the semester, which also had a good impact on the students, who were able to attend the course in a much more relaxed way. In addition, I managed to combine everything (course and conference) within one week.

This full immersion was, as far as I’m concerned, very satisfying. I had less time to be a tourist (to be honest, I didn’t have any at all), but on the other hand I was able to create a productive routine, without interruptions, of five days in a row. Furthermore, I saw the same positive effect on the students, who at the end of the course presented, as always, some very interesting projects and who showed that they liked the topic of the lessons and the way it was taught.

In fact, I should say female students, since for the first time ever they were all women!

This surprised me a bit. In past years, men had been at least one third, although the female presence had always been predominant (as it is within the two graduation courses), but this time there wasn’t even one.

As I said, in five days I taught the four lessons and gave my lecture at the conference. The latter, entitled “The day of the Moon”, took place on Wednesday 16 October 2019, just in the middle of that week. Together with me were the journalist Fabio Pagan, Piero Benvenuti (former Italian Space Agency commissioner and former general secretary of the AIU) and, in connection from Paris, the astronaut Franco Malerba (the first Italian astronaut in space!).

The event, organised by Paolo Musso as part of a series of meetings titled Science and Science Fiction 2019, was welcomed by a very large student audience (over 300), partly gathered in one of the largest classrooms in the Monte Generoso pavilion at the Campus Bizzozero in Varese and partly connected in teleconference from Como. As usual, it was recorded and is now available at this link (in Italian).

In about three and a half hours, we had the opportunity to retrace the endeavour of Apollo 11, thanks to the words and images offered by the great Fabio Pagan, who managed to take us 50 years in the past and let us experience the emotions of that time.

Well, in my case, not really, since I wasn’t born yet! But it vividly reminded me of what I felt in the summer of 1989, for the twentieth anniversary, when as a teenager (I was 14 years old) I watched a television special on Rai Uno with the original videos of the landing. I remember that at the time I had felt transported to the Moon together with Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. My imagination, which had already been made into fertile ground by watching various science fiction films, was stimulated, so much so that I think that from that moment on I changed the way I look at our natural satellite. Perhaps it was from there that my passion for space began to emerge, from a scientific point of view too, which then would have brought me closer to Mars and ultimately to imagine stories set in the future.

The Moon, in my mind, is the symbol of space that we can all see and which at the same time is unreachable for the common person. Not surprisingly, when we desire something impossible, it is said that we want the Moon. Yet we went to the Moon; 12 men walked on it. It is therefore the unreachable that becomes reachable, the impossible that becomes possible.

The other significant part of the conference was the very interesting speech by Franco Malerba who spoke to the audience about what awaits us in the future of space exploration, while Piero Benvenuti and I were asked to have our say on both topics.

In the photos, from above, you can see: Piero Benvenuti and me, Fabio Pagan, me again during my speech and Franco Malerba in connection from Paris. All the photos of the event are available at this link (thanks to Luigi Labate for the photographic support!).

As far as I’m concerned, I wanted to combine the scientific topic with the science fiction one, talking about three relatively recent science fiction novels that have precisely the Moon as one of the main settings.

I started with “Limit” by Frank Schätzing, originally published more than ten years ago, which shows a slightly too optimistic technological advance, being set in this new decade, which however manages to make the reader dream, literally by bringing him to the lunar soil, in hostile, lethal and for this reason mysterious and fascinating places (you can read my review of “Limit” here).

If you think about it for a moment, unlike what happens with Mars, which visually reminds us of Earth (it seems you are looking at photos of an Earth desert), in front of the images from the Moon there is no doubt in our mind that there we are looking at an alien context, in the meaning of non-terrestrial. Think about it: its white/grey ground, the always black sky, whose contrast with the blinding white prevents you from seeing the stars, Earth that seems close but very distant (almost 400 thousand kilometres!), the clear shadows, the days that last 14 Earth days and so the nights, the huge temperature fluctuations, the craters at its poles with the edges so high that they are almost always illuminated by the Sun, while their bottom has not been reached by any light for 4 billion years.

Can you imagine a more terrifying place to be alone?

The second book I mentioned is, of course, “Artemis” by Andy Weir (here you can read my review), published in 2017, which found itself more or less casually (we will never know) to share its name with NASA’s new lunar program.

This novel is also essentially a thriller, but in a very accurate sci-fi context, that of a city on the Moon: a huge pressurised housing structure in which a lot of people live, not all with the best of intentions. Although the vicissitudes of the protagonist are all in all very terrestrial (in terms of motivations), they are however narrated in a much more rigid and dangerous environment than Earth, where a person’s mistake can really kill everybody.

Finally I talked about “Red Moon” by Kim Stanley Robinson (here is my review), published in 2018, which narrates about a Moon divided between Chinese and Americans, focusing however on a Chinese point of view. The socio-political aspect here is more important, but there is also some breathtaking landscape, such as the view of Earth rising in the libration areas (those areas of the Moon that are turned towards our planet only for short periods during the lunar month). Well, imagine being there and seeing Earth popping up from the horizon, very slowly.

It seems incredible, but one day someone will be able to admire that view!

An interesting thing about Robinson’s book is that it narrates about a future in which humans have created bases on the ever-lit edges of the craters at the poles of the Moon (Peaks of Eternal Light), just as NASA plans to do. Except that for the author it will be China the country to grab the South Pole, more suitable for this purpose, which instead is the actual goal of the Americans.

Who knows how it will end in reality?

If you remember, I myself in “Red Desert” imagined a NASA outpost in Shackleton Crater (South Pole), calling it Armstrong Lunar Base. Furthermore, although I have never written (at least so far) a book entirely set on the Moon, I let myself be taken by the old fascination for our satellite and I put some lunar adventures in two other books. One is “Ophir. Codice vivente” (Ophir. Living code; only available in Italian so far). The other is “Nave stellare Aurora” (Starship Aurora), which I am currently writing, and the second part of it, which I had finished writing a few days before leaving for Varese, takes place exactly on the Moon.

I must say that in a sense I still felt there.

And this is the effect that I think ordinary people feel when talking about space travel. We feel a bit part of it. We are fascinated by the mystery, by the ability to reach something so far thanks to science. Even if what we want to achieve is far in space, but also in time (due to travel times), observing what space research has done so far makes us believe that any obstacle that exists between us, as humanity, and that space objective may sooner or later be overtaken.

In this regard, I urged the attending students of Communication Sciences (most from the first year) to understand the importance of being able to communicate space sciences effectively. Those of them who will work in this field of communication will have a fundamental role in inspiring people and in ensuring that a common desire, involving people at all levels, develops and spreads, to carry out this kind of research, even if a part of its outcomes will be enjoyed only by future generations.

I think that everything related to space sciences can only inspire us to do more and more for the development and well-being of humanity. On the other hand, if we were able to send two probes to the border of the Solar System and beyond (the two Voyager probes), who can stop us?

Going back to the course, I must say that I am very happy with the participation shown by the students. They attended it with interest, asked pertinent questions and then proposed extremely interesting projects, from a graphic novel to a historical fantasy (the cover of which can be seen in the last image), from stories taken from reality to a thriller about Lady D (really!), going through a romance novel: a collection of publishing proposals for all tastes and with a considerable dose of originality.

As I have already mentioned to them, I am working on a book that follows and expands the topics of the course. It will be titled “Self-publishing lab. Il mestiere dell’autoeditore” (only available in Italian, as it’s referred to the Italian market). It is a huge volume of over 129 thousand words, in which I try to explain self-publishing to those interested in this publishing model, whether they want to try it in person or not. I think it will be useful both for those who do not know where to start and for those who need to reorganise and expand their knowledge so that they can try to put it into practice. It is also my first experience with a non-fiction work and I admit that I really enjoyed writing it.

The book is currently under revision and will be published by the first half of 2020.

Troika - Alastair Reynolds

***** Disquieting and with an unexpected ending

This science fiction gem differs from the epic novels that Reynolds has accustomed me to, not only because of its length (it is indeed a novella), but above all for the apparent simplicity of the plot. The story is told from the point of view of Dimitri Ivanov, a Russian cosmonaut, on two parallel timelines. It offers a pessimistic image of the future, in which space exploration has practically stopped due to the interaction with a mysterious huge artefact of alien origin, which the Russians call Matryoshka.

In a timeline, we see Dimitri escaping from a structure for mental patients and trying to reach someone to reveal what he discovered in his last space mission. The mission is shown in the other timeline, in which he and two other colleagues are approaching the Matryoshka and preparing to take samples.

In the alternative future in which the events occurring to this cosmonaut are narrated, only Russia has maintained a minimum of space activity, while the rest of the world surrendered to the impossibility of revealing the enigma concerning the alien artefact. And the same Russian cosmonauts are driven in their search more by necessity of survival than by the desire for discovery. If what they discover won’t be pleasing to their government, they could still come to a bad end.

A sense of anguish pervades both timelines and the absence of division into chapters urges the reader, prompting them to complete the reading as soon as possible. I particularly appreciated the whole space part of the story, which, as in all Reynolds’s works, mixes rigorous science with aspects which, due to their origin, go beyond our ability to establish how realistic or not they can be. The more I went on, the more I grew curious to know what was hidden within the Matryoshka.

And the answer comes in an unexpected and therefore satisfying ending, not so much for its content, which, when you think about it, is anything but original, but rather for the skill of the author in distracting the reader and then surprising them.

Troika on Amazon.

Mars and self-publishing in Varese

I returned to Varese after two years and this time I stayed there for eight days, in which I immersed myself in university life and in this beautiful Lombard city a few steps away from Switzerland. I must say that the weather has favoured me. Living in Cagliari (Sardinia), I was worried about having to fight bad weather and cold. Instead, I enjoyed mostly beautiful sunny days, which served as the setting for the conference titled “Mars: when will we go there and what will we find? ” on 5 December 2018  in the main hall of the University of Insubria and the “Self-publishing workshop in multimedia systems” between 6-11 December and addressed to the students of the same university enrolled in the courses in Communication Sciences and Communication Sciences and Techniques.

The conference on Mars was a very special event for me. I found myself sharing the table with two scientists like Roberto Orosei and Enrico Flamini of whom I had only heard so far in the news spread by ASI, INAF and the media on the web. Although it was the first time that we met in person and we had only had the opportunity to exchange information on our individual parts of the speech by e-mail, we managed to put together a smooth speech in which the individual topics treated by each of us were perfectly interlocked with each other, with different precise references that almost made think of a particular preparation, which in reality there was not!

It is really exciting to be talking to a large and interested audience about a subject that you care about with people who have the same interest and with whom you share the same scientific and science fiction references.

In my part of the conference, in addition to introducing some general notions about Mars, I have highlighted how who works in space exploration and who writes hard science fiction on the same themes are all part of the same virtuous circle. The work of scientists like Orosei and Flamini inspires authors like me to write stories that describe a plausible science and technology. In turn, stories like mine intrigue readers towards the work of those same scientists. And the interest of the public is the first engine that allows those who make science to have the necessary funding to carry out their research.

As a former scientist (I worked in university research in the past) I cannot but be happy to provide, in my small way, a contribution with my stories towards a greater public awareness of the importance of space exploration, especially in a country like Italy, which is a true world power in this area, yet this excellence is not known to most of the local population.

By putting together my fascination for the Red Planet, and in general for space, my skills in the biological field, as well as my teaching soul, I found myself writing a kind of science fiction in which I describe a realistic science, even though with some licences, by making sure that my books offer both entertainment and dissemination of science knowledge.

In particular, my intent is to show stories through the characters, through their thoughts and their senses, so that the reader can identify with them and experience on their skin what it means to live on Mars and explore it. Through Anna Persson and the other protagonists of “Red Desert” and the Aurora Saga, the reader meets the signs of the ancient passage of water, dust storms and devils, marsquakes, impact glass in a crater, blue aurora, huge barchan dunes and even the underground water of Mars, the same water whose existence was proved for the first time by the team of scientists headed by Roberto Orosei and including Enrico Flamini.

Finally, after sharing with the public my sources of inspiration (Robert Zubrin’s books “First Landing” and “The Case for Mars”) and some information on other contemporary hard science fiction authors who dealt with Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson with his Mars Trilogy and Andy Weir with “The Martian”), I left the floor to the above-mentioned speakers.

Enrico Flamini offered an overview on the past and current exploration of Mars, while Roberto Orosei reported the details of the discovery made in July 2018 with the MARSIS instrument which is on board ESA’s Mars Express orbiter: a subglacial lake of liquid water near the South Martian pole.

It seems that what I and many other science fiction writers believed to be a plausible assumption, namely that there was water trapped under the surface of Mars, is now confirmed.

In the last part of the conference a possible timeline of the future exploration was traced, up to imagine the arrival of the first humans on the Red Planet. In this regard, I found it amusing that Roberto Orosei showed precisely the imaginative timeline described in the film “The Martian”, the one based on the book that I spoke about in my own speech.

I swear we did not even discuss this detail!

Finally the round of questions arrived and perhaps the most interesting of all was the last one proposed by Paolo Musso, organiser and moderator of the event, who asked each of us if we were optimistic about the human landing on Mars in a very close future. And even here, without any particular agreement, we went from a certain pessimism of Orosei to a moderate optimism of Flamini to my full optimism, supported by the fact that the awareness and enthusiasm of the public towards space exploration is increasing more and more, thanks to the ease with which nowadays each of us has complete access to all information. I believe that the more we commit ourselves to make the common man understand the importance of this field of science and the more they will be involved in its development, even more the will in aiming on it will develop, also from an economic point of view. If this happens, and we are on our way, we will get to Mars very soon.

Starting on December 6, instead, I taught my self-publishing class for the second time. The characteristics of the course have not changed (I mentioned about it in 2016), but I think this time, compared to the previous one, there was even greater interest from the students, who proved to be very active during the lectures and asked me many questions, sometimes even anticipating topics that I would have dealt with a bit later.

It was nice to be able to teach these students what being a self-publisher really means, i.e. becoming part in a professional way of the publishing market as a real publisher who differs from the traditional ones only because the former is also the author of the books they publish.

Then there was the day of the presentation of the projects by the students, and it was really fun. It ranged from a strategy book for “Risk” to a fantasy novel, from an essay on the machines of Agostino Ramelli to a paranormal romance trilogy and so on, without interruption. The students got to the bottom of their fantasy, accompanying the presentations with images, editorial and promotional plans and in one case even a sort of soundtrack.

In the end we all wondered: but when will the book be published?

What a shame that it was only a simulation, but luckily some of those projects are real and maybe in the near future we will hear about their authors.

I’d like to conclude this brief report, which just manages to scratch the surface of everything that was done and said during those eight days, by thanking once again all the people who made possible both the conference and the course, but also in general my pleasant stay in Varese, in particular Paolo Musso and Alberto Vianelli, Roberto Orosei and Enrico Flamini, and obviously all the students of the self-publishing course and those of Professor Musso’s course with whom I had the pleasure to talk.

A space weekend in Turin

In October 2018 I had the opportunity to participate in the second edition of the event titled “Signs and Voices of Other Worlds” organised in the headquarters of ALTEC in Turin. It was a fantastic experience during which I was busy for two days in what is defined The Italian Gateway to the International Space Station, as stated in the huge inscription at the entrance, and allowed me to meet many interesting people, as well as talk about my work.

The event itself, the one open to the public, lasted only one day, 14 October, but we (my partner and I), as exhibitors, also went to the headquarters of ALTEC the day before to prepare our booth. It was the first time I attended an event like this. It was nice to arrange all my science-fiction books (eight titles in several copies) on a table, along with other promotional stuff, but also to view in advance the scale model exhibition, which included really extraordinary works of art.

In addition to this, we had the pleasure of making a short private visit to the factory together with Paolo Navone, who led us to see, among other things, the control room, the replica of a module that is part of the ISS and the pool used for astronaut training, and who guided us, explaining the role of ALTEC in the construction of the space station and other international space missions. Among these is that of the ESA IVX mini shuttle, to which Paolo himself participated.

The day ended in a beautiful dinner together with some people who had organised the event (belonging to CRAL ALTEC and Centro Modellistico Torinese ) and others who would participate. In addition to enjoying the company of Marco Ambrosio (who, together with Paolo, invited me to participate in the event) and his wife, we met some of the modellers, among whom I cannot avoid to mention Sandro Degiani, who led the conversation among the people seated next to him (myself included), and Professor Giancarlo Genta, here in the role of author of science fiction novels. The legendary Giovanni Mongini, called Vanni, Italian author and great expert in science fiction, joined the group, who I had met a few hours earlier at the factory and whom I would find myself in the booth across mine the next day.

And then came the day of the event. The first two hours were the easiest part. I had the opportunity to present my “Red Desert” series in the auditorium as part of the speech called “Female Mars”, moderated by Maurizio Maschio. Along with me there was Giulia Bassani, who presented her novel “Ad Martem 12” (and was also my neighbour at the exhibition).

Both were asked how we came into contact with science fiction and what prompted us to start writing it. I said how I grew up among ET, Back to the Future, Star Wars (hence my nickname Anakina), the Visitors and many other films and TV series that have brought me closer to the genre and how it stimulated my imagination. I had many stories in my mind and at a certain point I realised that the only way to make them real was to write them down.

Immediately after the presentation, I returned to my booth, where I welcomed some of the people who had listened to me in the auditorium and wanted to buy one of my books.

As I said earlier, however, the difficult part would come later. Starting from 11.30 a.m. new visitors entered (they were divided into groups of up to 200 people for two hours each, to avoid overcrowding) who did not know who I was. It was up to me to draw their attention.

I think the phrase I used most often was: “Would you like to take a postcard?”

I had with me a lot of promotional postcards of “Red Desert” to offer visitors and I used them to induce people to stop at my booth, so that I could explain them something about my books. Keep in mind that I gave away 54 postcards and for most of them I stopped a person so that I could tell them the beginning of the story of Anna Persson and the structure of the Aurora Saga. I repeated it so many times that my other neighbour, Roberto Azzara, learned it by heart!

I must say that my effort was repaid and I managed to sell more than half the books I had with me. And so I also avoided having to send them back to Sardinia by post.

Throughout the day (the event lasted from 9.30 a.m. to 8 p.m.) I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of people and among these I found myself in front of an unsuspecting reader, who, only after seeing the covers, recognised my books and realised he had in front of him the author of the e-books on his mobile phone. It’s the first time that I happen to come across one of my readers by chance and it was really nice to meet him.

That’s not all. A colleague of mine from Turin also came to meet me: Luca Rossi, independent author of science fiction and fantasy, who is my friend on Facebook since 2012 and who I finally managed to meet in person. I was also delighted to meet Dario Tonani (also a science fiction writer and long time friend on Facebook) and his wife Giusy again, whom I had already met at Sassari Comics & Games 2015.

In all that chitchat and after taking some photos with my booth’s neighbours (Giulia, Roberto and Vanni, which I mentioned before, and Luigi Petruzzelli of Edizioni della Vigna) the hours flew, interspersed with some short breaks to admire and photograph the scale models exposed, and go to observe the Sun and then the Moon at the telescope, thanks to the observation posts set up by Celestia Taurinorum.

In the end, tired but happy, we left. The next day, waiting to take the flight that would take us back to Cagliari, at the Caselle Airport we came across the actual ESA mini shuttle XVI, exposed in the check-in area. A souvenir photo with the spacecraft was the worthy closure of this beautiful weekend.

I take this opportunity to thank once again Marco Ambrosio and Paolo Navone, who invited me to participate in this event. Thank you so much!

Photos (from above): during my speech together with Maurizio Maschio, my booth, entrance of ALTEC, view from inside the replica of a module of the ISS, with Luca Rossi, on Mars (more or less) with Giulia Bassani.

You can see more photos, including those of many scale models on display, on my Facebook page at this link.

Memoirs of a Spacewoman - Naomi Mitchison

**** Weird, but fun

Classic science fiction is a diverse world that has in store interesting discoveries. One of these is undoubtedly “Memoirs of a Spacewoman” by Naomi Mitchison, a strange and crazy book where a woman astronaut tells the story of which she is the protagonist in plain language.

The author shows an exaggerated fantasy as she invents bizarre worlds and aliens, and weaves unpredictable plots within each episode narrated. The main character is Mary, an expert in communications who has the opportunity to put into practice her knowledge in various ways. The style is conversational, giving the impression that Mary is telling you her life, while you have a good conversation.

In general I liked the book, otherwise I would not have given four stars, but there are some aspects that prevented me to add the fifth.

Unfortunately the passing of time is evident (the novel is from 1962), especially in the absurd way in which sex life is imagined in the future. Apparently, it is considered “modern” or “futuristic” for people to have sex with the only purpose to procreate, but not necessarily to create a stable relationship (someone else takes care of the children), and that the entertainment part related to sex is out of fashion, because everyone is busy exploring worlds and doing scientific research. Sex for women becomes a pastime that serves to make children in large numbers (it’s not clear how this could be acceptable, given the overpopulation) by various fathers. And that’s all. The maximum you can expect is that, after a certain age, when they retire, they decide to take one of these fathers as definitive companion.

What a sad thing!

Additionally to this aspect that made extremely difficult to me to suspend my disbelief, there is the colloquial style, which doesn’t favour your identification with the protagonist’s mind.

It is still an interesting and enjoyable read, especially for those who love to immerse themselves in a bit naive and “vintage” science fiction, and realise how much this genre can be varied and how it has evolved over the years.

Memoirs of a Spacewoman on Amazon.

Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds

**** Enjoyable but gloomy space opera

This is a complex novel and I liked certain aspects of it. One of these is the fact that, despite the main characters are not few, the author still managed to deepen them. It’s easy to create a bond with one of them that allows you to immerse yourself in the story. In my case the character with which I was able to immediately establish a bond was Dan Sylveste, perhaps because it is one of the first to make its appearance in the novel.

The world building is very good, too. Reynolds shows to possess an enormous imagination when creating planets, societies, and unimaginable aliens, like the Pattern Jugglers that, in fact, are living oceans. While creating from nothing a complex universe with very few references to our reality, the author still managed to make it believable. You don’t feel a sense of detachment that could be typical in this kind of stories. In this sense it is of considerable help the beautiful, engaging, and poetic prose.

Finally, the story ends with an open ending better than that of another book I read (Century Rain), as the main characters have a growth that is realized thanks to the ending.

But there are aspects that have prevented me from giving full marks to this book.

While reading, it soon becomes clear that it presupposes certain knowledge by the reader of some aspects of the story, the names, and the characters themselves. At the beginning of the book there is a written glossary for this purpose, but you cannot really think that someone gets to read it, and then maybe they remember it, before they start reading the novel. Thus one has the constant impression of reading the second book in a series, in other words, that a part of the story is missing. Further explanations within the novel would be useful, where they were required to help the reader's understanding.

The same open ending that I mentioned before, even if in itself it is a well-crafted resolution of the events, however, causes me a sense of dissatisfaction that I cannot decipher, perhaps because I didn’t like the role of Sylveste, because he undergoes the events, without being able to do anything to alter them.

In addition, there is pessimistic view of the future, both in the images and tones, which does not fit at all in my comfort zone.

Revelation Space on Amazon.

172 Hours on the Moon - Johan Harstad

**** Horror on the Moon

All right, I bought this book because there was the word Moon on the cover, even though from the description I had guessed that it was a young adult novel, which is not really my thing. I must say I was not disappointed, because I knew where I was going to get myself into.

The language of the book is very simple, as it should be since it’s a novel aimed at teenagers. For people like me who speaks English as a second language this is an advantage, as the reading went on smoothly. The scientific part, that is actually the reason why I decided to read it, is quite accurate and some scenes on the lunar surface are really exciting.

I have to specify that it is science fiction that then becomes a horror story and this partly justifies the absurd assumption that there is a station on the Moon of which nobody knows anything, that the lunar missions were stopped because there is something dangerous up there and that now it was decided to send there some kids and not a super trained team. But why? The assumptions of the horror stories are often absurd or anyway they let already foresee the worst. The ending is in full line with the genre of the book and no doubt it is the only possible ending to prevent the story from collapsing on itself and turn into something completely silly.

The book, however, is not free from defects. The story takes a long time to take off. The first third of the book is too slow. The author lingers on introducing the characters who (surprise?!) will be selected for the mission. Their background is actually not at all functional to the plot; he could have added it here and there, rather than devoting entire chapters to it.

The other thing that was really avoidable is the choice to send teenagers to the Moon. If they really wanted to send common people for propaganda, given the risks, I don’t see why they should send kids. Okay, the book is aimed at a younger market, they want the readers to identify in the characters, but I think it would’ve worked anyway if they weren’t minors. If nothing else, the suspension of disbelief would’ve resisted a bit more.

Overall, however, it isn’t a bad book. It was an enjoyable read.

172 Hours on the Moon on Amazon.

Mars and space colonisation. Interview on Mars Pirate Radio, part #2

Being a scientist myself (I’m a biologist), when I wrote Red Desert I wasn’t just trying to narrate a story, a fantasy of mine, but I was speculating about the future of Mars exploration and colonisation.

In the second part of this interview on Mars Pirate Radio I had the chance to talk about my views on human colonisation of the solar system.

I expressed my opinion, and even my worries, about the Mars One project, and also discussed about the importance of such private ventures in creating competition against government ventures as they help politics understand the importance to support space agencies in their work.

I also tried to guess what kind of plants should be grown in a greenhouse on Mars.

And, finally, I read an excerpt (I do apologise for my pronunciation) from “RedDesert - Point of No Return”.

You can listen to the episode below, but before leaving you to it, I’d like to thank so much Doug Turnbull for the opportunity to be a guest in his wonderful podcast.

Though I am a podcaster in my own language (Italian), that was my very first public speaking in English and it was an honour for me to experience this on Mars Pirate Radio.

Enjoy Episode 63 of Mars Pirate Radio and the second part of the interview.

Have you missed the first part of the interview? Listen to it here.

For additional information on the other topics of this episode or if you have problem to listen to the podcast from this player or if you want to download it, check out Mars Pirate Radio page by clicking here.

Enjoy your listening and, please, share the podcast with your friends!

Also check out Doug Turnbull's website and his own books set on Mars.

“Red Desert - Point of No Return” is now available on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, Barnes & Noble (also Nook UK), Google Play, and Smashwords starting from only $0.99.

Donate to Mars Initiative and win a ticket to space

“Ticket To Rise” is the name of the fund raising campaign created by Mars Initiative that, with a donation starting from 10 dollars, allows you to participate to the draw for winning a ticket to fly on the XCOR Lynx Mark II spacecraft (see picture), which will reach an altitude of 100 km, internationally recognised as the edge of space.

It’s a one in a lifetime opportunity!

The winner will be one of the first 100 persons to experience this spaceflight on board XCOR spacecraft (more info on the vehicle and the flight here: www.spacexc.com).

The winner will fly alone beside the pilot. The value of the ticket is 100,000 dollars, but the one winning this draw will fly for free and may claim the title astronaut upon their return.

Beside the Founders Ticket, the package includes:

- Exclusive status as SXC’s “Founding Astronaut”;
- 4g simulator training mission;
- Roll Out // Assignment party;
- Video of the entire experience;
- Bragging rights for life.

During the flight you will experience zero gravity for approx. 5-6 minutes.

The donations start from 10 dollars. Your name will be added to the draw 5 times for each donated dollar.

If you donate to Mars Initiative you participate to the raising of funds destined to the first Mars manned mission project that is actually in the process to succeed.

In a nutshell, you’ll contribute in sending the first humans to Mars.

To support the work of Mars Initiative you can also subscribe its donation program or just purchase the official merchandising.

So, what are you waiting for?

Donate and, if you are lucky, you’ll fly to space!

To view the details of “Ticket to Rise” campaign click here.

Why I wrote a series set on Mars. Interview on Mars Pirate Radio

Mars!
I don’t know exactly when I started to be fascinated by the Red Planet. Maybe it was back when I used to study astronomy at school, or maybe later when I followed NASA’s Pathfinder mission.

Fact is that I love this planet. It makes me dream of a future when mankind colonises the Solar System and perhaps pushing themselves even further.

In this scope, the step from science to science fiction is short.

I’ve recently had the chance to talk about this subject with Doug Turnbull, a fellow science fiction author, who runs a podcast called Mars Pirate Radio about space science fact and fiction.

He asked me why I chose Mars as setting of the Red Desert series and encouraged me to talk about the genre in which I write most (hard science fiction), about the first book that is now available also in English (Red Desert - Point of No Return), and about why I decided to become a writer, instead of continuing my career at a university as biologist. 

We also had a nice chat about space colonisation, Mars One Project, and other related topics. 

In the end he asked me to read an excerpt from the book.

The first part of this conversation is already online (see below). The second part will be published next week.

For additional information on the other topics of this episode or if you have problem to listen to the podcast from this player or if you want to download it, check out Mars Pirate Radio page by clicking here.

Enjoy your listening and, please, share the podcast with your friends!

Also check out Doug Turnbull's website and his own books set on Mars.

“Red Desert - Point of No Return” is now available on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, Barnes & Noble (also Nook UK), Google Play, and Smashwords starting from only $0.99.

Things you need to learn before exploring Mars, part #3

Photo of Mars taken by Opportunity.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Tomorrow is the big day. You’ll be able to start your journey with Anna Persson in the Martian “Red Desert”.

You’ve already learnt a lot of terms in my previous posts (part #1 and part #2), but there’s still something you don’t know.

And here it is!

Mars’s gravity. The surface gravity (g) of an astronomical object is the gravitational acceleration experienced at its surface. Earth’s gravity is indicated as 1 g. Since Mars is smaller than Earth so is its gravity, which is 0.38 g, i.e. 38% of Earth’s gravity.

Mars colonisers feel just a little more that one third of their actual weight.

Ophir Chasma. It is a large canyon included in Valles Marineris. Ophir Chasma is located in the northern part of it, south of Lunae Planum.

This is where Anna is apparently heading for.

Ophir Planum. It is another large, flat region of Mars, connected both to Lunae Planum and Valles Marineris.

One of the habs for Hera mission (the previous failed Mars mission) is located there.

Photovoltaic panel (or solar panel). It is a set of solar photovoltaic modules electrically connected. Each module includes an assembly of solar cells. A solar panel can produce electricity from the solar radiation.

Station Alpha is equipped with a photovoltaic system, including many panels, which is the main power supply source for the habitat. A photovoltaic panel is also installed on the roof of the pressurised rovers.

Regolith. It is a layer of material, including dust, soil, broken rock and the like, covering solid rock. It is present in all terrestrial planets and moons.

Mars is covered by regolith including sand, dust, rocks and boulders.

Valles Marineris. It is a huge canyon system running approximately along Mars’s equator. It is the most complex canyon of the Solar System. There are various theories about its origins, one of which says that it was shaped by carbon dioxide escaping the deep rock layers.

This is the place that Anna dreamt to visit when she was a child.

Now you know everything you need to start the exploration. Wear your suit, lock you helmet and get on the rover with Anna.

Mars is waiting for you!

“Red Desert - Point of No Return” will be published on 30 June 2014, but you can already pre-order it on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iTunes at only $0.99 or grab a pre-launch copy on Amazon. It will also be available on Google Play on the publication day.

Things you need to learn before exploring Mars, part #2

Photo of Mars taken by Curiosity.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

We are close now: 30 June is just behind the corner and then you’ll be able to grab your copy of “Red Desert - Point of No Return” at only $0.99 (or maybe can you already get it?). But you still don’t know everything you need for exploring the Red Planet with Anna Persson.

In the previous post, I’ve explained six terms. If you missed them, just click here. Six more terms are reported below. For each on of them, after the definition, I’ll tell you something related to “Red Desert”.

Ready?

Dust storm. A dust storm is a meteorological phenomenon during which a strong wind blows small particles of sand or dirt from a dry surface, transports them to another place where they are deposited. In general it is also called sand storm, but the term dust storm is more suitable when talking about Mars, where the atmosphere is so thin that it can lift only tiny particles.

Dust storms are very frequent on the Red Planet. They can partly block the solar radiation for long periods and preventing the orbiters to have a clear sight on the surface of the planet.

Anna will encounter a dust storm at the beginning of her journey, which will help her disappear into the desert.

Extravehicular activity (EVA). It's an activity done by an astronaut when going outside a spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere. That means the astronaut must wear a spacesuit and is completely reliant on it for environmental support. It is also called spacewalk.

Since the Martian atmosphere cannot sustain human life, a walk on the surface of Mars can also be considered a kind of EVA, even when you are not getting out from a vehicle (e.g. you are in a pressurised building).

Every time you exit Station Alpha or a pressurised rover you are basically doing an extravehicular activity.

Habitat (o Hab). It's a modular, pressurised building on the surface of a planet whose atmosphere is unable to sustain human life, which is completely self-sufficient and separated by the outside.

Station Alpha is a habitat on Mars.

Johnson Space Center (JSC). This centre, whose complete name is Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, is a NASA complex for human spaceflight training, research and flight control, located in Houston, Texas. This is the place where US and international astronauts are trained.

The crew of Isis mission was trained at the centre, which in the story also includes a dedicated building for Mars manned exploration called Ares Building.

Launch window. It is the optimal period during which a mission should be launched so that the spacecraft can take advantage of the gravitational forces to travel toward its destination in the shortest possible time.

The launch window for Mars occurs approximately every two Earth years.

Lunae Planum. It is a large region mostly located in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Though it can appear as a flatland, it also includes many impact craters and dry river beds caused by water in early history of the Red Planet, which interrupt the plains and highlands. In its southern border it meets Valles Marineris, the most complex canyon of the Solar System.

Station Alpha is located in Lunae Planum.

“Red Desert - Point of No Return” will be published on 30 June 2014, but you can already pre-order it on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iTunes at only $0.99 or grab a pre-launch copy on Amazon now.
It will also be available on Google Play on the publication date.

Go to part #3.