From Middle America to the Ends of the Universe

Happy Wednesday!

Happy April. We’ve had unseasonably cold weather here in Houston this week. Lows in the 50s and highs only in the 70s. I'm enjoying it as much as I can, because the consecutive string of 90+ days will start soon.

What does this time of year bring to your part of the world? Hit reply and let me know.

This month's message will be shorter than usual. The day job has been busy this week and my son is downstairs studying for his IB Chinese test. But I'll pack in as much content as I can.

Pleasantly Surprised by Artemis II

After years of delay and billions of dollars of overruns, I had written off the Artemis program as yet another proof of the late Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. Summing up, there are two types of people in any organization: those devoted to the goals of the organization, and those devoted to their own careers. The latter eventually gain and keep control of the organization, and the goals are never achieved.

Any readers at NASA willing to comment on where the agency is along that trajectory? I promise I’ll keep your comments anonymous. Just hit reply.

The scrubbed launch a few months ago rekindled my doubts. I cynically assumed the April windows would pass without a mission.

Credit: NASA

I’m pleasantly surprised to be wrong. The crew of Artermis II has set a new distance record from Earth and sent back photos like the one above. It’s a bracing tonic to pessimism and doomscrolling to see the positives people are capable of, and how much of the universe is out there to be explored.

Writing Update

Toffib War Book 1 is continuing. I’ve just greatly complicated matters for my main character, and in the next few days I’ll force him to make hard choices, both for the mission and for his own personal growth.

Need a Free Book?

I recently read The Backworlds by M. Pax. A young man in a war-torn galaxy is kicked out by his father and forced to fend for himself. One reviewer was reminded of Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, and I see the commonalities: a coming-of-age adventure with a theme of self-reliance.

If that sounds like your kind of book, you can read a free copy. Download The Backworlds by M. Pax. It’s book 1 of a complete 9-book series. Your next binge read? Or enough of a sample to decide it's not for you? Either way, if you download it, let me know what you think.

Till next time,

Happy Reading!

Raymund