M Pax and Butterman (Time) Travel

Thanks everyone for stopping by for earlier this week. And thanks Alex for the awesome post on teleportation! A truly fascinating subject and one that inspires countless Sci-fi stories and episodes. Today I want to give way to Mary Pax and Pk Herzog, a couple of amazing writers that most of us know.

 

The Galactic Neighborhood: Comments about space and the universe often say things like how vast, empty, and lonely it is. The Milky Way doesn’t travel the universe alone, however. We have several galactic buddies, BFF’s, that travel with us.

 

The closest galaxies are the Magellan Clouds [can only be seen in the Southern Hemisphere]. Both are smaller and have partially merged, if not wholly merged, with our galaxy.

 

The closest spiral galaxy, like our own Mil ky Way, is Andromeda [M33]. A little over 2 million light years away [a light year is roughly 6 trillion miles, so the distance is 2 million x 6 trillion]. It’s blue-shifted in telescopes, which means we are traveling toward each other. [Most galaxies are red shifted, which means they’re moving away from us.] It is thought that we will eventually merge into one mega galaxy and some astronomers believe the merging has already begun. Most think the merging will not be a catastrophe, because star systems are fairly far apart in both galaxies.

 

Andromeda is one of my favorite things to look at in my telescope. It has two companions which are smaller, similar to our Magellan Clouds. Andromeda is also visible by eye.

 

There are several galaxies around the Big Dipper that are part of our galactic family, too. The Pinwheel [M101] and Whirlpool [M51]. Both had supernovae go off two years ago that were as bright in the telescopes as a star in our own galaxy. At 23 million and 35 million light years away, that’s amazingly bright.

 

I enjoy looking at both of these galaxies in my telescope as well.

 

We’re not as alone as we think.

 

Some truths are better left unfound.

 

For two years Craze’s dear friend, Lepsi, has been missing. The murmurings of a haunted spaceship might be a message and may mean his old pal isn’t dead. The possibility spurs Craze and Captain Talos to travel to uncharted worlds, searching. Out there, in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy beyond the Backworlds, they stumble upon a terrible truth.

 

Meanwhile, Rainly remains on Pardeep Station as acting planetlord, dealing with the discovery of her lover’s dark and brutal past. Alone and questioning her judgment, her introspection unlocks more than heartache. Latent protocols in her cybernetics activate, forcing her to face a sinister secret of her own.

 

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe. This is the fourth book in the science fiction series, The Backworlds. A space opera adventure.

 

M. Pax-- Inspiring the words she writes, she spends her summers as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory in stunning Central Oregon where she lives with the Husband Unit and two demanding cats. She writes science fiction and fantasy mostly. 

 

CLICK HERE to visit Mary and check out her library of awesome books!

 

Butterman (Time) Travel: I’m a bit late for this as I took last week out. But I wanted to give a shout out for Pk Herzog’s Cover Reveal for Butterman (Time) Travel to visit Pk Herzog.

 

And if I could walk into a time travel agency and book a time trip, where and when would you book it, and why?

 

I would go into the future five years and bring back a Wall Street Journal. Then I could retire and spend my time writing and blogging full time.

 

Weekend Follies: You’ll want to stop by this weekend as we spoof, what else, teleportation. I've really go to get a badge for the Weekend Follies. See you then!