Month of Joy: "The Cardboard Robot" by Polenth Blake

After sending my critique partner a story about people living on the clouds, he commented that all my stories had robots. I denied everything. It was about cloud people! But there it was, the main character reminiscing on making a robot out of cardboard boxes as a child. Robots had made it in there.

It wasn't based on life. I never made a robot from cardboard, because I dreamt of functional

Science My Science Fiction: The Future of the Deaf and Blind? by Adam Callaway

One of my favorite things about the nonstop progress of technology is how it assists the less fortunate to interact with the world on a more complete level. A lot of these technologies -- DARPA's advanced carbon-fiber limbs, implantable retinas, brain-computer interfaces -- try to correct disabilities so these people can live a "normal" live. But is this the best way?

This article is about a new way for deaf-blind people to communicate, and also to use the internet in a way that will only be native to them. It allows them to interact with non-disabled people using

Science Our Science Fiction: Vegetarians on Mars

According to RT, Elon Musk of Paypal / SpaceX fame wants to put a colony on Mars.  Musk's proposed city will help re-settle 80,000 people, run on sustainable technology (at least in part), and contain a population of -- you guessed it -- vegetarians.  I'm intrigued by this idea because it makes me wonder about the motives and possibilities of such a city.  What would compel Musk to narrow his focus only to vegetarians (or people willing to convert)?  What advantages would that provide a space-faring society?

Salad alien only eats saladses. Meats is gross.

If we lived in 1960, one might easily argue in favor of a vegetarian diet.  Presumably, Mars contains all the required components to maintain basic farming -- with a little work.  Maintaining

Aliens: How Would Their Existence Effect You?

I can't say that I've thought long and hard about this question before.  This seems somewhat strange to me, since it is a question I would be naturally inclined to think about anyway, both as a giddy supporter of expanding human exploration of space and as a science fiction writer.  That's the way things go, I guess.

In any case, I'd like to take the opportunity here to explore, however briefly, how the proven existence of aliens would affect me.  And then I'd like to know how you would respond to the same question!  Leave a comment.

Aliens!  They're Alive!

Those that know me well enough (or pay attention to my online existence) will also know a few things about me which are relevant to this discussion: