With Project Hail Mary generating so much excitement, here’s a question for every sci-fi fan… 🚀

 

ZZ’s books ZZ’s Blog Unsubscribe

Hey everyone! Andrew here.

Hooboy… lots to talk about this week. This issue? It’s weird. Now we do this every other week instead of weekly it makes it hard to say “this week”. But it’s not a magazine either, so “issue” also sounds weird. I’m going to stick with “this week” and see how that goes. You all know how to write in and find me if you vehemently agree. So… this week I am writing to you from a very sunny Seattle. The weather is amazing. It’s 73 degrees (in Freedom Units – about 22 degrees C) and blue skies. I’m here for work, but I brought my personal writing laptop with me so I am penning this from the hotel like a real writer!

There are lots of things to talk about this week. First, I watched Project Hail Mary based on the book by Andy Weir (who wrote The Martian). I’ve mentioned this before, I think, but I liked the first half of the book and found that the last third was disappointing. The movie did a better job of it (first time I have ever said those words). It wraps up the last third of the novel in a very quick scene that does the trick. I still don’t find the ending very satisfying. I won’t give any spoilers here but if you’ve read the novel or watched the film I’m keen to hear what you think of the ending. For me, it made me question the character and I end up feeling like the ending doesn’t quite fit. It feels like Weir wanted to push it that way and so he just did it, but to me it doesn’t feel like the protagonist got what he needed or what he deserved. But you tell me what you think. Maybe I’m being too ornery and judgmental.

The other thing I have done is run into a lot of folks who are taking Mounjaro or Ozempic. What I can say here is that it works. Those folks have never looked better. The thing is, it feels like they’re injecting nanobots or something. I just don’t know. Usually there are consequences to every action. For these new drugs it seems like that’s not the case. My wife believes there will be a price to pay and we just don’t know what it is yet. I tend to agree. I mean, would you inject nanobots? More specifically, if they were brand new, would you use them? I think the answer is “it depends” — on your level of health, what stage of life you’re in and what’s at stake. What about undergoing a risky medical procedure to bond with an alien symbiont? I know, I know… but I’ve got to ask these questions and who else should I be asking? I know for a fact it’s you. There’s no one more qualified! (More on this in the new poll below.)

To wrap up the news side of things, I just finished two novels and then started on a new one. Let me tell you about them in reverse order. I literally just got Ken Lozito’s latest book. It’s called Browning’s Gambit and it reminds me a lot of the Honor Harrington series so far. I only started reading it today and am already hooked. Highly recommend.

The other books I finished were… weird. They were The Will of the Many  and The Strength of the Few, two books of what I believe will be a four book series by the Australian author James Islington. They are pitched as fantasy, but they both feel very Dune-like (although they are set in a more Roman era setting but not an Earth setting). The series feels quite scifi in a similar way to Dune, but also has the epic fantasy aspects to it like Dune. It is hard to describe. Without giving much away at all, the premise involves the use of “pyramid” hierarchies of people who are ceding portions of their willpower upward which enhances the people above them in the pyramid. It’s a hodge podge of elements that I hope will come together in the end. I enjoyed the first book particularly.

On the writing front, I nearly completed the short story Card (still working on the ending). I have been working on the book Savior-X, which is a prequel in the Zero-Point Awakening series showing Arthur’s history before he became a celebrity. I’m having fun writing that. I have also done a very little bit on The Bone Singer, but I made a great discovery last night in a dream (of all things) that has unlocked more of it for me. The mind is an amazing thing! It involves Reginald’s role in the story. Much of what I have written for him needs to come much earlier in time than I had understood so far. The impact of that means I can have him and Winston in the story at the same time, which will be more fun for everyone (but especially for me while I am writing it). I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into that when I have a decent block of time. It’s too complicated to just write little bits. That one needs a lot of getting back up to speed and pulling all the worldbuilding into my mind before I can write it.

That’s it for this week. Have a great one, and don’t miss the new poll below .

All the best, 

Andrew (ZZ)

* Heads up! Full disclosure. Those are affiliate links. If you use them, I will get a small benefit from it.

Zero-Point Awakening – The Complete Series Books 1-8

Absolutely hooked and really do not want to stop reading. I am usually pretty good at determining the plot, good or bad guy and ending that is not the case with these books.

– Amazon 5 Star Review

In the near future, asteroid prospectors—rock hoppers—risk everything mining the belt. Jonah is one of the best, based out of Ceres and partnered with Burt, a loyal companion no one else can see or hear. That’s because Burt only exists in Jonah’s mind.

UFO / UAP hearings are currently taking place before the U.S. Senate with highly credible whistle blowers confirming that a legacy UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering program exists and that, as fantastical as it sounds, there is an alien presence here on Earth…

Magic has fallen. A kingdom lies in ruins.

Apprentice magician Stric Deamara survives the massacre, hurled twenty years into a dark future with one impossible mission: find the lost infant prince who vanished the night the kingdom burned.

You’re the only human who can save Earth. What’s your first reaction? Let’s do this! There must be someone more qualified Can I finish my coffee first? Depends… are there aliens? I’m suddenly unavailable Other (let us know your view by replying)

Survey Result

And now, let’s take a look at last week’s poll results. We asked, “If you could spend one day with any Star Wars character, who would you choose?“
Here are the results:

• Yoda –> 38%
• Other –> 28%
• Han Solo  –>23%
• R2-D2 –> 4%
• Grogu –> 4%

Andrew: Yoda takes it by a comfortable margin. At least it’s not baby Yoda. I just can’t find it in my heart to love that thing despite everyone raving about how cut it is… But if you only have one day, you may as well spend it with a 900 year-old super wise creature who can kick ass. Han Solo at 23% makes sense too — a day with Han is guaranteed to be memorable, though there is a decent chance it ends with you owing money to Jabba the Hutt.

What really caught my eye, though, was that massive 28% “Other” vote. When more than a quarter of us go off the menu, it means I built the menu wrong. So… let’s see what happened, shall we? To find out we have to look at the what you all wrote in to me about. So first… Princess Leia. How did I leave Leia off the list? Um… good question. It wasn’t on purpose. I just messed up. And it looks like if I had added her to the list, she would have given Yoda a run for his money. 

Meanwhile, poor Grogu and R2-D2 languish at 4% each. It seems that while we all love a cute droid or a tiny force-wielding gremlin, when it comes to actually spending a day together, we want conversation. Or at least someone who can order lunch. I’m with you on that.

Your Thoughts

As mentioned, Leia dominated the write-ins. Tracy chose Princess Leia because she is smart, beautiful and will fight for her people which is very hard to argue against and frankly, I wouldn’t want to. Kris was right there with her on Team Leia. She’s a great choice. If only I’d put her on the list…

Joli went with Obi-Wan Kenobi, which strikes me as an excellent choice for a day of both wisdom and dry humor (with a decent chance of a lightsaber demonstration maybe?)

Marti raised an important philosophical point: which Star Wars are we even talking about? Some of us grew up when Star Wars was ONLY A New Hope — none of this “Episode 4” business — and the answer changes depending on the scope: Ewoks for the original trilogy, R2-D2 for the 1977 film, and Padme for the series as a whole. The Force is strong with you Marti.

Ruth would spend her day with C-3PO because he is hilarious and, as a bonus, could teach her a few of his six million languages. Personally, I’d have trouble listening to his voice all day, but I can’t argue with the premise.

Maureen bravely suggested the Ewoks. She insists the Ewok movie is a real Star Wars movie no matter what anyone says, and asks: who doesn’t love a tiny bear in a headscarf with a deadly spear? You’ll cop no flack from me, Maureen. Anyone who can take down an Imperial walker with logs and rope deserves respect. Just don’t force me to listen to them sing. I can’t take it.

I super appreciate everyone who wrote in. I know I did not get to mention everyone, but it’s hard to do it all justice in a single newsletter as I know you know. 

Got something to say? Feel free to write in!

**Please note: All links in this newsletter are affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.