THE NEXT CONTINENT « Haikasoru: Space Opera. Dark Fantasy. Hard Science.

Sushi! In! Spaaaaaaace!

March 3rd, 2010 by nickmamatas

We have an elevator at the office here and in the elevator is a “service” that goes by the very Phildickian name The Captivate Network. It’s basically a little monitor that flashes slides of news, weather, human resources advice for managers (yipes!), and, of course, advertising. Usually, I avert my eyes because staring at a little box while trapped in a big box is the road to madness, but today I looked and saw a slide explaining that Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi made sushi in space while on the International Space Station.

Further, Space.com has video! (Sadly, it’s not embeddable, but click the link.)

It was kismet I thought, as I just got back the pages to The Next Continent as laid out by our wonderful freelance designer, and that novel is not just about a private mission to the moon, it really does have a strong subplot dealing with what people might want to eat when they get there. Japan is one of the great foodie cultures of the world as anyone who has seen Iron Chef or read the VIZ manga Oishinbo knows, and The Next Continent holds true to that tradition. Can’t wait for you all to see it in May! Hell, I just can’t wait for the book to be off my desk!

Tags: chairman kaga, international space station, Oishinbo, space.com, sushi
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To the moon!

February 11th, 2010 by nickmamatas

Our pals at io9 have a great post handicapping the likely candidates for the second country (or private entity) to put an astronaut on the moon. I was very interested because, of course, I’m currently sweating out The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa, a novel about a ten-year moon colony project.

Ogawa has picked a horse in this international space race and it’s…care to guess? Nope, not Japan, but China! The Next Continent begins with our heroes visiting a somewhat haphazardly maintained Chinese moon base after buying tickets on a Chang’e spacecraft. But then, of course…nope! The US! They open up “Liberty City”, after being inspired to rejoin the space race. (It’s not really a city though—that’s just political spin.) Well then, certainly…nope! Private enterprise, albeit a Japanese firm, they’re the ones who finally open up a lunar leisure center you’ll have to read about to believe. Be sure to check out The Next Continent this spring, if you’re looking to make any off-world travel plans in, say, 2035.

Tags: io9.com, Issui Ogawa, moon, private space exploration
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THE NEXT CONTINENT — OGAWA

January 27th, 2010 by Haikasoru

The evening meal was punctually observed. In fact, this was the only part of the schedule that was. Like clockwork, the five Chinese strictly adhered to the two-hour meal period, but there was no private time afterward. The five crew members never observed the scheduled start of the sleep period at 22:00. Instead of private time, they worked late into the night on facility repairs, harvesting the experiments in the White Tiger module and preparing for the next day’s tasks. Once, around 4:00 a.m., Sohya woke to use the toilet and heard the animated voices of Peng and Cui coming from the White Tiger module, audible over the round-the-clock basso profundo hum of fans that pervaded the base. It sounded more like an argument than a discussion.

And after every task was completed, there was communication with Beijing Flight Control. Cui had constantly checked his wearcom during that first day’s tour―not only to monitor the time, but to send text updates to Beijing. His refusal to do updates via voice link reflected his irritation with having to do it at all. This was not hard to understand. It was his duty to contact Control even when he visited the toilet.

Yet there were times when Cui set aside his usual dour mood. One evening after dinner, Ma suggested they watch a movie together, and Cui revealed another side to his personality.

The movie was not streamed from Earth. Ma had carried it with him on a memory card. It was not the kind of entertainment Beijing would have transmitted via one of their communications satellites; it was an erotic comedy from Hong Kong. Taé averted her face in confusion. Sohya was embarrassed for her, but Cui paid no attention. For a short time, he became a different person, exploding with laughter throughout the film. Still, the rest of the time he remained difficult to approach, while Commander Peng and Jiang were easy to deal with.

After several days, the reason for the irregular scheduling suddenly dawned on Sohya.
(more…)

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A Misanthrope’s Reading List: 2010

December 17th, 2009 by ericsearleman

Everybody’s posting their year-end best-of lists, and I’m tempted to do so too. But instead of looking back, I’d like to look toward the future. Hey grandpa, 2009 is done. Here’s a quick list of books I’m looking forward to reading in 2010.

Sleepless: A Novel by Charlie Huston (January). Huston takes a dip into near-future speculative territory. Added bonus: dialog with quotation marks!

The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson (January). I’m already tired thinking about this book.

Yukikaze by Chohei Kambayashi (January). What is the relationship between man and the machines he builds?

The Book of Heroes by Miyuki Miyabe (January). I’ve read all of Miyabe’s books that are available in English. Why stop now?

Heavy Metal Pulp: Pleasure Model: Netherworld Book One by Christopher Rowley (February). A new series of novels based on characters and stories from Heavy Metal magazine. Target audience: Me.

The Boy With the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu (March). File this one under science fiction fairy tales from France.

Backing Into Forward: A Memoir by Jules Feiffer (March). Artist and culture wit Feiffer finally delivers his autobiography.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 8 by Naoki Urasawa (March). The conclusion of Urasawa’s brilliant remake of Tetsuwan Atomu.

The Stories of Ibis by Hiroshi Yamamoto (March). In the future machines will rule the world. Call me a misanthrope, but I can’t wait for that to happen.

Slum Online by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (March). My early vote for best book title of 2010. From the author of All You Need is Kill (the best book title of 2009).

The Creeper by Steve Ditko (March). There’s already a place on my bookshelf reserved for this compilation.

Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (April). Science Fiction Fantasy with a Mictlantecuhtli twist (btw: that’s the Aztec god of the dead).

Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann (April). Based solely on the cover, this is going to be one of my favorite books of the year.

Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes by Andrew E.C. Gaska, Christian Berntsen, and Erik Matthews (Spring). A novel that revisits the first Apes movie. Added bonus: cover painting by Jim Steranko.

Loups-garous by Natsuhiko Kyogoku (May). Werewolves and teenage girls collide in Tokyo. Bite me!

The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa (May). Want to get married on the moon? No problem! Otaba General Construction will build a wedding chapel anywhere you want.

Children No More by Mark L. Van Name (August). Jon Moore is a man with a little bit of nanojunk in the trunk. Lobo is a military assault vehicle with a big dollop of A.I. attitude. Their adventure continues.

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THE NEXT CONTINENT [Archive]

Sushi! In! Spaaaaaaace!

To the moon!

THE NEXT CONTINENT — OGAWA

A Misanthrope’s Reading List: 2010