Back from NSS ISDC 2022!

 Back from NSS ISDC 2022, and it was amazing to see people in the flesh again.  

The National Space Society (NSS) in many ways is like a family, with people who share a pasionate vision for a future where people of all types and stripes live and work in the expanses of space for the benefit of Earth and the future.  In my terms, Trillions of Happy, Smiling, Babies. The NSS is not nearly just engineers and scientists, and indeed is mostly just normal populace, from retired teachers, to high schoolers, to artists, to farmers, and many others. The International Space Development Conference (ISDC) the last few times was virtual due to the 'VID but this time was in Arlington VA.  I did two presentations, one in the space ambassador track, one in the space settlement track, and was on a panel too, all on farming in space. 

All those presos are on my site here ( https://www.combat-fishing.com/animationspace/terraform.html).

Met many cool people, including a former head of NASA, other authors and artists too, and especially with other people from around the world who work on using plants, bioreactors, and maybe fungi and animals, to close the mass flow loop in space (i.e. take the human outputs, and turn them into human inputs).

Also saw many posters from the 'puppy engineers' from the International Space Settlement Competition (know some kids who like science? GET THEM TO ENTER!!!!) and a few from the International Space Settlement Design Competition (for slightly older kids, again GET THEM TO ENTER!!!) So much promise makes me feel joy and hope!

Will be advising a few other sci-fi authors on space farms, and am working up a project to run out of the SAM facility at U of Az, or similar,  to get some space farm tech matured. Want to play at being a space farmer? Check out SIMOC (https://simoc.space/).

As a result of all that interaction, I now have my list of technical reviewers for my own Space Farm reference book (though for a general audience, not just geeks), hoping to have a publisher lined up very soon.

Ad Astra!

Bryce

Space Farm Book at local editor

 I have a friend doing a bit of copy-editing and general 'lets see if it flows' over the complete draft of the space farm book 

Farms in Space: Balances for Life Support, Food, and Settlement

All the illustrations, diagrams, and tables are done, as are references (though may need to be formattted for publisher)

also tying up the index and glossary while the editor is poking at it.

So far it is a little over 414 pages, with much of that tied up in 332 figures, and 88 tables, and no equations (though I do walk through examples). 

Summary is something like this:

The future of space exploration, space stations, and space settlements hinges on our ability to grow tasty nutritious foods as part of recycling the air, water, and wastes from people in space. Technologies to make this future occur are mostly already in use in urban farms, vertical farms, chemical factories, and old school soil farms. This book provides a simple walkthrough of the chemistry, biology, machinery, plants, animals, and engineering required to make agriculture in space and closed loop recycling possible. Targeted at any interested person, there are over 330 diagrams and illustrations, dozens of tables, and simple processes that make anyone a future space farmer. The book also includes a story to show what it is like to work in a space farm, menus and meals from the farm, and future work to bridge the technological gaps. The technologies and methods in this book can also find use here now, to feed a hungry world!

the focus is on the ability to design using crops, machinery, and the like to fully recycle human outputs into food, water, and oxygen. Wraps ecologically closed loop life support into space ag.

also shopping for a real publisher to carry it forward.

Ad astra!

Bryce 

 

Still cranking on Space FArm Book and waiting in slush piles.

 Just got back from NSS Space Settlement Summit, and helped run a nice session and panel on space settlement technologies at ASCEND 2021. Also posted all my presos on my SpaceFarms.info site. 

The Space Farm guide/book for technically interested readers of all backgrounds from high school to grad school is about 90% complete, and has has some posisitive reviews and fixes (thank you to Dr. Jane Shevtsov for lignin advice!).  Looking for a publisher too. Has 280 pages so far, likely end up around 350 pages once imagery,  index, glossary, and reference tables are added. Well over 200 figures so far, and around 50 tables.  Usable by anyone, and limits the technobabble and math to a minimum.

Also have 2 fantasy stories and a sci-fi novel in slush piles.

Remember Veterans Day on 11th Nov in the USA,

Bryce

New fantasy Short story in published anthology!

Well, looks like someone likes my fantasy work! I have a new short story that will be in the TANSVAAL press'

Of Witches, Warriors, and Wyverns

look for it around Jan 2020!

https://tanstaaflpress.com/of-witches-warriors-and-wyverns/

If it sells good, might do many more short stories like it...

Bryce

A Big Kid's Book of Fishes, Whales, Ocean Monsters, and Fish from all over!
My latest book,  A World of Fishes and Whales: Over 400 Fishes and Water Animals from Around the World , is done and available in Amazon in physical and eBook form. It is a beast as far as kid's books go, meant for reference as much as just paging through and looking at cool fishes and sea life. Technically, there are 377+ fishes (some fishes have seagoing or alternate forms, boosting the count to over 380), 28 mammals (seals, dolphins, manatees, baleen whales), 7 birds (including 4 penguins), 8 living reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, snakes), 38 invertebrates (crustaceans including: crayfish, shrimps, crabs, deep sea jellies, squid, octopus, worms, and snails), 4 extinct sea going reptiles (dinosaurs, of course), megalodon, xiphactinus (think giant tarpon with teeth), dunkleosteus (armored sea monster fish), and orthocone.  All are organized loosely by groups and shapes. Each species has the common name, scientific name, and location. Also put in a few underwater pictures for kid's to try and pick out real fish (adding 3 more species too) taken from my adventures, and a few above water fish so real world fish can be compared to drawings in the book. There are diagrams to explain how sharks are different from bony fish and mammals, a global map to key fish locations, and a guide to what a fish's shape says about how it lives.  140 pages of fishy goodness and cool biological art.
Anyone should be able to grab the book, and go to an aquarium, pond, or beach, and take a guess at what they see. While I couldn't ever draw every fish (over 40,000), this one gets a kid into the ballpark. It is the fish book I wish I had when I was a kid, looking at fish, and wondering what they are.
 

and yes, every fish, whale, and dinosaur in here can be purchased on shirts, hats, shower curtains, wallpaper, etc. too.

Will also pop into all major on-line booksellers soon.