Blog Archives
Morgan’s Returned!
Morgan Selwood is back in a brand new, full-length adventure with her Manesai admiral, Ashkar Ravindra. Morgan is taking the boyfriend home to meet the cousins and, needless to say, they stir up a whole lot of trouble.
When you delve into ancient history you never know what strange forces you might unleash.
When Morgan Selwood and Admiral Ashkar Ravindra travel to Morgan’s Human Coalition to learn more about the origin of Ravindra’s people, their relationship is soon sorely tested. Morgan is amongst her own people and Ravindra is overprotective and insecure, afraid of losing her. But not everyone is keen to welcome Morgan home, not when they’d gone to all that trouble to get rid of her in the first place. Soon Morgan and Ravindra have a rogue Supertech on their trail with only one goal – kill Selwood.
Together, Morgan and Ravindra follow a tenuous trail back into humanity’s past, to the time historians call the Conflagration. But what begins as an innocent archaeological investigation escalates into a deadly peril for both humans and Manesai when Morgan and Ravindra are thrust into the middle of an unexpected conflict. And that rogue Supertech’s still out there, itching for revenge.
You’ll find the new book at Amazon and Smashwords, trickling through to the usual outlets. Yes, there will be a print version.
Get your FREE copy 2 days only
For January 10-11 only, you can pick up BOTH of the Iron Admiral books in one huge volume, absolutely free.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Iron-Admiral-ebook/dp/B00AWU85FA
Both the Iron Admiral: Conspiracy and the Iron Admiral: Deception are highly regarded. Two Lips reviews awarded Conspiracy reviewer’s choice and Deception received the coveted recommended read. Here’s what the reviewer said:
Twolip Reviews recommended read “Holy cow! Greta van der Rol’s The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy was outstanding, but its sequel is almost beyond compare…. Deception is, in my humble opinion, one of the five best space operas ever written. Hands down!”
TIME’S UP FOR THIS GIVEAWAY. THANKS TO ALL WHO DOWNLOADED THE BOOK
I remember Space Quest. Do you?
I’ve been messing about with tech and found myself wandering down memory lane. Why don’t you come with me, help me fill in some gaps?
I started work as a programmer in IT slightly before the IBM PC muscled in and took over. Computer games were a pretty new invention for me and the first I ever encountered was a Dungeons and Dragons game. The name escapes me. It was all done in text (no graphics back then). The opening symbol was a tombstone drawn in lines and crosses etc. It had many levels which you worked your way through. You entered a dungeon, which was a line-drawn box, nothing more. You made you way around using the number keys for movement (no arrows). In the dungeon you might find a magic sword, or armour, or have to kill a monster, which might kill you. If you stayed alive, more of the dungeon was revealed. It was seriously addictive and took up many a lunch break at the office, but it didn’t work on the IBM XT I had at home.
So I thought I’d buy a game to play during the Xmas break. It was Space Quest: the Sarien Encounter. It had ‘real’ graphics – that is, little figures that moved around, using number keys, as I recall. (Feel free to correct me) You (Roger Wilco, janitor of a ship taken over by aliens – you were asleep in the janitor’s cupboard at the time) had to evade the aliens, who shot on sight, get off the space ship, then go through a series of adventures on an alien planet. All great fun and all in sparkling, four-colour, CGA graphics. Wow.
Over the years, the graphics improved as computers evolved and I bought every game as soon as it was out there. One of the things I loved most about it was the designers had a wicked sense of humour, sending up every SF movie that ever existed. You’d recognise bits of Star Wars or Star Trek. In the picture at top left you’ll recognise the Blues Brothers and a bunch of aliens from the famous cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope. One of my favourites was a scene from (I think) the third adventure. Roger (you) is wandering around the prison levels of a ship and a being advances. It’s actually easily evaded but it was always so
much fun to see what would happen if you didn’t, you saved the game (so you could start again when you got killed) and let it happen. So the alien comes up to Roger and gives him a huge French kiss. Then goes away. You didn’t die. Gosh. Oh well. So you carry on exploring, looking for whatever you had to do to get out of there. Then suddenly, 5, 10 minutes after your encounter with the alien, Roger keels over and a little tiny alien bursts out of his breast and scuttles off, stage right.
When you stopped laughing, you returned to the last point where you saved the game, and avoid the Alien.
What were your favourite computer games? Do you remember Space Quest? And if you do, which were your favourite bits? Give it a whirl. You might win some buckazoids. Or not, as the case may be. But if you’d like a free copy (kindle only) of my new Iron Admiral omnibus (both books in one volume) let me know in your comment.
Morgan’s Return – the Next Big Thing?
I’ve been tagged in The Next Big Thing by fellow writer Mona Karel. Unlike me, she writes real romance. I have to tell ya, the sex scene in Teach Me To Forget is one of the steamiest, smoothest bits of prose you’ll ever read. Not blow-by-blow, how-to erotic. Just very, very sensual. Check it out if you haven’t. Ahem. Back to my Next Big Thing.
What is the working title of your next book?
Morgan’s Return. I’ve even done a cover. See?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
In Morgan’s Choice, Supertech Morgan Selwood finds herself lost in space with a useless accountant. The pair are fortunate to escape death when ‘rescued’ (captured) by an alien battleship, which defeats a small force of opposing ships. Her captors are humanoid and both Morgan and Manesai Admiral Ashkar Ravindra realise Humans and Manesai must be related. After a series of incidents and adventures, Morgan gets caught up in a civil war and an alien attack. It’s a stand-alone book, but a few people have asked for more from Admiral Ravindra and Morgan. And there are many more questions left to be answered. Where did Admiral Ravindra’s people come from? How? When? So Morgan’s going home with Ravindra in tow, to find some answers.
What genre does your book fall under?
Space opera with the usual dollop of romance. It’s not ‘hard’ science fiction, although I’ve tried to bear in mind the rules of physics and there is no magic (as in waving of wands etc) in the plot.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I’ve done a casting couch for Ravindra and Indian actor John Abraham got the gig. I ran a poll for a lady to play Morgan and Rachel McAdam was selected. (I rather thought Joanne Kelly as in Warehouse 13, myself).
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Going home can be a bitch. Somebody’s out to kill Morgan, but when unknown forces are inadvertently unleashed, that’s the least of her worries.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I’ve given up on agencies.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
About 6 months, with a full-on push over November and December. I promised myself I’d have the first draft ready for Christmas and I made it. Just.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Compare? I never compare. All I’ll say is if you enjoy fast-paced action-adventure type space opera with a dollop of romance you might find this fun. Linnea Sinclair’s Games of Command, and Finders Keepers come to mind. Maybe Elizabeth Moon or Anne McCaffrey with a slurp more sex, or Star Wars with a slurp more science along with the sex.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
I guess mainly the response to Morgan’s Choice. I had hoped originally to spin out Morgan’s adventures into two books at least, but that didn’t happen. Really, people’s interest in what happens next motivated me to tell this story.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It was an interesting book to write. I don’t find writing specially easy at the best of times I go with the flow and let the story go where it wants. I was intrigued to find at the end that bits of what you might call ‘fluff’ – like the short encounter between Admiral Makasa and his grandson – ended up having much more meaning than I’d thought when I wrote the scene. The subconscious mind is a marvellous instrument.
Tag some other writers
Just about every writer I know has been tagged already, at least once. So rather than nominate another Next Big Thing, I’ll list a few of my favourite author blogs, ones I pop in on often.
http://mona-karel.com/ Mona Karel writes about food, dogs, writing and whatever else
http://www.tobyneal.net/ Toby Neal writes about books, Hawai’i, therapy and stuff
http://mmbennetts.wordpress.com/ MM Bennetts is a historian and author of historical fiction and her blog is full of fascinating historical facts. There’s nothing dry about her posts. They’re full of detail about life in previous times and in the Napoleonic War
http://ngeminisasson.blogspot.com.au/ N. Gemini Sasson is another writer of quality histfic. She also talks about dogs and life.
http://juliarachelbarrett.net/ Julia Barrett writes about food, dogs, life in a very entertaining way
http://www.allandouglas.com/ Allan talks about all manner of things. Good advice on writing, lovely stories from his former life as a pizza delivery/maker/person, his dog and other bits and pieces.
http://sandinmyshoesreviews.wordpress.com/ Diane Nelson reviews books. Her reviews pull no punches, not for no-one, and they’re always worth a read.
These are just a few of my favourites. Do pop over and take a look. Tell ‘em Greta sent you 
What would you weigh on an exoplanet?
I was reading an article from somebody, all enthusiastic about the exo-planets the Kepler probe keeps finding. They’re all many times larger than planet Earth even if they’re in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone. You know the one – not too close, not too far, just right. That is, a planet neither too close to its primary nor too far away, where liquid water could exist. My immediate reaction was ‘sure, but we’d weigh too much’.
Then I began to wonder how much more. I’m not a mathematician – never have been. In truth, I can’t add up to save my life. So I’m counting on you (ha ha) to correct me if I get this wrong.
I discovered this site http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/ and learned that gravitational pull weakens by the radius squared. So let’s say you weighed 60kg on planet Earth. Planet Gliese 581g is estimated at 2.6 Earth masses and 1.4 Earth radii. So yes, you’re going to weigh more on Gliese 581g, but not 2.6 times as much. If I’ve got this right, the increased diameter of the planet means you’ll weigh about 1.3 times as much – so about 78kg. That’s certainly not a huge imposition. And all of a sudden, I’m bouncing in my chair, going oooh oooh.
Here’s some estimated figures about Gliese 581g, taken from this fascinating website http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog
Mass = 2.6 Earth Radius = 1.4 Earth Temp = average surface temperature, so this place, at 10, is rather cooler than our 15 degrees (NASA’s figure from 2008), but the estimate of average temperature assumes an Earth-like atmosphere, which is a pretty big assumption. On the face of it the planet zips around its sun in a fraction of the time it takes ours, taking only 32 days as compared to 365. But that might not be the case, since the Gliesean day may be much longer than Earth’s. The figures don’t mention period of rotation, which I find a tad surprising. As a comparison, Venus’s ‘day” (the time it takes to rotate on its axis) is actually longer than its year (the time it takes to orbit the Sun.) (http://www.universetoday.com/14282/how-long-is-a-day-on-venus/)
So there you have it. I found out today that a candidate for Torreno (capital of the Coalition of Worlds in Morgan’s Choice) may be only 20.2 light years away. And with the shift drive of the future, that’ll be a place to add to your holiday plans.
Ain’t science grand?
Greta’s next big thing…
Hah. This could be about anything, couldn’t it???
But it’s about my current work-in-progress. I’ve been tagged in The Next Big Thing by fellow writer Heikki Hietala, author of Tulagi Hotel and a host of brilliant short stories. I’m instructed to tell you all about my next book by answering these questions and then to tag some other authors about their Next Big Thing. So here I go!
What is the working title of your next book?
Morgan’s Choice 2 – Morgan Returns
Where did the idea come from for the book?
In Morgan’s Choice, Supertech Morgan Selwood finds herself lost in space with a useless accountant. The pair are fortunate to escape death when ‘rescued’ (captured) by an alien battleship, which defeats a small force of opposing ships. Her captors are humanoid and both Morgan and Manesai Admiral Ashkar Ravindra realise Humans and Manesai must be related. After a series of incidents and adventures, Morgan gets caught up in a civil war and an alien attack. It’s a stand-alone book, but a few people have asked for more from Admiral Ravindra and Morgan. And there are many more questions left to be answered. Where did Admiral Ravindra’s people come from? How? When? So Morgan’s going home with Ravindra in tow, to find some answers.
What genre does your book fall under?
Space opera with the usual dollop of romance. It’s not ‘hard’ science fiction, although I’ve tried to bear in mind the rules of physics and there is no magic (as in waving of wands etc) in the plot.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I’ve done a casting couch for characters. Indian actor John Abraham got the gig for Ravindra and Rachel McAdam would play Morgan.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Morgan’s return to where she came from isn’t welcomed by everyone, but the external threat will leave her personal problems in the shade. (Or something – give me a break – it isn’t finished yet)
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Self-published. I’ve given up on agencies.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
You’re not listening, are you? I hope to have it done by Christmas.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Compare? I never compare. All I’ll say is if you enjoy fast-paced space opera with a dollop of romance you might find this fun. Think Elizabeth Moon or Anne McCaffrey with a slurp more sex, or Star Wars with a slurp more science along with the sex.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
I guess mainly the response to Morgan’s Choice. I had hoped originally to spin out Morgan’s adventures into two books at least, but that didn’t happen. Really, people’s interest in what happens next motivated me to tell this story.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
For those who wanted more about Ravindra and Morgan I’m sure it will satisfy. As usual, they’ll end up in lots of hot water. Sometimes cold water. Their relationship will be tested and Morgan will be tested – by another Supertech. A few characters will be back, you’ll learn a little more about Admiral Makasa – and there’ll be a new peril which might lead into a third book. It should be fun.
So that’s it for me. Why don’t you pop on over and see what Mona Karel and Ian Smethurst are working on for their Next Big Thing?
Oh, by the way. Him up there on the left? He’s Ash in my paranormal romance, Black Tiger. You might want to check him out.
Finally. Star Wars is back
Well, well. Disney has acquired the Star Wars franchise. Funny, I was in a bookshop yesterday and remarked how incredible it was that a movie made in 1977 was still, 35 years later, making money. There were all sorts of spin-off items; books of ships, aliens, lego, figurines, model kits, games – let alone the endless stream of expanded universe novels.
I’ve always been a Star Wars fan so my first reaction to the prospect of new Star Wars movies is YAY… provided. I wasn’t a huge fan of the three prequel movies, although the SFX were fun and I thought the later Clone Wars cartoon movie was terrible. I’m desperately hoping for something better.
Please, Mister Disney, don’t rehash the old stuff. Pick up the expanded universe material and run with it, but carefully. There are some good novels among the pile of books churned out over the years. I haven’t read a great many of the novelsbecause many of them are, in my opinion, ordinary, but I have a few favourites. The first, needless to say, is absolutely anything with Grand Admiral Thrawn in it. Bring it on – the Heir to the Empire trilogy (see my thoughts on those) and then Zahn’s follow-up books – Spectre of the Past, Vision of the Future and Survivor’s Quest. Also the prequel, Outbound Flight. Tatooine Ghost was well-written and I enjoyed Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, set in the interval between A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back. Then there’s the X-Wing squadron books, which are numerous and very popular.
So… what do you think of this? Thumbs up, thumbs down? And which books would you like to see as movies?
A gay guy is a girl’s best friend
As you know, I’m touring the internet to introduce readers to my new novel, Starheart. So far, if you’ve been following my posts, you’ll have learnt a little bit about Jess Sondijk and Admiral Ullric Hudson, two of the main characters in the book. But, in the immortal words of Yoda, there is another.
Santh Dekstra, Jess’s best friend and first officer of her freighter Saintly Maid has his own major role in the story, which revolves around how Jess’s husband, Troy, died in a botched boarding a year and a half ago. Hudson stirs up questions Jess had thought laid to rest with Troy. Santh had been close to Troy, too, and together Jess and Santh decide to find out what might have happened to him. That proves to be a perilous undertaking.
As I said in an earlier post, Santh is one of those marvellous gay men who really can be a girl’s best friend. Pop over to Sodahead, where the site actually asked if readers would be friends with a gay guy. They have a lovely picture of a nice young man who is a bit young for Santh, but you’ll get the idea.
Here’s a little piece about Santh and Jess at a function organised by the Nordheim Government to introduce Admiral Hudson and his senior officers to the planet’s domestic captains. Jess has gone along to see what she can find out about Hudson’s plans.
Santh, drink in hand, strolled up to Jess, looking her up and down.
“Jess, baby, he doesn’t stand a chance.”
Jess laughed. “Well, thank you, spacer but I don’t know what you’re talking about. You look lovely yourself.”
The pale blue breeches molded to his slim and athletic form and he’d tied back his luxuriant dark-blond hair. He’d covered the white shirt with a sleeveless jerkin, giving him a dashing air.
She had made a special effort. The red dress was a favorite. The neckline plunged deep, affording everyone quite an eyeful. The rest clung to her waist and hips, accentuating her figure. The split up the front meant she was able to stride if she wanted and provided more than a glimpse of leg.
Santh flicked a finger at a waiter, who approached with a laden tray, his eyes following the plunge of her dress.
“Careful,” Santh said, straightening the tray from a dangerous angle. “She wants to drink the wine, not wear it.”
Jess selected a glass of pale yellow wine and watched the youth walk away. “Not your type?” she said to Santh.
“No. But I expect somebody will be.” He winked.
I like Santh. A lot. I’ve had gay friends like him. He’s in for a serious adventure, I must say. Find out more on Amazon.
I’ll be at http://pippajay.wordpress.com/ tomorrow for some more spicy bits and pieces.
Don’t forget – to celebrate the release of ‘Starheart’ I’ll be giving a $25 Amazon gift voucher to one person who leaves a comment on any of the blogs I visit until 10th March. So leave a comment here and you’ll be in the draw.
Once Upon a Dream
Today I’m pleased to host Frances Pauli, who will tell you about her ‘Changeling Race’ trilogy. Over to you, Frances.
Thank you so much for having me on the blog today. When Greta asked me to do a “behind the book” post, I had to think back. It’s been nine years since I wrote the original draft of the first book in The Changeling Race trilogy. While it seems so much shorter, that time in between was filled with marriage, children, and my first steps into the universe of publishing and writing books. It’s been quite a journey, and at least that very last part, all started with A Moth in Darkness.
The book, itself, started with a dream.
I get a lot of ideas from dreams, as do many authors. Our subconscious, thankfully, provides us with a steady flow of creative fodder. In Moth’s case, that inciting dream ended up as one of the very last scenes in the story, however, and from there I chewed and churned and pondered my way backwards to the beginning.
That scene is still one of my favorites in the book, though the dream was more than a little disturbing. There was an elf held prisoner in a dark room. Images flashed on the walls while he struggled to stand. He needed help. He needed me, and though I didn’t know who he was yet, I knew I was madly in love with him. I was in love with his story, and all I had to do was get it sorted out and down on paper.
I woke up shaking. I spent the whole day distracted, thinking about that elf and his predicament. How did he get there? Who was he? How was I going to get him out? The first time I met Lockland Sheen, I knew he was the one. All the stories I’d imagined up till now, the ones I’d started and never finished, the ones I’d thought about and never written, couldn’t compare to him. His story had to be recorded. I had to finish something—and that thought terrified me.
Up until that point, I really didn’t finish. It wasn’t my thing. I mean, I started out great, even wandered into the middle a few times, but reaching the end was an elusive goal I figured only happened in the movies. This time, however, I knew I had to get there. That elf was counting on me to save him.
And because of that, he really saved me. I wrote that first book determined like I’d never been before, and I finished it. After that, lo and behold, I finished another one. I knew I could do it, you see, and that knowing opened up the floodgates.
So in a way the story behind A Moth in Darkness is the story behind Frances Pauli. The first step into The Changeling Race took me farther than I’d ever imagined. It holds a special place in my heart, as does that elf, and they both probably always will.
As to saving Lockland Sheen, well, that turned out to be only a first step too. Once his friends and I got acquainted, and the whole story played out, a trilogy was born. Now, at its finish, I can’t help but think of them as my friends too: Lockland and Liz, the fairies, trolls, gnomes and even the dark Kelpies and boggins will always be an integral piece of that puzzle that is my universe.
If even one reader enjoys them as much as I have, I will consider the journey well played. It certainly was an adventure for one procrastinating, would-be author.
Thank you so much for hosting a stop on the tour. I am offering a free pdf of any book from my backlist to one commenter today, and for each stop on the tour that you comment on, you will earn one entry into the final drawing for print copies of all three books. Follow along and enter to win!
Thanks so much for a fascinating post, Frances. And best of luck to the commenters, too.
Bio:
Frances Pauli writes speculative fiction with romantic touches. Her books are published through Mundania Press LLC, Awe-Struck, and Devine Destinies, and her short stories are featured in various anthologies. More information on her worlds and writing can be found on her website and blog, and she offers free online stories, web serials, podcasts there as well.
http://francespauli.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/#!/MothinDarkness
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frances-Pauli/112884745408149
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3426477.Frances_Pauli
A Moth in Darkness
The boundaries between the worlds have fallen. Forced to integrate the creatures of fantasy into real life, humanity struggles against its disillusionment, prejudice and an inevitable feeling of inadequacy.
Once an agent for the embassy that mediates between the worlds, Elizabeth Larson has abandoned her past and slipped into a world of nostalgic addiction to fairy revels, dancing, and the dark lure of her own memories. But when Lockland Sheen, her former partner and lover, goes missing, she is pulled reluctantly back into service. She must venture once more across the borders, into the land that haunts her, facing a string of gruesome murders, the imposing Sidhe rulers and her own addiction in the process.
While the Embassy’s agents attempt to soothe tensions between the races, Liz and her new partner search the fairy realm for Lockland. Fighting the constant temptation of the revels, they piece together the trail of an unknown enemy. But the longer they follow it, the more it appears that the man they came to rescue is more villain than victim. And the more they rely on Elizabeth’s ties to the fairies, the closer she inches toward the madness that lurks behind her fantasies.
http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=A%20Moth%20in%20Darkness
The Fly in Paradise
Something’s rotten in the Fey lands. While Marcus Bramble tracks the lunatic who started it all, Elizabeth and the crew at the Embassy sort through the evidence he left behind. With Lockland back, and the revels behind her, Liz’s world is slowly returning to normal. But on both sides of the borders, shadow creatures spring out of nowhere, and the dark legends surrounding the fey take on a whole new meaning.
Now time is against them. On the mortal side of things, protesters rally to close the borders, politicians descend on the Embassy, and something that shouldn’t exist stalks Elizabeth through the city.
In his world, Marcus faces a madman with answers he doesn’t want to hear. The Fey rulers turn a blind eye on forests teeming with imaginary monsters, and the Sidhe tower stands silent amidst the chaos. Will the race to uncover its secrets solve the mystery of the elves’ past or unleash even more horrors on them all?
http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=The+Fly+in+Paradise
Spiders From Memory
The Seelie court is gone, and the Tower has fallen into darker hands. Now nightmare creatures terrorize the Fey races, and the whole Fey world turns to frost and shadow.
Liz Larson holds the last remnant of the Seelie Sidhe’s power. The elves look to her for guidance, but all she has to offer them is the disturbing story of their origin, the final truth that will turn many of them against her. With her dwindling number of allies, Liz needs to reopen the borders, to find the missing Marcus Bramble, and to avoid the sudden, terrifying attention of the new Fey ruler, the Unseelie Speaker and new master of the Sidhe Tower.
While her friends in Mundanity race to pry open the gates, and Marcus searches for the answer to a puzzle that could save or damn them all, the Unseelie Speaker marches north, bringing his army and his wrath to focus on Elizabeth. What can one, fairy-touched human do in the face of the Unseelie court’s full fury? How can she fight when the enemy’s anger is only partly blind, when she can see all too clearly the traces of justice behind it?
Is a ‘Star Wars’ type galaxy starting to look likely?
Remember that scene in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope‘ when Luke and Obi Wan go into the Mos Eisley cantina? The place was full of aliens. Leaning on the bar, arguing, drinking various foaming substances and playing cool, swing music. If you’ve any sort of interest in science, you’d be like me and go directly into ‘go along for the ride’ mode. It just isn’t probable.
But wait a minute. Just the other day we were told that our very own Milky Way could contain up to 2 billion (yes, billion with a ‘b’) ‘earthlike planets’. Gosh. Two billion planets that could potentially support life like us. http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/12/the-milky-ways-two-billion-earthlike-planets-an-update.html
Wait a moment, though. What does ‘earthlike’ mean in this context? The report comes from Kepler’s search for planets orbiting planets like our sun and in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone. Which means the planet is ‘not too hot for liquid water and not too cold’. Kepler can’t actually see any of these planets, their presence is surmised from periodic dimming of the sun’s light as something passes in front of it and from slight perturbations in the sun’s orbit. But scientists can calculate the likely size of the body. For instance, Kepler 22-B is estimated at 2.4 times the size of Earth.
But there’s much more to life on Earth than liquid water and reasonable temperature. The article goes on to quote from “Rare Earth”, a book by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee, which discusses in detail what would be needed to define a planet as an ‘earth analog’. Some of the things they list don’t readily spring to mind, such as a giant like Jupiter acting as a mine sweeper to reduce the amount of debris penetrating to habitable zones to pose a threat to life. We also need that molten metal core inside the Earth to generate a magnetic field which protects us from harmful cosmic rays. Then we need a breathable atmosphere, a year length not too much different from our own, and gravity at least 80% of our own. (Less than that and the planet wouldn’t hold atmosphere) I don’t think I’d like to live on a planet 2.4 times the size of Earth. It would be pretty hard to move around.
We just don’t know enough about any of these planets to know if they’re really ‘earthlike’. The point is made that both Venus and Earth are in the habitable zone around our sun and they are much the same size. But we won’t be setting up a colony on Venus any time soon.
Yes, but that’s humans. Getting back to the cantina scene, we are presented with a number of alien species, all presumably capable of space flight. So what about other life forms on these earthlike planets? Sure, that’s possible – but then we come up against the famous Drake equation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation), which considers variables such as technology and the life of civilisations.
Mind you, Kepler’s discoveries are a breakthrough from the time not too many decades ago (maybe only two) when scientists could do no better than to say that our sun was nothing special so other stars would quite probably have planets. The Drake equation dates back to those times. This is such an exciting time to be interested in the universe. I keep getting this feeling that space travel as written in science fiction might not be all that far away. Soon, it seems, we’ll have places to visit, too.
I’m not too sure I’ll be running auditions for a new cantina scene, though.
