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KiTE: “Rollicking Sci-fi”… Book Blog Tour Update

bshears — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:15:43 +0000

Click on over to any of these fine blogs listed below for the full reviews and see what people are saying about KiTE. Or just go ahead and buy it by clicking this: KiTE is hard science fiction with heart.

The Book Connection (interview)

The Bec-ster
“This storyline is so new it just compelled me to want to keep reading. I had to see how it all ended.”

Syncopated Musings
“KiTE is not one of those books where you can check your brain at the door when you open its cover and begin to read.”

Elizabeth Mueller
“If computer programs wanted to take over the world, this would be the right book for them.”

I am a Pistacio
“Mr. Shears writes with a flavor reminiscent of Douglas Adams, but the resulting dish is entirely his own. Quite tasty.”

J. Lloyd Morgan
“When the “twist” of the book is revealed at the end, I found myself smiling. It was certainly clever.…I will give the following praise to the book: it’s like nothing I’ve read before. The author stays true to the tone and pacing of the book, which is always a plus.”

KiTE: Hard Sci-Fi with Heart

3/30 The Musings of a Hopeful Writer
3/31 Karen Adair
4/1 Why Not? Because I Said So.
4/2 My Life in a Laptop
4/4 mormonhermitmom’s book habit
4/11 T.J. Types TMI
4/15 A Bookworm’s Tale

Unscheduled stops:

Azurescape
Critical Mass
Rememorandom
The Atomic Spud

The Beekeeper – Short Story

bshears — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:11:56 +0000

Posted on ScriptD:

The Beekeeper is satisfied to tend his hives and live his life after getting bounced by his rival at a high tech mega-corporation until he’s called upon to go back up into Earth orbit. A mysterious unaccounted-for supply pod is returning to intersect the orbit of the new space casino. The Beekeeper is the only one, on the planet or off, who can deal with it.

Earth from Space: Images from 1946 to present

bshears — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:14:44 +0000

NASA releases the clearest composite picture of Earth ever taken. Assembled from images taken by the Terra satellite. The Daily Mail story includes a retorspective of Earth images from outside the atmosphere, included the first, taken from 65 miles up by a camera on a captured V-2 rocket.

Constellation canned, the right move, whatever the reason

bshears — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:39:00 +0000

The current US administration’s proposed budget kills the Constellation/Ares rocket program that would have been the next step to getting the US back to the Moon. A worthy goal, the Moon…someday but short-sighted right at the moment. In the Sixties there was a race worth winning. Now not so much. Now’s the time for sensible outside-the-box thinking. But is NASA capable?

The administration may have made the right choice for the wrong reasons, but who can say what the reasoning might be? Can’t be to save money. It’s the biggest budget ever. Spite directed at the previous administration? Possibly. An effort to hinder any military applications of technological gains? Could be that too. Proponents of the program cite that as one of its benefits. Rand Simberg at TransTerrestrial Musings, blogging with the authority of an aerospace engineer, takes on that and other points in this post.

But whatever the reason, enough of blunt instruments. Maybe it will spur some innovation. Chemical boosters will get you there but a hundred years from now they’ll be equated with the biplane. Remember the biplane? It was all the rage, oh, just about a hundred years ago. NASA itself is the biggest blunt instrument, but there’s precious little chance of them scaling back to be the safety oversight agency and grant-writing they should be. Sure, let them keep deep space to themselves, but leave LEO to the entrepreneurs.

High time to get smart about space exploration, and it won’t happen with aerospace giants partnering with bloated government bureaucracies.

Get on the roof first. LEO is where it’s at. Then from there the Moon again and then the rest of the Solar System.

Figure out how to make a space station you can walk upright in like a human, instead of squeezing through little Habitrail tunnels and chambers. Yes, walk before you run, but walk upright, and when you can then humans will really be in space. That would be a major achievement, and it could be accomplished in Earth orbit.

Cringely’s Earth Orbit Scow

bshears — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:56:01 +0000

Renowned technology writer RobertX. Cringely posts about space trash, recognizing it as an additional barrier to spaceward movement. Why leave this manmade hurdle in our path to the stars. He proposes a vessel that has much in common with Kite.

For as a fictional platform our beloved Kite has much more potential for adventure, and it would seem that robotic sweepers are a natural. but if Earth-bound street sweepers still require crew, would it be wise to leave an expensive space utility vehicle unattended? Yes, life support adds significantly to cost but it could be worth it to have a capable human on hand in pinch?

In any case it, Cringely’s is the closest to a proposed solution we’ve seen outside of a certain sci-fi novel. The tide against space junk had turned. The motion for Earth orbit debris sweepers has been moved and seconded. It has entered the culture.

KiTE: A Novel in Earth Orbit

bshears — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:04:27 +0000

KiTE is a novel set in Earth orbit, by Bill Shears.

See below for synopsis.

You can purchase KiTE at:

Buy Kite at Amazon
Buy Kite at Barnes and Noble
Buy Kite at BooksaMillion
Buy Kite at Booklocker

The image below opens a two-chapter exerpt into a Flash application. You must have a Flash player installed on your computer for it to work. For best results: maximize the new window that will open when you click the link below and put your browser in Full Screen Mode. Press the “1:1″ button for actual size if needed for readability. More detailed reading tips are at the bottom of the cover image.

Kite Free Sample

Kite is available through favorite online outlets.

Buy Kite at Amazon
Buy Kite at Barnes and Noble
Buy Kite at BooksaMillion
Buy Kite at Booklocker

Kite Synopsis
Mason Dash, operator of Earth Orbit street sweeper Kite, spots movement in a derelict space station where there should be none. Heading Earthward in his shuttle the last day of his three-month shift he detours, closing with the dark station. Something moving in there spooks him.

Dash, with the help of beautiful virtual personality Sheila, creates a plan to expose suspected hijackers. He believes Sheila is his secret but Janet, his brilliant AI expert spouse, informs him that she and Sheila are chums, and she’s even added some experimental “adaptive” modules. While preparing a simulation “scenario” to carry into orbit next shift, Dash dozes off and Sheila stows away in the code, her new adaptive behaviors kicking in. No way she’ll be left behind this trip.

Back in orbit Dash confirms the presence of intruders on the station, while inside the Kite computer systems there’s turmoil. Emerging from deep in the data depths He_Ra has assembled a powerful force to seize control from the old Main Process.

Sheila splits attention between Dash outside and her own adventure inside Kite, getting a taste of romance and revolution. The tyrant He_Ra has taken a fancy to her and wants to expand to other orbital structures, like the nearby space casino, then perhaps to Earth.

Dash sends Sheila to the space station to scout. She finds not hijackers but a team of inept diplomats, preparing to receive humankind’s first unearthly visitor.

Dash, doubtful they’ll survive the encounter, would leave them to their fate when the alien, name of Troy, turns up. Troy’s a working stiff too but is authorized to defend himself. His sensors detect a threat and he’s armed with some powerful planet-busting weapons.

Earth’s fate is in the balance and only Dash, Sheila, Janet, and Kite, can prevent disaster.

Publisher’s Note
Hard science fiction works, whether they keep you on or around Earth or take you to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, are those that adhere more closely to science fact than not. Much dispute and emotional argument can ensue among fans in attempting to nail down any definition, but the term hard should in no way imply that a work takes itself overly seriously. Kite, with its orbitweary workman co-protagonist and its strong women co-protagonists is one of those stories that builds in the humor with the possibilities, that a time will come when humans will utilize Earth orbit in a mundane, everyday fashion, and that going to space in ships will not be as costly and risky as it is now. The inevitability of this is as sure as the inevitability that wherever people go they tend to make a mess, and someone will still have to be out there doing the rough jobs, and the cleaning up.

Author’s Note
Kite is a story that had been latent for a few years before emerging. The amount of debris in orbit has been building up since the days of the Mercury program, and it seems like every shuttle mission these days generates a news story about a debris encounter. Now that the shuttle program is coming to its long-overdue end, if we’re every going to inhabit the space around Earth, and use it as the platform for leaping out, as Carl Sagan put it, into the nearby neighborhood, the next generation of technology would need to do something about all the junk. A ship like Kite is just one projection of how it might be handled. – Bill S.

Sneak Peek: Kite Front Cover

bshears — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:56:29 +0000

Front Cover of Kite

Kite

is the story of working stiff Mason Dash and the maintenance vehicle he operates for three-month shifts. With Earth’s fate in the balance, Dash and beautiful virtual stowaway Sheila confront space station hijackers, humankind’s first alien visitor and an uprising inside the computer systems of Kite, the Earth orbit trash sweeper. More details to come. Stay tuned…

Space Shuttle Forced to Dodge Debris

bshears — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:17:00 +0000

Space Shuttle Discovery from the International Space Station (NASA)

Space Shuttle Discovery had to dodge a “mysterious” hunk of space junk while it prepared for reentry, now slated for this evening at about 7:35 PM EDT.

Here’s the Space.com report.

On the NASA Space Shuttle news page the guess is that the chunk is from one of their own space walks earlier in the mission.

And weather forced a wave-off the first landing try.

Space Elevator: Going up? Way way up

bshears — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:26:14 +0000

Folks interested in this topic might also have an interest in a science fiction tale set in Earth porbit. See the synopsis below or click here for an excerpt: KiTE, by Bill Shears. The space elevator’s not in it but there’s another intriguing launch method detailed. Also, check back to the main page for news of an upcoming move project (not based on Kite…yet) and follow on Facebook at BillShears16 or KitetheNovel. On Twitter at Bill Shears 16. Tell them InfinityBound sent you.

Space Elevator

Watch a video showing how it could be done. The wonders of carbon can make it happen. Materials are often the answer and so they are her; and here’s a practical use for solar panels. Vacations in space will be nice, yes, but once it’s up and running then it becomes the “space freight elevator.” No spacecraft need ever again be built on the surface of Earth. This would be taking a big first step.

Side Note: Folks interested in this topic might also have an interest in KiTE: hard science fiction with heart

KiTE, by Bill Shears, is a science fiction novel set in Earth orbit. Mason Dash, operator of Kite, the flagship of Earth Orbit Maintenance Department’s debris sweeper fleet, suspects spacejackers on an abandoned space station may be using it as a platform for a terrorist attack on Earth targets. Sheila, his beautiful virtual companion, has been “enhanced” with an experimental free will module. Inside the computer system of Kite a digital uprising is under way. Sheila goes off on her own adventure and finds she’s forced to split her focus between Dash’s situation in the “real world” and an ambitious virtual tyrant who has also taken a fancy to her, and who wants to expand his empire beyond Kite. Meanwhile Dash finds the spacejackers are not what he suspected, maybe worse. And it’s just then that humankind’s first unearthly visitor appears in Earth orbit, who is none too pleased. Earth’s fate hangs in the balance.

Ceres, seriously

bshears — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:25:09 +0000

An interesting post on why the large asteroid-tiny planet of Ceres might be the best place to start an Earthling home away from home. I’m for it, if it gets us farther out faster.