The Photonic Effect is out today in print, ebook, and audiobook! Tonight, join me and @annaleen.bsky.social at @booksinc.bsky.social to celebrate! Free RSVP and preorder signed books here: www.eventbrite.com/e/mike-chen-...
And check out this big thread of behind-the-scenes nuggets below!
Here's the full deck-by-deck layout in case you missed it yesterday! bsky.app/profile/did:...
Thanks!!!
Thank you!
Greyhound heads look like many ships. Their ears hang like wings. Every time I see a clone transport shuttle in Star Wars it makes me think of a greyhound head.
Today!!!
That was the pitch intent for sure! "Wait, it just ENDS but how do they FEEL about it???"
I remember thinking the villain was unbelievable, so it wasted Michelle Yeoh being awesome. Watching it now I just kept going "oh no, oh man" at his lines.
Hey @theadamsass.bsky.social I rewatched Tomorrow Never Dies for the first time in 20+ years and you're right, that is way better than I remembered. I think knowing "evil media mogul starts war" is a reality really helps.
Yes! The captain and the non-corporeal sentient plane of light!
I have to pay for this kid's education somehow! 😂
The old INFOWARS logo but with a super gay Pride rainbow and The Onion's signature onion as its O.
Slow clapping at this. Well done, @theonion.com.
Reposting for the evening crowd!
Different Iris colors and a boy? It'd have to be Bowie.
Thank you so much!!!
I am hearing this in Liara's measured voice.
No prob. Feel free to ask me questions here as you read if you need it!
There's more details if you really want to know, but those are the basics. "Instant travel via a shortcut in another dimension" and "govt wants to make a synthetic version of this new fuel to weaponize it for the war effort" is basically all you need to grasp!
...that pulls ships in and captured them. The crew used those photonic particles for an engine that can jump between those known cracks in our universe ("convergence points"). The govt is now trying to create a synthetic version of those ("synth") since they don't have a natural supply.
It should be okay! The Fake Science is only the framework for the character stuff. The short "need to know" version of the Fake Science is this: made of photons (light particles) exist in another dimension. Cracks between that dimension and our physical universe occurred to create a gravity well...
A brindle greyhound sleeping with her mouth open
Our girl was our first greyhound, she passed a while ago. Then we got this brindle doofus who passed in late 2024.
Our current boy is a terrier mix, and at some point we'll be ready for another greyhound rescue. They're so special!
ALL THAT AND MORE!!!
Very similar! Give your greyhound a boop on the nose from me!
A black/white greyhound with a Christmas stocking
Finally, there's plenty of other space goodness in there! Cool sci-fi tech, tense action, a very good rescue greyhound (below!), a doomed interspecies romance with a non-corporeal being, espionage/backstabbing, and a lot of character feels.
THE PHOTONIC EFFECT launches tomorrow from Saga! /fin
IT'S JUST ALL SO DIFFICULT THOUGH!!!
Heh, I got you. Shoutout to @bethrevis.bsky.social who gave me Marina's name when I struggled with visualizing the Horizon. I do words, not art!
An isometric view of the Starship Horizon from The Photonic Effect
A deck layout of the Starship Horizon from The Photonic Effect
For you starship fans, the Horizon is about 3/4 the size of Voyager with a crew capacity of 70. Design/layout by Marina Charalambides, whom I hired when I needed concept art to visualize the ship. My guidelines were "not Star Trek, not 'airplanes in space', make it functional but unique"
Here's one thing to know: I've joked about prophetic writing bc A BEGINNING AT THE END came out in January 2020 right before covid.
When I wrote this, Rilo Kiley hadn't announced reunion shows yet. I stuck a line in about it and several months later, they announced it.
Just saying...
And because this is me, there's gotta be indie rock? You know how Star Trek always references classical music/Gilbert & Sullivan? Yes, music is timeless, but unlike Trek, I'm not limited to public domain. So Rilo Kiley + Jenny Lewis are a huge plot point for the music fans 400 years from now.
Sci-fi works best when it reflects big issues, and I wanted to use this landscape to hold a mirror up to our current world. Who is allowed to grieve? How can factions become a coalition? How do leaders usurp movements? Why is incremental "doing the work" so crucial to changing society?