The Bear and the NightingaleBy Katherine ArdenBy Katherine Arden

18.3The woods of Rus’ are cold and deep. While the snow may bring light into dark places, there some sleeps that should not be disturbed. When Vasiliya Petrovna was born, her family knew that she was different. She would seldom prove them wrong. From an early age Vasya wandered the woods and became an independent spirit. She discovered the creatures of the old ways hidden in plain sight, coexisting with man and they taught her many things. No one suspected that one ungainly girl would come to stand between the church and the chyerti, between two brothers of ancient power locked in an eternal struggle and would eventually save the lives of her village. And Vasya never suspected what it would cost her.

-In March, Watch the Skies welcomes author Jon Sprunk to talk abouthis latest book, Blade and Bone-Dear Crabby reminds us that self driving cars still have to deal with us-Next month’s book is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Check out the website at: watchtheskies.org or contact us at: wtsnewsletter@gmail.com

Home of Watch the Skies and awesome books too.

NEW RELEASES

April 2018KENDARE BLAKE - Queens of Fennbirn PHILLIPA BORNIKOVA - Publish and Perish D.J. BUTLER - Witchy Winter BRYAN CAMP - The City of Lost Fortunes NEIL CLARKE, ED. - The Best Science Fiction of the Year, V.3 JOHN CONNOLLY - The Woman in the Woods JULIE DAY - Uncommon Miracles SARAH BETH DURST - The Stone Girl’s Story GREG EGAN - Phoresis RAYMOND E. FEIST - King of Ashes BRIAN JAMES FREEMAN - Lost and Lonely CLAUDIA GRAY - Defy the Worlds KEVIN HEARNE - Scourged JOHN HOWE - A Middle-Earth Traveller: Sketches from Bag-End to Mordor JUSTINA IRELAND - Dread Nation STEPHEN JONES, ed. - Best New Horror #28 MARK LAWRENCE - Grey Sister JOSH MALERMAN - Unbury Carol GRAHAM MASTERTON - Ghost Virus JACK MCDEVITT - The Long Sunset IAN MCDONALD - Time Was SAM J. MILLER - Blackfish City S.J. MORDEN - One Way EMMA NEWMAN - Before Mars JEFF NOON - The Body Library RICHARD POWERS - The Overstory CHRIS ROBERSON - Firewalkers ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI - Season of Storms JOHN SCALZI - Head On DONNA SCOTT, ed. - Best of British Science Fiction 2017 BRIAN STABLEFORD - The Pool of Mnemosyne ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY - For Love of Distant Shores ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY - The Hyena and the Hawk CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE - Space Opera MATT WALLACE - Taste of Wrath IAN WATSON - Waters of Destiny 1: Assassin’s Legacy JANEEN WEBB - Dragon’s ChildCONNIE WILLIS - I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land

Celebrate the 2018 One Book One Community events with one ourfavorite authors, Maria V. Snyder. Maria will be signing at the

Lancaster Barnes and Noble Saturday January 20th from 1-4PM

Dystopian Fiction: An Inspiration?

A large portion of Young Adult fiction is dystopian, and therehave been a slew of dystopian movies and shows made in the last 10years. I've always been a fan of the subgenre myself, but I've alwayslooked at it as a warning of what the future could hold if somethingwent terribly wrong. It's also important to note that I only startedreading dystopian with any regularity in college. Unlike the teenagersof today, dystopian fiction was not a big part of my childhood.

About a month ago, I was scrolling through Facebook when I sawa passage that struck a chord for me. It said something along the linesof the fact that this generation of kids was literally raised on the likesof Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, and superhero movies. Should wereally be surprised that they turned out to be Katniss Everdeen?

It was an eye opening moment for me. Take a step back and tryto put yourself in the shoes of these teenagers. As children theyweren't looking at these stories as warnings, but as tales aboutovercoming the odds and standing up for what you believe is right. Just about everywhere they looked, they got those same messagesrepeated time and time again. Even in Harry Potter and the Order ofthe Phoenix (which I realize isn't dystopian, but roll with it), we see agroup of teenagers standing up for what they believe is right, despitethe consequences, while the adults and those in charge refuse to doanything about the issues at hand.

It appears that dystopian fiction has played a role in creating ageneration who believes their voice matters. A generation who thinksour world can and should be a better place in the future. Ageneration who's not willing to sit idly by.

I stopped reading dystopian about two years ago. It was hittingtoo close to home for me, and it made me wildly uncomfortable. Butmaybe, just maybe, I need to start reading it again. For theinspiration.

by Krystal Bloom

DEAR CRABBYDear Crabby,

Well, all the science big shots have gotten their way and now wehave self-driving cars and what else do we have? People run over byself-driving cars. When are people going to understand that machinescan't take over for people without killing us? When will the madnessend?

R. Witherspoon

Dear Witheredspoon,While I understand your concern in this matter I feel the need to

point a few things out. First, surely not all the science big shots havegotten their way. Ask them. I'm sure they could fill days upon dayswith stories of how we have yet to allow them to fulfill their dreams.Climate change anyone? Second, there is very little you can makepeople understand...I've been trying for years. I think that the mostimportant point though is that no matter how safe we make machinespeople will insist on being stupid. It's not the cars fault if they find outthat some walked out in front of it while looking at their phone ordecided they were faster. People have accidents like that all the timeand after all, even a world-renowned theoretical physicist andcosmologist once thought he was faster than a car only to be provenwrong. My advice is to stay out of the street and watch where you'regoing no matter who is driving.

Constantly Amazed,Crabby

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jun/14/statistically-self-driving-cars-are-about-to-kill-someone-what-happens-next

http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-self-driving-car-death-could-hurt-adoption-2018-3

Not For Me

The family and I went to see Black Panther tonight.A movie that is part of the Marvel cinematic universe gives one high

expectations. It brought a lot to the table in an attempt to meet thoseexpectations.

My wife loved it. She wants to see it again and has told me that we willown the film.

BUT you might be asking, what did you think of it? You've said what it is,but not what you thought of it. True.

This movie met all those expectations. It was a gorgeous film. Thecostumes, the backgrounds, the action and the colors were all a treat for theeyes. It was a good story. All of the characters were believable people (withsome leeway for the fact that this IS a comic book film of course). The emotions,the love, the ferocity shone through. No pandering, no excuses, just an excellentcinematic work.

I believe all of what I just wrote there, but I also believe something thatmight not sound like an endorsement when it truly is. This film was not for me. Ithought it was great. I'm crazy happy that it's killing the box office. The womenin the film were stunning. There was so much to see that I'll watch it again andagain without doubt – but this film was not for me.

And that's great. It's fantastic. That's exactly the point. There is so muchstuff out there in movie land that IS for me and fits with all the things I've alwaysseen in the movies that this film was long over due. There needs to be amazingmovies out there for everyone. As they say in this movie, the world is gettingsmaller. Seeing and learning about something that isn't you is going to be a vitaltool moving forward. It matters that the characters never apologized for thetimes they didn't just speak English so everyone could understand. Not havinghair that works the way yours might – or not having hair at all is not a detrimentto beauty.

It also matters that my daughter went to see this. She's not viewing thiswith a jaded eye. This is the sweet spot for story telling for her. She's at theexact age where films and big event things like that will stick with her into her adulthood. I remember to this day all the amazing films that came out when Iwas her age. All the characters that blasted onto the screen for me. LukeSkywalker, Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Rocky, Superman... seeing the connectionwith them? Yeah, they're all “for me” being powerful white guys. I asked mydaughter who her favorite characters from the film were. Who was the hero ofthe film? She said the general, or the king's sister. She liked the warrior and the

scientist. Not some person just waiting about to be rescued or randomly fall intolove at first sight and get married, but people of action and determination.Strong, caring and intelligent people that do what they need to for their homeand their family.

This movie was not for me – and that is what matters the most. Go see it.Support the diversity and the connection that something like this can represent.

By Eric V. Hardenbrook

COMING IN MAY

NEWS

May 16th, at 7:00PM, Heather Hutsell will join Watch the skies to talk about her writing and introduce us to her works.

June 20th, at 7:00PM Fortress Publishing will visit Watch the Skies to talk about their latest adventures and present their latest creations

DONATE AND YOU MIGHT GET TOHANG OUT WITH ROBERT DOWNEY JR.

Fight a rare disease and get a chance to join Robert Downey Junior atthe premiere of Avengers: Infinity War—no downside.http://www.crowdrise.com/rdj will take you to a site where you candonate to help combat ROHHAD syndrome, a disease, whichmanifests in the first year of life and requires almost constant hospitalcare due to the failure of most organs. The diagnosis, at this time, isconsidered fatal. The ROHHAD Association wants to stop that and findways to ameliorate the suffering of those currently diagnosed. Forevery $10 donation, you get a chance entered for you and a friend tobe flown in to join Robert at the gala, go to the after party and stay for2 nights in a 4 star hotel. The more you give, the more chances youhave.

SCIENCY STUFF

-If you want to go from dark to light, graphene might be the answer.Carbon could change your hair color, avoid the toxicity of current dyesand even last longer. From nanotubes to more, carbon is a very handyelement and its single atom thick sheets are known as graphene.Researchers took a gel substrate and added graphene oxide (oxygen,hydrogen and graphene) and sprayed the results on blond hair. After ashort drying time, they had a dark hair dye that withstood 30 rinseswithout fading. These are just early days; so don’t expect it on theshelf in the immediate future.

-The issue of plastic pollution in the oceans is a constant one withouta solution on the horizon, but it may actually be becoming worse in away we can barely see. The largest animals on Earth feed on thesmallest, plankton and krill. Riding that fuzzy gap between being thesmallest and in with the plankton and chowing down on theircompatriots are krill. These creatures are very similar in appearance toshrimp. They are also known for their digestive system’s ability tohandle a wide variety of food, which if you’re not a real observantlittle krill, could include plastics. Curious scientists fed krill microplasticbeads and observed that while they weren’t digested, the resultantnanoplastic particles were significantly smaller and passed throughthe krill or were absorbed into their bodies. So when a whale or whaleshark sifts the krill out of the ocean to eat, they are now inadvertentlygaining a dose of plastic. Also the bits passed through the krill are nowthe right size for even smaller creatures to eat, which means theplastic can be passed along again. It’s good to keep in mind that theimages of ducks tangled in can holders and the central Pacific garbagespiral are images of the problem we can see, but there maybe otherelements that prove the problems we face are deeper still.

Tillyer’s News of the High FrontierApril 2018

-Don’t you believe it … so last month we told you about the astronaut whothought he grew while he was in space. Well, 7% of Scott Kelly’s DNA didn’tchange while he was in space when compared with the DNA of his twin. Thetruth is actually a little stranger. 7% of Scott Kelly’s DNA did not reset to itsnormal behavior when he returned from space. Scientists are already aware thatthere are certain genes and sequences of DNA that are affected by space travel.What’s import here is that the change is in the way that Kelly’s DNA is expressedor how it goes about its job of instructing cell replication. This is all part ofsomething known as the Twin Study, which was instigated to determine thelong-term effects of life in space. While Scott was away at the ISS, Mark Kellyremained on Earth, essentially becoming the control in the study. Experts havepointed out, after the initial news barrage, that if Scott’s DNA was 7% different,he would be another species. (For the record, chimpanzees and humans are onlyseparated by a 4% difference) Scientists are of course digging into this revelationare finding they need to work even harder to stay ahead of the flood ofdisinformation caused by news sources who are leading with the sensationalinstead of the proven. Like all good researchers, those in charge of the TwinStudy want to be thorough and accurate. It’s a shame the press isn’t willing togive them the time. -Did SpaceBees escape? The FCC is not pleased at all with Swarm Technologieswho managed to get 4 unapproved cubesats aboard an Indian rocket, whichdropped them in orbit with several other small cubesats. The SpaceBees are4”x4”x1.1” and are too thin for easy detection by the Space SurveillanceNetwork. What causes real concern is that they have a 4-9 year life span andthen will fall in towards Earth. So these are suddenly undetectable little missiles.Swarm’s initial intent was to create an orbital network to allow connectivity ofthe Internet of Things to areas that have to access to wifi or internetconnectivity. Swarm in its documentation offered to create larger versions ofthe cubesats (which are planned to be launched next month) as well as addingreflectors for Ku-Band radar, but the FCC felt that these were not enough andnixed the program. Everyone seems sort of surprised that the satellites actuallygot launched and it sets a concerning precedent.

COMING SOON

http://watchtheskies.org/