More Of Mars

And Perhaps Matania
We'll see.  Anyway, yet more coincidences have arisen today, after I went enquiring about the new title page picture over on the Space Opera Facebook page.  If you loaded up the picture separately in a new window, it had the artist's name lower starboard side: "Shrox".  This is the chosen appellation of one Douglas Schrock.
     Let me cattle-prod that lazy slacker Art into action -
     <sounds of buzzing and a muted scream>

See?

     These are obviously enormous great spaceships and you can break down their design.  A rocket engine, with tanks of reactants stored along the hull.  What seem to be radiator fins to get rid of waste heat.  Solar sails for acquiring energy.  A rotating dual habitat to allow the human crew to experience centripetal force as a substitute for gravity.  
     There's another picture that gives a head-on perspective.  Art!


     The nose section appears to be detachable, perhaps a stand-alone shuttle of some description?
     These two images are part of a short animation the artist did called "Mars Awaits", which is where the Coincidence Hydra comes in and has a go at my tasty white posterior, for am I not reading "The Martian", about an astronaut stranded on Mars*?
     Okay, motley, today we are going to learn about how to defend against the dreaded Martian Rock Snake!

A deadly foe.

"Taprobane"
Aaaand once again we are back in the land of Conrad's brain spontaneously generating words at random.  What the heck was this one?  Can you drink it, or spread it on bread?  Will it fill in potholes or make good casseroles?
     None of the above.  It is, apparently, the ancient Greek name for the island we call Sri Lanka; and you recall that last week I was wittering on about Batticaloa, one of that island nations major cities.  So I may have inadvertently come across Taprobane without realising it.  Art!  O stop whining and put some salve on it.

Sri Lanka

     So there is a plausible reason why this geographical name popped up in my head.  That's not all, however.  There is a small island with the name "Taprobane Island", which, if Art will stop whining and work for once -

The definition of picturesque

     Yes, undeniably attractive.  However, just imagine the kerfuffle if you run out of milk!  This place was established in 1926 and has gone through several owners since, and is definitely on that list of places where you need not worry about noisy neighbours.

Back To That List Of 51 Sci-Fi Novels You Must Read Before The Robots Rise In Revolt
And here we have another one I've not read.  Art?

They were caught in mid-jump

     Well I never.  It transpires that this came out in 1971, won the Nebula Award (this is generally regarded as being a good thing) and I've never heard of it until now.  I wonder if it's still in print?  Having read the plot summary on Wiki - I know, I know, I just spoil things for myself - I don't think Your Humble Scribe is going to hurry to read it.
     Shall we have another of these?  Yes, let's*.

Another nope

     No, never read it, nor heard of Connie Willis either, whereas with that other one I certainly know who Robert Silverberg is.  Or was - is he still around?  <Googles> why yes he is, at age 85 no less.  Connie Willis?  I should check, shouldn't I <more Google> O!  She's been around for ages and won tons of awards.  Welllllll we shall see if I can't find some of her stuff going cheap on Abebooks, but there had better be free postage, matey.
     And that's an end to the list of 51 books.  If nothing else it does widen my literary horizons, so pretty much a win-win situation.
"Pentaborane"
I know what you're thinking - "Another Sri Lankan town?  Really!  Show some creativity, you white-whiskered woebegone."
  I am, because HA HA! it's not a town in Sri Lanka or Taprobane, it was an experimental rocket fuel back in the Sixties, as used by both the South Canadians and Sinisters.  At it's core are five atoms of boron, surrounded by a mass of hydrogen.  Art?

Pentaborane rocket engine under test

     You can see why the South Canadians nicknamed it "Green Dragon".  There were a few problems with it, mind, problems that make Your Modest Artisan's palms sweat with anticipation.
     First off, it was incredibly toxic.  Almost as dangerous as nerve gas.  Anyone fuelling a rocket engine with this would need the full hazmat suit with tanked air.  The exhaust fumes were toxic, so you needed to be well clear when it launched or fired.  Pentaborane itself is liable to spontaneously ignite when in contact with air, or just when it feels like it, for shizzles and giggles.  It readily forms shock-sensitive versions of itself that will explode if looked at hard.  If it did ignite, you cannot use either water or suppressive halocarbons on it, or again - explodey time.
     The only thing this stuff lacks is radioactivity! 

Sound advice

     After some consideration, neither the South Canadians nor the Sinisters took this fuel any further than prototype testing, as they liked being alive.

Okay, Matania
Fortunino, that is, the accredited war artist for Perfidious Albion during the First Unpleasantness.  I have been plundering his back catalogue for a while now, because he was a formidably accurate artist who produced detailed work quickly and who didn't sugar-coat his subject matter.  You obviously don't get people turned into a human slurry by artillery - his editor wouldn't have accepted same, and the censor would have been rather cross, too.  Anyway, Art?

"Canada's Part In The Somme Advance"

     I have magnified this as much as I can, yet still cannot see if these soldiers have the "Canada" flash on their shoulders, so we will just have to take Ol' Mat's word for it.  Here you can see a few Teutons attempting to stem the advance from behind cover, somewhat unsuccessfully.  The Canuckistanians are wielding Lee Enfield rifles with the frightening British Sword Bayonet mounted, and directly behind that big boiler (?) a soldier is ferretting in a box of Mills Bombs, as they were called.  Note the amount of kit and harness these soldiers are carrying, as they don't know when (or if) they're going to be resupplied.  This scene has the air of being taken from a real-life incident; however, it would take a lot of digging to see if this is true or not.  Shall I try to determine*?
Finally -
Conrad is still Not A Dog Person, not by any means, so don't read anything into me posting this item, since it was eyecatching to say the least.  It comes from that font of all that's fit to be writ, the BBC.  Art?

      I think words are a bit superfluous here.  Your Humble Scribe can only gasp at how well-behaved and well-trained these hounds are.  Why, only 10,000 years ago they were simply wolves.

And with that, we are done!



*  Yes I am, it was a rhetorical question.