An Historic Day on Mars - Powered Flight on Another Planet

Well, I'm a day late with this blog update but that's just the way it goes. Yesterday was a busy day, what with discussing possible fiction collaborations, getting stuff done around the house before Grace's sisters arrive next week for a visit, and so on.

More important than all that stuff, however, if the fact that a few hours ago, NASA's tiny helicopter Ingenuity took off for a short flight, the first flight of an aircraft on another world. Here's a link to the Facebook link to Space.com. A lot of happy scientists are on view.

In other news, I finished reading Astounding, Alec Nevala-Lee's book about the influences on Golden Age sf by John W. Campbell, Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov and others, for an upcoming review in the fanzine Portable Storage. Quite a good book.

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I'm working on a short story of my own, titled The Liar, The Bitch and the Warbot. The title popped into my head a year or so ago. I started writing a draft two days ago and am up to about 1400 words. I love writing short stories but they're a much harder sell for me than novel-length works. And, as it happens, I have done far better with my ghostwriting gigs over the past few years.

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Grace and I have been watching a couple of good TV shows. One is The Repair Shop, on Netflix. The show's blurb states: Expert artisans restore timeworn family heirlooms with touching sentimental value while also uncovering their uniquely rich histories. This doesn't really hint at how utterly fascinating it is to watch these people do their thing. The show is filmed at the Weald and Downland Museum in Singleton, West Sussex. It's quickly becme one of our favorite programs.

Another program we like is New Tricks, also on Netflix. There are twelve seasons of it, happily. The premise is a good one: 

After a hostage rescue goes wrong, superintendent Sandra Pullman (Amanda Redman) is put in charge of unsolved crimes. With little resources and no back-up she decides to recruit three ex policeman. However times have changed, unlike her new recruits. Jack Halford (James Bolam) is yet to get over the loss of his wife, Brian Lane (the excellent Alun Armstrong) is over obsessed and over medicated, and Gerry Standing (Dennis Waterman) is not quite the ladies man he used to be. They may have the experience but it's not like the old days. Not only are they chasing criminals, but they are having to deal with a new police force which does not always appreciate their old style policing.

We've been enjoying it. It's also been fun spotting the celebs who pop up from time ti time, including Jane Asher, Victor Spinetti, and others. the writing is excellent, the mysteries interesting, and the acting spot-on. There are liberal splashes of humor, as well.

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