The Winds of Venus

Venus rarely makes the scientific news let alone mainstream media. When scientists discuss space and technology, they talk about traveling to, stepping foot on, colonizing and terraforming Mars. It is the focus of plans like Mars Direct and Mars One.

The scientific community has been ignoring Venus, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union. Not including flybys, from the start of the history of space exploration, there have been twenty-three successful probe missions to Venus, twenty of them before 1990. There have been only three missions to Venus since 2000 and none in the 1990s. Of those three missions to Venus in the 2000s, one was the Venus Express, from the European Union Space Agency, and two were Japanese. NASA has not taken another serious look at Venus and the only operational probe is the Japanese Akatsuki orbital.

For Mars, the story is different. From the beginning, there have been twenty-nine successful missions to Mars, not including flybys, fifteen of them from after the fall of the Soviet Union. There are currently eight operational probes. The earliest one is Mars Odyssey, an orbiter launched April of 2003. The latest is NASA’s InSight lander launched in May of 2018.

However, could Venus be a viable solution for the problem of being a single planet species? Is it a good place to colonize?

The best places to live in the solar system needs specific qualities. Human colonies need approximate Earth gravity, temperature, and atmospheric pressure; that is the sweet spot for human habitability. The lack of gravity causes the loss of bone density and muscle mass. If it’s too hot, we will burn or too cold, we will freeze. No atmospheric pressure means colonists will need pressure suits and specifically built habitats.

The significant issue with space travel is excessive periods of living in low gravity, which has ill effects on muscle and bone density. The longer a human exists in a low gravity environment, the greater the chance they have for long term bone and muscle problems. There are also no studies about the effects on a child born in a low gravity environment.

There are no other celestial bodies in the solar system with those conditions. However, what do we know about Venus and Mars? Gone are the assumptions from 1950s science fiction authors that Venus is full of tropical jungles and Mars is crisscrossed with canals.

Venus is closer to Earth than Mars which makes it easier to travel to Venus with a launch window every 584 days instead of the 780 days for Mars. It also has a mass closer to Earth’s at 0.815 Earths, while Mars is at 0.107 Earths. (“Earth” is a unit of measurement to describe multiple factors). Venus’s gravity is closer to Earth’s at 0.904g’s than Mars at 0.38g’s (1.0g is what is felt on Earth).

With the problems of space travel, Venus seems like it is the better candidate for colonization. However, those numbers do not tell the full story. The mean surface temperature on Venus is a cool 464 degrees Celsius. For comparison, lead melts at 327.5 degrees Celsius. Atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is 91 atmospheres. That’s 92 times the air pressure felt on the surface of Earth. For comparison, the same amount of pressure is felt at a depth of 940 meters under the sea.

Mars, on the other hand, has a mean surface temperature of a balmy -63 degrees Celsius. This is equivalent to Antarctica with its mean annual temperature of -57 degrees Celsius. The surface pressure is 0.00628 atmospheres. This is the same atmospheric pressure felt on Earth at 46 thousand meters.

When it comes to figuring out how to live on the surface of either Venus or Mars, engineering solutions for low air pressure and freezing temperature seem easier than the opposite. Most probes landing on the surface of Venus only last a few hours before the heat and high pressure destroys them. However, when many futurists talk about colonizing Venus, they don’t talk about landing colonists on the surface. According to a 2002 paper from NASA titled, “Atmospheric Flight on Venus,” fifty kilometers up from the surface, the situation on Venus change. The temperature lowers to 70 degrees Celsius. Five more kilometers up and the temperature lowers further to 27 degrees Celsius. At the same altitude, the air pressure lowers from the certain death of 91 atmospheres to be an Earth-like pressure of 1 atmosphere.

The numbers point to two important words that come to mind: Cloud City. Living with a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius is possible. It means using air conditioning in the habitats and a cooling suit outside. While building a giant floating metropolis is outside the reach of current technology, according to the paper “The Venus Sweet Spot: Floating Home,” it’s possible with current technology to build zipline-style settlements using helium and breathable air as its lifting gas. These ships can be built on Earth, shipped to Venus then set up in the atmosphere riding the winds of Venus. Once there, they can either stay there or head back to Earth. This strategy will put a long-term human settlement on Venus

Cloud City would not be a self-sufficient settlement with regular shipments of supplies from Earth. The weight would be an issue on the floating cities and having large sections for food production would have to be carefully balanced. The colony would be permanent and a vital place where scientific research is completed, and methods of colonization are engineered. Once scientists and researchers are living and working on Venus, they can study the planet and answer some questions plaguing humanity. What happened to Venus? Was it really a cool and wet world? Is there a way to reverse the planet? Can we use any new scientific advances we learn on Venus to help our Earth?

This journey is not something I can do alone. It takes support from many people for it to become a reality. The easiest way is to visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. They are available in all countries and for free on Kindle Unlimited. I do have a tip jar set up at Ko-Fe, where you can buy me a coffee. Or you can also visit me on Facebook. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Thinking Positive vs Negative Thinking

A university is a gathering place of all people, and you find a cross-section of people there. Going back to university has brought me to talk to many different people of all types. 

One thing I noticed is that there is a large number of people who have negative mindsets. They can’t do anything without seeing the dark gray cloud standing above them. The get an ‘A’ on a paper, and they make comments like, “It only an ‘A-‘ and is one step from being a ‘D.'”

I’ve listened to them tell me that there is nothing they can do is right. Or how everything they do will fall apart. 

In all fairness, some of the people I talk to, have had a string of what could be called “unfortunate incidents.” Their car breaks down, followed by their backpack opening up running to class spilling their laptop onto the ground. 

That part, I can understand. Things happen, and not all of it favourable to you. 

However, how much of it is things happening and how much of it has to do with your negative mindset. 

A human mind is a powerful tool. It works 24 hours a day, seven days a week and only shuts off right before you talk to someone you are interested in. 

As a person goes through life, their mind processes the information they receive through their senses. The mind interprets the world, creating a unique point of view. When something happens like the car breaking down, as per the example above, their mind interprets the event as a bad thing. 

In some ways, it is terrible. Their car will be an expensive fix, and they will need a tow. All of it will need to be addressed. However, sitting on the side of the highway, is there time to deal with that problem? 

A negative mindset clouds one’s judgement; it sends them into a spiral that forces them into self-destructive, which only ends up one way — their own destruction. A positive mindset, however, leaves the mind clear. A person that can see what is happening with that clear mind will be able to find the solution quicker than someone without.

Back to the problem of being stuck on the highway with the broken down car.  

They have to get to class and are stuck. A negative person fixates on that issue while losing the big picture. They dwell on the negative parts crying, “Woe is me. My life sucks. I’m a failure.”

A positive person will look at the positive aspects of the situation, or at least will have a clear enough mind to think the problem through. It might be just a lecture class; maybe they can get the notes from someone. Perhaps they have left early, and they have time to get to class by another way; a taxi or a friend. 

The brain is a muscle. A muscle in the sense that it is only when someone uses it does it stretch and grow. If a person lets it sit unused, then the brain will slow down and atrophy. When a person thinks positively, they open up neural pathways following the positive side of the brain. It becomes easier to think positively by making it a habit.

When a person thinks negatively, they do the same for that side of the brain, which is why when I talk to a negative minded person, they say that they can’t help it. 

Having a negative mind and forcing yourself to think positive is like trying not to overeat. It is easier said than done, but the only way to make a dent in the habit is to try. This is from someone who had spent years of his life looking at the negative parts of things. 

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavours, please sign up to my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated. 

Contact This!: A First Contact Anthology Vol 1

So a while ago, I got wind of this anthology, and I thought it was an exciting idea. So I wrote a short story. The story I submitted was called “From Planet Everdark.”

Three years into a decade-long exploration mission into the far reaches of the precursor-gate network. Skipper Quigley Viveiros biggest problem was keeping his crew from bullying the scientists on board and keeping the scientists from blowing up his ship, the JSS Leda, out of boredom. Or at least that was his problem before he arrived at a rouge planet whose moon had an atmosphere, liquid water, and life.

The Fiend was a small creature whose very existence dwelled on eating and not being eaten herself. Up until she saw a new prey to feast on; a Metal-Beast who traveled on fire from the sky. Perhaps she will be able to feast on something to sate the incredible hunger that dwells inside of her.

So if this is something that seems interesting to you. Or you are new to science fiction as a genre, take a look. Contact This! Has eighteen of the best science fiction authors from Paul E Cooley, J Daniel Sawyer, and Rick Partlow. You will not be disappointed.

They came in peace…

…or so they said. Here are 18 examples of how they lied. This is an exciting collection of First Contact science fiction stories, all completely different! Take a risk – venture into the unknown with us. Who is out there? What will they want from us? Come join us in our adventure to find out how 1st Contact pans out. It will be a great adventure!

 

The O’Neal Saboteur: The O’Neal Trilogy Book 1

I have done it. My latest book has been published.

On a Colony orbiting Jupiter, a saboteur is bent on destruction. One young man might be the only person able to save them all. 

Sixteen-year-old Des O’Neal lives with his uncle and older brother in the Colonial Station Jovian 1-H. The threat of constant attacks and the destruction of his home becomes a daily occurrence. Threats he must endure and overcome.

Des finds himself ejected from his normal life and thrust into a world filled with spies and turmoil. In order to save himself and those closest to him, he must excel in a new world of espionage. He must overcome an unknown enemy lurking in the shadows, intent on sabotage and destruction. An enemy that may know who he and who his friends are.

In times of war, it is often the youth that must step up and fill adult roles. Will Des defeat the traitorous saboteur? Or will the station fall victim to his vicious plot?

If you like science fiction stories about espionage, overcoming obstacles, and mysteries. Then you will enjoy the action-packed, race against time novel written by Nathan Pedde.

Grab a copy of “The O’Neal Saboteur” today and get in on the action.

Mars, the Red Planet: A Futurist Perspective Part 3

So far, in relation to colonizing Mars, we have talked about getting off the planet and the psychology of the colonists. But to colonize Mars, there are more problems. Many more.

Journey to Mars

The journey to Mars depends on multiple factors. Those different factors are the speed of craft, alignment of earth and mars, how much fuel is burnt, the weight and size of the craft and many others. Those factors can change the time to get there from 150 to 300 days.

Most people think that getting to Mars quickly is an easy task. Just put on a few more engines on the craft and hit the go button. Then when you get to Mars, you press the brakes. Like a car.

But space travel is not like driving in a car. And it isn’t a forceless environment either. People think that just because you are floating in space that nothing is pulling at you. That is very wrong.

A large majority of the fuel used in rockets is to get off the surface of the planet. It is not to get away from the gravity, it is to get out of the atmosphere. The atmosphere of the earth causes friction on rockets, slowing them down. A rocket can get into orbit on a planet one foot off of the ground. If there was nothing to run into to, or any atmosphere to slow them down. Even the ISS has to burn for a few seconds every once and a while to lift them back into a better orbit.

Saying that, when you get out of the atmosphere and into orbit, then you burn your rockets and head towards Mars. The forces that will pull against you are the Earth’s gravity until you escape from it, then the sun’s gravity.

To get away from gravity, you need speed. The faster you go, the easier it will be. Now, to get to Mars, you only need to escape Earth’s gravity and then get your orbit out to mars. Once you get towards Mars, you need to slow down. If you don’t then you won’t stop. You will sail past mars in your orbit around the sun. Once you slow down, the Martian gravity will catch you, and you are there.

That all costs fuel. Fuel to speed up, fuel to slow down. Larger craft, more fuel you will need. More fuel, the larger the ship you will need to hold all of the fuel. It is an endless cycle that hives engineers ulcers.

The problems of that costly hard journey are many, and the risks are high. Boredom, depression, lack of gravity and radiation are major problems that are going to have to be faced.

SOLUTION

Luckily, all of these are engineering problems.

The Mars direct plan called for the ship to tether to another ship in flight and to spin. Which would then create centrifugal force. That force would give the colonists gravity and help fight against bone loss.

Boredom and depression are issues. Hopefully, the training and the screening has helped keep those susceptible to those issues from being selected. But easy entertainment, common rooms, and private rooms will help keep the colonists from suffering. A job on board the craft will also help. Whether it is a training course, or a job running the ship.

To put things into perspective, in the 1500’s it could take up to 3 months of travel to get from England to the new world. All of which was crammed into a small hold eating biscuits and other unsavory rations. This trip will be a luxury cruise in comparrison.

With good planning, increased speed, and acceleration/ deceleration times will speed up the journey greatly. Using a system like the BFR sounds very good on paper. I, for one, am keeping a close eye on the BFR to see if it lives up to its hype.

Mars, the Red Planet: A Futurist Perspective Part 2

So last time, I talked about the current methods of space travel. There will be future blogs about the problems with NASA and more details on the future methods of space travel.

But today, we are continuing the series talking about how to colonize Mars.

The second issue that we are going to have to solve with any attempt to colonize Mars is the Psychology of Colonists.

Psychology of Colonists

To go to mars, to set up a permanent colony, it has to be a one-way trip. The amount of money to spend to get people on Mars doesn’t make sense for them to come back.

But money is not the only reason for a one-way trip. It comes back to the mentality of the people themselves. People will take care of there homes and colony if they are there for the long term. If they have a sense of ownership of where they live, then people are more likely to take care of where they live than someone who is scheduled to rotate out in a month.

Take, for example, anyone that works for a business. More specifically those that are leaving the company. Most employees will lose productivity and care for the company cause any problems won’t have to be dealt with them. Whoever is taking the position after them will have that problem.

It is the difference between a renter and a homeowner. I have rented my home, and I have also owned my home. A renter pays his rent, and at the end of the lease, the house is the same to them. It doesn’t matter if the value of the house raises or falls. It doesn’t matter to them if the sink is falling apart. The only thing that they may lose is the damage deposit and a reference.

Being a homeowner, there is a different mentality that most homeowners have. The homeowner takes personal responsibility to the state of the house. When the sink is falling apart, they go out of there way to fix it. They are concerned with the value of the house, they have skin in the game.

To use that example in the context of colonists, those that rotate out are the renters, those that stay for life are owners.

Mars One is a leading example of a real-world company tackling this problem. They are planning to send a one way trip to Mars. The Mars One’s colonists won’t be coming back to earth. These people are going to care about their colony, and they will not want anything to fail. Cause any problems caused by themselves will have to be solved by themselves.

They are also doing everything in there power to gather up a list of potential colonists to make sure that they best colonists are sent. They have had phycologists go over what type of people that they want.

Mars One wants people that are resilient, adaptable, curious, trustworthy, trusting, and creative or resourceful. They have a lengthy process to select members that will not go completely crazy on the 5-month journey.

They put out a call for volunteers, and 2700 volunteers signed up. Which is not a very high number of people. They will have to figure out how to get more volunteers. I suspect that this will get higher when the colony is successful.

But why is this a problem? The colonists will be in a small ship on a five-month journey to the red planet. Once they get there, they don’t have green fields to run it.

Mars is a harsh planet that wants to kill us. We will rely on a habitat that must work properly to keep the people alive. Space will be limited. These colonists will be living in close proximity to each other. If they don’t get along, a fight amongst themselves could be deadly. And until the colony gets situated, with fail-safes and redundancy, it will exist on a knife-edge.

SOLUTION

What is the answer to this problem? Mars One is on the right track. By getting a large number of people to go through, they will be able to find the right colonists to go.

And volunteers will be the solution, no assigned personnel. Only people that want to go.

Training courses and simulations are also on the right track. Already in Russia, many mars simulations are going on or already have happened. And not all of them lasted. Some of them collapsed on themselves in failure.

And that is vital to the task of finding the right people. By understanding people and how they mend together, then it becomes easier to select the correct people.

Designing a habitat that has the potential to let the colonists have alone time. Star Trek and the Holodeck is a great idea. But that is beyond the scope of this blog. The idea is good, however.

Recreation will be vital. Giving the colonists Netflix and video games will be vital. The ability to allow them to unwind and destress will save lives.

By hand-selecting specific colonists on a one-way trip to set up a permanent colony will allow the colonists to care for about the colony and make it something better.

Mars, the Red Planet: A Futurist Perspective

Today, I am going to go back to a subject that I started, but then life got in the way, and I didn’t go back.

I am going to talk about Futurism.

You see, I am a futurist. I admit it. I enjoy talking about the future and studying the future. I am excited about the future, and in my honest opinion, it is not coming fast enough. And I want my flying car.

But, enough about that. Today I am going to go to the popular topic.

Mars.

More specifically, can we colonize Mars and if so, how hard would it be? So first things first.

Why Mars?

When anyone talks about anything to do in space, it seems like everyone is always talking about Mars. Can we go to Mars? What rovers are on Mars?

Well, Mars has a 24 hr rotation, which is important. Cause it allows us, humans, to adapt to the planet that much easier. It is also cool enough to land on the surface,  unlike Venus. It requires less delta-v, (or energy per unit of mass) than any other planet other than Venus. Which is important because getting to and around space costs lots and lots of money. The last thing that it has going for it is that it has water.

With those advantages, scientists and the media have latched onto it. A few movies and video games later and it is easy to see why there is an interest in the red planet.

What are some major problems to colonize Mars?

1. Cost to get things into LEO.

The price to get anything into Low Earth Orbit ranges from approx. 10k to 40k per pound. That is depending on who is launching things into space. Space X can do it for a different price than the Russians, etc.

That means that for a two hundred pound person, it can cost from 2 million to 8 million dollars to get just the person to the edge of space. That is not to the ISS, that is not including essentials like air, water, a space suit. That is just to get the naked human up there. That is it.

The good news is that getting the cargo and crew from Earth’s surface to orbit is the part that costs the most. Getting things through the atmosphere is the killer. The trip from Earth orbit to Mars is pennies in comparison.

To colonize Mars with a serious and sustainable, long-term colony, that price will have to come down a lot.

SOLUTION

There are many ways to bring down the price of space travel. There is a lot of work on new engines that are more cost effective and faster to use. But the major hurdle is getting cargo and crew into orbit.

There are futuristic solutions that scientists and engineers are talking about. The most famous of which is the Space Elevator. But whether the futuristic space flight system we use is a Space Elevator or some type of Rail Gun, those are far from being a reality.

What is happening now is that we have a large number of private companies that are developing or have developed new space flight systems. They vary in size, scope, and functionality, but they all will help bring the price down until someone figures out the issues with the Space Elevator and such.

For Cargo launches, there are three main contenders. They are Orbital ATK with the Cygnus Enhanced that flies on the Atlas V rocket. Sierra Nevada Corp with the Dream Catcher on the Atlas V rocket. But the biggest one is Space X.

Space X has its Dragon and Dragon 2 capsules that launch on the Falcon 9 rocket. It is mostly reusable and has already started to bring the price down. But they aren’t done, they have recently announced that they are designing the BFR that will fly on its own reusable launch system.

And no, the BFR doesn’t stand for ‘Big Fucking Rocket.’ It stands for ‘Big Falcon Rocket.’ It is a heavy lifting multi-purpose rocket system that will be able to put cargo into orbit, take cargo to the moon or Mars. From what I can tell, it is the system that will be used.

For Crew launches all private space companies, save one, are developing rockets to go to the ISS. Only one is planning anything long term. Those companies are the Blue Origin with the Biconic Space Vehicle on the New Glenn System, Boeing with the CST 100 on the Atlas V, Sierra Nevada Corp on the dream catcher.

The company that is planning for the future is Space X with its BFR. It can be configured to hold up to 100 passengers for the trip. The founder and CEO want to bring down the cost to get a person to mars from its current 10 billion to a more reasonable 100 thousand.

In my opinion, Space X is the best short-term solution to the space travel problem.

Elon Musk is not the only person that is wanting to go to Mars, and he is not the only group that is developing missions to go. There is Mars One, Inspiration Mars Foundation, and Boing Affordable Mission as a few examples.

But there are many current private and public companies that are wanting to fund missions to Mars or to set up colonies. In Wikipedia, there are 23 listings since the year 2000. Some are defunct, some are not.

Now to close up today’s blog, you will notice that I did not talk about NASA. And there is a reason for it. NASA has a big problem, that will be a subject of a later blog post. But in short, it is a government department that doesn’t know where it wants to go.

It plans to go to the moon, then not the moon, then an asteroid, then mars, then the moon again. It’s all very confusing. They have the constellation program from 2005 to 2009 which was then canceled, then the Orion on the Space Launch System.

And I heard that they are planning a moon mission once more. For a permanent colony on Mars. I am not sure what to think, and I don’t trust them. I will believe a Mars mission from NASA when I see it.

Next time, problem 2. Psychology of Colonists. Because getting off the ground was the most expensive part, but not the hardest. That is yet to come.

The Wrong LZ

So I finally hit the button. I have published my military sci-fi novel.

It is called The Wrong LZ.

“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Chief of Staff, Prussian Army.

Gunnery Sergeant Flannagain O’Neal serves in the the First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment of the Jovian Republic Marines. They drop onto the enemy held planet of Freya in the Odin System. When the operation goes wrong, it goes wrong fast.

Now the surviving members of Third Platoon, Baker Company must fight behind enemy lines against the enemy Odinittes. A ruthless enemy that will stop at nothing to get what they want. To the enemy, the ends justify the means.

The Odinittes have numbers, equipment, and superior intelligence on there side. The only thing that O’Neal and the Jovian Marines have are suits of power armor and Flechette Rifles. But how long can a platoon of marines hold out against a division of enemy troops?

If you like action-packed military science fiction. If you enjoy stories about the underdog fighting against evil. Then you will enjoy this novel written by Nathan Pedde.

Grab a copy of “The Wrong LZ” today.

Sounds interesting?

Here is the link. Take a look.

 

 

Creating a Military Sci-Fi Novel

 

So I have decided to change my writing schedule a bit. Nothing official yet. Once I finalize things, I will post them here.

The reason for it,  I have wanted to write a military sci-fi novel for a while. I have decided that I am going to write one.

I have also decided to talk about my methods for creating my world as I build it. Cause why not.

I create a story world there are two basic methodologies. Big to small or small to big. Some people world build in a more discovering writing style and fly at it. They do very little world building before writing ‘Once upon a time.’ It isn’t necessarily bad, it just has a tendency to run into plot holes and re-writes. This is the small to big method.

I prefer the big to small. I will use a smaller and smaller brush to design the world that I am writing in. Most of which will not go into the story, but will help with making the little parts of the story make sense in a macro way.

As such, I first start with the base writing universe.

I have a dislike of creating a new writing world for a new story. Don’t get me wrong, I love world building. If I could get a job where I create worlds for people all day, I would be in heaven. It is just that I have many already and I don’t need more. So I am going to put it in my Shattered Worlds Writing Universe. It will take place after my ‘Inescapable Game Novels.’

That means that anything that I create to this writing universe is more flavor for my current world. Even though my Shattered Worlds Writing Universe only exists in the Sol System. But that shall change.

Using the nations and peoples that I have in my Shattered Worlds, and a time frame of when this story is going to happen, I can brainstorm how it is going to happen. A war still needs to make sense.

I am not going to go into detail on who is fighting who in this story. Not yet. I will. Cause why not. That’ll be in a later blog post.

For now, onto the fun part.

I need to create a military force.

That is the hard part.

For research, one of my main sources of information was this book. It was well written and had lots of information on how military forces work in the current model. It also has some ideas on what future wars may or may not look like. I recommend anyone interested in writing Military Sci-Fi to grab this book.

For the uninitiated, most people think that a military is a bunch of men with no-senses of humor, a drinking habit, and some guns. But a military is much more than that. Don’t get me wrong, it includes all of that, but it is so much more.

A military is a very set, organized organization that is capable of moving thousands of men and material over long distances through hostile, rough terrain. Men and women who are willing to fight to the death for there cause.

On paper, there is a couple way of creating a military organization. Top down, or bottom up.

I am very strategic minded, so I am going to do the top down.

That means that I am going to create the larger structure before I get to the individuals. But take note. A story is about the individuals. Not about the organization or unit.

Now. My story takes place 600 years in the future. Humans have spread across the stars and will be at war. I am thinking other humans, but that is for ease of storytelling and not anything to do with the aliens. I will write other stories where the fighting will be against aliens, but that is not this one.

In order to create the structure for my soldiers to fight in, I need to make some assumptions. The first one is that there will only be two branches of the military. In most current armed forces, there are three.

Airforce, army, and navy.

In the future, there will only be the army and the navy. Sorry Airforce, you go the way of the Doto.

In this story universe, the army has been re-named the Ground Defense Force. The GDF. It is tasked with defending the specific world from threats. The Airforce has been merged with it.

To make the GDF fight harder, a unit based on a planet has there personnel families relocated to the planet. Someone that is defending there home and the family will fight that much harder for it.

The Navy, now named Fleet, is everything outside of the atmosphere. The structure of it stays pretty much the same. Ship personnel, the ‘air power,’ and the marines. It stays the same.

With those assumptions made, I can create a rank structure. For the GDF, I only go up to a Brigadier-General, while the Fleet, I go all the way up. I figure a defensive force will only have so many men in it. I have also decided to use modern ranks instead of creating new ones. The less I have to explain the better. More pages for more explosions and gunfire.

I then created unit structure. This part I was inspired by a video game. Hearts of Iron 4. In it, you create divisions by putting pieces of different companies together. I used that idea and created some base unit types. How many men in squads, platoons, etc. That way if I talk about a full strength platoon of Infantry having 40 men on page one, on page 300 it should have the same.

Also, the specific structure of the platoon? Do they use squads? Do they use fireteams? Are they like the USSR or the US? For clarification, communists use masses of men to win fights. The US use LMG’s and accurate firepower to defeat the enemies.

Do they have some type of fire support? Do they have artillery at the battalion level or the division? Does each company have a mortar unit? Or maybe it is a heavy weapons company that gets split up per platoon as needed.

These are all important pieces of information.

The reasons why comes to one of the basic tenants of storytelling that I follow.

It is more interesting to read about a character overcoming the disadvantages that he has with any specific skill, force, power or technology. In a military sci-fi setting, I can throw them into power armor and with flechet rifles and send them into battle. And that is all fun, but the good war stories, the ones that resonate with the reader/viewer are the ones that even though they are skilled and equipped for war, they still have an enemy to overcome and figure out how to defeat.

It is more interesting to have your men get pinned down by enemy sniper fire and force them to think outside of the box to get the enemy defeated. Or I can make them unstoppable killing machines, but who wants to read a story about that.

Until next time.

And p.s. Sorry for the space of time between posts.

Cheers.

Title changes

Just a short note today.

The Space Courier is no more. So in the light that I have made no sales from the Space Courier Book, I have replaced the name of it.

It is now, “An O’Neal Spy Adventure.”

That is the new cover. I also tweaked the marketing copy, so maybe people will be more interested in it. We shall see.

Now I have to get back to the land of Agersolum. I am working on Felix Book 2.

Cheers.