My novelette, An Illicit Mercy, is part of a new promotion in September: Free Fantasy & SciFi.Seventy science fiction and fantasy books, available at no cost.Indiana Jones meets Air Bud in this short tail of loyalty, responsibility, and adventure set in The Realm of Reason...Get your FREE copy of Seeker by August Niehaus.Opie works a boring government job so he can send money back home on Mars to his drug-addicted parents (who don't even remember their son is a cybernetic human-dog hybrid now). He's got a chip-slot in his tongue that allows him to speak any language that can be loaded onto silicon, and a sense of morality more true than any compass — making him the perfect errand boy for people like Section Chief Ferra Cain, head of the Human Authority Tactical Intelligence.When Cain summons Opie to the backwater planet of Shihar to act as guide for an expedition headed up by the native Shihari people, it seems like a pretty standard mission: don't let the Shihari get greedy. Don't let the mission go off the rails. DON'T let anyone take the payload.But as the mission wears on, it's the very things that made Opie the perfect spy that plant the seeds of doubt in his mind. As he ponders the right path, Opie will make choices that change the course of the mission — and his life.As the United States anticipates the possibility of our first black, female president, I want to share Robert A. Heinlein’s vision from nearly 45 years ago.His essay/short story hybrid “The Happy Days Ahead”/”’Over the rainbow—’,” included in the 1980 collection Expanded Universe, considers an eventuality where a black woman (based on Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols,) is elected vice president. She then unexpectedly comes to power in the wake of concerns over the competency of her predecessor. Both before and after becoming president, she faces the bigotry of racism and sexism, but succeeds by serving the American people as a whole, refusing to cater exclusively to either side of the political divide or to any particular interest group.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.In the course of her administration, she faces economic, immigration, and environmental concerns, tackling each with bold initiatives, eventually winning re-election.One passage, in particular, stands out today. It’s Heinlein’s commentary on the latent power of women in American politics. I’ve never forgotten it, and over the past two years, I’ve started to see it realized. In the words of Heinlein’s Madam President:‘We women are a majority, by so many millions that in an election it would be called a landslide. And will be a landslide, on anything, any time women really want it to be. So women don’t need favors; they just need to make up their minds what they want—then take it.’Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! This post is public so feel free to share it.Happy election day, my fellow Americans! No matter your political philosophy or affiliation, please exercise your right to vote today.Update (11-6-24): And it’s still coming. Maybe we’ll get over the rainbow one day…Questions or comments? Please share your thoughts!My latest novelette, “Nasty, Brutish, and Short,” now appears in Boundary Shock Quarterly 28: SF Horror.When the first expedition to the mysterious planet Janus takes a deadly turn, Lieutenant Carita Keahi must fight for survival against an alien ecosystem unlike anything humanity has ever encountered. As crew members fall victim to bizarre and lethal life forms, Keahi races against time to escape the dangers of this two-faced world. With mind-bending alien biology and gut-wrenching sacrifices, this tale of planetary exploration gone horribly wrong will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. Prepare for a journey into the unknown that will challenge everything you thought you knew about life in the cosmos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecosmiccodex.com
