The Cosmic Codex

By: Brian Scott Pauls
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  • Living in a science fiction universe...

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    Brian Scott Pauls
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Art Literary History & Criticism Science Fiction
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Episodes
  • Pioneers in an alien sky

    Pioneers in an alien sky
    Dec 28 2024
    Beneath the frozen silence, a world awaits discovery.Get your FREE copy of Under the Ice by Marie-Hélène Lebeault!Beneath the frozen silence, a world awaits discoveryIn a future where the Earth's surface is uninhabitable, humanity survives under the ocean, within a protective Dome. Ryn, a unique individual unable to adapt to aquatic life like the others, faces a dire situation when the Dome's stability is compromised. As their only hope for survival lies beyond the icy barrier above, Ryn embarks on a perilous journey to the unknown.Science fiction and libertarian political philosophy have a long history together, perhaps “growing out of the 1930s and 1940s when the science-fiction pulp magazines were reaching their peak at the same time as fascism and communism…” resulting in “…speculations about societies (or sub-groups)…in direct opposition to ‘totalitarianism.’”Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.In 1979, this close association inspired sf author L. Neil Smith to create the Prometheus Award “to honor libertarian science fiction.”Dave Freer dedicates his 2023 Prometheus Award winning novel, Cloud-Castles, “[t]o the memory of the men and women of the Eureka Rebellion,” a reference I had to look up. The Eureka Rebellion started in 1851 as a series of protests by gold miners in Australia’s Colony of Victoria against its British administrators. Matters escalated over the next three years, ending with the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, in which twenty-seven people (mostly miners) died.Freer borrows a number of elements from Australia in general and the Eureka Rebellion in particular, transposing them to the gas-dwarf (mini-Neptune) world of Sybil III.The planet itself is mostly sky, punctuated by the eponymous cloud-castles (Freer never explains the hyphen) islands of “floating vegetation,” and the “trading-plate.”Freer’s describes the world he’s created in fascinating detail:Sybil III just had no land. None. Or none that any human could survive on. It was a gas dwarf world, and its solid core lay somewhere many, many miles down below at enormous temperatures and pressures. The lifezone, such as it was, was up in the outer atmosphere. It was a vast lifezone, just resource poor, and short of solid landing platforms.Two extraterrestrial, extrasybillian, and formerly imperialistic species inhabit the cloud-castles, which have been around longer than humans have been in space. Unfortunately, the Thrymi and the Zell hate each other. Their respective interstellar empires seem to have destroyed one another long ago, leaving the sybillian populations the only known (to humans, at least) examples of the two species.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! This post is public so feel free to share it.Trade represented the one area of common interest between the two alien societies. Before their empires vanished, they built an “anti-gravity trading plate” in the skies of Sybil III to serve as neutral ground, a tradition the local aliens maintained even after their two species annihilated each other elsewhere.Humans first arrived on Sybil III aboard the failing FTL ship Botany Bay, which managed to crash on the trading plate. The survivors threw together a ramshackle settlement they named the “Big Syd”, made of scrap taken from the wrecked ship and whatever suitable native vegetation they could gather.By the time of the story, the Big Syd is a dangerous frontier town in which life reflects a Hobbesian state of nature—“poor, nasty, brutish” and often unnaturally short.Other human planets maintain embassies on the Big Syd. This is mainly due to competition over the hoped-for attentions of the Thrymi and Zell, who never-the-less tend to snub everyone equally.Enter Augustus StJohn Thistlewood III, youngest son of the wealthy Thistlewood industrial family on the planet Azure. Augustus is an idealistic university graduate. When he found working in his family’s factories as a boy had already taught him more engineering than his professors knew, he added sociology courses to his workload. As a result, he’s come to Sybil III to help “uplift” the local residents of the Big Syd out of poverty and ignorance.Augustus follows in the literary tradition of the “lucky fool.” While a brilliant, naturally gifted engineer, he has no “street smarts” at all. Time after time, this places him in perilous situations. Yet somehow everything seems to work out. He often remains blissfully ignorant of the chaos going on around him, which he himself has caused.Much of Augustus’ good luck is just that—luck. But some of it is manufactured by his local “guide,” Briz, who recognizes his wealth and naivety early and latches on to him as an easy meal ticket:“She didn’t care what he’d done to be made a remittance man here. It wasn’t something that she needed to know. There were a quite a few men and women that ...
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    9 mins
  • Making the future better than it used to be

    Making the future better than it used to be
    Nov 28 2024
    My novelette, An Illicit Mercy, is part of a new promotion in November: Short Story Smorgasbord.Nearly 65 short stories, available at no cost.When aliens arrive in Sol, how does humanity react in the first few hours?Get your FREE copy of Dark Nebula: Contact by Sean WilsonAfter several years of unstable peace throughout Sol, mankind is confronted with the arrival of an unknown alien force. Everyone deals with the unexpected arrivals differently.Military forces guarding the front lines of a century old conflict struggle to comprehend the alien arrival. Unhealed wounds from past battles stress Inner and Outer Ring soldiers, as a rogue among them takes matters into her own hands.Hours into the alien arrival, the president endeavors to contain a centuries old subterfuge. She never imagined she’d be the one responsible for guiding mankind in its darkest hour.A washed up vid-sim sports star turned messiah predicted the alien arrival with uncanny accuracy. How does a world react when his prophesies come true?New York City hosted the first World Science Fiction Convention, or “Worldcon,” in 1939. Pulp illustrator Frank R. Paul attended as Guest of Honor, along with about 200 writers, fans, and other artists.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Since then, the World Science Fiction Society has sponsored Worldcon every year except the World War II years of 1942-1945.This year, Glasgow hosted the 82nd Worldcon, with a half-dozen Guests of Honor and a total of more than 8000 attendees, about 7200 in-person and upwards of 600 online.Worldcons offer a number of activities, including Guest of Honor presentations, panel discussions, author autograph opportunities, multiple parties, the Hugo Awards, board games, card games, role-playing games, a vendor’s room, art shows, and a business meeting to decide the location of future conventions.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! This post is public so feel free to share it.Seattle will welcome the 83rd Worldcon from August 13-17, 2025, hosted by authors K. Tempest Bradford and Nisi Shawl. Guests of Honor will include:* Martha Wells (author)* Donato Giancola (artist)* Bridget Landry (fan)* Alexander James Adams (musician)“Building Yesterday’s Future–For Everyone” is the theme of next year’s convention, celebrating science fiction’s optimism from a half-century past, expressed in today’s spirit of multiculturalism and inclusion.You can register online to attend in person or virtually. Registration includes the right to vote for next year’s Hugos.I plan to attend. Please respond in the comments if you expect to be there as well. Perhaps we can set up a small Cosmic Codex party to join the fun! :)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
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    3 mins
  • "Probability Amplitudes": Elements in flux

    "Probability Amplitudes": Elements in flux
    Nov 21 2024
    My novelette, An Illicit Mercy, is part of a new promotion in November: Short Story Smorgasbord.Nearly 65 short stories, available at no cost.Get your FREE copy of Warmonger by Monique Singleton!In the near future, France is ruled by an ultra-right minded president. The country is in chaos, the chasm between rich and poor is ever increasing. Unwittingly a beautiful woman becomes the catalyst that starts not only a new French Revolution but also the Third World War.But what is the role of the strange priest in all this? Who is he? Or more appropriately, what is he?An intense story full of international intrigue, unexpected twists and a mind-blowing finale.Download your free copy of Warmonger and emerge yourself in the Primal series. You will not regret it.Back in September, I reported a status of “First Draft” or “Final Draft” for 56% of the material intended for Probability Amplitudes, my upcoming collection.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.I’m finding this journey through my first book to be an exercise in refining my progress tracking. In this case, I’d based my estimates on a completed (or so, at 26,000 words, I thought) first draft of a story entitled “Fire From Heaven,” and my plans for its as-yet unwritten 20,000 word companion story, “Nasty, Brutish, and Short.”Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! This post is public so feel free to share it.Those of you who’ve read my article from October 7, or have purchased Boundary Shock Quarterly 28: SF Horror, may be aware "Nasty, Brutish, and Short" turned out to be nowhere near 20,000 words. It ended up a “mere” 9779 words. And when I’d finished editing “Fire From Heaven,” I discovered it to be a 8722 word novelette hiding inside 26,000 words of a (to quote author Anne Lamott) “shitty first draft.” This sent approximately 7500 words right back into “New Material Required” status.But I’m happy about it. Because "Fire From Heaven" is better at 9779 words than at 26,000. Much better.I expect more course corrections like this as I work my way toward publication, but as long as they make the book better, bring them on!Current status: 47% of the material for Probability Amplitudes is in “First Draft” or “Final Draft” status.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
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    2 mins

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