I'm super excited to have blogger buddy, Krista D. Ball on today to talk about one of my favorite aspects of SF and the possibilities of the future... space stations.
When I was a little girl, I wanted to go into space. I didn’t want to be an astronaut, though. I wanted to move to a space port, or an asteroid drilling complex, or a planetary research facility. (Thank the spirits my parents were too poor to send me into therapy and instead just let me watch Twilight Zone reruns.)
A significant portion of science fiction cannon is set on space ships, soaring through the black. Reading about aliens, scary space nebulas, and weird and wondrous space fungi is rather cool, I admit. But for me, I like to also read about how people working together get on; how they live their lives, interact with each other – and how they get their supplies!
In Road to Hell, I imagined my military space port to be somewhere between an airport and a hospital. Lots of businesses, offices, people coming and going. I did let people live there; I want the future to solve the daily commute issue, not make it worse by shuttling people to and from a planet!
Perhaps it’s my distaste for big box stores, but I want my future space ports to be filled with specialized shops – homemade candies, non-chain restaurants, hat stores. I don’t want a giant DIY store taking up half of my space port’s strip mall. I want specialty items and goodies.
Also, in space I think we’ll be falling back to the mail order catalogue. Sure, we’ll always have the general items available, but sometimes you’ll just want to order jeans from Earth and no local brand will do. And what about food? A girl can only eat reconstituted protein powder before she snaps. Imported Jiffy-brand peanut butter might become the cure for deep space dementia.
When you think about the future, what do you want to see on your space stations? Do you want austere décor, a place fit for battle. Or, do you want a local mall? Or, do you want it turned into a nudist colony?
Perhaps it’s my distaste for big box stores, but I want my future space ports to be filled with specialized shops – homemade candies, non-chain restaurants, hat stores. I don’t want a giant DIY store taking up half of my space port’s strip mall. I want specialty items and goodies.
Also, in space I think we’ll be falling back to the mail order catalogue. Sure, we’ll always have the general items available, but sometimes you’ll just want to order jeans from Earth and no local brand will do. And what about food? A girl can only eat reconstituted protein powder before she snaps. Imported Jiffy-brand peanut butter might become the cure for deep space dementia.
When you think about the future, what do you want to see on your space stations? Do you want austere décor, a place fit for battle. Or, do you want a local mall? Or, do you want it turned into a nudist colony?
About Road to Hell:
Captain Katherine Francis is about to disobey every Ethics Law the Union of Planets throws at her. After the Union's enemy destroys her home planet and murders her family, she makes the decision to bring an end to the war--whatever it takes.
When an opportunity arises to ally with the neutral Alliance and turn the tide of war, Katherine throws aside her moral code, partners with a known spy, and risks sacrificing the very core of who she is.
And when faced with choosing between her conscience and stopping the bloodshed, she realizes that, either way, she'll lose.
When an opportunity arises to ally with the neutral Alliance and turn the tide of war, Katherine throws aside her moral code, partners with a known spy, and risks sacrificing the very core of who she is.
And when faced with choosing between her conscience and stopping the bloodshed, she realizes that, either way, she'll lose.
Chapters 1-3
About the Author:
Krista D. Ball is a Canadian speculative fiction author who is currently hiding from necromancers. Better safe than undead.
I'd like a good Greek restaurant, a place to buy sports underwear and a biological products shop. But I never really imagined how space would be, I guess I'm stuck on earth...
ReplyDeleteGreat post Krista!
This is a great post, AR and Krista!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about Space Stations as well. But my idea is a science station for research. Probably in a more distant future or another planet SS it would be similar to the stations we've seen in SF movies.
Thanks so much for visiting Krista. I love the idea of space stations. When I imagine space stations, I imagine different kinds depending on the purpose, the location, and the society.
ReplyDeleteFor stopping points within a secure area for a commerce driven people, I imagine something akin to a hybrid busy mega airport & bustling yet small city.
For a less social/open people, I imagine a restrictive military-like base where tradesmen delivering goods have to pass through several security protocols and high restrictions are in place as to where and how long they can be places. Oh, and tons of security patrols.
@Chrystalla - LOL, being Earthbound is okay. If everyone were spacebound Earth would quickly turn into a ghost town and that would be no fun.
@Kaye - I like the research and science stations. I agree, I can't imagine stations being comfortable enough for civilian use for a long time, so it'll take a dedicated profession to live in that kind of rough environment.
I'm starting to think my life won't be complete until I write a nudist colony space station story...
ReplyDelete