Cover art for the upcoming Blue Planet Pres anthology “Far Futures 3”

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My science fiction short story “Confluence” has been accepted for publication in the Blue Planet Press anthology “Far Futures Three – An Anthology of Deep Space”

The story requirements are:

Space exploration. From the outer planets of our solar system to the edge of the Orion Spur and the even more distant Andromeda Galaxy. How will we get there? Generation ships? Faster than light engines? Dimensional warping? Wormholes?

Hopefully, my tale has a unique perspective on the subject. Here’s a small preview:

Mission commander Michael Diaz pressed thin lips together trying to suppress his anxiety as an odd vibration passed through the spaceship. He shot a look at the co-pilot to his right who hadn’t reacted. If he was imagining things, why did he still have a sense of foreboding?

We’re coming out of Jupiter’s radio shadow, Jim. Mission Control’s going to want that status update.”

“I’ve got it ready, Mike.” Former Navy submariner James Barrett punched several buttons on his right-hand console and a small screen began to display the relevant data. Then he stiffened. “I’ve got something.” He brushed a palm across his close-cropped blond hair.

Mike asked, “What’s something?”

“Firing up the lidar now. Radar, infrared…it came around Jupiter’s horizon fast and it’s big. Copying to your consoles.”

“That is an understatement, James. What does it measure?” Dr. Li Zhang’s voice remained calm but his Mandarin accent was more apparent than usual.

“Approximately three kilometers in diameter, roughly oval shape, velocity…no, this can’t be right,” Barrett said. “Diaz, it’s tracking right for us. Estimated time to impact eighty-two seconds.”

The three-hundred-meter length of the Minos spacecraft lurched.

“What was that?” Payload specialist Billie Robinson grabbed onto the panel in front of her and looked around as if she expected to see the cause.

“I don’t know,” Jim said. “Possibly some sort of turbulence from the object. Impact in sixty-eight seconds. “Commander…”

“Initiating the fusion drive. Send the cabin recordings to NASA and plot a course away from the anomaly, Jim.”

“That will take us off our track for insertion into Europa orbit.” Sofia Kononenko was sitting at her station behind the flight crew.

“Can’t be helped unless you want to find out what happens if that thing hits us,” said Diaz.

“I’ve got a course Mike, but we’re not going to make it. The ion pulse won’t move us fast enough.”

Diaz asked, “Options?”

“We could use the chemical maneuvering thrusters,” said Zhang.

“It would take four minutes to make the course correction,” said Barrett. “Impact in thirty-two seconds.”

“Eject the crew module from the drive section,” said Sofia.

“Are you crazy?” said Billie. “That would strand us out here with no way home.”

“We have to do something,” Barrett said. “Impact in twenty seconds.”

“We’re unable to avoid collision.” Diaz was manipulating the controls across the panel in front of him. “Brace for impact.”

Preorders for “Far Futures Three – An Anthology of Deep Space” should be available in mid-September for a general release of the book on October 15th. I’ll post more as information comes in.