It’s a curious thing, but I’ve now had a couple people indicate to me that they’d be quite happy if I wrote faster. Some authors, famous for taking five-plus years per installment in their serial sagas, become annoyed when their fans try to rush them.
Not me. Ok, I’m hardly famous, and we aren’t talking about years here… and perhaps even saying fans would be a stretch… but when a couple readers tell me they’re impatient for the next scene in my serial novel, I find that highly encouraging! I’m not sure it gets me to write faster, but at least I know someone is waiting to read what I write, and that does indeed motivate me.
So, with that in mind, here it is! The next thousand words in the story of The Silence of Ancient Light. When last we left them, our heroes had managed to stabilize their crippled orbital shuttle against the surface of the alien space station, and they were mourning the death of Takashi, the engineer. The immediate danger is past, but they’re still in a bind, and they need to find a way to repair the damage to the shuttle. And to do that, someone is going to have to go back outside.
Extra-Vehicular Activity, or…
header image credit: pxhere.com
Matt Fraser 
Thank you! They’re like desserts for the mind. I’ve always been a hard science fiction fan – I have a bookshelf of old Asimov, Blish and Bradbury. And I’m enjoying your mini series/installments! The questions linger in my mind long after I’ve read the chapter.
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“Desserts for the mind…” Thank you! I like that! I too read a great deal of Asimov, Bradbury, and Blish growing up, though I realize I have none of those old volumes upon my shelves today, and only Asimov appeared in my “Influences” post (but Bradbury arguably should have been there, as I devoured his books at a certain age, a little before I discovered Asimov). I think it may soon be time for a re-read of the Foundation series.
And I see you’ve started a ham radio blog!
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Hi Matt, enjoyed your blog and EVA. I have written a children book The Universe a Work of Art and ofcourse I had to tell them about EVA, since that is my name and it goes like this: EVA, no it’s not me floating in space….
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Hi Eva! Well, of COURSE you would enjoy stories about EVA; I’m pretty sure it’s in the contract of having that particular name. Joking aside, I’m really glad you liked it, and thank you for the kind comment. I’ll have to check out your book. I quite enjoyed the photography on your site.
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Hi, Matt, it’s so fun when somebody( like you) actually writes something,instead of just clicking likes…
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Usually I can’t even get anyone to click ‘Like’ on my posts, so a REAL, LIVE comment is golden. I agree, I much prefer some actual discussion, however, I also admit to being guilty of like-clicking a lot myself. Sometimes I’m simply short on time but still want to show appreciation for what was written. Sometimes I don’t really have anything constructive to say, but again, want to show appreciation, in which case I think a ‘like’ is better than a two-word “great post!” comment.
I’ve seen it written, however, that the “like” (or the heart in Twitter, specifically) becomes a conversation-ender, because it means there’s no more to say. I’m not sure that’s always the case, but I can see the point. And, well, sometimes conversations come to a natural conclusion.
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