What an interesting thought. If the rules for light were different - if light faded after a few AUs of travel, we wouldn't have known about the existence of the rest of the universe. Our preoccupation with the stars - the stories we told - would be different.
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Seeking a Solarpunk Future
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Derek Caelin's books
2023 Reading Goal
Success! Derek Caelin has read 55 of 52 books.
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Derek Caelin finished reading Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy
In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to …
Derek Caelin rated Even Though I Knew the End: 2 stars

Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk
A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago's divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her …
Derek Caelin quoted Blue Machine by Helen Czerski
Light is the first and the main reason that we know the rest of the universe is there. Neutrinos are the second, and gravitational waves are only the third. It's easy to forget how tenuous our connection to the rest of existence is.
— Blue Machine by Helen Czerski (Page 211)
Derek Caelin finished reading Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk

Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk
A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago's divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her …
Derek Caelin quoted Blue Machine by Helen Czerski
And this warm, sheltered layby of the global ocean has been the stage for some of the greatest dramas of western history, as the Phoneician, Greek and Roman civilizations rose and fell around its coastline. Those societies saw the hand of the sea gods Yam, Poseidon and Neptune in their daily affairs, and in appreciating the role of the water they were not far wrong. But no amount of human worship can change the fundamental rules of the ocean, and so the blue machine just kept turning as the humans yelled their puny battle cries at its surface, oblivious to the inner workings of the waters that carried them.
— Blue Machine by Helen Czerski (Page 150)
Derek Caelin finished reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Derek Caelin wants to read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
A new format of the original fable, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. The magic continues! I sat mesmerized and devoured …
Derek Caelin finished reading A City on Mars
Derek Caelin wants to read Trophic cascade by Camille T. Dungy

Trophic cascade by Camille T. Dungy
Poems about birth, death, and ecosystems of nature and power In this fourth book in a series of award-winning survival …
Derek Caelin started reading A City on Mars

A City on Mars
Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, …
Derek Caelin finished reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Always a favorite. What a lovely book. I've yet to find something as "cozy".
While I love the rest of the series, I always wish I could land back on the Wayfarer and see what the crew is up to. Maybe some day Becky Chambers will write a "sequel".
Derek Caelin commented on The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Isn't it interesting how Becky Chambers subverts storytelling tropes? There isn't an over-arching conflict, there isn't a "hero's journey" (eat your heart out, Joseph Campbell!) - there is simply a crew/family living their lives. Sometimes there is a problem to be resolved, but, generally, the book is about plopping oneself down and watching these people exist and be decent to each other. I love it, and I love how it demonstrates the range of what fiction can be.
Derek Caelin started reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space—and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family …