Ken Kraus

Check out my latest story, a “Borgus” related tale, as the featured serial in the July-August 2010 Aphelion.

http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/serials/2010/07/VivianandtheDust.html

This 15,000 word novella, Vivian and the Dust, is about a related character from Space Station Lennier in 2152. Rosa, the nurse, returns for a cameo role as well.

Vivian, a young trainee addicted to snorting mind-altering dust, is arrested for smuggling a rare ore from Titan’s North Pole. The station doctor intervenes to help with her cure, but she soon learns that all her troubles lead to the station morgue where the hidden corpse of his lover appears to be regenerating.

And get this: There’s a paranormal element in the story about a mist like presence that arises from a semi organic lake on Saturn’s moon Titan- and wouldn’t you know – there’s a coincidental article in the July 26, 2010 NY Times Science Section about growing and receding methane lakes now detected on Titan. So we’re onto something here.

There’s a paranormal element in Vivian and the Dust about a mist like presence that arises from a semi organic lake on Saturn’s moon Titan- and wouldn’t you know – there’s a coincidental article in the July 26, 2010 NY Times Science Section about growing and receding methane lakes now detected on Titan. So we’re onto something here.

You can check out the article: HINTS OF EARTH SPLASH A SATURN MOON LANDSCAPE

Does Vivian befriend an EVAPORITE ? In the story, there’s a possibly sentient creature that forms out of Titan’s lakeside “dust”, and to that end:

check out : http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/3326.html

Evaporites on Titan

2012/01/12 04:33 CST

by Jason W. Barnes
ssistant Professor of Physics, University of Idaho

“Evaporites form on planetary surfaces when dissolved chemical solids precipitate out of saturated solution as their liquid solvent evaporates…”

Here’s a recent post about Titan and its climate from the Planetary Society:

Notes from Titan talks at the 2012 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC)

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/3426.html

prospect of life on Jupiter’s moon Europa

Europa is the sixth closest moon of the planet Jupiter, and the smallest of its four Galilean satellites, but still one of the largest bodies in the Solar system. Slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System.  READ MORE….

So no, I didn’t just make up the makeup of this beguiling moon out of the thin thin atmosphere. Here’s some related factual basis for how I described the geology and frozen hydrosphere of this Jovian moon. From the Planetary Society:

IS EUROPA’s ICE THIN or THICK?

And here’s a quote from a recent article on the Europa Mission Campaign:

There may be life out there beyond our pale blue planet…life with no connection to us, life with an ancient history of its own, life that — if discovered — would rewrite natural history as we know it.

We are speaking of the tantalizing Jovian moon Europa. In a solar system full of astonishing planets and their moons, Europa stands out. Scientists believe that beneath its unique frozen and cracked surface, there may exist an enormous ocean of liquid water, perhaps twice as much as in all of Earth’s oceans.

EUROPA

In the MAY 09 Aphelion Webzine: “The Dolphin of Europa” in which an innocent nurse is trapped in an underground cavern on this icy moon, with a half crazed marine biologist and a creature whose mesmerizing song feels too good to be true.

Click on “The Dolphin of Europa” to go directly to the story.

Please feel free to write in a comment on the reader’s blog as well.

And do check out the recent article about Europa in my Solar System Science section.

“Squatters,”  appears in Aphelion Webzine.

JC is a boy surviving the urban jungle, considering a life of drug pushing as sponsored by his Rastafarian cousin Skip. But his first “deal” goes way bad when his contact turns out to be harboring a gang of unearthly beings who are preying upon the souls of the locals, and JC is next on their list.

Click on Aphelion Webzine to go to the webzine or on “Squatters” to go directly to the story.

Please feel free to write in a comment on the reader’s blog as well.

My “Lovers Under the Green Sky” is in Planetary Stories, complete with custom illustrations!  Almost like having your very own Ken Kraus adult “graphic novelette.”

Planetary explorer Herschel Rexrode suspects his rocky marriage is about over. But, when his cheating wife Anna is ambushed returns profoundly changed, he faces a new problem. The “old” Anna, a competent botanist who’s sacking with the station commander, is gone forever. The “new” Anna will likely prove deadly to the crew, but - hey!- she’s finally the devoted, loving partner he always wanted. 

Click on Planetary Stories and click on issue #11, get a load of that cover,  or click on “Lovers Under the Green Sky” to go directly to my story.

ALSO: look for my article in the “From the Vibrating Ether” Letter section entitled: Two Tales of the Damsel in Distress.