Rabbit Hole of Research
One Year of going down rabbit holes and no one still has gotten busy in space.
One Year In, So Let’s Get Personal And A Little Emotional
It’s hard to believe that it’s been one year since I started this newsletter. So, what’s the Rabbit Hole of Research origin story? Well, it was April/May of 2020, the world was going someplace in a hand basket, and in the delirium of my COVID-19 infection fever I dreamed up Rabbit Hole of Research among other things.
I had been toying with the idea to do some sort of science communication project for years (I have given art and science lectures around Chicagoland), but it was at the urging of my Publisher RhetAskew to start a newsletter and build an audience for my brand that Rabbit Hole of Research was put into motion. Also, I promised the universe if I lived through COVID I’d write this awesome newsletter! But, I still Freaked Out at the thought of finishing my debut novel edits, creating a brand, a newsletter, a platform—AHHHH!
After the initial freak out of thinking about a brand, surviving COVID infection, building a platform, and my writing career starting with the release of my debut novel in 7 months—I did research on newsletters (what’d you expect).
After chatting with Jon Parrish (A wonderful writer and comic creator; who hopefully I can feature on my newsletter, and you should check out), gave me some insight about how he tackles his newsletter; the newsletter should do one of these three things, if not all: 1) Entertain; 2) Inform; and 3) Educate. Also very helpful was the very informative book Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque—read this before you start your newsletter.
With my sense of smell returning, publisher nudging, Jon’s sage advice, and the insider information from Newsletter Ninja; I had the confidence and know-how to start Rabbit Hole of Research.
And with a plucky idea and a bag full of Handwavium, I hit send on my first newsletter July 2020: “What’s The Big Deal About Having Sex In Space?”
And the few people I convinced to subscribe to my newsletter—liked it, or at least didn’t unsubscribe, and some even encouraged me to keep writing about the quirky science in fiction, and to use the word Handwavium a lot more (okay, no one encouraged me to keep saying Handwavium, but no one said to stop either.)—and here we are, a Year Later, still slinging Handwavium around like candy on the set of Halloween!
The Newsletter has changed over the year. It went from a monthly to bi-monthly newsletter (author/creator interview), and in a collaboration with Georgia Geis (https://www.atomicnumber14.com/) added original themed prints and creator portraits to the newsletter (which are available on her website). There was no original art in the first two episodes, but I’m going to fix that in this Big Sexy first year review (look at this great print of the very talented and lovely Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura):
Personally, A lot has happened in this past year in my writing life besides starting the newsletter so let me go over the highlights:
1) My first Rom-Com novella was published in January 2021 (Tomorrow May Be Too Late); it was published in a limited edition Anthology, but now that the rights have reverted back to me I’m going to rerelease it as a stand alone. I’m working on the book cover now!
2) My debut SciFi Psychological Thriller, ‘Will You Still Love Me If I Become Someone Else?’ was released in February 2021
If you need a copy or want to read some reviews click this link (you can get a digital copy, or a signed paperback from my shop). Thank you if you already picked up a copy. And a bigger thanks if you left me a review! (click here to leave a review)
3) My werewolf romance novella, ‘Eve’ will be in the ‘Moonlight: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance Anthology’ this fall; Preorder available here
4) My post-apocalypse novella, ‘The Cure’ will be in the ‘Emerging Worlds Dystopian/Post Apocylpse Anthology’ this fall. Once I have a preorder link I will share it!
5) I have a novel out on Query, ‘The Cost of Us’, and I am writing a sequel to ‘Will You Still Love Me if I Become Someone Else?’—I’m about 25K words in.
Well it’s been a year, and as I wipe the heel of my hand across my eyes to clear the tears away, let’s have a look back at this Big Sexy Space called Rabbit Hole of Research.
Rabbit Hole of Research: One Year of Sexy Space
As I mentioned, the first edition was all about the trouble of having Sex in Space—Remember Newton’s third law of motion—the equal and opposite reaction thing (Click here to read more about the issues), but one of the things that readers commented on the most was that no one has ever gotten busy in space. And in the year since my first episode, we have had billionaires, the oldest person in space (Wally Funk), a space helicopter (Ingenuity), and still no one has done the deed in space. What says you Barbarella?
Now that private space travel is on the horizon, I’m sure someone will probably go where no one has gone before!
Howling At the Moon
Speaking of Sexy, the next episode was all about werewolves and the metabolic challenges of transforming between human and wolf (check it out here). Turns out you have to use a lot of Handwavium to transform from a human to wolf in a few movie minutes like Jack Nicholson in Wolf. But, there is no reason you cannot look good while doing it!
I still want to do a wereshark story—maybe a wereshark mermaid romance horror story—
Do Plants Dream of Photonic Sheep
One of my favorite episodes to write was about Killer Plants, and this was the first edition to feature prints by Georgia (atomicnumber14). Also, my favorite print was in this edition—the Scream from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)!
I recently made a sticker of this print which I’ve been giving out at signings (I’ll be at the Munster Community Market again on August 15th and The Printer’s Row Lit Fest on Sept 11th; stay tuned for more). I will have these available on my shop soon, or if you buy a signed book I’ll send you one!
Maybe I should have a shirt with this on it, Would you wear one?
If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It
Speaking of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, another famous SciFi actor Leonard Nimoy made an appearance in my newsletter: It turns out the writers of Star Trek said Spock’s blood is green because the oxygen-carrying agent in Vulcan blood includes copper, rather than iron, but the science says, “No! You’re wrong, but thanks for playing.”
As I explained in my newsletter Spock’s blood should have been blue similar to organisms on Earth that use Hemocyanin—Oh well, good thing they had a handy supply of Handwavium on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)!
Sweet Dreams Are Made of Handwavium
Well that’s what we do here at Rabbit Hole of Research, expose the Handwavium and crush childhood fantasies—like the . Turns out there is more handwavium in Hank Pym’s particles then science—sorry ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ fans. Or the fact that Walt Disney didn’t really .
The Future is Only a Second Away
So, What’s next for Rabbit Hole of Research? Collaborations, Podcasts, Sponsors, Endorsements, Book Deals? Maybe, who knows? (If you do know, please drop me an email and if you can include the winning Powerball numbers for the next drawing, that would be awesome.)
But, I do know there will be more exciting topics lined up for Rabbit Hole of Research like; Why doesn’t my hot-tub work like a DeLorean?; What could go right with human genetic manipulation?; Let’s play with Plasma; Artificial Stupidity—And Robot Angst; For the love of Zombies Stop Eating Brains; Vampires and their fixation on sun avoidance or Is It All For Looks? And many more fun topics (some of these are reader inspired), and as always a lot of Handwavium!
Have an idea, Email me!
Why Stop The Party?
Because you can never have enough of the talented Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, here’s a print of her on Green paper or is it Blue or some shade in between? Did you know the famous groundbreaking kiss between Kurt and Uhura wasn’t originally planned, she was supposed to kiss Spock, but the writers changed it—wonder what Spock did to the writers?
And because this is the Special One Year Big Sexy Space edition of Rabbit Hole of Research, here is an outtake art piece from AtomicNumber14 of Jane Fonda from Barbarella, and Sean Connery from Zardoz.
Hope you enjoyed this little trip down Rabbit Hole of Research memory lane? Please stay tuned and join me next time as I reveal the actual factual science in fiction and fantasy.
If you missed one of the first 13 episodes of Rabbit Hole of Research, you can find them here. Like the prints you see in my newsletter, they are done by the talented Georgia Geis, and available for purchase at atomicnumber14.com (or email if you want one and don’t see it).
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