Neil A. Hogan Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Space Fiction Writer Author Editor
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Yes, great news! A new series of Science Fiction weekly has begun. I’ve created some new stories, and rewritten some recent stories to be released on a weekly basis from this week!
Stories 1-13 were released last year, and I’ll release stories 14-26 this year.
The first story in the new series is out – #14 The Hydrofluorons of Krakon 7, with #15 Alien UFO Disclosure to follow next Tuesday.
I’ll post each time a new one becomes available.
Many thanks for reading!
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Now available in print
My goal with Alien Dimensions Issue #16 was to release it in time for the 2nd anniversary. Of course, that was more of a marketing decision than anything else.
I was able to submit the final version of issue #16 for print checks this week. I also got confirmation this week that it was good to go. However, I had planned to release it next week, and wasn’t going to press the release button until the optimal day for publishing a print book (Tuesday).
A few days later I got an email from CreateSpace telling me that their system will be shut down in a few weeks and that everything would move to Amazon.
What?
Of course, I had known this would happen, ever since Amazon bought Createspace back in 2005. There has been a long term plan behind the development of ebooks, KDP and Createspace over the past 13 years, and I’ve been paying close attention since 2008. This is the next step and it will make things a lot easier for self publishers who prefer not to go wide.
(As a side note, I celebrate 20 years as a customer of Amazon this year, so you could say I’m one of its greatest fans!)
Even so, the idea that they are going to move everything from Createspace to Amazon print in a few weeks, whether I want it or not, was a bit of a surprise. My main concern was a huge amount of books with specifically-sized covers that weren’t compatible with the Amazon print system. The other concern was that the date hadn’t been set for my migration. If it happened on Tuesday, then it would cause a problem for the whole launch process of Alien Dimensions #16.
I couldn’t take that risk.
As Createspace says that it would take 3-5 days to appear on Amazon, I thought I’d post it at 12:30am LA time on the 1st of September. Rather than wait until Tuesday and hope it would have the 4th as a publication date, I posted it today and relied on the ‘business days’ situation to sort things out. It also meant I could sleep easy knowing that the launch could not in any way be delayed, as I’d already launched it.
Makes sense. Right?
I had no idea that, because of the merger, rather than everything being delayed, everything was actually being fast-tracked. Within an hour of the printed version being confirmed, it had become available on Amazon. Within three hours sales had started to come through.
Thank you to everyone buying copies. I’m shocked and quite appreciative that the issue has been discovered before I made any official announcements. A nice surprise.
So, if you read this and wonder why you haven’t received an email telling you the print version is now available, it’s because I am going to wait until the ebook becomes available too.
The ebook version is a different beast. There is a slight problem with KDP in submitting for approval, and the dates. If I submit it on the 1st, one of the operators will list it as the 30th or 29th of the previous month. If I publish it on the 3rd, I’ve got a better chance of scoring a ‘1st of September’ listing. I want early September rather than late August as early month dates within that month sell better than late month dates. (Yes, I’ve been crunching the numbers!) A number of times I’ve submitted Alien Dimensions late on the 2nd of a month, and had it listed on the last day of the previous month. I would then politely email customer service and have the date changed. I’d prefer not to have to worry about that, so I’ll submit it on the 4th, and see how things go!
So, if you’re looking for the printed version of Alien Dimensions Science Fiction Short Stories Issue #16, click here
If you’re looking for the ebook version, subscribe to the irregular mailing list newsletter here, and I’ll send out an email the moment it becomes available.
Many thanks for reading.
Neil A.
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Sent back 2.5 million years in time to the Andromeda Galaxy to investigate why there’s a record of them having been there, the Stellar Flash crew encounter a creature so powerful that it has taken control of the entire galaxy by thought alone.
With most of the crew unconscious, Captain Jonathan Hogart is in a race against time to defeat the plant-planet, save the galaxy, and find a way to return to 2133.
But another force is attempting to take control, to use the power of the creature from the past to take over the Milky Way Galaxy in the present. And, for this, Hogart has no defense.
How is the creature controlling an entire galaxy?
Who has the technology to transmit the creature’s power from the past to the present?
And will the Stellar Flash crew and the Space Station team be able to save both galaxies?
Available now at –
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When I was growing up, I was obsessed with science fiction books and attending conventions. I got to know many wonderful people throughout quite a number of different ‘codes’ – Doctor Who Clubs, Star Trek Clubs, Bablyon 5 clubs and more.
However, that tiny room off to the side that appeared at comic conventions and the like, devoted to ‘real’ aliens, didn’t appeal to me that much.
Thirty years later and I’ve just signed myself up as an ambassador for World UFO Day.
I guess times have changed. Or perhaps I have.
The important thing about World UFO Day is to just help people become aware of what is above them. (Even harder these days with most people looking down at their mobiles!) There are a lot of organisations teaching people about aliens, and you can find anything you need to know searching Google.
But, I think the most important thing that has happened in the past 10 years is that many governments have released their materials to the public. Much of which can be easily accessed online.
Here are a few of the larger databases:
UK National Archives UFO Files
Canada Library and Archives UFO Files
Australia National Archives UFO Files
Le GEIPAN, Groupe d’Études et d’Information sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non Identifiés fait partie intégrante des missions du Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) is the official French government UFO research department. This site is a comprehensive archive, which also includes guides for teachers. Find out more here
The Denmark Airforce UFO files are now behind a login, but I have the 329pg pdf which you can download here: UFO_materiale
There are a lot more official government sites out there with UFO information, and many more governments releasing materials (I believe Germany will be next) so it’s not about whether you want to believe or not. It’s whether you’d like to get interested. If this is a subject for you, and you’d like to meet a real alien one day, going through the archives and familiarising yourself with the thousands of different types of alien craft, could go some way to acclimatising yourself for when Official First Contact takes place. (Sometime within the next 15 years.)
And, if you can’t wait for that to happen in normal reality, you can always try organising a more private contact experience yourself. Check out this book, and perhaps it’ll help you meet some aliens outside of normal reality!
Contact Aliens Within 30 Days Digital
Contact Aliens Within 30 Days Print
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With movies like Arrival getting a lot of attention in the mainstream press, many would like to know, myself included, what the official protocols are for first alien contact. After much searching I’ve come to the conclusion that we don’t have anything in place.
Yes, seriously! (Well, officially!)
No government agency has a formal step by step system in place. The main reason for this is that no government agency actually expects it to happen for at least another twenty years. (Best to leave it for the next generation?)
I find this very strange, as we have detailed step-by-step plans for all government officials, members of royalty and civilians for just about any eventually. Why we don’t have official protocols for first alien contact is beyond me.
After all, if the government of your country wants to make sure that you as a citizen are safe, no matter what the eventuality, pamphlets, leaflets, websites, social media, video sharing sites and more should have some easily found list of protocols for the eventuality of running into an alien at some point.
If I was Prime Minister of my country, I certainly wouldn’t want a teenage kid stumbling onto a UFO in a field somewhere, hooking up with the aliens, then going for a joyride, teaching them how cool it is to troll people, or encouraging them to blast a bully at their school. I’d prefer there to be strict rules in place, much like the safety demonstrations on air flights.
“Good morning citizens. Welcome to protocol 47. Our friendly team will demonstrate the correct way to approach a space alien, if one happens to land in your back yard…”
Of course, there are plenty of citizen plans out there. SETI has one, other organizations, too. But major governments? Nope. Rumor has it that the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is planning to draft a protocol soon. Nothing on their website yet. (UNOOSA)
And so, of course, if aliens are out there waiting for us to make contact, they need to make a few more cups of tea before we get our act together.
But, assuming aliens are waiting for us to give them an official invitation, the first thing we need to do is get organized about sending a message. When famous scientists like Stephen Hawking have said it’s dangerous, and we shouldn’t contact aliens, you’ll understand why we haven’t done even that yet.
And I don’t mean a gold disk on the side of a piece of equipment thrown into space. Or a signal sent into space in ’74 by Carl Sagan, purported to have been replied to via crop circle a few years ago, and dismissed. I mean a real, comprehensive, contact message signed by leaders of all the nations of the world.
When that happens THAT will really be the first step. Any alien race will be far more advanced than us and would probably be simply getting on with their lives, waiting for us to grow up and actually want to contact them. So, we need to send that official message on behalf of the entire human race. All countries need to get on board and agree to it.
Okay, now we can get to step two, the most popular area of making first contact with aliens, but one which leaves me cold.
The International Academy of Astronautics has created the “Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence.” This was with the support of the International Institute of Space Law, according to Wikipedia. This declaration includes what to do in the event of the detection of an alien race, what level of acceptance society is at, and other factors relating to whether the message can be understood, or even revealed.
The problem with this is that it assumes that there would be a natural order or progression for this situation, and that governments would be the ones to announce it. It also assumes a detection event like a signal or even a single ship, invisible to almost everyone in orbit. Neither of these are likely. It’s far more likely we’ll get a very noticeable appearance with no regard to red tape or official procedure.
My personal feeling is that we’ll get the ‘official’ announcement quickly through Facebook and YouTube, followed by news reports as cameras arrive on the scene.
It may take weeks before world governments get their act together and make an official announcement. And by then, the aliens would have already been having a coffee with us.
Certainly, there would be a huge number of people, myself included, who would travel to the site to make contact, without going through officials, without considering it to be a momentous occasion, without once thinking that the first person to meet the aliens would somehow be recorded in history. (Why would it matter? Aliens!)
Of course, if you want to follow strict procedure, if you’re in a country that is part of the Commonwealth, the only logical person to be flown over to meet the aliens first would be the Queen (or King) of England! That would not be considered safe, nor would it be acceptable. Like Arrival, it would be far more likely that only the military would be involved. This would certainly cause problems if the aliens decide a shopping mall in the middle of a CBD would be the ideal place to land.
If we were to assume the aliens wouldn’t want to disrupt government procedures (really?) then they would simply appear above all the major government buildings, and ask to speak to the leaders.
A very advanced alien race, with more spaceships than Earth has cars, would simply position them all above the local councils as well, creating an atmosphere of ships. There would be no need for any leaders to come out and say anything.
“Thank you for your call. If you are calling about the spaceships in the sky…Yes, they are alien. No, we don’t know anything yet. No, there’s nothing you can do. Just continue with your lives until you hear an announcement from the Queen/President/Prime Minister in your area.”
SETI have their own alien contact guide which can be found here. It really does work from a perspective of detecting a signal, though.
But, many SF fans aren’t interested in boring signals. We want real solid, chunky space craft, and shaking hands (or some other protuberance) with aliens in a first contact situation.
So, while the SETI plan for signal detection would be useful for a slow dissemination of information, it doesn’t really deal with the mass landing scenario.
Of course, science fiction writers have come up with many types of protocols over the decades, and you’ll find them in all sorts of stories. But an actual official protocol set that covers a mass landing? Nope. Nowhere.
Perhaps it is hidden in the CIA or FBI files, or maybe Mulder and Scully have it. In any case, the governments of the world are saying that humanity is not yet ready for alien contact.
Oh, aliens landing? Hang on. We haven’t done the paperwork on that. Can you ask them to come back later? Can we get an extension of time? Yeah, I know you first asked in 1947, but, just a bit longer. Hello? Hello?
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“Alien Life Found” should have been the title of a news report in 1976 regarding the Viking Missions landers. Unfortunately, due to our level of understanding of the chemical reactions recorded, and the results obtained at the time, the soil was deemed to be dead. No sign of life or, more hopefully, inconclusive.
However, Joop Houtkooper from Justus-Liebig University in Giessen Germany, has gone over the evidence and believes that the Viking spacecraft did actually encounter life. A strange life form based on hydrogen peroxide. Download the research paper here: Arxiv.org pdf
Further research suggests that at least 0.1 percent of Mars land could harbor biological life. Maybe more.
Now that scientists are widening their scope of what is considered life, thanks to unusual bacteria surviving in the most inhospitable regions on Earth, it’s highly likely that NASA did discover life on Mars in 1976. (Extremophiles Las Cumbres Observatory)
Unfortunately, until the Mars 2020 mission gets there to find additional evidence, it’ll stay as ‘inconclusive’.
Alien Life Found rating: 87%
Ermanno Borra and Eric Trottier have claimed, after analyzing 2.5 million stars in a number of galaxies, that 234 of them seem to be emitting regular pulses of light. As the stars of those systems are similar to our own, the researchers suggested the possibility that the pulses are laser messages from aliens.
The Breakthrough Listen project backed by Stephen Hawking turned its attention to these stars in an effort to figure out whether they are indeed message pulses, or whether there is a new star reaction that scientists aren’t yet aware of.
This project is still ongoing. However, the Breakthrough Listen project does give these results a Rio scale of 0 to 1, so maybe not. Read the accessible write up at (Futurism)
Alien Life Found rating: 27%
KIC 8462852, known as Tabby’s Star, features some strange dimming and lightening of its light, and a slow reduction of its overall light over several years. While this may be able to be explained by a massive storm of comets constantly hitting the star, or even a ring of matter, a slightly more wilder and more interesting theory is that a megastructure is slowly being built around it. Perhaps even a Dyson Sphere. If the star completely disappears in the next 10 years, then this explanation will gain greater weight.
However, recent scientific research has confirmed that it is actually really fine dust. Sadly. More details at this (news.com.au) write up.
Alien Life Found rating: 0%
Russian cosmonauts, on a number of occasions, have been able to swab bacteria, and even things higher up the chain like plankton, from the outside of the ISS. Are they coming from space? Or are they more likely being dragged up to lower Earth orbit by air currents? Or simply brought there by successive astronauts on their tablets? Hardy bacteria can survive just about anywhere, so it’s more likely that anything found in lower Earth orbit is from Earth. A great write up is at (National Geographic.)
Maybe the atmosphere extends a lot further for microbes, and there could even be a network of microbial space traveling currents between Earth and the Moon. I personally like the idea that space is just a huge bacteriological soup and not finding life somewhere is the more likely scenario. All those new viruses and bacteriological infections that appear out of nowhere probably simply floated down. (Wikipedia Panspermia)
Unfortunately, as much as I’d love to believe it, I don’t think the cosmonauts found ‘alien’ microbes. Even if they’re unrecognisable, maybe they found some old Earth microbes we haven’t had the chance to study yet.
This was also explored in another way recently in an episode of Ancient Aliens. A weather balloon was sent up, and the microbes brought back were ‘confirmed’ as alien, purely due to their size. This has yet to be scientifically disproved, (inconclusive) but knowing that plankton can exist on the outside of the ISS suggests just about anything can be floating about in lower Earth orbit.
Until I can see conclusive results of a sample of something containing DNA made from something other than adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C) or even something alive with no recognisable DNA, I’ll be crossing my arms and frowning.
Alien Life Found rating: 27%
Nope. Unfortunately. Or, if they are, so are we all, as they appeared in Earth’s history around 135 million years ago, and we probably started eating them about a million years ago. (Independent.co.uk) has a good write up.
Alien Life Found rating: 0%
So, at this stage, it is just the 1976 Viking Mission results that give the highest possibility of proof. And I’m really excited by the idea of a hydrogen peroxide based bacteria.
Now that plumes of water have been confirmed as coming from Jupiter’s Moon Europa (abc.net.au) , TESS has been launched to look for more exoplanets (Aljazeera), and (NASA) has its Mars 2020 plan to look for alien life on the planet, it’s just a matter of time before we know for sure.
I guess the governments of the world have decided that humanity is now ready, and there’ll be an ‘official’ announcement with scientific proof in 2020.
Finally!