You may or may not have picked up on the fact that these daily blurbs are little rants about things I’ve encountered in reading a wide variety of books as much as what I may have learned in formal or informal training sessions.

As a trained scientist who worked at NASA for over 20 years, one of my biggest pet peeves is when a book is blatantly WRONG scientifically. This occurs on a regular basis on television and in movies, which is likewise annoying. A rant of mine that goes way back was directed at the movie “Armageddon” which was so wrong in so many ways, it was downright pathetic. If you’d like to read it, you can find it here.

Needless to say, if you write science fiction you’re going to stretch things beyond everyday Earth life. However, don’t violate the known laws of physics without providing rationale for doing so. Invent new laws if you like, but make them believable. There’s a whole lot of room for speculation in theories like quantum theory, parallel universes, and blackholes, but make it convincing.

And along those lines, be aware of the difference between science fiction and fantasy. If you don’t know the difference, you probably shouldn’t be writing in one of those genres.