Author Archives: Alex R. Howe

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About Alex R. Howe

I'm a full-time astrophysicist and a part-time science fiction writer.

Why Hollywood has it wrong

Posted on July 20, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

I’ve mentioned before how Hollywood movies suffer from a dearth of originality and how the quality control system in the industry is breaking down. But the biggest problem in this “year of the sequel” is not that there are so … Continue reading →

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Names, part 2

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Even when you have lots of resources to find them, names can be hard to get right. One of my recent experiences was particularly nerve-wracking. I’ve been planning my current project for Camp NaNoWriMo for a while now: a science … Continue reading →

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Comet ISON update

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken new images of Comet ISON, a sungrazing comet that, it is hoped, will become the brightest comet in living memory this December. The video above is probably the best look we’ll get at ISON … Continue reading →

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Names, names, names

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Names are hard. Your characters’ names are often the reader’s first impression of them. They have to sound just right–not just right in general, but right for the character and right for the setting, and they probably shouldn’t share the … Continue reading →

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Tatooine or bust

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

About half the points of light you can see in the night sky are binary star systems: two stars (sometimes more) orbiting each other. Sometimes, these stars are far apart, and planets can orbit just one of them with no … Continue reading →

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How to be a writer: how much feedback?

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Who should you ask for feedback on your story or novel? Some of them should be fellow writers, so you can be sure they’ll take a critical eye. Some of them should be your target audience, so you can be … Continue reading →

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I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo next month

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

National Novel Writing Month is becoming a bigger and bigger deal every year, with over 300,000 writers writing 3 billion words last November. But for people in academia, like me, November is one of the worst months of the year … Continue reading →

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In the sky: the perigee Moon

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

It’s that time of year again. Time for another round of stories to circulate about the alleged “supermoon”–if by “super” you really mean the Moon’s at perigee. Perigee is the point where the Moon is at the closest point in … Continue reading →

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Welcom to the Future, Part 2: Star Trek Continues

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

Fan-made Star Trek films and web series are nothing new. The first ones hit the Internet way back in 2000. However, a quick survey of these productions reveals that most of them suffer from substandard script-writing, substandard acting, or both, … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court rules human genes are not patentable

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Alex R. Howe

In what is widely seen as a victory for science and medical research, as well as common sense, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimously today that human genes cannot be patented. (Read the opinion here.) At issue … Continue reading →

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