Ptolemy Lane Tales

Who Should Control Space?

Leave a Comment / Out There, The Future /

Who should control space? As satellites multiply and commercial players crowd low Earth orbit, the old question of ownership gives way to something trickier: governance. From traffic control to peacekeeping, enforcing rules in orbit isn’t just hard—it may be impossible in the traditional sense. But if no one can own space, does anyone have the right—or responsibility—to police it? This post explores the real-world state of space management, the challenges of enforcement, and how science fiction—from Star Cops to The Ptolemy Lane Tales—offers unexpected insight into the future of orbital order.

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6 Novelists Who Started In the Pulps…Or Are Still There

Leave a Comment / Reading, SF Industry /

Why am I talking about pulp fiction? (No, not the movie — which got its name from Tarantino’s inspiration for the story.)

Two reasons: Classic SF got its start in the pulp magazines. And my Ptolemy Lane Tales series was my nod to classic hardcore pulp fiction.

Classic pulp stories are often decried for their simplicity and dependence upon erotic elements to move copies.  The criticism overlooks one of the primary functions of pulp stories:  They were written to entertain.

And my god, they did that in spades.

At their peak of popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, the most successful pulps could sell up to one million copies per issue. In 1934, Frank Gruber (writer) said there were some 150 pulp titles.*

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Add a Bit of Crime & Mystery to Your Science Fiction

Leave a Comment / Out There, SF Industry /

K-Lytics, a service that researches trends and rankings of all the categories on Amazon, put out their most recent Science Fiction & Fantasy report in July this year. I tend to take notice of K-lytic reports, even though they’re focused exclusively on Amazon, for the trends and comparisons tend to hold true across most of

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