books – Page 29 – The Unwanted Blog

Book ideas

blather, books, drawings, history, Hmm..., My Fiction, new products, nukes, projects, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons 3 Responses »

Apr 162014

A while back I sold limited editions of some 11X17 drawing-package booklets (of the BoMi, BWB, X-20 Dyna Soar and nuclear pulse propelled starship concepts). Based on comments that have come in from a few of the buyers (see: http://up-ship.com/blog/blog/?p=23871), they seem to have been well received. While these particular books are now done, it got me thinking about a few possible future works:

1) “A Guide To American Nuclear Explosive Devices.” Finally, an idea for what to do with the diagrams of the nuclear bombs I’ve created (see HERE). The book would feature full-page scale diagrams of every American nuclear bomb (including RV’s) that I can reliably create. The following page would contain all the particulars know for the bomb… weight, yield, dates in service, that sort of thing. Plus, a standard illustration/graph/chart showing the damage effects for ground bursts and air bursts, probably at a common altitude.

2) “A Guide to the Strategic Defense Initiative.” This would would be more like sci-fi. By assuming the trope of an alternate history, I can present diagrams of things that I cannot, in reality, present *reliably* *accurate* diagrams of. Things such as the Brilliant Pebbles, the Saggitar orbital railgun, the Zenith Star test laser, the larger planned operational space-based laser, the larger still “Phaser” phased array laser, neutral particle beam weapons, etc. have the problem of only being known from concept art and diagrams of disappointing quality, so my own diagrams would be highly speculative. But in a fictional setting… shrug. Also included would be SDI launch systems such as the ZSLS, the McD “Barbarian,” Shuttle-C and the General Dynamics (“Millenium Express”), McDonnell Douglas (“Delta Clipper”) and Rockwell (“Platypus”) SSTO concepts from 1991. These last three I can at least present quite reliable diagrams of.

These would each be some ways down the line. I *really* need to finish up the Space Station V book first; the nukes books needs one to two research trips, and the SDI book needs a whole lot of drafting, including 3D modeling.

Twenty Nine Cents

awesomeness, books, history, science 7 Responses »

Apr 102014

I’ve been meaning to buy a copy of “The Feynman Lectures on Physics” for some years, but I’ve just never gotten around to it. Until today, when I found a copy in the $1 box at a hole-in-the-wall bookstore. And since it had a 29 cent price stamped on the cover, that’s what I got charged. Cool.

As best as I can tell, the “Feynman Lectures” were first published in 1963… but this was printed in 1962, a year earlier. I’m guessing it was printed up by the California Institute of Technology for use by students or staff, prior to official publication. Anyone know anything about this? Might I have stumbled across something of value or historical interest? It’s in really good shape for its age, though there are a few notations I’ve found. It’s clearly printed, not photocopied.

UPDATE: The most likely explanation is that this is a collection of printed “handouts” that were provided to the students in 1962-1963, prior to an actual publisher being found. A few pages of “Feynmans Tips on Physics” available on Google Books describes what appears to be this here thingie. It doesn’t say how many were printed; I’d imagine a few hundred, maybe up to a thousand. That’s be a lot for lecture notes, but not so many for a book. My guess is that the pages were provided loose, perhaps three-hole-punched, and the student decided to put them into this pressboard report cover. Even in 1962 money, ain’t no way this was sold for 29 cents… perhaps just the report cover was (less than a tenth the current going rate for the same thing).

I still have hope that one day I’ll find an original copy of “Über einen Raketenantrieb für Fernbomber” or a stash of General Atomics “Orion” reports just sitting on some used books store shelf with “$1” stickers…

One day left for Nuclear Pulse Starships, X-20, BoMi, BWB booklets

aircraft, APR, books, drawings, history, new products, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft, weapons 1 Response »

Mar 192014

Sometime tomorrow, I’ll end availability on the Nuclear Pulse Starships, X-20, BoMi and BWB 11X17 booklets, as described and sold HERE. So if you want ’em, time runs short…

A Novel Idea

blather, books, news, science fiction 2 Responses »

Mar 162014

Huh. So, a little while back I posted some snippets of fiction I’ve scribbled out. I have been contacted by someone with some publishing experience, and we’re now in the process of hashing out a novel-length work based on my writings. If it all comes to pass, I will be responsible for overall plotting and getting the engineering, design and physics right. The other feller will be responsible for the actual *writing,* which he’s shown he’s really, really fast at.

So far, nothing has been signed, so nothing is certain (and thus details will be few). But it may be that later this year a novel will come out with my name on the cover. That’d be a hell of a thing.

I’m also slooooowly banging away on another sci-f yarn of my own. I had gotten some 40+pages into a story, realized it was going in a *really* wrong directions and scrapped more than 30 pages out of it and started re-writing it…. and then it just sorta fizzled out. Now working on another wholly different one. This time I think I’ll release the whole thing in some form or another, probably an ebook. I think it’ll be pretty good, but not as good as “Mass Disappearance.” I still think that one is really good, and I’m still miffed about it getting the brushoff. Oh well.

Nuclear Pulse Starships, X-20, BoMi, BWB…

aircraft, APR, art, awesomeness, books, drawings, history, new products, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, sales & specials, spacecraft 10 Responses »

Mar 132014

UPDATE: And so, the aloted time period ends, as does availability of these items. Huzzah.

~~I am making available, for a limited time,~~ four bound volumes of large format diagrams. These are 11X17 line-drawing CAD diagrams produced by yours truly, bound in red pressboard report covers (why? because that’s classy, that’s why).

I had not planned on releasing these, but I had also not taken into account the fact that the IRS will very soon be demanding a sizable income tax check from me. Ooops. So, my sudden financial panic is your opportunity to get a limited edition item. They will be available until some time on Thursday, March 20. At which point they will be gone forever. Each one will be hand inscribed with the number of the edition (“#1 of 5” or “#4 of 7,” whatever the case may be), with the numbering done via order in which orders are received. Also with my hand-enscribbled initials. (Because who knows, I might be famous someday.)

What I have:

1) BoMi: the complete set of diagrams created for the “Bomber Missile” articles for Aerospace Projects Review issues V2N3 and V2N4, a total of about 45 pages. Includes the MX 2276 from 1955, up through the SR-126 studies from 1957, Brass Bell, Convairs RoBo, Super Hustler, FISH; and Boeing Model 728 studies, among others. $45

2) BWB: The complete set of diagrams created for the V1N3 APR article on Blended Wing Body aircraft, 29 pages. Contains many jetliner concepts, along with such oddities as the Lockheed CL-1201,a giant nuclear powered VTOL assault transport concept. $40

3) Model 2050E X-20 Dyna Soar: the diagrams from the not-yet released issue V3N4 APR article. These are the diagrams in their current state; some may change before I’m done with them. And some will not appear in the article. Includes not only the X-20, but also several proposed launch vehicles (including, I’m reasonably proud to say, the first publicly available accurate and detailed diagrams of the X-20 atop the Titan IIIc), layouts of test and operational versions of the DS with transstage, several small space stations designed expressly for DS servicing, and several high-energy transstage concepts. Also includes really quite good diagrams of the ASSET test vehicle and the X-37B spaceplane. 24 pages, $35

4) Nuclear Pulse Propulsion Starships: diagrams from my hopefully-forthcoming book on nuclear pulse propulsion. I really had not planned on releasing any of the diagrams prior to publication of the book, but what the heck: here are 14 pages showing several versions of the Enzmann Starship, the Dyson Starship, the BIS Daedalus, the Martin/Bond Worldships and the US Naval Academy “Longshot.” $30

Several of the X-20 and NPP diagrams have been formatted specifically for this release, and will not be otherwise released. And of course if I get mashed by a Mack truck or flattened by a meteorite, these diagram sets will be the only versions of these diagrams ever released. So, you know, there’s that…

Please note that since these are physical objects, postage is sadly required. There’s only two options for that… US and non-US. You only need to buy *one* “postage,” no matter how many of the diagram sets you buy.

————

“Cosmos” review

blather, books, history, Hmm... 15 Responses »

Mar 092014

As I mentioned just a little while ago, the Fusion Energy Foundation publications have been posted online. I’ve been looking through the issues of their magazine at random, and stumbled across a review of the book version of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos.” It was of particular interest since the new version of Cosmos premieres tonight. The review is… err, interesting. It seems not entirely accurate in its description of Cosmos as I remember it, and seems to rely a lot on the conspiracy theories that appear to have been pretty common at the FEF. Some kinda indecipherable issue dealing with Kepler, an issue I’ve seen raised numerous times in the pages of “Fusion” (I haven’t read the pages of Fusion in any depth as yet, but from what I gather they seemed to have some sort of problem with Newton, while they thought that Kepler and and the nested solids or some such were the bees knees). It is, in short, quite negative in its view of Cosmos, and declares it “anti-science.”

So, anyway, I skimmed through the review sorta half-heartedly, interested solely due to the coincidence of tonights premiere. And then I saw a name that, were I the kind of person who did such a thing, would have caused me to do a spit-take all over my keyboard.

I’ve posted it below in both JPG and PDF format.

Pages from 19810505-fusion – cosmos review

Fusion: Your New Time Waster

blather, books, history, Hmm..., Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, science, spacecraft 2 Responses »

Mar 092014

In the late 70’s-early 80’s the Fusion Energy Foundation published the magazine “Fusion.” It, as the name suggests, had a number of articles on the politics and physics of nuclear fusion for power generation purposes, and a few on space propulsion. It also had a number of articles on directed energy weapons for strategic defense and forward-thinking by the likes of Krafft Ehricke on space colonization and industrialization. But it also had more than it’s share of loopy pseudo science stuff like intelligent design, anti-Einstein and even anti-Newton stuff. And… it was a Lyndon LaRouche publication. Wiki has a fairly extensive writeup on the Fusion Energy Foundation; it makes for interesting reading.

And it turns out that all, or at least a good chunk of, the FEF’s publications are available online as PDFs:

THE FUSION ARCHIVE

In the “Books” section you can download Winterberg’s “Physical Principles of Thermonuclear Explosive Devices,” which is not only a fun read for the pure physics, but also as supervillain fodder.

The mix of science and Cold War era LaRouchianism makes for a WTF-inducing experience. If you remember the early 80’s, or are interested in a time when people still dreamed of a nuclear powered future, you can lose days here.

A 1st Edition Copy of “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion”

blather, books, drawings, history, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, science, science fiction, spacecraft 15 Responses »

Feb 272014

I printed out what I have on my NPP book, and it consumed pretty much most of a ream of paper (single sided only). A lot of the CAD diagrams haven’t yet been integrated… and a number aren’t done yet, so there’s yet more pages to print. This binder will be used to scribbling purposes… i always seem to be able to find slepping erorrs and the like easier on a written page than on-screen.

Just confirmation that the project remains underway. The final book will be a bit of a beast, especially if printed on good paper at this size or better.

In the master list of diagrams,green means finished, yellow means in progress, red means unstarted.

UA-1205: 3

art, books, drawings, history, rockets, spacecraft 8 Responses »

Feb 272014

And here’s the tail end f the UA-1205 motor, showing details of the thrust vector control system. On this motor, TVC was by fluid injection: a bit downstream of the throat there were a multitude of small injection ports in the nozzle. Valves would, on command open some and close most of the others, allowing pressurized N2O4 to be injected. The temperature increase would cause the fluid to flash to a gas, forming something like a “bubble” over the injection port; this would cause a disruption in the exhaust flow, causing the thrust vector to be shoved around. And thus, no moving parts needed in order to achieve the effect of a nozzle that can be slewed around. Of course, this was at the expense of a big tank of TVC fluid hanging off the side.

Storytime: “Orion Battleship Intro”

blather, books, history, My Fiction, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Pax Orionis, projects, rockets, russian empire, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons 5 Responses »

Feb 262014

So, a number of years ago I started working on “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion,” which was to be the End All Be All tome on this topic. Sometime into it, someone suggested that I take a page from Tom Clancy and add a little fictional vignette of a few paragraphs to the start of each chapter, to try to bring some aspect of the designs to life. It was a good idea, I thought, so I took a crack at it… and realized with my first attempt that it just wasn’t working. At least, not the way I was going about it. I started writing a yarn featuring the 4,000 ton “space battleship” pitched to the USAF. But several pages in, it became clear that I wasn’t doing well on keeping it to “a few paragraphs.” Also… it was getting fairly dire. Just as there are few stories you can tell about a Ohio-class boomer or a Minuteman III missile silo that feature them doing the jobs they were designed for, there seem few to tell about a spacecraft designed to fight an all-out nuclear war. And while, if written well, it could be an exciting yarn… it ain’t gonna be too damn cheerful, unless global annihilation is something you think is pretty awesome. So… I just sorta gave up on the idea.

In the past week or three I’ve gotten back into working on NPP, and dug up the Orion Battleship tale. And because why not, I’m posting a PDF of it. Keep in mind, this isn’t a polished piece. It’s not even a rough draft; it’s half a rough draft. There is no dialogue, there are no human characters. I had an end in mind, but just never got to it.

So, if’n yer interested in such things, HERE YA GO.

batlleship tale

And because I just got the plumbers bill for replacing the pressure tank and suddenly find myself in some need of cash…

Older Entries Newer Entries