I worked with a chemical engineer to get the engineering right. The "pig" drew on the last chapter of "Rust: The Longest War" by Waldman (I recommend the first and last chapters of the book).
I rediscovered hydrogen embrittlement as a graduate student in materials; I was doing chemical vapor deposition of diamond films, using hydrogen mixed with methane. When I had occasion to try to take my setup apart, the steel parts were extremely hard (and not brittle enough to just shatter). I could have gotten a paper out of that — new method of producing hardened steel — except that asking around led to my being told that the effect was known.
It's always a relief when a scientist looks at my story and does *not* find a technical error. It's going to be interesting finding ways to avoid that problem in hydrogen-rich environments.
My claim to being a scientist is a little shaky; I trained to be one, and was a post-doc for a year, but I’ve been examining patent applications since 1998, not doing research and keeping up with developments in the field.
Torchship is my first and most popular book. If you like fantasy, try The Lost War. The first 17 Substack stories are collected in Unmitigated Acts. Once I have enough of them to keep the covers apart, I'll do another collection with the next batch of Substack shorts.
Great work. I keep expecting things to end a lot more poorly for the characters, and I’m relieved when they survive
I save the high body counts for my novels.
This story has so much going for it! I especially liked the narrator’s outlook. The engineering all felt real, too.
I worked with a chemical engineer to get the engineering right. The "pig" drew on the last chapter of "Rust: The Longest War" by Waldman (I recommend the first and last chapters of the book).
I rediscovered hydrogen embrittlement as a graduate student in materials; I was doing chemical vapor deposition of diamond films, using hydrogen mixed with methane. When I had occasion to try to take my setup apart, the steel parts were extremely hard (and not brittle enough to just shatter). I could have gotten a paper out of that — new method of producing hardened steel — except that asking around led to my being told that the effect was known.
It's always a relief when a scientist looks at my story and does *not* find a technical error. It's going to be interesting finding ways to avoid that problem in hydrogen-rich environments.
My claim to being a scientist is a little shaky; I trained to be one, and was a post-doc for a year, but I’ve been examining patent applications since 1998, not doing research and keeping up with developments in the field.
Fair. But that's a better check than some stories get.
I always love some high-quality space engineering!
I try!
As always, I love the engineering details, very convincing!
Thank you!
paperback? A bridge too far?
want to read old school style...this looks like good stuff.
Edit: Ah, almost missed the Amazon link. Gonna ask my local library to carry. New to KG, which should I start with?
Torchship is my first and most popular book. If you like fantasy, try The Lost War. The first 17 Substack stories are collected in Unmitigated Acts. Once I have enough of them to keep the covers apart, I'll do another collection with the next batch of Substack shorts.
Nice, Karl. Very entertaining!
Good work.
Thank you!