May 2019

The Prison in Antares by Mike Resnick (Italian Edition)

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The novel “The Prison in Antares” by Mike Resnick was published for the first time in 2015. It’s the second novel in the Dead Enders series and follows “The Fortress in Orion”.

Some Democracy scientists found a defense against the Q bomb, the devastating weapon of the Transkei Coalition that killed an huge number of people for years. The Coalition’s reaction was the killing of almost all the scientists who invented that defense and the kidnapping of Edgar Nmumba, the only one who wasn’t killed.

Nathan Pretorius is tasked to free Edgar Nmumba or kill him if this proves impossible. Iris “Irish” Fitzhugh, a psychologist who will assess Nmumba’s mind state and check if he was compromised, is assigned to him and his team, nicknamed the Dead Enders. But first they have to find the scientist, locked up in a very peculiar prison.

Ambopteryx longibrachium was a tiny dinosaur with bat wings

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the identification of a new species of dinosaur that lived around 163 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic period, which had some characteristics similar to those of birds but with wings more similar to those of pterosaurs or bats. A team of researchers coordinated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences named it Ambopteryx longibrachium and classified it in the family of scansoriopterygid, which could be close relatives of birds. This little dinosaur could provide important information about the development of flight among dinosaurs and therefore in birds.

John Scalzi in 2018

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John Michael Scalzi II (photo ©Gage Skidmore) was born on May 10, 1969 in Fairfield, California, U.S.A.

John Scalzi started reading science fiction and mystery when he was a kid. He earned a bachelor in philosophy at the University of Chicago in 1991 and when he was still a student he started working as a journalist. After graduating, he worked for some years as a corporate consultant and movie critic.

In 1998 John Scalzi decided to become a full-time writer. Over the course of his career John Scalzi has explored very different themes, showing considerable versatility, so much so that he was also a consultant in the development of the TV show “Stargate Universe”. He’s now a well-established writer but he certainly still has much to offer to science fiction fans.

Sterling Nesbitt with the bones of Suskityrannus hazelae he discovered (Photo courtesy Virginia Tech. All rights reserved)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution” reports the identification of a new species of tyrannosauroid that lived about 92 million years ago, in the Mid-Cretaceous period. A team of researchers led by Sterling Nesbitt of Virginia Tech named this species Suskityrannus hazelae completing a work begun in 1997, when the first fossils were discovered but weren’t identified at the time. It was a carnivore but with its height of less than one meter it was much smaller than its far more famous distant cousin, the T.rex.

Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald

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The novel “Luna: Moon Rising” by Ian McDonald was published for the first time in 2019. It’s the third novel in the Luna series and follows “Luna: Wolf Moon”.

The clash among the Five Dragons, the most powerful families of the Moon, is heading towards a final showdown that will decide who will have power over lunar resources. The struggle for power, however, extended beyond the Moon because even on Earth there are factions that have agendas based on great changes in the management of those resources.

In a place where everything can be the subject of agreements and contracts, complex networks of interpersonal relationships determine alliances and rivalries but even within the various families there are complex relationships. Covert manipulations are as common as open clashes to carry out plans that will affect big changes in the Moon’s future.