future

25 Nov 2020 No Comments

The Tech Side #15 Airlocks

Airlocks – sci-fi is full of them. Virtually every sci-fi series or movie out there makes use of the airlock as a plot device or at least as a feature of the story – we’ve seen them in Star Trek, Event Horizon – and who can forget Sean Connery’s escapades with airlocks in Outland?

Airlocks are a safety buffer or transition zone between areas of unequal air pressure. They facilitate the transfer of personnel from one vessel to the other in a way that doesn’t endanger either. More plainly, they protect a ship from depressurizing if a crew member goes outside or comes back in again.

They’re hardly a new invention, airlocks have been around since at least 1830 when Sir Thomas Cochrane registered his patent for use in building underground constructions. Watertight doors (a form of airlock tech) appeared in oceanic ships in the late 19th century. Airlocks were added to submarines to allow submariners to leave the sub in shallow water since before the First World War. They’re used in ships and submarines today, as well as in space shuttles and the ISS in orbit around Earth – and even in medical applications at bio laboratories and at the CDC.

Today we take a closer look at the airlocks aboard Terran Space Fleet vessels.

by ChristinaEngela in The Tech Side Tags: airlocks, diagrams, future, Galaxii, indie, schematics, sci-fi, science fiction, starship, tech, technology

20 Nov 2020 No Comments

The Tech Side #14: Imperial Starships – Shuttles & Shuttle Bays

Shuttles are often a feature in sci-fi, and the Galaxii universe is no exception. Shuttles are generally smaller space craft used to carry crew or cargo between space ships or between a space ship and a planet. Sometimes they’re used as lifeboats.

The notion of a ship carrying smaller craft dates from the days of sailing ships, when it was found necessary for a ship to carry a longboat for the purposes of traveling ashore at a nearby port of call without endangering the ship by getting too close to land. The danger of holing the ships’ hull on rocks or beaching was significant. Lifeboats too need no introduction.

In this article for The Tech Side, I’ll be looking at Space Fleet shuttles and shuttle bays.

by ChristinaEngela in The Tech Side Tags: Arado, diagrams, future, Galaxii, indie, palensis, schematics, sci-fi, science fiction, shuttle, shuttle bay, somnia, starship, tech, technology

18 Nov 2020 No Comments

The Tech Side #13 Imperial Starships – Battlespringers

In the Galaxii universe, battlespringers are scaled-down compact starships used by the Terran Space Fleet. Several of my stories are set aboard battlespringers, for example short stories, “The Devils In The Sky” and “Beyond”, so my readers should be slightly familiar with these ships.

When I first envisioned battlespringers, how they looked in my minds’ eye then was a little more vague and different. They were a little rough perhaps, but as time went by my vision of them crystalized and became somewhat clearer and more exacting – as was necessary when I set one of my series aboard a starship of this type. All titles in the Panic! Horror In Space series feature the I.S.S. Mercury, also a battlespringer.

Today in The Tech Side, we take a closer look at the battlespringer.

by ChristinaEngela in The Tech Side Tags: battlespringer, Darraine, diagrams, future, Galaxii, indie, mercury, ningan class, sci-fi, science fiction, Space Fleet, starship, tech, technology, Terran Empire, Titan

14 Nov 2020 No Comments

The Tech Side #12: Imperial Starships – The Medical Complex

Starship sickbays – we’ve seen all kinds over the years, haven’t we? Examples include the warm sickbay of the Enterprise, to the industrial, austere treatment centers of Star Wars, overshadowed by industrial overtones and staffed by droids, to the grungy austere sickbay of Serenity in Firefly.

Likewise, in Galaxii, Quantum and Panic! Horror In Space, Terran starships of all kinds, from loderunners to imperial warships all possess a sickbay of some kind. This article looks a little more closely at the technical details. More →

by ChristinaEngela in The Tech Side Tags: diagrams, future, Galaxii, indie, medical, sci-fi, science fiction, sickbay, starship, tech, technology

12 Nov 2020 No Comments

The Tech Side #11: Stardrives

Terran starships of all kinds, from loderunners to imperial warships, use a faster than light drive system colloquially referred to as the ‘stardrive’ or a ‘warp drive’ or even a ‘hyperdrive’. This article looks a little more closely at the technical details of this type of propulsion system.

Stardrives are a variation of warp engine, and in common parlance, traveling faster than light-speed is referred to as ‘warp speed’, with degrees of measurement specified as ‘warp 1’, ‘warp 2’ etc. At warp speed, the stars outside the ship are invisible due to it traveling faster than the speed of light, and so from inside the ship, through viewports and on the main view screen, space looks dark. According to some sarcastic old spacers, warp four looks just like warp three, just a little more black. More →

by ChristinaEngela in The Tech Side Tags: diagrams, future, Galaxii, hyperdrive, indie, interstellar travel, light speed, sci-fi, science fiction, stardrive, starship, tech, technology, warp drive

11 Nov 2020 No Comments

A Fantastic Review Of ‘Blachart’!

Lee Hall, a writer and reviewer from the UK left me another fantastic review – this time for “Blachart“, book one in Galaxii!

‘Blachart’ by Christina Engela – Enjoyable action-packed original space sci-fi

You can read the review on his website!

Have a great day – I know I will!

TIP: If you want to know what Christina Engela writes, or who her focus group or target market is, please read here.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

Show your appreciation for Christina’s work!

by ChristinaEngela in Reviews, Reviews Tags: Antares, blachart, future, Galaxii, indie, Lee Hall, review, sci-fi, science fiction

10 Nov 2020 No Comments

The Tech Side #10: Imperial Starships – The Benatar Class Cruisers

As sci-fi fans, we love the starships our favorite characters cruise the cosmos in, don’t we? Star Trek has its various incarnations of the Enterprise, Star Wars has the Millenium Falcon, Battlestar Galactica… well, has itself. Firefly has the Serenity. Buck Rogers had the Searcher, and The Expanse has the Rocinante. We love them for different reasons, don’t we?

In a similar vein, when I wrote the Galaxii Series I envisioned ships of my own design. In order to manage and protect such an enormous amount of space, the Terran Empire has a lot of starships – and the Antares and Mordrake are just two of them.

The series (so far) revolves around the adventures of two sets of characters on two different ships; the I.S.S. Antares and the I.S.S. Mordrake. “Dead Beckoning“, book 3 of Galaxii, brings both crews from both ships together. Both are Benatar class cruisers – and I thought it prudent to take a closer look at these ships.

by ChristinaEngela in The Tech Side Tags: Antares, diagrams, future, Galaxii, indie, Mordrake, sci-fi, science fiction, starship, tech, technology

21 Jan 2020 No Comments

Coming Soon – “Duck Blind”!

Announcing “Duck Blind“, a new novella by Christina Engela that has it all: sci-fi, thrills, mystery, wonder, pretense, delusion, a touch of romance, philosophy, blind panic, hysteria – and cosplayers and roleplayers!

Things aren’t always as they seem. Neither is Charlie Branson.

Outwardly, Charlie appeared to be the successful, respected, somewhat over-paid Captain of a commercial space liner. Charlie loved his job, and not just because being a semi-silent partner in Intersteller Vacations LLC paid well – but also because the uniform was a babe-magnet!

In truth, it was 2025 – space liners did not yet exist, Charlie was just a roleplayer after bumming out as an aspiring porno flick extra – and the space liner Freedom was really just a very expensive set – a fancy simulator for wealthy clients! For 3 years, the company had taken passengers on simulated cruises into deep space to forget the real world for a while, to get away from it all – and they loved them for it!

Trouble was, in an atmosphere where people were locked away from reality for weeks at a time, and cos-playing and roleplaying redefined ‘normal’, telling fact and fantasy apart became more complicated than expected… For those who preferred the pleasant escape from the harsh realities of life outside, like Charlie, wishing it could all just be real became something almost like a prayer.

As it turned out, someone heard him.

The answer wasn’t quite what he expected.

Coming very soon in paperback and eBook formats! Audiobooks to follow!

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

Show your appreciation for Christina’s work!

by ChristinaEngela in New Releases Tags: aliens, coming soon, cosplay, Duck Blind, future, mystery, philosophy, roleplay, romance, scifi, simulation, space, thriller, wonder

31 Dec 2019 No Comments

Best Wishes For 2020!

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers, friends and fans (and yes, even you lil’ ol’ haters huddling over there in the corner) a happy and peaceful new year.

2019 has been a busy and unusually productive year for me in terms of my writing, editing and publishing – and for once I find myself in an advantageous position where I can start of the new year working on writing my own stories instead of revising and editing and re-publishing! I can’t tell you exactly how it feels – but “free” would be a great place to start!

I planned to release paperback versions of all my books this coming year – and already, thanks to Brandon Mullins of Moon Books Publishing – all the titles in “Galaxii”, “Quantum” and “Panic! Horror In Space” are already available in paperback form on Amazon! Negotiations in the search for a narrator are already underway, so audiobook versions won’t be too far behind!

I don’t want to pre-empt my newsletter which will be coming out in the next day or so – I do so like to waffle – so let me cut this short and leave you to your celebrations and time spent with your families, near ones and dear ones.

Thanks again for all your support, friendship and interaction!

Until next time, keep reading!