This USA-Today bestselling anthology series has been such fun! As always, my co-authors have cooked up a smorgasbord of inventive, sexy tales and memorable pets.
My PiSA 5 story is “Pastfinders.” Set in the same Starways universe as my newest novel, Witherspin, it involves love and danger amid ancient alien ruins, with a sympathetic alien robot animal.
In 2019 Pets in Space 4 was another fun romp, this time with illustrations by the talented Adrian. My pet was the unicorn!
In October 2018, for the third year, I had a story in the Science Fiction Romance anthology Pets in Space.
About my story, Starway:
At an interstellar crossroads hotel, a lonely starliner pilot and a passenger’s mistreated consort discover that they have the same destination: the intersection of danger and desire.
Today, October 10, 2017, the second book in the Pets in Space science fiction romance anthology series came out. This edition includes my short story, Mascot. A portion of the proceeds goes to Hero-Dogs.org which is a great organization serving a great cause.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I viewed the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse from a unique vantage point: an unnamed peak two hours south of Cody, WY by dirt roads. – Wow!
~~~~~~~~~~~
I moderated or was a panelist in several fascinating panel discussions at AmadilloCon 2017 in Austin, TX. It’s always worth interrupting a busy life to connect with like-minded readers and writers, and it’s fun, too!
~~~~~~~~~~~
I participated in a Science Fiction/Fantasy panel at the 2013 Waco Cultural Arts Fest. The other SFF writers on the panel were Patrice Sarath and Bryan Gifford.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In July 2013 I was a guest at the World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, LoneStarCon 3.It was a terrific WorldCon.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In October 2012 I was a guest at the amazing Steampunk convention Octopodicon in Oklahoma City.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In July 2012 I was a guest at ArmadilloCon in Austin – always an incredibly rewarding convention.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In January 2012 I was a guest at ConJour in Clear Lake City. It was wonderful fun with kindred spirits.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In June 2011 I went to Salt Lake City and Yellowstone to research novels. I also soared in the Tetons, thanks to Teton Aviation in Driggs, Idaho. It was a fabulous trip.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In early April 2010 I researched locations for a new novel by going to Salt Lake City Utah, with side trips to Promontory Summit and Red Rock Pass in Idaho.
~~~~~~~~~~~
March 26-28 2010 I was a guest at Comicpalooza in Houston, a multi-format convention celebrating not just comics, but also sci-fi and fantasy, horror, steam punk, New Media, movies, film, and gaming of all types, at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In 2009 I researched an upcoming novel with a trip to Seattle, Tacoma and Steilacoom, Washington State, and Portland Oregon. Mary Rosenblum showed me her wondrous part of the country, including the Columbia River Gorge, where she set her SF novel Drylands.
~~~~~~~~~~~
2009 also gave me the pleasure of taking part in ApolloCon in Houston and ArmadilloCon in Austin.
~~~~~~~~~~~
My novelette “Quickfeathers” appeared in the May 2009 issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact. This story is a sequel to my novel Hurricane Moon: set in the same world a few years later in the young colony’s history.
~~~~~~~~~~~
My story “The Listening-Glass” appeared in Diamonds in the Sky, an anthology of astronomy-based science fiction funded by the National Science Foundation and edited by astronomer and science fiction writer Mike Brotherton.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In the summer of 2008, I took part in ApolloCon, June 17-19; Denvention, the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, August 6-10; and ArmadilloCon, August 15-17. Great conventions all!
~~~~~~~~~~~
My fantasy story “Grass Lion “appeared in the February-April 2008 issue of Sorcerous Signals.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In 2008 I was the Vice President of a Houston-area blended-genre writers’ group, The Final Twist.
~~~~~~~~~~~
My story “The Mortification of the Flesh” appeared in the anthology Horrors Beyond 2 – Stories of Strange Creations from Elder Signs Press in October 2007.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Hurricane Moon news in 2007:
Hurricane Moon gets good reviews on the websites of The National Space Society and The Washington Post. I like the Post calling my book overall “a resonant achievement.” In the January/February 2008 issue of Analog, Tom Easton writes a favorable review with the comment, “… an unusually character and relationship-focused novel for SF.”
To my great delight, I’m hearing from readers who like Hurricane Moon. They include science fiction readers and others who usually read mainstream, fantasy, romance, or mystery. So on October 19 I appeared at Houston’s mystery bookstore Murder by the Book, along with other writers in The Final Twist. That’s the local chapter of Sisters in Crime – and a wonderful writers’ group.
Copies of Hurricane Moon have been shipped to bookstores. And to me. And it’s wonderful to hold a copy of my novel in the form it was always meant to have. After years of being notes, sketches, Word documents, printouts with comments scribbled in all colors of ink; notebooks and binders with the MSS formatted and printed out for friends to read; the final draft boxed up to go to my agent in the mail; a digital MSS e-mailed to the editor and then sent to the publisher on CD’s; the copy edited manuscript, electronic galleys in PDF, and Xeroxed galleys, now finally, simply, it’s a book.
Don D’Ammassa reviews Hurricane Moon on his Critical Mass website, and has nice things to say. Including this: “Extremely well written, tightly plotted, full of that old fashioned sense of wonder about the universe.” It’s a very good feeling when a reviewer seems to have read the same book that the writer intended to write. There are a lot of reasons why it doesn’t always pan out that way – but how wonderful when it does. (You can do a search for “Latner” or “Hurricane Moon” on the page, or just read the many other interesting reviews too.)
Hurricane Moon got an excellent review in Publisher’s Weekly (scroll to the SF/Fantasy/Horror section).
Take a look at Hurricane Moon’s wonderful, complete cover painting by Brian W. Dow. Go to http://pyrsf.blogspot.com/2006/10/for-your-viewing-pleasure-hurricane.html.
Older news
- Witherspin
My novelette Witherspin appeared in the July/August 2006 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine. - The April 2006 issue of Analog included my Fact article “The Shape of Wings to Come.” It was wonderful fun researching and writing this one about the future of soaring flight.
- California Dreams
My article about the 2005 Soaring Society of America Convention appeared in the April issue of Soaring magazine. See an exerpt: California Dreams: The 2005 SSA Convention - NASA’S Genesis Discovery Mission Picking up the Pieces
I had a short article in the Soundings column of the December 2004 / January 2005 issue of Air & Space / Smithsonian magazine. “Picking up the Pieces” tells how NASA’s Genesis solar wind sample return mission was saved by the Johnson Space Center curatorial team after Genesis crashed in the Utah desert. - Engines of our Ingenuity
“Houston’s Engine of Ingenuity” appeared in the Spring 2004 issue of the University of Houston’s Collegium Magazine. I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing the remarkable Dr. John Lienhard, creator and voice of The Engines of our Ingenuity, the Public Radio show about technology. Engines originates at KUHF on the UH campus. - Ounce of Prevention
My article “Ounce of Prevention” appeared in the May 2004 issue of Soaring Magazine. This article concerns the surprisingly exciting topic of glider preventive maintenance. - Ethical Dilemma: Can Ethics Be Taught?
I interviewed the Dean of the UH Law School and faculty in Business and Philosophy for the Spring 2003 issue of the University of Houston’s Collegium Magazine. - SFWA Statement of Support for Space Exploration February 2003