Think about it: You've got rampant corner-cutting to save costs, use of the wrong materials (carbon fiber instead of steel) to build a deep-ocean submersible in the first place, no back-up systems and reduced safety practices, poor maintenance and industrial safety compliance, lack of oversight or regulation, and pervasive greed and suicidal risk-taking. It's all in there. The only really amazing thing about this is that it took so long for something serious to go wrong. (1, 2, 3)
Port Elizabeth - my home town, the city on the southeast coast of South Africa's Eastern Cape province - has long been the mounting cause for concern and anger on the part of many residents - but aside from them, on my part as well.
"Space Sucks!" Space Sucks! Book 1
Does space suck? Find out here!
After an unexpected battle in orbit over a strange planet,
the crew of the surviving ship lands to repair their damage. Will the locals
welcome them - or try to eat them?
On the border of Terran space, a lone starship on frontier
patrol is unexpectedly attacked. How will the rest of their day turn out? Will
they miss dinner?
At the very last moment, Earth’s first mission to send a
ship to explore a nearby star system, is delayed. A shuttle is on its way to
dock – a shuttle bringing an admiral bearing bad news – and the captain of
Earth's first starship finds her life – and her career, poised on the edge of
the PR department’s knife.
On the other hand, Lance-Corporal Thomas O’Blivion – a
newbie to a deep space mining station where the miners have just gone on strike
and turned to violence, has no idea how bad his day is about to get!
Lastly, while in the midst of taking revenge (and a second
magnum of champers) insurance salesman Eric Sloane is paid a visit by a strange
and extraordinary alien (who informs him her name is Catisha), and points out
the flaws in his plan.
Launch into space, the future and beyond! Enjoy a humorous
look at life in space through the eyes of some colorful characters in this
collection of five unique sci-fi tales by Christina Engela, spanning everything
from adventure to suspense to comedy and then back again!
Narrated by: Jennifer Pratt, Published by Peever Publishing
I just blocked another old school "friend" on Facebook for posting a transphobic "joke".
Honestly, what some people think is funny at the expense of other people's suffering is quite beyond me.
It's not satire, because satire is meant to make fun of powerful institutions and people who are literally untouchable as far as ordinary people are concerned. Satire doesn't attack people who are vulnerable and victimized by society, or dehumanize them, or add weight or legitimacy to the arguments against them.
What this constitutes is, in fact, bullying.
I mean, are you posting this sort of asinine infantile garbage because you think that letting people know you think the suffering of other people is genuinely funny, is somehow not going to hurt anyone - least of all the people whose suffering you're making a mockery of? Do you expect them to not be hurt by it simply because you're the one sharing it, and you're ostensibly their friend? Or do you simply not care?
Are you so self-centered or disconnected from your own humanity that you're somehow oblivious to the fact that you're actively rubbing salt in the wounds of any transgender people watching, and that you're basically laughing in their faces at their discomfort, their pain and their very real fears that they may be next?
Sharing material like that publicly, knowing that you have transgender people on your friends list, especially people you were friends at school with and know in real life? And doing so at a time when transgender people are being marginalized and being fucking murdered just for existing?
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Why any species that considers itself so intelligent as to be worthy of colonizing neighboring worlds, or the stars, would paint itself into such a terrible corner, no-one knows. IF there were a god of some kind, they would most likely marvel at our human capacity for folly and fascination with large-scale industrial level death and destruction, and probably feel a little jealous, even slightly threatened.
As a teen I grew up under the threat of global nuclear war - it set the tone of my youth and given subsequent political and military actions around the world - the Gulf War, Sarajevo, the Balkans, Russia's war on Ukraine - even my adulthood. Humans don't seem able to choose a change from the way things have been since Hiroshima. Why can't things be different? Why must it always be thus? What if there was an alternative to the way things are? Surely there must be?
Let me offer you one.
On the 20th another mass shooting took place, this time in an LGBT club in Colorado. Another cowardly white supremacist Christian terrorist has struck down people who had never interfered with him or his own life, nor threatened him in any way, shape or form.
Let me point out that this is a case in point why I don't write for the masses. The masses are stupid. Stupid people hate those who differ from them for being different. Granted, a small part of that majority are stupid enough to commit violent acts of terror fueled by the stupidity shared with the greater whole of stupidity, but the stupidity is shared and the same.
Have you read the Galaxii series yet? It's got action! Adventure! Space Opera!
Galaxii is an epic futuristic saga written by Christina Engela, that relates the struggles and adventures of diverse characters, each realistically portrayed with their own unique interests, circumstances, and each has their own challenges and obstacles to overcome: career-minded Space Fleet officers, solo adventurers and rogues, and Corsairs – the space pirates who made the space-lanes perilous to travel in their pursuit of autonomy, wealth and notoriety. The good guys aren't always what they seem, and neither are the villains.
Currently there are four titles in the Galaxii Series: “Blachart”, “Demonspawn”, “Dead Beckoning” and "Sentinel".
All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2022.
Good morning, friends and fans!
*Speaking in hushed, reassuring tones* Don't be afraid now, kiddies, but today we will diverge from talking about my fiction writing and take a closer look at some of my academic writing and advocacy work.
This article will provide a brief description of my advocacy in the field of religious freedom, and will also take a closer look at my background in order to create a more balanced picture of me as an individual.
