Yeah, I know, it’s been awhile. But no one noticed because since I forbade third-party sharing, including scraping my blog to train AI, it gets no notice. At least that’s my theory. For the record, this blog and all my writing are 100 percent by me, a human.

So…what have I been up to?

I’ve been binging science fiction shows and movies to keep sane, to keep from doomscrolling through news that fills every day with dread and horror. For the record, I abhor what is happening to this country, the abdication of Congress (the GOP specifically), the ruination of our system of justice, the wholesale terror being wreaked on our immigrant community and U.S. citizens. And yes, I have been holding signs and writing my members of Congress.

So, yes, I escape through fiction. I have that privilege. And I’ve noticed something.

There are a lot of pretty good shows and films about space adventures, set in the near or fairly near future, and empowering women to take the lead, or at least participate as more than the wife or girlfriend.

What got me thinking about this is that I just finished The Signal on Netflix. This is a 2024 German limited series (four episodes). Paula, an astronaut on the ISS, makes an astonishing discovery and chaos ensues. I didn’t understand all of it (and not because it was in German), and the ending was a bit cheesy, but I liked it.

Before that I watched Another Life. Aliens plunk a mystery object on Earth, so astronauts, led by a woman, head off to where it came from to find out what’s going on. Chaos ensues. The acting and story in the first season aren’t top notch but it improves in the second and ended with some good twists. Then it got canceled, so it wraps up neatly but with a hint of what might have followed (think Star Trekish).

I’m in the middle of Pluribus, which is blowing my mind, though I’m perplexed why the simplest questions don’t get asked.

Here’s what else I watched in the last year…

Silo isn’t set in space, but follows people who retreated to living underground so long ago no one remembers why. A terrific Rebecca Ferguson drives the action. The first season annoyed me by killing off all my favorite characters, and the second dragged endlessly, and I still don’t understand why certain things happen (or don’t). Maybe a third season will tie things up.

Away with Hilary Swank was, well, meh. First humans to go to Mars and it’s soap opera drama. Serious plot holes.

Stowaway with Toni Collette was better. Until the ending. Another trip to Mars, but with, yes, a stowaway. It’s the lifeboat conundrum. But the ending falls into a black hole of plot insanity.

For All Mankind was a treat (new season in March!). What if…the Soviets had won the race to the moon and we decided that yeah, sending women wasn’t a bad idea. The men were morons, but the women were awesome! Margo Madison’s arc is a gem in itself.

Orphan Black (the original with Tatiana Maslany) is one I’ll be rewatching every few years. (And zip through the Castor season.) There’s nothing like seeing it for the first time, though, before you know what the heck is going on and whom to root for.

George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky is an interesting twist. After a catastrophe on Earth, a survivor tries to warn a ship of astronauts looking, ironically, for a new Earth not to return. There are strong female roles.

The Moroccan film Animalia follows a pregnant woman trying to reunite with her husband as aliens arrive. More, you know, chaos.

Antares struck a chord as a researcher in a SETI program races an approaching hurricane to verify a message received from space. Again, a woman has to choose between job and family when, she points out, Einstein didn’t.

Annihilation is a spooky SF/horror with Natalie Portman and a cool Gina Rodriguez channeling Vasquez from Aliens. Otherwise it’s full of plot holes.

Given the times, I rewatched nuclear-nightmare oldies from the 1980s: Testament, with Jane Alexander and directed by a woman, does not have the women panicking. In The Day After, the women are pretty hysterical, except for JoBeth Williams’s nurse.

And special shoutout to Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor from the Terminator series.

Which leads me to: Where are the books? (Yeah, I know, many of these films and shows come from books and I’ll be exploring that.) Extra points for lesbian main characters. I mean, with the purpose of shameless self-promotion, this is why I write the books I do. So who else is out there? Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle. And, sure, Becky Chambers, Arkady Martine, Martha Wells, Lina Rather (nuns in space!), and any number of fine writers I aspire to be compared to.

But I’m looking very specifically for plausible SF (doesn’t have to be hard SF, but no fantasy disguised as SF), set in the here or soon (no galactic empires, no alien crew members, no Star Trek, no battles). I’ve read all of Malka Older’s Pleiti and Mossa series (and you should too!). I need to read more Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series. I’ve read and reread The Caphenon by Fletcher Delancy (and you should too!), though it is far off and away as well as military; but it has lesbians!

More examples…

I love Connie Willis. Everything.

Samantha Harvey’s Orbital is another good one. A day in the life aboard the ISS.

A special shoutout to one of my favorite books, Solitaire, by Kelley Eskridge. The excellent film adaptation, OtherLife, is free on Tubi, co-written by her. It “straightens” the main character and is more inspired by the book than based on it, but since she had a hand in it, I approve. Very much on Earth, but in a future where corporations rule the world, or will soon—sort of like where we’re headed, right? The movie goes in a different direction, but is wicked good.

That’s all. That’s where my head is today. I welcome any recommendations.