Brain for Rent and other stories
Contains the following stories:
“Brain for Rent”
“The Demonstration”
“Self Imprisonment”
“The Best Job Ever”
“Why Stay?”Brain for Rent and other stories is a collection of five, short scifi stories by Stephen L. Thompson giving a sampling of his writing. Included in the collection are: “Brain for Rent” about a ne’re-do-well failed writer with a conceptual implant who discusses his work with a young woman thinking of getting an implant herself. “The Demonstration” is about a different young woman wanting to show off her latest body modification. “Self Imprisonment” offers one solution of where to put the backup copy of yourself for safe keeping. “The Best Job Ever” is about a necessary – yet unpleasant – human/alien interaction. And the collection ends with “Why Stay?” which explains why, after years of fighting the humans, the robots just deactivate.
I made a YouTube video reading an excerpt from the book, if you want more of a taste of it. And if you want to see what other people said about Brain for Rent and other stories, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in October 2012
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
Rise
What’s the deal with the flags?
Rise follows some of the events after the tragic deaths of the colonists in a small colony in a distant star system.
If you want to see what other people said about Rise, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in January 2013
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories
Contains the following stories. Linked stories were previously published.
“The Most Powerful Man in the World”
“Black Market Books”
“Motherhood”
“Storyteller”
“Deadworld”The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories is a collection of five, short, scifi stories by Stephen L. Thompson to provide a sample of his writing.
A being from the distant future with almost unlimited powers comes back to help Ian Steele make the world a better place in “The Most Powerful Man in the World.” The bookstore customer has an entirely different reason for wanting books in “Black Market Books.” “Motherhood” tells the story of Thomas Gillespie, the surrogate mother for an AI. “Storyteller” is about an author thinking his book into existence. And “Deadworld” is about the alien world humans are reborn on – in alien bodies – after they die.
If you want to see what other people said about The Most Powerful Man in the World and other stories, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in March 2013
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
Lonely Phoenix
Partway to a new colony world, board member Geoffrey Ames is woken from hibernation by the caretaking crew of the Lucian. They require him to look into the matter of their fellow crewman Morgan Heller. Morgan’s claims – such as being over 1500 years old – would normally land him in the psychiatric ward, except he can back up some of his other claims.
If you want to see what other people said about Lonely Phoenix, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in April 2013
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
Duty
For safety reasons, and to avoid paradoxes, Time Travel Incorporated assigns a Guardian to all its travelers. So when there is an accident during political historian Roj Hasol’s trip back to 1968, it’s his Guardian Susan who sets out on the arduous task of cleaning up the mess.
If you want to see what other people said about Duty, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in August 2013
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
The Only Certainty
On The Day, for reasons still unknown, people began changing. They went to sleep as their old selves and woke in their beds in different bodies: bodies that had belonged to other people. And each time they fall asleep, they wake as someone new. Set months later, The Only Certainty follows Derrick Gorton on an average day in this new world as he deals with food shortages, the semi-collapse of society, and how to finish his latest novel.
If you want to see what other people said about The Only Certainty, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in September 2013
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
The Future is Coming
Contains the following essays:
Cloning Humans, An earlier version.
Independent Space Colonies, An earlier version.
3D Printing
Resurrection of Extinct Species
Creation of Lifeforms
Artificial Intelligence
Cyborgs
Engineered Humans
Hive Minds
Detecting an Alien SignalAs a science fiction writer, Stephen L. Thompson has spent a lot of time thinking about how technology will change the way we live. He has come up with these ten short essays about science fictional elements that will – almost certainly – one day become science fact as a way for people to start coming to terms with them. Because he has spent time thinking about clones and AIs, Stephen feels that he’ll be okay when they do finally show up whereas most people will probably freak out. He hopes his essays will get people to start thinking about the future because, no matter what we do, the future is coming.
If you want to see what other people said about The Future is Coming, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in October 2013
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
A Cabin Under a Cloudy Sea and other stories
Contains the following stories. Linked stories were previously published.
“The Return”
“Putting Down Roots”
“Dustbin”
“Monumental Desolation”
“A Cabin Under a Cloudy Sea”
Bonus story – “Future Letter”Hopefully, in the not too distant future humans will return to the moon. We will build bases and colonies, create farms and factories, and live, love and learn. A Cabin Under a Cloudy Sea and other stories contains five short stories set upon the moon. They give the tiniest glimpse of the possibilities awaiting us there.
If you want to see what other people said about A Cabin Under a Cloudy Sea and other stories, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in August 2014
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
Relics
A plague that kills men has devastated the world’s population. Only a few thousand boys and men were able to be quarantined. But Mike Shay is the only man known to have a natural immunity to the plague. Therefore, he is practically the only man in a world of women. He spends his days reading, playing video games, and making the occasional sperm donation. Then Dr. Veronica Barrett shows up, disrupting what passes for his life. She says she’s there to investigate his “mental wellbeing,” but is there more to her visit?
Instead of the normal, adolescent, heterosexual male fantasy of being the only guy on a planet of women, Relics tries to give a more realistic view of Mike’s life.
This work contains profanity and sexual situations. It is intended for mature audiences only.
If you want to see what other people said about Relics, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in January 2016.
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.
The Moon Before Mars: Why returning to the moon makes more sense than rushing off to Mars
Over the last few years a lot of people have caught Mars fever. It seems a week doesn’t go by without a report of some new group wanting to send people to Mars, or some big name in the industry talking about why we have to go to Mars, or articles talking about the glorious future humanity will have on Mars. All of this worries me. In my opinion, a Mars base is currently not sustainable because there’s no way for it to make money. A few missions may fly doing extraordinary science, but if it’s then cancelled for cost the whole Mars Project may just be seen as an expensive stunt.
Fortunately, there are other places in the solar system besides Mars. While bases on the moon and amongst the asteroids won’t be as inspirational as one on Mars, they will have opportunities for businesses to make goods and services as well as profits, meaning less chance of them being outright cancelled. This will make life better on Earth and secure a firm foothold in space for humanity. The essays in The Moon Before Mars: Why returning to the moon makes more sense than rushing off to Mars allow me to describe my ideas on what can be accomplished on the moon and with the asteroids, and why Mars isn’t the destiny of humanity its cheerleaders make it out to be.
Here is an excerpt:
Many of the people gung-ho on Mars see it as a backup for humanity, in case something terrible happens on Earth. But there are enough metals in the Asteroid Belt to build hundreds of space stations. The population of a community station may only be ten thousand or so, but they would be scattered all over the solar system, each acting as a backup.
And one thing we can do with a hollowed out asteroid or a constructed vessel that can’t be done with Mars, is to put rockets on one and send it off to another star system. So basically, the math comes down to, if we go to Mars we get a planet; but if we go to the asteroids, we get the galaxy. Yes, we’ll do both, but what I realized is that those so focused on Mars, are just thinking too small.
I made a YouTube video talking about this if you want more of a taste of the ebook. And if you want to see what other people said about The Moon Before Mars, or to add your own comments, check out its page on Goodreads.
Published in July 2016
Available on Kindle for $0.99 or equivalent.