iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Researching a trip to Australia next year covering Brisbane to Melbourne. Which got me thinking... just how big is Australia? Answer below. Two coasts. Same scale.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Africa is big. That's the post. Because apparently some people never learned about map projections, never had a globe in their house, and don't even understand that north isn't always up.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

My brain works 24x7. At 2 AM, I'll get out of bed to write myself a note like this one. When the book publishes next year, you'll see something like this text in a chapter set at the ELT. In reality, ELT stands for Extremely Large Telescope, certainly one of the dumbest names in science history.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

My simple radiometer + sunshine remind me daily that we live in a magical universe.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

In case you missed it, the audiobook for Second Ascent (book 2 in the series) is out! I'm listening to it myself. Narrator Anna Caputo did a great job. rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

rbmediaglobal.com

RBmedia | Second Ascent

Listen to the audiobook Second Ascent, written by Douglas Phillips, narrated by Anna Caputo.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I love to find original sources, and this is a good one. A biography of Isaac Newton, written by his friend, William Stukely, not long after Newton's death (1727). This is where we get the story of the falling apple! (No, it didn't bonk Newton on the head, but the rest is true.)

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I'm done with @google. Complicit toadies pushing unwanted AI and authoritarian garbage into our lives.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Second Ascent audiobook publishes today! Pick up your copy wherever audiobooks are sold.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Just four days left until my Second Ascent audiobook releases! I can't wait to hear it. Audiobooks are way more fun than most people realize. In some ways even better than a movie because they tell the whole story. August 25, wherever audiobooks are sold. rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Due to a production error (I screwed up), the paperback edition of First Ascent had no page numbers! It was perfectly readable; you just didn't know where you were. Our production team (me) has since resolved this issue, but if you own a rare copy without page numbers, you are now a millionaire.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Second Ascent Audiobook is now available for pre-order! I haven't listened to the whole book yet, but the audio sample is fantastic! rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

rbmediaglobal.com

RBmedia | Second Ascent

Listen to the audiobook Second Ascent, written by Douglas Phillips, narrated by Anna Caputo.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Dept. of Learn Something New Every Day: We've always called the saltwater side of Seattle, Puget Sound. More recently, the name Salish Sea came up. A rename? Like renaming Mt. Rainier to Tahoma or Tacoma? Actually, no.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Here's a virtual walkthrough of what will one day be the world's largest telescope, under construction in Chile. #ExtremelyLargeTelescope www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rZ0...

youtube.com

ELT Explorer - Teaser

YouTube video by European Southern Observatory (ESO)

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

La edición en español de Quantum Space (Espacio Cuántico) casi há alcanzado el top 10 de ciencia ficción dura en España. Si lo consigue, me pondré en contacto con mi traductor y pondré en marcha el segundo libro. #LibrosEspañol www.amazon.es/dp/B0GTNJJ2YQ

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The sketch for my next sci-fi book is complete! I have a 30-page outline with enough detail to allow a ghost writer to take over. I won't do that (and I also won't submit my outline to AI) because THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS! Why would anyone not want to write the story they just dreamed up?

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I'm a Plotter, which means I don't start writing until I know (and love) the whole story I want to tell. Pantsers are the opposite - they get an idea and start writing (which I will never understand).

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

For anyone who has read the first two books in the Ascending Carbon series, help me plan book 3...

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

For writers, TV Tropes must be the greatest resource ever created. This page, Stumbled Into the Plot, proves it can also be the world's greatest time waster! One trope leads to another in a maze of smiles and fascination. tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik...

tvtropes.org

Stumbled Into the Plot - TV Tropes

If you've got a story that needs a protagonist you can either have them be a chosen one, where forces have already pre-determined who is to be The Hero that saves the day (eg. prophecy, bloodline, the...

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

My notes for all 3 books of the Ascending Carbon Series! Green are ideas that didn't make it into Book 1 but did get into Book 2. Violet are open ideas. Blue are key concepts/thoughts critical to the story. And yellow are thoughts that still need work. For some reason, I'm getting wordier as I go!

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Okay, after episode 4, I'm a Pluribus fan (Apple TV). It's smart sci-fi, not violent (so far), and seems to be asking the question: how would you convince someone that they are in a cult? Extremely relevant for today's world! #scifi #TVShows

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Please, can we rewind to the days before AI? #Authors #Books

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Tonight I watched the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet for the first time ever. Sure, a few of the special effects were good, and I can see how both Roddenberry and Industrial Light & Magic borrowed from it for Star Trek and Star Wars...

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Today's book research: Nihilistic doomers, often Gen Z aged, often Americans. They believe civilization is collapsing and nothing can be done about it. In fact, we deserve it. Bring it on!

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Today's book research: news podcasts. I sampled the better-known show hosts at Spotify. These days almost all US news/political podcasts are conservative. Some explicitly state they are comedy. Many are bankrolled by media moguls giving the host freedom to say whatever they want without being fired.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

The Indie Book Awards for 2026 have been announced, and I'm proud to report that First Ascent was a finalist. It didn't win, but with so many books now published directly from author to reader, I'm very happy with the silver medal. (Yes, they really sent me a medal!) www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2C7NCVS

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I don't write a single sentence of my first draft until I have a fully coordinated outline, start to finish. I can't imagine how painful it must be for pantsers to reach the story midpoint and realize they need to rewrite whole chapters. With an outline, I can make the changes in minutes. #author

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Today's book research: how right-wing media dominates US public discourse. I've always pinned our divisiveness on Fox News, but that thinking is out of date. The real answer is far more sinister, as this article explains: objectivejournalism.org/.../media-ma...

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Pop quiz (no cheating): Earth is nearly 4x larger than our moon, Luna. A low altitude spacecraft can orbit Earth in about 90 minutes. How long does it take to go once around Luna? ...

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Today I asked, how would Jupiter and Ganymede appear while standing on Callisto? I got pretty close to the answer from the Solar System Simulator. Callisto in the foreground with Ganymede just coming out of Jupiter's shadow.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Today's research topic: how large would Ganymede appear if you were standing on Callisto? These days, a Google search automatically includes an AI response and this one turned out to be a classic case of AI being supremely confident but absolutely wrong! #AIsucks

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Doing research for book 3 in the #ascendingcarbon series, focusing on Jupiter. This image was taken by the Webb telescope's Near Infrared Camera. The colors indicate temperature with white the coldest. It's a fantastic way to better understand the meteorology going on in this complex atmosphere.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Today's book research topic, Jupiter's magnetosphere, the strongest in the solar system. Unlike Earth's iron core, Jupiter's electromagnetic field is generated by electrically conductive liquid hydrogen and Jupiter's high rate of spin (one Jupiter day is only 9 hours and 55 minutes long).

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

If you've ever taken a science class where the complexity of nature was necessarily simplified, you'll get this joke... Milk production at a dairy farm was low, so the farmer wrote to the local university, asking for help from academia. #sciencejoke

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Today's research topic: proteins and ribosomes. Proteins are complex molecules, folded into specific shapes useful for a given function. They are the bricks that build our bodies and the tools that regulate matters. Humans have 20,000 different types of proteins. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG7u...

youtube.com

From DNA to protein - 3D

YouTube video by yourgenome

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Each year, the Consortium for Mathematics gives award to students who model real world problems. This year, the problem was building a moon community using any combination of space elevators (isec.org) and rockets to transfer people and materials.

isec.org

International Space Elevator Consortium

International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) is composed of individuals and organizations from around the world who share a vision of humanity in space.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Today's research topic: the "dark ages", defined as the centuries of intellectual malaise between the classical age of ancient Greece/Rome and the Renaissance. European scholars of the 16th century coined the term in part from Italian poet, Petrarch, who in 1330 wrote:

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Research for the next book. Today's topic: the three body problem. Orbital mechanics for a two-body system like Earth & Luna are straightforward, but when you introduce a third body, things go south fast. Most three-body solutions are chaotic, but some form regular repetitions, fascinating to watch!

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Authors... beware of Authors Alliance. Their generic name and seemingly innocent tagline, "promoting authorship for the public good", hide the fact that this organization promotes use of AI in book publishing. Typical of an AI industry that routinely masks intentions. @authorsalliance.bsky.social

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

I just finished a long conversation with Gemini (Google AI) about the abuses of copyright and creative control from the AI industry. Gemini agreed (multiple times) that these are major unresolved issues and my skepticism is warranted.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Para mis amigos en España y México... ciencia ficción dura popular, ahora disponible en español. ¡Precio de lanzamiento! www.amazon.es/dp/B0GTNJJ2YQ

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Until Tom Gauld came along, I had no idea book humor was a thing. Now I think whole city library systems should be named after him. #books #humor

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

To this day, Bill Watterson has never licensed Calvin and Hobbes for any reason. Except for his books, anything else you find online is *unauthorized*. Calvin urinating? Bill never drew it. Calvin kneeling before a Christian cross? Pure theft. Watterson is not the kind of guy to sue everyone...

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Fun to check on the company I keep in the Top 100 for Hard Sci-Fi. My latest book, Second Ascent, is mixed with some big names! #SciFiBooks

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

I enjoyed the The Planetary Society book group this week featuring sci-fi author Becky Chambers. I hadn't read the specific book beforehand but I'm reading it now, and it's quite an interesting take on how we might survey exoplanets. community.planetary.org/posts/101662...

community.planetary.org

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

I'm proud to discover that typing "Hard Science Fiction" into the Amazon search bar, then sorting by Avg. Customer Review lists my novel on the same page as Hugh Howey, Andy Weir, Martha Wells, and Cixin Liu. Thousands of readers like YOU put it there! #QuantumSpace #scifi #books

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Sunny day. Solar panels on my roof. Charged the car in about four hours at home, absolutely free. EVs are sooo much better than gas cars.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Germany is one country leading the way to a green future. It can be done. Don't give up hope.

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Douglas Phillips @dpscifi.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I did an interview with NewInBooks related to my new book, Second Ascent. The interview was short, but the questions were fun to think about (see the link in the comments). This author gig can be a blast sometimes!

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