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Jon F. Zeigler

@jfzeigler.bsky.social
1.4K followers 789 following 1.9K posts

Fantasy and science fiction author, tabletop game designer, amateur artist and cartographer, retired instructor and instructional designer in cybersecurity. Blog: wordpress.sharrukinspalace.com Kofi: ko-fi.com/sharrukinspalace

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Reposted by Jon F. Zeigler
NX-70-Kaiju @shadowkaiju.bsky.social · 19h
🖖🏼
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 22h
One day is much like the last. Spent a couple of hours studying, did some writing, worked on back story for one of my fictional settings. Every few days I get to check a milestone off my to-do list. Filling my time after retirement hasn't been a problem. I seem to be turning into a recluse, though.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Finished the last task for my first week of university coursework today, which got me another item checked off on this month's list. Also did some work on the timeline for my space-opera setting. Hoping to get a bunch of progress made over the weekend.
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Wow! Texts are super rare for the Hittites, basically there’s just one archive and it’s 95% lists of prayer sacrifices to mountain gods, so this is really, really exciting!
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Felt like death today, but I powered through it, finishing the current "Lower Decks" story and attending a tutorial session for one of my university courses. Going to go rest my brain and eyes for a bit now, before I decide what I want to inflict on them for the rest of the evening. #writing
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
More #writing today, and I was able to check the first item off on my to-do list (finished the introductory material for my astrophysics course). Still need to finish the last scene in the current story, though, and it's going to be Friday before I can check off the first item for my other course.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Also working on redesigning my "Human Destiny" space-opera future history. Mostly trying to make it a little more humane and optimistic. Humans are still a very small culture in a huge galaxy, but they're not *quite* as helpless as in earlier concepts of the universe.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I've been working sporadically on a new book for Ad Astra Games, with the working title of "Composer of Cultures." This is associated with my 2024 book "Architect of Worlds," although I'm not the sole author this time. Tools for building interesting and plausible alien cultures.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Got some #writing done today - almost finished with the current "Lower Decks" story. Spent most of the day doing read-ahead and attending an online meeting for my astrophysics course, though. Might be able to cross an item or two off on my monthly to-do list tomorrow.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I haven't tried ExoPlaSim, but the developer for this one claims to be taking a different approach by using the GPU to do the modeling, which implies he's able to be more detailed and faster. Insufficient data to evaluate that claim.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Definitely going to continue tinkering with this as time permits, and may get in touch with the developer to see what models he's applying. Also, @kenburnside.bsky.social and @druidgmdesigns.bsky.social, you might be interested in this too.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
An initial run on present-day Earth took about an hour on my machine, and produced . . . not quite 100% accurate, but very reasonable results. Software claims to be able to handle fictional worlds with a *lot* of variation in primary star, orbital parameters, atmospheric contents, and so on.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Got about 1,000 words of new #writing done today, and worked on my space-operatic future history a bit. Also picked up an interesting piece of software from Steam: the "World Climate Lab," which purports to implement sophisticated planetary climate models on the GPU. #worldbuilding
store.steampowered.com
World Climate Lab on Steam
World Climate Lab is a real-time planetary climate simulator. Import your own terrain or sculpt a world in the topography editor, then watch a living climate emerge from physics: winds, oceans, cloud ...
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Reposted by Jon F. Zeigler
Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Econ 101
Person one: Taught my kids how socialism works. Let them trick or treat while I stayed home. Then took all their candy. Socialism 101.

Person two : The socialism part is where the community came together and fed your kids for free. The capitalism part is where you made them do all the work and stole from them.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Another day of working on university coursework and mapping out a future history. No major milestones. Think I may change things up tomorrow and try to get some writing done, on the current story and the Cultural Evolution Game draft.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Quiet day today. Did some prep work for my university courses, and some work on the "Human Destiny" future timeline. No items checked off the month's to-do list yet.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I did a self-promotion post today, since I’ve been seeing some new followers lately from the Space Opera starter pack. That may have been causative.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Happy birthday! As far as I can tell, getting old kind of sucks, but it certainly beats the alternative.
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Reposted by Jon F. Zeigler
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Writing something where I will be liberally citing @lilymasonphd.bsky.social's latest and realizing that I can't cite every single thing I would like to because then I'm just reprinting her work. So, I've gotta thread about it instead. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
Screenshot of the article website. Title is: Polarization Is Not the Problem. Author is Lilliana Mason. Journal is the Journal of Democracy, Volume 37, Number 4, October 2026. From Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Bunch of new followers from a “space opera” starter pack, so here’s a moment of self-promotion. My most recent book was “Architect of Worlds,” a set of guidelines for scientifically plausible worldbuilding. Available from Ad Astra Games - here’s a link to the PDF, print edition also available.
adastragames.com
Architect of Worlds (PDF) — Ad Astra Games — Ad Astra Games
The definitive book for worldbuilding for hard SF writers and game masters in the genre of interstellar fiction! Updated to the most current understanding of planetary formation and exoplanet data!
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
September was a mixed bag when it came to knocking items off my to-do lists . . .
wordpress.sharrukinspalace.com
Planning for October 2026
September was a mixed bag when it came to knocking items off my to-do lists. As often happens, some of that can be attributed to the items themselves being too ambitious. Really need to break my long-term objectives down to more realiztic bite-sized pieces. Especially since the university year is starting up and I'm going to be insanely busy between now and year's end.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hmm. Weirdly phallic imagery, especially for the Guild, seems to be a tradition in "Dune" film adaptations.
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Reposted by Jon F. Zeigler
it's an uncivil war @lucyksy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
There it is. We are not lacking in solutions; we are being denied access to them, because they aren't *profitable".
It's hard to grasp just how badly humanity is handicapping itself by excluding all solutions that can't generate a profit. There's a whole vast spectrum of potential solutions of troubles we face as a species, and we're limiting ourselves to a tiny, shitty fraction of it .
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Not to mention that our notion of what is "profitable" is hopelessly blinkered. When standard of living has risen for all humans, everyone has *profited*, but if that isn't explicitly reflected on some specific individual's or organization's balance sheet, it doesn't count.
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Reposted by Jon F. Zeigler
Ko-tutankhamun @kingoftheu.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Concept: Klingons who get ahold of Tolkien really really vibe the Elves. Long lived warrior-poets facing the rise of man? Epic battles over honor and trinkets? Absolutely Klingons translating shit into Quenya and Sindarin.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Spent the day getting more #writing done - not quite finished with the current chapter, but getting close. Tomorrow is the first of October, and I'll need to do my planning for the month. At least my shots haven't been too bad today. May have escaped the worst of the reaction.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
For the record, Jamal Campbell is just *insanely* talented. (Writer and artist for the current "Zatanna" run, artist for N. K. Jemisin's "Far Sector," a few other books I've read over the past few years. Great stuff.) #comicbooks
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Still, I see places where I might be able to improve and refine that model. Notably, it looks as if there's been some recent research into modeling planetary formation that might be useful. This is my first "third year" course, so it's going to be a bit more demanding. Lots of mathematics!
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Reviewing the astrophysics course I'll be taking this year, I'm seeing some material that might have an impact on the putative second edition of "Architect of Worlds." Nothing to require major changes to the "Architect" model, which pleases me. Good to know I got things right. #worldbuilding
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Had I not retired when I did, right now I would be searching through hundreds of pages of course material, replacing every mention of "artificial intelligence" with "super intelligence." That would still not have been the stupidest search-and-replace I had been forced to do over the past 20 months.
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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If you* overlay the old Chen & Kipping (2017) planet mass-radius relationship with the new Dransfield et al. (2026) relationship, you can really see the impact of removing the inflated planets! *ChatGPT.
A plot showing two mass-radius relationships; the new one is below (predicts smaller radii) the old one significantly, especially around Saturn-mass objects.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Got a little bit of #writing done today, but mostly I got some read-ahead work done for my astrophysics course. My left arm is already feeling pretty sore, so I'm expecting the next couple of days are going to be miserable and unproductive. At least I'll be getting a nice, robust immune response.
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Reposted by Jon F. Zeigler
Nisi Shawl @nisishawl.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is so exciting! A whole new book line for Writing the Other! Here's a link to the post on the Aqueduct Press blog: aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2026/09/aque... And @ktempestbradford.com really and truly did say those very words, right @timmi.bsky.social?
aqueductpress.blogspot.com
Aqueduct's Creating Inclusive Narrative series will launch in 2027
For immediate release     Aqueduct Press, in association with Writing the Other, is excited to announce a new book series launching in 2027...
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Just got back from having a bunch of booster and first-time-for-old-people shots. Now I get to see if I'm at all functional by tomorrow or Wednesday. Which is why I picked the week of no tai chi classes, and the week before my university courses start up in earnest.
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Sen, but Spooky @dresdencodak.com · 28/09/2026
The Klingons are great when you realize they're not really a warrior race as much as they are a bunch of theater people with knives
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Very good one, it turns out. Doesn’t just do voices, he does accents!
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Listening to a superb audiobook: Bronson Pinchot narrating Poul Anderson’s “Three Hearts and Three Lions.” Rather remarkable, how many of the tropes of modern fantasy come from this one short novel. #books
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Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Someone brought a kitten into the SCIF yesterday no pictures for hopefully obvious reasons
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ToughSF @toughsf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Brown Dwarf SDSS J0104+15 has a mass of 90 Jupiters and is 99.99% hydrogen (250x purer than the Sun), making it "the most metal-poor and highest mass substellar object known to-date": arxiv.org/abs/1702.02001
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I grew up in Ohio, so this one was particularly interesting.
reddit.com
From the theydidthemath community on Reddit: [Self] I Did the Math on Ohio's Adena Mounds, and the "Lost Civilization of God-Kings" Turned Out to Be a Few Dozen People With Baskets and a Free Weekend
Explore this post and more from the theydidthemath community
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Evening reading: advance material for my astrophysics class, or the new graphic novel from Stjepan and Linda Sejic that just appeared on my doorstep? Hmm. I suppose I can always study astrophysics tomorrow.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This does explain a lot about why I was forced to learn square dancing in grade school. (Rural Ohio in the 1970s. I hated it then because I was terrible at it, but this gives me an even better reason to hate it now.)
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Well, you definitely captured some diffuse nebulosity there.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
First issue of the new IDW Trek comic dropped today. Captain Seven of Nine commanding the Enterprise-G. Includes a preview for the other new book that will be starting next month, starring Captain Rafaella Musiker ... and her XO, *Commander* D'Vana Tendi. I'm definitely here for this. #startrek
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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Hey, here's a nice write-up of our recent SHERA paper! #PIDaily phys.org/news/2026-08...
phys.org
Looking for Earth 2.0 in binary systems
While astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets over the last few decades, the true prize continues to elude them—they have yet to find an Earth-mass, rocky planet orbiting in the habitable zone ...
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Yeah, tell me about it. There’s just no way anything like that could be dynamically stable.
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Okay, this is kind of weird …
qmul.ac.uk
First ‘backwards’ planet discovered around a small star challenges ideas about how planets form
Queen Mary researchers help reveal an unusual exoplanet orbit that could provide new clues about the formation and evolution of planetary systems
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jazzi🐣 @foodcu-be.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
hi t'lyn
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Got started on the next chapter of my current story today. I lost a couple of weeks to moving all my old fan-fiction, so my readers are probably wondering where I am. Also did work on "Composer of Cultures," and took future-history-timeline notes for my space opera setting. Full day. #writing
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Jon F. Zeigler @jfzeigler.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
My son and I went to see the Korean film “Hope” this morning. Not a bad movie, although I wasn’t expecting nearly that level of black comedy, to the point of absurdity, in my alien-invasion-horror flick.
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