It may seem odd for someone who is a fantasy writer, but I’m also a scientist. I have a PhD in biophsyical chemistry, I did eight years of laboratory research as a grad student and post-doc, and I teach college chemistry.

People who hear that then usually ask “Why don’t you write (or read) much SF?” The reason is that I’m a very hard sell when it comes to fictional science. Most of the biology I see in SF is so impossibly speculative or fundamentally flawed that my suspension of disbelief is shot and I can’t enjoy the fiction.

As a science teacher, which I’ve been for over twenty years, I’m always interested in efforts to teach people science. Its basic principles govern the entire world around us, including such common things as cooking and the weather. Yet science education seems to be a low priority for many schools, teachers, and students.

Hugo-winning author David D. Levine (who has a fantasy story forthcoming in my magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies) recently blogged on Tor.com about a workshop called Launch Pad where a dozen SF writers attended lectures by astonomers. The overall effort was aimed at spreading science education through popular fiction, which I wholeheartedly support, but I also think it will result in more accurate science in SF. For a difficult-to-please reader like me, that can only boost the entertainment value as well.

I was also struck by something from David’s account of the lecture on public misperceptions of astronomy. The wrong explanation of why the moon has phases (“it’s the shadow of the Earth falling on the moon”) is a sore spot with me because I once got that incorrect argument from a SF/F editor in remarks about a story of mine. In their defense, they said they got it from a geologist, but that makes it even worse. :)

I hope this Launch Pad workshop continues. I often give advice on biological sciences to my writing friends, and I would happily lecture at any Launch Pad-analog focused on those areas. I’m also in favor of including SF/F editors in something like this. If they’re going to evaluate or criticize objective facts in manuscripts, they should at least have some idea what they’re talking about. Another way that science education would make the world a better place!

I’ve been insanely busy these last three weeks, reading subs for Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I got 50 subs the first day, and it’s tailed down to 20 or so per day since then, but that’s still over 125 subs in the magazine’s Inbox. But some of them have been really good, so I’m really enjoying it. Now, off to read some more!

My new online fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies is getting some nice buzz. I posted our first list of acceptances on the forums yesterday. Today, two of those writers, Charles Coleman Finlay and Rae Carson Finlay, had very nice blog posts about the co-authored novelette they sold me. I’m delighted that people are interested and excited about the magazine!

The portcullis has been raised and the gates thrown wide! My online fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies is now open to public submissions.

I’m a little bit anxious about the workload–I got more than 20 new subs overnight, and I still have about 15 early subs left to read. But I’m also curious and excited to see what great characters and breathtaking worlds I’ll get to read about. Best of luck to everyone.