Aug 5, 2025
Joan Didion is pictured in her New York apartment with her portrait by Les Johnson, painted at the time she wrote A Book of Common Prayer.
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Joan Didion is pictured in her New York apartment with her portrait by Les Johnson, painted at the time she wrote A Book of Common Prayer.
Pluto, par Les Johnson et Ben Bova (Tor books, novembre 2025)
Vers le XXIII° siècle, une expédition scientifique découvre un artefact mystérieux, mais manifestement largement plus avancé que notre technologie, enfouit sous les glaces de Pluton. Et très rapidement des phénomènes extraordinaires se déclenchent sur Charon…
A priori, avant son décès, Ben Bova avait esquissé les premières pages de cet ouvrage qui a été finalement repris et totalement écrit par Les Johnson. Le résultat est de la hard-science plutôt correcte avec des personnages un peu moins caricaturaux qu’à l’habitude. Avec un budget adapté, cela pourrait faire un film divertissant.
NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto has forced astronomers to rewrite their textbooks — but that’s not all: In the latest episode of the Fi
Do you enjoy old school Speculative Science Fiction?
Do you enjoy old school Speculative Science Fiction?
Then we have a treat for you. Our long-awaited science fiction anthology, Tomorrow’s Hope: A Journey of Exploration and Hope is live! Get your copy today #scifi #speculativefiction #newrelease #lesjohnson #arlanandrews #hope #exploration
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Do you enjoy old school Speculative Science Fiction?
Do you enjoy old school Speculative Science Fiction?
Then we have a treat for you. Our long-awaited science fiction anthology, Tomorrow’s Hope: A Journey of Exploration and Hope is live! Get your copy today #scifi #speculativefiction #newrelease #lesjohnson #arlanandrews #hope #exploration
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Mission to Methone by Les Johnson #BookReview
Mission to Methone by Les Johnson - an intergalactic war is about to be brought to our doorstep in this #scifi novel. #BookReview
Title: Mission to Methone | Author: Les Johnson | Publisher: Baen | Pub Date: 2018-2-6 | ISBN13: 9781481483056 | Pages: 416 | Genre: Science Fiction | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 3 out of 5 | Source: I received a copy from Edelweiss and the publisher for review consideration. Mission to Methone ORIGINAL SF TRADE PAPERBACK. Humanity is not alone in the universe. Across the galaxy,…
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2.07: Advanced Solar Sailing with Les Johnson
You can find every episode of Bold Signals on Soundcloud, iTunes, and Stitcher. If you dig the podcast and have a few seconds to spare, kindly leave a review or star rating in any of those places.
If you are interested in being a guest for an upcoming episode of Bold Signals Season 2, drop us an e-mail or check out this page. Thanks in advance!
This week we go to space with an episode that features an interview with real life rocket scientist and science fiction author Les Johnson. In our interview we discuss what it's like to get a job and work at NASA, the strongly reciprocal relationship between Star Trek and our space program, and how to sail to asteroids using light.
Want more info about Les?
Les on Twitter | Les’s Website
Want more info about Bold Signals and John?
Bold Signals on SoundCloud | Bold Signals on iTunes | Bold Signals on Twitter | Bold Signals on Facebook
John on About.Me
Show Notes:
The cover art for this episode was drawn by the amazing pulp artist Frank Tinsley.
For a succinct summation of the ridiculousness of interdisciplinary arguments about “hard” and “soft” science, refer to this page.
Unsurprisingly, NASA has a massive, well-curated web presence, so head on over to their website for more information about the Advanced Concepts office at the Marshall Space Flight Center and the work that goes on there.
Two pieces of media that have fundamentally shaped the public’s perception of the work done at NASA are the films Apollo 13 and Space Camp.
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is the world’s longest running continuously published science fiction magazine. Originally titled Astounding Stories, the first issues of the magazine can be read for free online on Internet Archive or through Project Gutenberg. Click here to read an article from a 2005 issue co-written by Les.
For the full list of science and science fiction books written by Les, check out either his webpage or his Amazon page.
Ben Bova has published over 120 pieces of science and science fiction, including a novel co-written by Les, in a career that has lasted over 40 years. Several of these pieces can be read or heard for free online. Bova’s “Grand Tour” series, which includes over 20 novels, explores the colonization of the Solar System in the late 21st century.
Befitting the strong reciprocal relationship between the show and our modern space program, astronauts Mae Jemison, E. Michael Fincke, and Terry Virtson have made cameo appearances on Star Trek and astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti famously wore a Star Trek: Voyager uniform while aboard the International Space Station. Nichelle Nichols, who has been a strong advocate for space exploration ever since playing Uhura in the original series, was part of a NASA mission late last year.
Star Trek catalyzing a career in science has been discussed in two previous episodes of the podcast. This, however, is the first to dive deeply into the original series.
The first episode of Star Trek “The Man Trap” aired on NBC on September 8, 1966 at 8:30 EST. As an introduction to the series it’s not exactly ideal. Of course, this is because the “real” pilot episode (depending on how deep you are in Star Trek fandom) is either “Where No Man Has Gone Before“ or “The Cage” (later reformatted into “The Menagerie”).
Spock’s death occurs at the end of the film “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”. Spoiler alert: He’d later get better on a doomed planet, then he and the crew of the Enterprise would travel to 1986 San Francisco, then they’d meet God, then they’d fight for peace with their most persistent enemy. The Star Trek movies are weird.
Less than 12 years separated the launch of Sputnik and the first walk on the moon.
Appropriately, given that the film adaptation is regarded as the first ever piece of cinematic science fiction, the first mention of something like a solar sail is in Jules Verne‘s From the Earth to the Moon. Soviet rocket pioneers Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Friedrick Zander speculated about using the pressure of sunlight to propel spacecraft in the 1920′s.
Solar sailing has even popped up in an episode of Star Trek.
For more information about modern solar sails, check out the webpages for JAXA’s IKAROS mission and NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Scout. Les was also recently quoted in an excellent article about solar sailing published in National Geographic.
V’Ger, a malevolent evolution of Voyager 6, is the antagonist of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Nomad, an indestructible planet-destroying space probe, is the antagonist of the episode “The Changeling”.
The Dawn mission has recently been in the news because of its astonishing pictures of the dwarf planet Ceres.
The Orion spacecraft is currently under development to replace the now-retired Space Shuttle program and to facilitate crewed explorations of a nearby asteroid and of Mars.
Identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly are currently the center of a comprehensive battery of studies (albeit studies with a very small sample size) investigating how long-duration space flight affects the mind and body. Scott has spent over 500 days in space, more than any other American (cosmonaut Gennady Padalka holds the overall record with an astounding 879 days).
Space neuroscience has been a field of study since a series sensory-motor studies were carried out on Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 in 1962. The International Space Station is even equipped with an electroencephalography (EEG) system.
The next meeting of the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop is between February 28 and March 2, 2016. Topics on the agenda include world ships, living in space, and space mining.
Even though it was controversially published in New Scientist, the ShowerEM Drive is probably not real.
Click here to read articles from The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.
This week’s Bold Signals Book Club selection is Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany. Watch for a follow-up post, containing a much more thorough review than the one featured on the podcast, eventually. In the meantime, take a gander at books inspired by Babel 17′s exploration of language and meaning including Ted Chiang’s Story of Your Life, China Mieville’s Embassytown, Neal Stephenson‘s Snow Crash, and The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus.
The full list of book club books is here.
If you’d like to purchase any of the books discussed in the book club and support the podcast at the same time, take a gander at our Amazon store. The podcast also has an Amazon wishlist if you’d like to donate a book.
Science Podcast Recommendations:
People Behind the Science- Like the approach to science and science communication taken by podcasts like Bold Signals? Then you’ll definitely appreciate PBtS, in which Dr. Marie McNeely interviews scientists about their successes, failures, and passions.
Science Soapbox- The team behind the excellent science policy and funding site sit down with big names in science and discuss everything from genetic engineering to the nature of scientific discovery.
Music in this Episode:
”Enterprise 1“ by Languis "Obscure Terrain” by Revolution Void “I Have a Proof” by Cherly KaCherly “Mind Mapping” by Revolution Void
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.2086405
Commonwealth Games Opening Party with Belle and Sebastian, Les Johnson at Kelvingrove Bandstand, 23/7/14
Commonwealth Games Opening Party with Belle and Sebastian, Les Johnson at Kelvingrove Bandstand, 23/7/14
With temperatures in Glasgow reaching heights akin to the more exotic regions of the Commonwealth, Kelvingrove Park’s previously derelict bandstand makes an ideal venue for an evening of scorching summer pop.
Getting tickets to see Belle and Sebastian at this intimate event takes the art of luck, nerves of steel and monk like reflexes as with tickets gone in minutes many fans where left…
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