Athena's Daughters, Day 23: Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather, Christopher Ruz, A Podcast Appearance and More!

Hello, all! Remember yesterday's post when I told you I had some big news about our brother anthology, Apollo's Daughters? Well, I will officially spill the beans. You may recall that astronaut and former space shuttle commander Pamela Melroy is writing the forward for Athena's Daughters. So I'm happy to announce that we're bringing in another NASA veteran to write the introduction for our brother anthology -- astrophysicist and 2006 Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather!

John Mather

Dr. John C. Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, MD. He is also a Senior Project Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Dr. Mather was the Principal Investigator for the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). He and the COBE team showed that the cosmic microwave background radiation has a blackbody spectrum within 50 parts per million (ppm), confirming the Big Bang theory to extraordinary accuracy.

As winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics, chosen by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Dr. Mather shares the prize with George F. Smoot of the University of California for their work using the COBE satellite to measure the heat radiation from the Big Bang.

They proved the Big Bang Theory. How cool is that?! We are so glad and so lucky to have Dr. Mather on board with this project. In more Apollo's Daughters news, it now has its own Goodreads thread. Feel free to drop by and give the guys a shout! Christopher Ruz just posted a teaser there about the story he's working on for the anthology:

"I'm working on a project close to my heart, a near-future detective noir centered around a returned Australian soldier who finds herself working as a peacekeeper in her own country."

My reaction while reading about Christopher's story.

Athena's Daughters was recently given another press boost through Janine Spendlove's appearance on the Veteran Empire podcast. Veteran Empire's mission is to promote veterans and give them more exposure as they focus on "creative arts, business, and unique skill sets." Also featured in this episode is graphic designer/Marine Sean Riordan. You can listen to it here.

SEVEN DAYS. That's how long you have to become part of the Athena's Daughters journey. Whether you're reading this blog for the first time or the twelfth, please consider backing us or sharing news of the project with your friends and family.

We could not have done all of this without you, but we still have so many more awesome stretch goals and goodies waiting to be unlocked. Help us grab a few more of them this week!

Athena's Daughters, Day 11: Danielle Ackley McPhail Preview, Apollo's Daughters, and ALL the Stretch Goals

Day 11, and we are over $25K! Meaning that backers pledging at the $5 and over now get all of these things:

4 novels, 3 short story bundles, 2 short stories, 2 audio books, 1 music album, and [Ginger Breo's] illustration of Athena (digital, and a physical 5×7 for people with books.) Plus we added 7 additional stories to the anthology (with an 8th to come @ $26k) + the option for a hardcover edition...

PLUS our brother anthology, Apollo's Daughters, is a go!

Our original cover.

Are you are a fan of Star Wars novelizations like the X-Wing series; I, Jedi; or The New Jedi Order? Authors Aaron Allston and Michael A. Stackpole are contributing to this project. Prefer your space novels to involve the Prime Directive instead of Jedi councils? Trek author Aaron Rosenberg is signed on, too, as are other fantastic authors like Bryan Young, of Big Shiny Robot fame, David Alan Mack, Christopher Ruz, Elias Pate, and many more!

We are also very close to unlocking our $26,000 stretch goal, which will mean author Alma Alexander will contribute a story to Athena's Daughters! Alma is a novelist, anthologist and short story writer who currently shares her life between the Pacific Northwest of the USA (where she lives with her husband and cat) and the wonderful fantasy worlds of her own imagination.

When we reach $28,000, all backers pledging at or above $5 will get a free digital download of Janine K. Spendlove's War of the Seasons short stories "Girl" and "White Flag."

At the $30,000 level, every backer at the $5 and up will receive a free digital download of the eBook for T.S. Rhodes' novel Scarlett Sails.

2013 copyright Autumn Frederickson, for "Athena's Daughters."

Last, but not least, we have another story preview for you!

Danielle Ackley McPhail's published works include four urban fantasy novels: Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court and The Redcaps’ Queen: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale. She is also the author of the non-fiction writers guide, The Literary Handyman and the senior editor of two Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Dragon’s Lure, and In An Iron Cage. Danielle had this to say on her blog about her work for Athena's Daughters:

...My story is a rather fun Steampunk tale about a woman determined and dedicated to finding her missing cousin, Rockford, so that he can assume the management of his inheritance, her father's estate. I like to think you will be amazed at the predicament she and American inventor Fritz Langstrom get into...!

Her story excerpt is here on her blog, as well as posted below. You can also enjoy the artwork which will accompany her story, which is the illustration in the middle of this post.

“Lady Clara! Lady Clara!” a voice called out.

The Right Honorable Claramina Evangelista Pemberton, Countess Chadsworth—the very image of propriety in her dainty hat, rose velvet walking gown, white gloves, and pearl-buttoned boots—stopped very still, took a deep, imperious breath that was warning in itself, and slowly pivoted on one heel. Her already alabaster skin paled further until it bore the aspect of shaved ice as her brown eyes darkened to the hard luster of anthracite. The gentry swarmed the park this afternoon, impeccable in their finery, quite eager to see and be seen. All around her she heard their murmurs and gasps, and not a few sly titters from those glad to witness her touched by even this slight scandal. The rumormongers were in bliss. Though she carefully schooled her expression to display nothing of the sort, within she was mortified...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If any of these things pique your interest, or sound like the type that might interest a friend, you can find our Kickstarter campaign here.