Ocean

In partnership with

Hello from out here on the Thames Delta.

OCEAN, by myself and Chris Sprouse, with Karl Story, is being reprinted by Image Comics in a new edition this November. Check out this new cover, which Chris drew and coloured himself.

He actually sent it as a mock-up, intending it as a suggestion for a colourist. I just pointed at it and said, that’s the cover, just as it is. I mean, look at it. Is that not fantastic?

I’m delighted to see this out in the world again. It was such a privilege to write for Chris Sprouse.

This was previously designated PROJECT WALLOPS - Wallops Island was an early spacelaunch range, and in fact still exists today as Wallops Flight Facility. All the project codenames are always related to the project itself. They’re not random, just encrypted by my own insanity.

That’s pretty much all the news this week. We’ve uploaded the solicitation text, cover and preview pages for graphic novella PROJECT LOST SIERRA to the publisher now, I’m woefully behind on everything else because my brain has just been empty this week

So.

• Humans can learn to echolocate in just ten weeks. And that includes sighted people.

• Neill Blomkamp is making a film with AI. He’s started with a 13-minute short, NIGHTBORNE, evidently made with human concept artists and thirty-two real actors, and based on material from sf author Peter Watts. You are not going to see less of this sort of thing. You are going to see directors and producers testing the ethical judgement space around AI in pursuit of making things they couldn’t otherwise get produced. Blomkamp started out in CGI animation.

• and Darren Aronofsky is looking for funding for an AI studio, because you’re not going to keep AI out of production workflows forever.

• Apparently Chat GPT is the human suicide switch, and, lucky you, you can rent it from seven quid a month.

• Good news: now there are invisible drones.

• SUPERGIRL has gone straight to VOD after four weeks. Marvel claims to have constructed a film slate that will take them to the year 2042.

• Catfish in North America have a contagious cancer. Because “cancer is contagious now” is what we were all looking forward to hearing.

Find more Lordess Foudre work at her Instagram and Substack.

First look at Werner Herzog’s new film, BUCKING FASTARD:

And, finally, since we’re doing space - Chinese rocket struck by lightning during launch:

Artist, writer and educator Rain DeGrey moved to the wilderness after a lifetime in California and this is the record of her discovery of the land and the seasons. This is her newsletter.

Todd Blackwood is the creator of NOSFERATU: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL. See more of his art on his IG.

If you want to work together this year, or if you’re doing something creative you want more people to know about, or if you think there’s something Orbital Operations should be covering, hit reply to this newsletter to shoot a note to the office.

OPS

Putin therefore believes that a dictatorship can wage war for longer than a democratic society, and it would appear he is not entirely wrong in this assumption.

• Read IF RUSSIA WINS: A SCENARIO by political scientist Carlo Masala, a short speculation on how Russia might challenge European security. It pivots on the new understanding that NATO’s Article Five - that if one NATO member is attacked, all NATO members respond - is no longer as ironclad as it used to be.

“Raj, I can give you most of the things you’re asking for, but I can’t lend you an air force Gulfstream for your travel to D.C.,” Eric said. “Negotiating 101,” responded Raj. “Always include one giveaway provision so your opponent has the illusion you are compromising.”

• Currently reading UNIT X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff, a slightly self congratulatory book about the Defense Innovation Unit eXperimental, an attempt to harness Silicon Valley for fast innovation in military tech. Detail rich but a little smug, so I put it down to start:

I sent a video of Nordic pornography to everyone in my dad’s work email—it’s a really specific genre, lots of pelts involved.

• There have been a lot of Opinions expended about LOST LAMBS by Madeline Cash. That she gamed the publishing system, or it was gamed on her behalf, that she got all the support and publicity and marketing that most other writers don’t get, that she had privilege and the table was rigged in her favour, that she didn’t deserve to be uplifted. I saw one person claiming to be an “editor” actually publish his own “clean-up” of the first few pages of LOST LAMBS, in order to demonstrate that she was a bad writer and that he knew better. He showed quite clearly that he had the same feeling for cadence and charm and voice that Jack the Ripper had for dating. LOST LAMBS is a clever and funny and accessible systems novel. LOST LAMBS, Madeline Cash (UK) (US)

GOT MORE TIME?

LTD

I keep a digital writer’s notebook and you’re invited to read over my shoulder. You can subscribe to the site to get every post by email. The current format is between one and three posts a day. Like a more condensed yet more confused version of this newsletter. You might like it.

MORNING COMPUTER: things to start the day

• commonplace books and insect drones

• the art of Remedios Varo

STATUS: the daily noon-ish roundup post

• I grew lilies and did not go to see The Odyssey

• Flight From Time One

This letter has been zapped to you via Beehiiv and is sponsored by:

Wake Up Smarter About AI.

Most AI news is a waste of time. The Future Today is a daily 5-minute read focused on what actually matters.

You’ll get exclusive interviews with the CEOs, researchers, and builders shaping AI. Plus top stories broken down simply and practical advice you can immediately apply.

Read the newsletter trusted by teams at NVIDIA, Google, Anthropic, Meta, Dell, and Salesforce.

Join Free Today →

That’s me. I’ve had no time for anything this week, and I’m hoping next week will be better for me and for you. See you next Sunday.

W