Models
I’ve probably consumed a small dinosaur’s worth of polystyrene over the years. Most of the models I’ve built have been kits. Some of these were inspirational for my writing. The hyperglider shown here is of my own design, and plays a pivotal role in THE EXTRAPOLATED MAN.
I recently picked up 3D modeling and printing, which has greatly expanded what I can design and fabricate in a reasonable amount of time. I will be showcasing models inspired by my stories here in the near future. I hope to offer design files and possibly kits for fellow makers who would like their own desktop hyperglider or torchship from the novel.
Arcana
I’ve always loved the interplay of light with water and crystal. Light itself fascinates me. And I am no stranger to the light fantastic, either, if you know what I mean. Are you experienced? Because I sure as hell am. Which has led me down various rabbit holes. Psychedelics, of course, meditation, martial arts, yoga, isolation. I largely count myself as a spiritual pilgrim, always curious, never entirely satisfied. I’ve been hugely influenced by Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, and Guru Mai.
So… being a mystic at heart and a technologist by training, I’ve experimented with blending natural materials such as quartz crystals, fluorite, birch, and spruce with LEDs and microcontrollers. Some of the pieces are quite lovely, especially on a long winter night.
Rockets
As a young sci-fi fan in the seventies, model rockets were a sweet spot between words on paper and physical reality. I could make things that looked like the spaceships in my favorite novels, and actually hurl them into the sky on rocket motors. This was the same period of time when the dominant manufacturer, Estes, was producing some really cool designs: orbital transports, Mars landers, nuclear powered freighters. I got the bug bad.
And to some degree I still have it, which makes me what is known in the hobby as a “born again rocketeer.” My favorite subjects are still science fictional in aspect, though I do have a thing for rocket gliders that I can fly back down under radio control.
I will be showcasing designs inspired by my stories in the near future. In the meantime, here are some cool kits, many with custom decals and parts.
Gliders
There is something magical about launching a radio-controlled glider into the sky, finding an invisible bubble of lift, and spiraling upwards into the big blue. I was skeptical it could even be done, in Alaska, but one fine March day twenty-plus years ago I found myself out on a frozen lake with a smaller version of the v-tail beauty shown here. I ran her up to a couple hundred feet on electric and then powered down. And caught a hat-sucker of a thermal that I struggled to exit. The glider was getting pretty damn small by the time I flew out of lift and started making my way back down, leaving me rattled but exultant.
(I also flew paragliders for a few years, and would love to do so again. But that’s another story!)
Airhounds
Back when COVID-19 was booming, my son Max and I founded a company called Airhounds. Our product leveraged research that estimates the probability of infection by measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide indoors, which correlates well with the aerosols that carry airborne diseases like SARS-CoV-2. We thought people would want to know if the air they were breathing would make them sick, but we were wrong. People mostly don’t want to know, and businesses most definitely do not want their customers to know.
So we pivoted to using “far UVC” 222nm ultraviolet light to deactivate airborne viruses. We built a dozen prototype Personal Health Air Sterilizers (PHASers, of course!) for personal use, by which time general concern about COVID-19 in the US had largely died out. (As it were.)
COVID-19 is the third leading cause of death in the US, but we (big We, the nation) largely can’t be bothered, which seems sad and weird to me, because it is largely an engineering problem that could be solved with ventilation, air filtration, and UV sterilization. I’m still hoping for our John Snow moment!
In the meantime, if you’re a weirdo like me who wants to mitigate your risk of contracting a disease (again (and again (…))) that could leave you physically and mentally disabled for months or years or maybe forever, check out the gadgets!