Chris Coward

I don't submit to many writing contests, but some time back, I got the urge to enter a biggie: the Cygnus Award, Chanticleer International Book Award's competition for speculative fiction. On July 29, when I learned I was selected for the Cygnus Long List, I was over the moon. Today's thrill is even bigger: Perpendicular Women: Adventures in the Multiverse has advanced to the SHORT List! Feel free to visit Amazon, where PW is available as paperback, e-book, and Kindle Unlimited. Watch for the announcement of its audiobook in time for the holidays. (BTW, if you like the story, a heartfelt review on Amazon or a brief comment on social media would be so appreciated.) Thank you for your ongoing well wishes. Wish me luck in the next elimination round!

At 3:55 this afternoon, the message came in. Chanticleer Book Review announced their long lists for Speculative Fiction. Perpendicular Women: Adventures in the Multiverse has made the Long List for the Cygnus Award! (That's the one for science fiction.) Wow oh wow. Feel free to visit Amazon, where the book is available as paperback, e-book, and Kindle Unlimited—and if you like the story, a heartfelt review would be oh, so welcome. You're always cordially invited to visit me on chriscoward.net. Wish me luck on making Cygnus's Short List!

Do you like to cook? Do you like to eat? Maybe you prefer pondering what our universe really is.

Cooking and exploring the fabric of our universe are two of the subjects in this blog series. In this first post, we're taking a glimpse at both.

Cooking!
It is my pleasure to begin this blog on a fun note: eating! Sounds like a strange topic for a speculative fiction author to tackle, but if you've read Perpendicular Women, you know that Kara, one of the characters, cooks. Well! Readers have asked about the dishes she prepares. You ask. I deliver.

Above is the first installment of the "starter pack" of four recipes. All of "Kara's" dishes are healthy, easy, and time-tested. I'll send out three more in the coming days.

On a related topic, beginning March 1, "Kara" will launch a recipe newsletter. If you'd like printable recipes delivered to your inbox once a month, let me know through the Contact tab on this site. (I do not share my contact list.)

Geeking out (a little)
The subtitle of Perpendicular Women is "Adventures in the Multiverse." Way back in 2010 when I wrote the story that would become PW, most people hadn't even heard of the multiverse, and many who had considered the hypothesis to be "out there." They'd say, oh, what a fun thought, how convenient for storytellers, but really?

No more. With Willow, the multiverse hypothesis is hot. Willow is a new quantum chip from Google. A super, super, incomprehensibly powerful quantum chip. According to Google, in a test, Willow did a computation that would have taken the world's fastest supercomputers some ten septillion years to complete. (Willow reportedly did it in under five minutes.)

The question is: how? Some physicists propose that the chip may be tapping into the multiverse by interacting with other parallel/perpendicular universes. Others propose alternative theories. Speculation rages, and if the needle on this debate moves, I'll let you know, right here.

And now, back to cooking. Enjoy this recipe and more to come.

Till the next post, may your universe treat you kindly,
Chris