Hello, dreamers. It’s the second week of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. With all the awesome winter sports action, it’s been hard to write. But I’m doing it. If a Brazilian man can win a gold medal in alpine skiing, by god I can write a story during the Olympics.

And I have, in fact, been writing. I’ve finally launched by Substack in earnest, and I’m hard at work on a new short fiction piece I really, really like. I’ve got more to do this week, so without further ado, here’s what I’ll be working on:

Querying Seven Days on Samarkand

Still only two rejections. The waiting continues. However, as I always say, even with queries out I’m not content to sit on my laurels. My next big project will be another “science pass”.

Writing hard sci-fi is a lot of fun, but it lends itself to certain abuses. One of the things I’ve learned about the subgenre over the years is no matter how hard you try, you always miss something. Ideally, once I secure an agent I’ll look around for a science consultant (or several). For now, I’ve got me.

I’ve spent parts of the past few weeks reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Weir, for those unfamiliar with his work, is the undisputed master of hard sci-fi. His novels make The Expanse look like high fantasy. And as always, reading his work helped me notice some of the remaining flaws in the science behind Seven Days on Samarkand. I took some notes while reading his novel, and now I plan to put in some time for scientific accuracy.

The biggest rule in science fiction, especially hard sci-fi, is this: just because I know how something works doesn’t mean the reader has to. And for a sci-fi writer who’s put lots of time and effort into rich worldbuilding, it can be hard to decide what isn’t important. My first draft of Seven Days on Samarkand included almost a full page explaining how laser-inertial fusion works. But in hard sci-fi, you want to get the science as spot-on as possible.

This week I’ll be looking mainly at waste heat and momentum. It’s gonna be really cool.

Short Fiction

As I said, last week I did in fact start a new short story. And I’ve been plugging away at it. The story follows the only two survivors of a fifty-person crew, on a spacecraft stranded in a nebula. It’s been a lot of fun so far, and I’m enjoying every moment. This is the hardest hard sci-fi short story I’ve written in about a year, and I blame Mr. Andy Weir for that. But I also thank him. Because this story is really, really cool.

Amid queries and the Olympics, for the time being I’ve decided to give myself a much-needed short fiction break. As soon as I’ve finished the current story I’ll be moving along to whatever I feel like writing next. As I mentioned in my most recent Substack post, I’ve come to find short fiction liberating (even when it’s hard sci-fi short fiction). Things move quickly, I’m able to make adjustments to a story on the fly without worrying about how things will affect continuity further on. It’s a breath of fresh air.

Upcoming Content

As I mentioned last week, I have officially launched my Substack: Martians and Lasers. If you haven’t already, head to Substack and subscribe here. It’s free, and you’ll get lots of cool content you won’t find here.

For the time being, at least, I’ve decided to continue giving readers a schedule of my upcoming content here on this site. All upcoming posts will be available here unless otherwise noted. That said, here’s what you can expect from me in the week to come:

Friday: “The Cutting Room: ‘He Said'”

Available on Substack

Dialogue tags: they’re a hot topic among writers. But the consensus is, there’s nothing wrong with “he said”. In this month’s editing post, learn why dialogue tags matter for a writer, and why less is usually more.

Sunday: “Dear Sir or Madam“

On Sunday, watch for my latest update on my querying journey, and learn more about what querying writers call the “Maybe Pile”.

It’s going to be another big week. So keep reading, and dare to dream. – MK