Tina Glasneck, USA Today Bestselling Author

Writers on the Moon

Writers on the Moon Update

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It’s been more than a hot minute since we’ve had a Writers on the Moon update, and today is the day to grab your calendars so you can mark down the date.

As you might recall, I am a part of the Writers on the Moon project, whereby my catalog of books will be sent to the moon as part of a lunar time capsule. Well, we finally have a date…and an amazing update.

NASA finally provided the link for the eventbrite so you can watch it virtually. I thought to share it with you to experience this historical event, when the lunar time capsule is sent to the Moon with Astrobotic Peregrine 1 Launch on May 4th!

Please reserve your spot so you don’t miss it! My work will be headed to the moon in a little over 31 days. Squee!!!

Let the countdown begin! So, if anyone wants to start that Wikipedia page on me (hint, hint), I’d be forever thankful!

Writers on the Moon: Tina Glasneck’s Stowaways

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Image of the Writers on the Moon Payload, courtesy of Dr. Susan Kaye Quinn, Writersonthemoon.com

We’re one step closer on the Writers on the Moon mission with our lunar time capsule with Astrobotic. Now it’s time to reveal who my stowaways are for this mission.

The Writers on the Moon payload has been shipped and delivered to Astrobotic to start the cleanroom assembly process and integration into the Peregrine Lander.

There are so many steps to getting this off the ground, with so many moving parts. Yet,  I’m ecstatic to be a part of it.

Introspection

I’m a writer, composing stories is my passion — be it urban fantasy, paranormal romance, fantasy or anything else. I find solace in words.

Yet, throughout creating the files, my portion of the payload, I spent days contemplating over every word. I’m quick to say that I was trying to find ways to weave my entire life together in a two-page document. It wasn’t the facts of my life that brought me to my knees, as every struggle and triumph helped shape me. Life is more than pain — it is the hope-filled light of love, friendships, faith, and laughter that paint each day with a new beauty. It is from the warmth those moments bring us that helps to propel us forward.

A part of me was an enigma, even to myself. Looking back and finding out all that I’d done over these 42 years has amazed me. Scouring the internet produced long-lost interviews, writings, and even an IMDB listing and page.

I’d been so busy fighting to become someone that I’d let slip away the fact that I was indeed already someone.

Now, placing my lovely stone moon-inspired crown on my head, I step into my purpose, my light.

This seems to be a great time to announce who my stowaways are.

Who are my stowaways?

As a stowaway, those included were able to submit a question. The question was tagged with either the asker’s name (and in some cases, their name and the name of someone they wished to honor).

My thought in doing this is that everyone included would be able to look up at the night sky and find hope. Even more, their names will be discovered by future anthropologists, as well! A bright spot of hope that glows every night.

The nine stowaways are:

Elizabeth James, Scott Reid, Patricia J Burrett, Sandi Kimbauer,Barbi Morales, Jerilynn Rodriquez, Eleanor Elizabeth Forman, George Corcoran, and, Amee Foster

All slots for the stowaways have been filled, and the recipients of these spots notified.

Over the coming months, I expect so much more to come out about this project.

The Writers on the Moon project has even been added to the Astrobotic’s Wikipedia page. Yay!

What an exciting journey, and I am so happy to share it with you.

Important information about the Lunar Time Capsule

  • There are officially 125 writers on the Writers on the Moon Manifest. On their personal manifests, many writers included stowaways. Writers from around the world are a part of this wonderful project.
  • The Lunar Time Capsule will be sent via Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander.
  • Currently, the mission is scheduled for sometime in 2021.

This blog will be continuously updated as the mission progresses, so stay tuned.

Want to visit the official Writers on the Moon blog? Check it out here.

Missed my prior posts about the Writers on the Moon mission? Catch up.

NASA, Space and Loki?

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How NASA inspired an 80s kid to dream big

I’m an 80s kid. We were raised with an overwhelming appreciation for NASA, Space and practically fine-tuned to the heavens’ celestial dance above.

I grew up between Star Trek and Star Wars, with Space Camp movies and the possibility of attending NASA’s space camp. Indeed, we even spent hours contemplating what we’d do if we were ever “Lost in Space” or found an alien, like “ET,” to return home.

Space was the magical equivalent of the metaphysical. While fantasy draws from the Earth, with its tales of fantastical reaches of herbs, crystals, and bohemian chic dressing (I’m looking at you  “Hocus Pocus”), the mysteries of Space were something pushed by those in charge.

I can still remember Presidential speeches about the importance of space travel.

Man has looked up to the sky for millennia in search of meaning and connection. Others have sought to tell the future and past according to the celestial dance. With Perseverance, the Mars Rover’s recent landing, we’ve entered a new era of space achievement.

NASA formed? How did we get here?

In response to Russia’s launch of Sputnik into Orbit, the United States officially formed NASA, starting the space race.

The strides we’ve taken to arrive in Space are extraordinary. Before Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, in 1958, NASA officially launched Project Mercury. In the middle of the cold war with Russia, America searched for the best test pilots to lead the first-of-its-kind mission.

NASA’s project Mercury 7’s mission: ensure that humankind could survive in orbit.

“If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet, it’s that the happiest and most fulfilled people I’ve known are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely their own self-interest…”

John Glenn, NASA Astronaut, Project Mercury

As one of the authors involved in the Writers on the Moon project, I am humbly aware of how this experience might be the pinnacle of my entire existence.

Space

I’ve looked to the Moon for decades. The Moon’s beauty has soothed me, worked its magic where I no longer felt lost in the Cosmos of time. Under her beauty and the shimmering glow of the shimmering stars, I take heart in knowing that a part of me will be there, in the lunar time capsule, for future generations.

The gravity of the situation also rests on my shoulders. To know what an honor this indeed is—for the history, my family,  for me. This spark of being part of the first mission is all extraordinary.

Life has changed. In what was previously a time of hopelessness, hope has returned. Shifting in a time of stillness, and magic in a time when faith was sometimes fleeting.

I am #54 on the Manifest for the Writers on the Moon payload, and the countdown is on! This week, the payload was shipped off to Astrobotics.

So, what does that mean?

As part of the Writers on the Moon project in the first commercial payload, my books will join the Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission 1 on the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, current Amazon CEO, supplies the flight’s rocket engines. With an updated, projected launch of late 2021, the payload will be delivered to Lacus Mortis, on the Moon for future anthropologists and generations.

Since I write fantasy, I am happy to take the Norse gods with me in my catalog, including the debonair Loki.

http://books2read.com/u/3GAzYQ

By all current projections for the next project on which I am working, I expect Loki to play a role in the upcoming novel, Four Times the Fight, releasing at the end of March.

Loki has a piece of my heart, and I can’t wait to share the next part of his adventure with you.

Want to know why I love Norse mythology? Check out the prior blog here.

With Mars Rover Landing Comes Hope

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At the time of this email, a winter storm ravages the United States causing massive power outages and Arctic temperatures.

With the unusual weather causing heavy snow, ice storms, and wintery mix, watching the Mars Rover landing served as a beason of hope. It stirred something in many of us reminiscent of the NASA push of the 1980s.

Hope is essential for our survival.

As a kid of the 80s, there was so much information given to us about Space. Be it through movies, like Space Camp, to even watching the tragic Space Shuttle Challenger launch at school in 1986, to even the school trips to NASA. I would look up at the sky and always find a piece of hope.

Even later, entering high school, my eclectic sensibilities found greatness in worlds beyond our own, especially when viewing the celestial bodies. I proudly bore the nickname of Moonbeam and basked in the beauty of the Moon’s glow.

So, having an opportunity to have a piece of my soul on the Moon is confirming and life-changing. (Let’s face it, all of my books contain my sweat, blood, tears, and a part of my essence. I am so claiming a part of me is off to the Moon—LOL).

Just as the Moon shines at night, it signals hope, and light is just around the bend. We can find hope in our natural world, for sure.

Yesterday, like many of you, I watched NASA’s Mars Rover Landing and was completely stoked. The rover will drill and take samples from the planet’s soil. We have no idea what science will reveal to us about all that Mars was, but I can’t wait to learn more about what is in the great beyond.

NASA’s Artemis Program.

We have taken such great leaps in space travel and exploration, and I’m also waiting with bated breath for NASA’s Artemis Program.

According to NASA’s website, “Artemis is the first step in the next era of human exploration. Together with commercial and international partners, NASA will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon to prepare for missions to Mars.”

So, what will it mean when we colonize the Moon for future space exploration? Will we finally head toward the Pleiades star system and answer many of our most complexing mysteries?

Watching the Mars landing, the compiled 4D video of Mars, as well as knowing that a helicopter is flying around Mars is just mindblowing. To think we’ve accomplished all of that in less than sixty years is impressive in itself. Who knows where and how far things will have developed by the 100 anniversary of the Moon landing?

Yesterday’s Mars landing is just the beginning of a great adventure, and I’m happy we get to see it all develop in real-time.

Tina Glasneck is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy (Urban, PNR, mythic). She enjoys creating fantastical tales starring Norse gods, dragons, vampires, and magic. She is one of the one hundred twenty-five authors set to send their work to the Moon in a lunar time capsule in July 2021. One day she hopes to travel to Asgard and see what all the fuss is about.

 

To the Moon

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We can all use some hope, right?

I make no secret of my love for Norse mythology and the Norse gods —I’m looking at you Loki, Lady Hel, and Freyja!

A journey started…

And my journey to the gods started long ago.

I’m an 80’s kid. I grew up with an interest in the space program. It was a time when things like Space Camp, Space Balls, and all things Star Wars and Star Trek propelled people to look to the stars.

Luckily, when I was in 6th grade, my school took a field trip to Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where I got to see and learn so much.

So, this is a natural progression where my love of mythology has clear implications – straight to the moon!

Drum roll please…

I’m happy to announce that I have been accepted for the Writer on the Moon Project. Created by Dr. Susan Kaye Quinn, this project (and dare I say beacon of much-needed hope) will send a time capsule to the moon for future anthropologists and generations to come.

Cosmology and Mythology go hand and hand. Mythology helps us to understand our world, not only on this planet but the universe. For example, for Norse mythology, the Norse regarded the Milky Way as Yggdrasill, the tree to the nine worlds.

I am ecstatic to be a part of this program. It feels like I’ve been given a booster shot of hope!

You can learn more about the Writers on the Moon project here.

The launch is scheduled for Fall 2021.