Nick Sagan Online

Discovery Retreats

Nick Sagan — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:58:28 -0400

Tucked away in a red rock canyon amidst majestic Colorado mountainside, Discovery Retreats is a science-themed vacation resort envisioned as a refuge for guests to feed their minds as they revitalize their bodies. Earlier this summer, I spent a week there attending the "Secrets of the Universe" retreat and had a thoroughly fantastic time.

Some reflections on the experience:

- Gateway, Colorado is a stirringly beautiful part of the country. Having never visited before, I found the unspoiled natural surroundings intriguingly strange, even a touch alien, as if I'd been transported to some far more hospitable interpretation of the planet Mars. As you may know, I'm quite smitten with the natural beauty of my hometown--Ithaca, with its magnificent gorges and waterfalls--and so it was a joy to discover that the red rock formations of Gateway inspired in much the same way. To be in that exquisite environment and not pause from time to time to look about and marvel at the wonder of existence was simply impossible for me. An ideal place to be alone with one's thoughts.

- But even better, I wasn't alone: this was a very smart, fun and lively group. Particularly the speakers who were comprised mainly of cosmologists and theoretical physicists like my friend Janna Levin, award-winning writer and professor of physics and astronomy. You may already know Janna from her TED talk on the sound the universe makes or her appearance on the Colbert Report.

- Had a great time catching up, and an equally great time getting to know and befriend the other speakers: Sean Carroll, Jennifer Ouellette, Mark Trodden and Risa Wechsler, all of whom I found impressive, personable and charming. Respectively, they gave talks on "All We Know About the Universe," "How Tinsel Town Does the Universe," "Dark Matter not the Dark Force" and "Galaxy Formation in a Dark Universe" and together with Janna's "The Sound of Black Holes," this was an outstanding lecture series.

- Even more enjoyable than the information I learned are the memories I take away, from talking favorite time travel movies with Sean (who, by the way, was the perfect host for this, making scientific complexities understandable and fun) to bonding with Jen over writing and family backgrounds, to discovering a shared fascination for The Prisoner with Mark, to talking vegetarianism with Risa, who on our last day busted me twice in a hugely entertaining game of Texas Hold 'Em.

- Another fun experience for yours truly: taking part in an open panel discussion with the speakers. I was a late addition, replacing Janna (who had to leave early), and while I'm no stranger to being on panel, that's typically been at science fiction conventions, which is very different from chiming in when everyone up there with you is a scientist or science writer. Sure, I come from a scientific family, but my gig is making up stories about aliens, posthumans, space marines, killer pandemics and such. Weirdly enough, this worked out well, fellow guests approaching me afterwards with appreciation for my science fictional perspective. Part of that has to do with Jennifer's expert moderation but also I'm quite happily finding myself increasingly comfortable with my role in the scheme of things. As a non-scientist SF writer from a family synonymous with science, I've sometimes felt a little betwixt and between but these days I'm at peace with it, able to see the persepective I bring much as others do--as a feature, not a bug. Likewise, I'm so thrilled with the wonderfully reciprocal relationship science fiction enjoys with science and appreciative for being able to provide my small contributions to that dance. A good place to be.

- And speaking of good places to be: Gateway Canyons. Top notch resort with an impressive spa, and along with all the lounging and learning, we were able to squeeze in white water rafting, hiking, star-gazing, a tour of John Hendricks' rare auto museum and a sunset horseback ride (incidentally, the horse in question, "Happy," is by far the favorite horse of all I've ridden, the sole competition being "the gentle one" who threw me when I was 9). On the rafting ride, I got to talk Lakota traditions with C.J. Brafford, which was a treat and creatively inspiring for something I'm writing. Truly, a fun time, and aside from a bad reaction to elk jerky (my stomach haaaated it), my curiosity was rewarded from beginning to end.

Hilary Swank grabs hold of 'Shrapnel'

Nick Sagan — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:41:17 -0400

The trip to Chicago was amazing and I'm looking forward to blogging about it... but first I'm delighted to link you to this exciting news.

A Visit to the Adler's New Theater

Nick Sagan — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:46:53 -0400

A tremendous amount of work goes into creating "the most technologically advanced planetarium theater in the world." Check out this interesting Chicago Tribune behind the scenes video feature.

Accompanying article can be found here.

A Father's Day Gift for Carl Sagan

Nick Sagan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:53:08 -0400

How do you shop for Carl Sagan? I was never quite sure what to get him. Astronomical art? A traditional tie? Some years I made better choices than others, but too often I found it baffling.

For this Father's Day, I'd like to announce the launch of a project I'm sure he would have loved. It shouldn't surprise you to know Dad was wild about planetariums. He took me to several growing up and I remember well the shared joy of sitting together in the audience, watching those wondrous shows. Now I've written one. For the past several months, I've been collaborating with the Adler Planetarium on the flagship show for their new, groundbreaking (heck, call it skybreaking) Deep Space Adventure program. It's called The Searcher and it's been a fantastic experience to work on, both a pleasure and an honor, and my heart practically breaks at how proud he'd be.

The Searcher features scientific simulations from powerful supercomputers and observations from the most advanced telescopes in existence, resulting in breathtaking visualizations that capture the audience’s attention and brings the action up close. Watch as a star is torn apart by a black hole, witness the collision of two massive galaxies, view the formation of the large-scale structure of the Universe, and encounter a dramatic supernova explosion.
The Grainger Sky Theater will project the largest single seamless digital image in the world with an ultra high definition screen resolution of more than 8k x 8k pixels. This far surpasses the cinematic standard of 2k x 4k pixels, presenting a level of realism that can only be surpassed by actual space travel.

Vivid images of planets, stars, galaxies and other celestial objects are shown in the highest resolution and quality possible to evoke the feeling of being in deep space. The on-screen imagery will expand beyond the traditional 180-degree dome, surrounding the visitor with a 360-degree experience using special lighting effects in the floor.

It's going to be a truly spectacular experience. In coming weeks, I'll post updates here on my blog and on my Twitter feed. You can also keep up with the latest developments at the Adler's Deep Space Adventure page, or on their YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages.

The Searcher premiers on July 8th and it's set to run for about a year, so if you find yourself in the Chicago area during that time, I hope you'll give it a whirl.

Trekking The Cosmos: Klingons In Our Midst!

Nick Sagan — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:50:37 -0500

Tomorrow I get to drink Klingon bloodwine single malt scotch with Chancellor Martok and talk about all things Star Trek in front of a crowd. It's part of Ithaca's Science Cabaret and prelude to the Light In Winter festival, which goes down this weekend.

JG Hertzler is such a talented actor and when not in his bellicose Klingon persona, he's very approachable and friendly. As am I, so they tell me--at least when I'm fueled by scotch. So if you're a Trek fan here in Ithaca, come to Delilah's tomorrow and check out the event. Hope to see you there!

Happy 1/1/11

Nick Sagan — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:59:32 -0500

Maybe you're enjoying the strange base 2 flavor of the date today as much as I am? (Okay, base 3 if you include the first two digits of the year.) I'm already looking forward to November's 11/11/11 goodness.

Between now and then, it's going to be busy. I'm working with Science Channel on a TV show I'll tell you all about in coming weeks; got a planetarium show coming out this summer; there are a couple of other fun undertakings in the works. It's an exciting time.

Deep appreciation to all of you who've followed me throughout the years. Hope you'll stay tuned to see what's coming!

Happy New Year--and, oh, there's a site redesign coming to nicksagan.com, so don't be surprised if things start to look a little different there before too long.

Shrapnel-palooza!

Nick Sagan — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:08:02 -0500

Not one but two Shrapnel-related videos...

First, the trailer for the new Shrapnel iPhone game, now available for download from the Apple App Store:

Second, this interview of me talking Shrapnel at a recent Barnes & Noble signing:

Life As We Do Not Know It

Nick Sagan — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:00:26 -0500

Well, this is promising.

A new life form: the microorganism GFAJ-1. While there's nothing extraterrestrial about these little bacteria, it's exciting to see we've grown a species that can handle arsenic instead of phosphorus. New potential for where we might find life just opened up. As the NYT reports, "organisms could exist elsewhere in the universe or even here on Earth using biochemical powers we have not yet dared to dream about."

In the (almost) fourteen years since my father passed, scientists have discovered an ever growing number of extremophiles and exoplanets. How excited he'd be by these finds, how invigorated.

We may still be far from answering that "Are we the only intelligent life?" question, but we live in a time where the universe is crackling with possibility.

Thanksgiving Deer

Nick Sagan — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:12:15 -0500

Just lounging on the lawn. Hope your Thanksgiving holiday is equally relaxing!

Facebook! Twitter! MySpace!

Nick Sagan — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 10:29:23 -0500

It's social media madness as I try to become more adept at communicating online. Quite a lot's happening here these days (more about that later) and if you'd like to follow all I'm doing in the coming months and years, there are now options aplenty for you:

Facebook!

Twitter!

MySpace!

Happy Halloween 2010

Nick Sagan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:12:07 -0400

Another Halloween is here! Sending delicious pumpkin wishes to you and yours, the whole of humanity, and our primate cousins as well.

(AP Photo/dapd, Philipp Guelland)

New York Comic-Con

Nick Sagan — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:08:09 -0400

Anyone going to the New York Comic-Con? I'll be there this Saturday. Been to San Diego a few times, but this will be the first time I've checked out the NYC show, so I'm really looking forward to it. You can find me in Room 1A14 at 6:15 pm for a panel discussion with Dr. Michio Kaku about science and science fiction. Hope to see you there!

Where is the line between Science Fiction and Science Faction?

Date: Saturday, October 9th

Time: 6:15 pm - 7:15 pm

Location: Room 1A14

Track: NYCC/NYAF Panels

Description: Throughout modern history, fantasy has pushed and nudged reality opening new worlds of imagination and innovation. Advances in military, medicine, technology and intelligence gathering can often trace their roots to the writer's pen or director's vision. In this post Avatar world we live in, the wall between sci fi and sci fact continues to disappear. What does the future hold for these two worlds? Have we come to a time when the two are no longer separate entities but rather working hand in hand with one another? And what does that mean for our entertainment choices, our ethical code and society as a whole? City College Physic Professor and host of Science Channel's SCI FI SCIENCE, Dr. Michio Kaku is joined by award-winning writer and son of Carl Sagan, Nick Sagan to discuss these issues, review the tangled history of sci fi/sci fact and preview the latest in sci fi storytelling.

Science Channel Press Release

Nick Sagan — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:57:55 -0400

NICK SAGAN SIGNS DEVELOPMENT DEAL WITH SCIENCE CHANNEL, SON OF THE ICONIC CARL SAGAN SET TO HOST AND DEVELOP NEW SERIES AND SPECIALS

(Silver Spring, Md.) -- Science Channel has signed sci-fi writer Nick Sagan, son of famed astrophysicist and television icon Carl Sagan, to an exclusive development deal, Debbie Myers, general manager and executive vice president of programming for Science Channel, announced today. Sagan is represented by Creative Artists Agency.

Sagan will be working closely with Science Channel’s production team, hosting and developing new series and specials for the network.

“I’m thrilled to be working with the Science Channel,” Nick Sagan said. “A chance to shine a light on the wonder and exciting possibilities of science with such a smart and talented team is a dream come true for me. It’s very gratifying to me personally, and it’s also a way to honor my family,” Sagan added.

“Nick is a gifted storyteller. Growing up with a dad who just so happened to be one of science’s brightest minds and television’s brightest lights, he is a one-of-a-kind voice from sci-fi to sci fact. This fits exactly into Science Channel’s new direction, exploring the unknown and asking the big questions,” said Debbie Myers, general manager and executive vice president, programming for Science Channel.

Sagan has been writing professionally since he was 22, crafting novels, screenplays, teleplays, comic books, animation episodes and computer games. He has worked for a variety of studios and production companies, including Paramount, Warner Brothers, New Line, Universal, Disney, actor/producer Tom Cruise, and director Martin Scorsese. Sagan co-wrote the award-winning computer adventure game, Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands. His film credits include adaptations of novels by Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. LeGuin, Pierre Ouellette and Charles Pellegrino. Sagan’s television credits include two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and five episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, where he worked as a story editor.

Sagan was also recruited by astronaut Sally Ride to work for SPACE.com as Executive Producer of Entertainment & Games. During his tenure at SPACE.com, he began to formulate a series of science fiction novels, The Idlewild Trilogy, which was published by Penguin Putnam and has been translated into several different languages. Sagan then co-wrote You Call This The Future? with science writers Andy Walker and Mark Frary, which was hailed by Publishers’ Weekly as “a delightful ‘expedition in search of the future,’ providing clear explanations of today’s cutting-edge technologies to find where science fiction has become reality.”

About Science Channel

Science Channel, a division of Discovery Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), is broadcast 24 hours a day and seven days a week to more than 66 million U.S. homes and simulcast on Science Channel HD. We immerse viewers in the incredible possibilities of science, from string theory and futuristic cities to accidental discoveries and outrageous inventions. We take things apart, peer inside and put things together in new and unexpected ways. We celebrate the trials, errors and brinking moments that change our lives forever.

To find out more, go to sciencechannel.com.

# # #

Follow Science Channel on Twitter @sciencechannel and on Facebook at facebook.com/sciencechannel.

For photos log on to http://press.discovery.com/us/sci/

Ballston Spa Bound

Nick Sagan — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:29:28 -0400

This Saturday I'll be in Ballston Spa, New York (that's just a little ways south of Saratoga Springs) helping to judge The Third Annual Ballston Spa Film Festival.

The festival's films range from the U.S. to Australia, Canada, England, Indonesia, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, Spain, Tajikistan and Turkey to name a few, and I love what can be done in a short film format so I'm hoping to be dazzled. Should be a lot of fun.

Gobble Gobble!

Nick Sagan — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:28:35 -0400

Out driving today, Animal from The Muppet Show snapped this shot of wild turkeys roaming around Ithaca. (Okay, maybe it was me in an Animal T-shirt.) Click the image for more detail.

11 months ago, I watched five turkeys traipse through my backyard in a V formation, the leader in front, the others a step behind and fanning out to the sides. Prior to that day, my primary experience with turkey had been Thanksgiving related, but I was struck by what beautiful creatures they are roaming out in the wild.

Though I'd flirted with vegetarianism/vegaquarianism in the past, I'd never committed to it, and yet upon seeing the turkeys out on patrol I made a promise to myself to cut all beef, pork and poultry from my diet for a year.

One trip around the sun mammal and fowl free. Just to find out what that would feel like.

Happily for all involved, it's been a really positive experience. I feel great, I've lost weight, and the longstanding sense of guilt I feel for munching animals is now confined just to seafood. For better or worse, I've discovered that my sensation of guilt directly correlates with the intelligence of the animal--it's difficult for me to get too worked up about eating a tuna, but pigs are as clever as a three-year-old child and if I wouldn't eat the child, why the pig?

Whalers, poachers and cannibals aside, I really don't begrudge anyone eating whatever they want. We're each of us on a different path and there are sometimes very good reasons to be a carnivore (recently, for example, I was chatting up a waitress who'd been a lifelong vegetarian until she became pregnant and her doctor advised her to add animal protein to her diet for health reasons.) So I'm not preaching; I'm just celebrating a personal decision that's given me more than I thought it would.

Now I'm a little concerned about mercury from the seafood in my diet, so after the year is up I might go back to chicken now and again--weekends, maybe, inspired by Graham Hill's weekday veg proposal.

But I don't think I'm ever going back to beef or pork or turkey, and for that I have the turkeys to thank.

From The Martian Tourist Board

Nick Sagan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:32:00 -0400

An exchange from Shrapnel: Hubris #1 about Martian communities. We chose to name many of the towns after science fiction writers, Scalzi chief among them.

John made "Jane Sagan" one of the principal characters of his Old Man's War series, so I suppose this was a bit of a tag back. Efforts are undertaken to liberate the war-torn Scalzi in issue #3.

If I recall correctly, "Scalzopolis" got tossed around but we reeled ourselves in from that.

The Life And Work Of Godfrey Winton

Nick Sagan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:15:00 -0400

To celebrate the ascension of President Scalzi, allow me to present a panel discussion that the new prez, Sarah Monette and I took part in back at Penguicon 2007. It's a retrospective on the remarkable career of famed science fiction writer Godfrey Winton, or as I knew him personally, Uncle Godfrey.

Available in convenient choice of audio or transcript.

Scalzibration!

Nick Sagan — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:01:00 -0400

Congratulations to John Scalzi, who today takes over as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. John's a magnificent writer (a Hugo and John W. Campbell award winner, no less.) In a happy coincidence, he's also a hell of a guy.

May his reign be prosperous and triumphant!

Sunday Deer

Nick Sagan — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:38:10 -0400

A photo I snapped of one of the many deer who make Ithaca such a beautiful place to live:

Mom's Pioneer & Voyager Interviews

Nick Sagan — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:28:55 -0400

Last week, I played host to not one but two film crews so they could interview my mother, Linda Salzman.

On Thursday there was the upcoming BBC show, The Beauty of Diagrams, where internationally acclaimed mathematician Marcus du Sautoy interviewed Mom about her work on the Pioneer Plaque. Directed by Michael Waterhouse, this is a documentary series about scientific discovery, told via an exploration of significant drawings and diagrams such as Isaac Newton's Prism Diagram and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

Then on Friday Swiss director Franz Josef Holzer interviewed Mom about the Voyager Golden Record for his film c'est une fille, "a cinematographic letter to extraterrestrials," that will "follow the concrete example of a human being: four-year-old Zora, from her conception to the first years of her life."

Mom did a wonderful job. She's traditionally been shy about giving interviews, but she was made comfortable by how easy it was to talk with Marcus and Franz. Some thoughtful questions stirred up a lot of memories for her, including memories of the early 70's and my childhood, which from a personal perspective were very cool to hear.