@mlbphd.bsky.social
14 hard sci-fi novels. Explore thrilling adventures & timeless human connections. Experience a meticulously crafted future where science & imagination collide! P.S. These stories are true, they just haven't happened yet. http://www.michaelbrachman.com
Wrapped in towels, shivering, he laughed. It was one of the highlights of the trip, seeing Antarctica from the perspective of a seal. The Solara finally turned north toward Puerto Williams. Rei stood alone at the rail, the Falklands canceled.
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...he was gasping, muscles locking, every movement ragged.
The crew wasn’t about to let him get far. They hauled him in quickly, though the passengers and crew still applauded his effort. The moment he emerged, the cold air hit him like a slap.
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He decided he’d try to make it to the zodiac. Out of habit more than control, he slipped into his classic butterfly toward the boat twenty feet away. But the cold stole his coordination almost instantly. After only a few strokes he was gasping,
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If you haven’t yet stepped into Rei’s Road to the Stars, consider this your sign. It's truly a journey worth taking.
Prefer to listen on the go? 🎧 The audiobook is available too on Amazon. However you read, just don’t miss it.
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Safety divers waited in zodiacs. The ship’s doctor stood by. Most people jumped in and scrambled out immediately.
Wearing a safety belt, Rei leaped into the water. The shock wasn’t as bad as he expected. It was more like a punch than a freeze.
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He stayed until the guides called them, reluctant to leave, aware this silence would not return in the same way again.
The polar plunge came near the end of the voyage. Passengers lined up in bathing suits, jumping into water below freezing.
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www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDDTRPKQ
Check out my book. I'll check yours.
31.01.2026 17:00 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Rei’s final day in Antarctica took him to Half Moon Island. Chinstrap penguins moved in lines across the rocky ridges. He climbed to a high point where the glaciers had pulled back, the land stark and exposed. He let the moment settle into him.
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www.amazon.com/dp/B0GDDTRPKQ
As a sci-fi writer, it's hard not to think, "what if these things come true?" It was one of my biggest fears in writing the book. #sciencefiction #booksky
30.01.2026 18:28 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
The ship drifted in the Kodak Gap, peaks rising sharply on either side. They spent hours in zodiacs weaving among ice floes then hiked into snowfields under a rare burst of sun. The stillness held, time marked only by the number of their steps.
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Antarctica did not overwhelm. It clarified. Glaciers retreated inland, scars etched into the land, yet the continent endured. How long, no one knew. The Solara spent the final 2 days lingering in the Lemaire Channel using dynamic positioning.
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The clarity he’d been seeking was taking shape.
Each place carried its own silence. Ice cliffs held their weight without sound. Caldera slopes steamed in the cold. The air was sharp, the horizon without end. Each step stripped away distraction.
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www.amazon.com/dp/B0GD8VRXKQ
Bold take incoming 👀👇
This isn’t sci-fi for shock value - it’s a thought experiment rooted in where we’re already headed.
Here’s my prediction: the number one cause of death won’t be a disaster… it’ll be:
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The wind drove the temperature down further. Penguins dove in & out around him, vanishing beneath the surface and reappearing yards away. Being on the water steadied him. Out here, close to the ice and the quiet, he felt at one with the planet.
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One morning he entered the kayak lottery & was awarded a spot when they reached Fournier Bay. Wearing special cold water gear in case he tipped over, he paddled among scattered growlers, small chunks of ice that drifted low in the 10°F water.
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Other days he walked ridges where penguins crossed the snow in long lines, their calls echoing in the cold air. He stood on volcanic sand beside rusted whaling tanks on Deception Island, steam rising from the ground. Evidence of ruin & renewal.
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Pro tip: have a brother who is a gifted illustrator to create your book covers!
Many thanks to the talented Bruce Brachman!
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Life endured here without concern for them, a reminder that he was the visitor, not the measure. Over the next 6 days, they moved through bays, ridges and volcanic slopes. The zodiacs threaded among turquoise icebergs, their undersides glowing.
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The passengers kept their distance, but the penguins showed no fear. Skuas circled overhead, a Weddell seal lay stretched on the ice, indifferent. They spent three hours ashore before returning to the Solara. For Rei, it was a lesson in scale.
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www.amazon.com/dp/B0GD8VRXKQ
My favorite scene in my new book, Rei’s Road to the Stars, is one that readers may not even notice!
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Minutes up the marked trail, snow crunched under his boots and the wind pulled at his parka until he reached a ridge overlooking the glacier & bay below. Penguins dotted the ice in small groups. The group hiked down to watch the gentoo colony.
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The next morning at 8:30 sharp, following another round of biosecurity procedures, Rei joined nine other passengers in a zodiac and crossed the bay. Chunks of ice drifted past, but when they stepped ashore, he saw nothing but brown, rocky soil.
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Rei was quiet. He looked at the ice and thought about how the Earth endures, how the ice will outlast us. We are the ephemeral ones, he told himself. Meaning has to be found in the time we’re given. The weather was mild, hovering near freezing.
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On the last day, the weather let up a bit. Off in the distance was something, although Rei couldn’t make it out. But finally, Antarctica came into view. Distant ice cliffs rose like walls, blue seams in the white. The passengers cheered.
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www.amazon.com/dp/B0GD8VRXKQ
It was too rainy the next day so Rei stopped by the citizen-science lab, where passengers retrieved and logged all their seabird sightings. They peered at plankton samples under microscopes and a dish of krill, their translucent bodies pulsing.
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This story has been waiting to be told 💫 Rei’s Road to the Stars is the origin story - how Rei came to be, how his journey began.
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The sheltered side of the ship made the run easy, but every time he rounded the bow the gusts hit him hard enough to shove him sideways. He found he liked it. The resistance steadied him, a small reminder that he still had balance to regain.
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On the third day, Rei went up to the top-deck jogging track for exercise, counting off laps against the wind. According to a weather-worn placard, eight laps around the track equaled roughly one kilometer. Rei was determined to go thirty laps.
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Here’s what my new book, Rei’s Road to the Stars is about 💫
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Passengers leaned on the rails, snapping selfies with their wrist-phones, with smaller icebergs in the background, grinning at the cold. Rei kept to himself. He watched the gray water and low clouds and let the motion of the ship settle him.
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www.amazon.com/dp/B0GD8VRXKQ
