Smale Christmas 2015

Christmas 2015, you say? Well, that came around fast. Again.

This was a banner year for Alan, with the release of his debut novel. Clash of Eagles came out from Random House/Del Rey in hardcover and audiobook in March, and in paperback in September. (Outside the US it's available from Titan Books, with a different cover.) Alan has already delivered the sequel, Eagle in Exile, which is scheduled for release on the Ides of March 2016. He is now working hard on the concluding volume of the series, Eagle and Empire, which should hit the streets in March 2017.

In addition to the writing, Alan has been doing extensive promotion. His major events were Worldcon in Spokane in August, where his book sold out in the dealer's room by the third day, and the joyful madhouse of New York Comic Con in September, where he had to start one of his book-signings early because his line was so long it was interfering with other booths. He has also done events at the Arlington Planetarium, Baltimore Book Festival, and local bookstores, plus a Reddit AMA. (If you know any cons, festivals, or events he should consider for 2016, please let him know.) Alan also attended the Rio Hondo pro writers workshop in New Mexico in May. He had a novella about Florence Nightingale in the Apollo's Daughters anthology in February, and his story "English Wildlife" came out in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in the October/November issue.

At work — yeah, he still has the day-job — Alan led the HEASARC's proposal to the NASA HQ Archives Programmatic Review, and was also involved in proposals for Education/Communications and Minority University Research and Education programs, and for observing time on several astrophysics space observatories. His workwish for 2016 is to do more technical work and less proposal-writing and administration.

Karen still has her day-job, too. While her web team is currently down to one programmer, they are still producing great new online functionality for the scientists at NASA. But that's the boring stuff no one cares about ;). Karen got a new-to-her car this year. After fifteen years with her faithful Saturn boredom set in, so she bought a Hyundai Sonata and got NASA plates for it! Karen continues to serve on the board of the GSFC Photo Club and earned three spots for her photos during the year in the rotating exhibit in a high-traffic dining area on campus. She also participated in the Club's 2nd Showcase, with a portfolio of six photos representing the immensity of nature, mostly drawn from our travels over the past few years. Karen didn't do another 365 Project this year, but still posts photos there on occasion.

With all this sitting around behind laptops, we decided 2015 might be a good time to ensure we were getting sufficient exercise. We now walk and run regularly and have joined the Goddard Fitness Center for Pilates, yoga, and Zumba. Proud Fitbit wearers, we have been known to run around the house last thing at night to ensure we get our "greens" — achieving our target steps, distance, and active minutes for the day.

While Alan was at Rio Hondo, Karen went to Arizona to visit her mom, and took advantage of the beautiful weather to walk or run every day. Together we traveled to Leeds in June to visit Alan's parents (just in time for the hottest day on record in the UK), visited Washington and Oregon in August for Worldcon and tourism (dodging extensive forest fires and taking in amazingly diverse scenery), and took our 25th Anniversary trip to upstate New York in Aug/Sep (experiencing Niagara Falls for the first time and spending a blissful anniversary at a beautiful spa/hotel/restaurant).

And, hey. We still have a band. The Chromatics performed this year at local music venue Jammin' Java, the Farpoint SF convention, the Intersections Arts Festival in DC, and the National Air and Space Museum (twice), plus the Washington Ethical Society, because ethics are important. We did some live studio recordings in June with departing singer Deb Nixon, and after a rigorous and exhausting sequence of auditions welcomed Michelle Orhan to the group. She has now done three gigs with us, with more scheduled for next year in schools, museums, and conventions. The beat goes on!

Happy Holidays!

Alan alansmale@gmail.com
Karen karen.smale@gmail.com

Alan's writing life
Karen's 365 Project photos
Karen and Alan's work with The Chromatics
AstroCappella: our astronomy-related singing
Alan's Facebook
Karen's Facebook (including lots of photo albums of the above events)
The Chromatics Facebook
AstroCappella Facebook