Smale Christmas 2020

Well. This year didn't go as planned. Not so much.

In the non-pandemic alternate universe edition of the Smale 2020 Christmas letter, we went on an Alaska cruise with friends, and visited Leeds and Tucson to see parental units. Alan was a keynote speaker at another Read Across America event in a local high school, went to astrophysics conferences in Wisconsin and Spain, and toured CERN and the Swiss Alps as the science lecturer for a company specializing in astronomy-related travel. He guested at several cons, having received first-time invites to the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA, in Florida) and Dragon Con (in Georgia). Karen traveled far and wide for photographic opportunities, and the Chromatics performed in any number of awesome, high-profile gigs with their astronomy, regular, and Christmas repertoires... But no.

In the universe we actually live in, we spent a great deal of time in our house and on our deck. We worked from home since mid-March, with groceries and wine largely ordered in or picked up curbside. And we had many walks and bike rides in our immediate neighborhood. Karen also used the virtual workouts offered by the Goddard Fitness Center to get in better shape this year, taking 3-4 classes per week.

In January we went to the American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, our one trip of the year. (Alan is ashamed to report that he complained bitterly about having to go.) It was a cool trip: Alan did science with friends, and Karen and her mother came as well to see the sights of O'ahu, and after the meeting the three of us flew over to the island of Hawai'i for a few more days to tour around and eat even more great food.

This year, The Chromatics started big... and then went home. In January we opened for the National Symphony Orchestra at the Anthem Theater, a major new 6000-seat auditorium in DC's Waterfront, and as a result acquired interest from a swanky new talent agent. The NASA Administrator was there, and we spoke with him afterward about future NASA-related gigs. Everything was awesome! In February we headlined at the Farpoint science fiction convention's Masquerade, and after that... well. You know.

Toward the end of the year the group began "rehearsing" again and made a couple of new recordings together-but-apart, for "How Many Planets" (AstroCappella) and "Winter Madrigal" (Festive). We put together a virtual presentation for the Newark Museum of Art's Astro Fest, which included a song recorded the previous year in the Goddard Centrifuge, the ultimate reverb chamber. It hurts not to be singing together in the same room and enjoying our unique Chromie energy and we-ness, but we're still in the game and doing good things.

In Alan's writing life: he sent his completed alternate-Apollo book to his agent in January. Soon after, all the spring book releases were pushed to the fall, and the publishing houses slowed down their acquisitions. Editors liked his book. Publishers passed. So that's on hold for now.

But it's not all bad. Alan's collection with Rick Wilber, The Wandering Warriors, was released in August from Kevin Anderson's WordFire Press, featuring the title collaboration plus additional standalone stories by Alan and Rick. Alan's non-fiction article on our travels in Mongolia appeared in the Hugo Award-winning magazine, Journey Planet, in their Most Magical Places issue, and you can snag a (free) copy. His all-time favorite meal (again, non-fiction) was featured in the Eating Authors collection, available widely from all the usual online booksellers (not free, but all profits go toward cancer research and the Science Fiction Writers of America Emergency Medical Fund... and it's an interesting and quirky read). Alan is also an anchor author in the When Worlds Collide anthology, to be published in August 2021, with a new alt.hist short story about Alexander the Great. He appeared on panels at virtual Balticon, virtual Necronomicon, and virtual Capclave, all from the safety of his home office. It was different, but good, and he's happy to stay in touch with his writer and fan community however he can. He has another trilogy in the works, set in the ancient Mediterranean, so we'll see what happens with that. Next year? ICFA in virtual Orlando, FL, and maybe even guesting at Worldcon (Washington, DC) and Dragon Con (Atlanta, GA) in real life, if things work out. Fingers crossed.

Karen continued her photography, with photos in a (real) exhibit at Bowie City Hall in January and a (virtual) exhibit "there" in September. Three of her travel photos were accepted to an exhibit at the BWI airport called "All Things in Small and Big" to be hung in mid-March. That was put on hold, but then later displayed July - November. A couple of days before that show ended, Karen went up to BWI to see them in situ. The airport was almost completely empty. Just a week later, it was apparently filled with people as they went on their Thanksgiving pilgrimages. In photo club news, Karen graduated from "novice" to "advanced" in the Bowie-Crofton Camera Club by earning enough points with entered and winning photos during the 2019-2020 year (which continued via Zoom), and she won the "Best Collection" People's Choice Award for her six-photo "Simply Nature" collection and 2nd place for the "Opening Against the Sky" image at the Goddard Photo Club's (virtual) showcase.

For most of the year, our trips were a lot more local than we're used to. We haven't had even a night away from the house since Hawaii. In March, just before everything locked down, we did a day trip to the DC Arboretum, and later we made safe trips to Merkle Natural Resources Management Area, some sunflower walks, Brookside Gardens, and other fun local (outdoor) places.

At work, Alan is still Director of the HEASARC, NASA's high energy astrophysics archive, and in addition is putting in some serious effort as the Deputy Principal Investigator of a project to put telescopes onto the surface of the Moon to observe the Earth as an exoplanet proxy, studying the water vapor, methane, and carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, as part of NASA's Artemis program to put the first woman and next man on the Moon in the coming years.

Karen continues to lead her small team of web developers in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Sciences & Exploration Directorate. At the Agency level, she completed a NASA Web Modernization effort, which included evaluating 2867 NASA websites (that's not a typo!) and then participated in the design team that developed the next iteration of the NASA web's look & feel. She's actually excited about the new design!

What else? We did the usual pandemic things: got some snazzy masks, bought a new bread maker, grew a beard for a couple of months (Alan only), and had virtual Happy Hours and some socially distant deck dates. We know we have it a great deal better than most, and we can't really complain, but it will be nice when our world reopens again. We hope for much better things for our country and ourselves in 2021, and wish all of you the best as well.

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

• Alan's writing life
• The Chromatics
• AstroCappella: our astronomy-related singing
• Alan's Facebook
• Karen's Facebook (including lots of photo albums of the above events)
• Karen's Flickr albums
• The Chromatics Facebook
• AstroCappella Facebook