Exploring Fra Mauro

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Dive into Golf and Outgassing from The Lunadyne Incident & Other Stories

Wel­come back, lunar explor­ers and sci-fi afi­ciona­dos! Today, I’m excit­ed to spot­light Golf and Out­gassing, one of the five cap­ti­vat­ing tales in my anthol­o­gy The Luna­dyne Inci­dent & Oth­er Sto­ries, now avail­able on Ama­zon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5F7L3QS. This sto­ry whisks you away to the rugged high­lands of Fra Mau­ro, where sea­soned astro­naut Annie Mac­In­turn­er and rook­ie Mil­ton John­son face a high-stakes mis­sion that blends his­tor­i­cal rev­er­ence with mod­ern per­il. Let’s unpack this thrilling nar­ra­tive and its roots in real lunar science!

A Mission Rooted in Lunar History

Golf and Out­gassing trans­ports read­ers to the Fra Mau­ro region, the land­ing site of Apol­lo 14, a nod to humanity’s ear­ly lunar tri­umphs. Annie, a Marine lieu­tenant colonel with years of space­flight expe­ri­ence, leads Mil­ton, an eager researcher, on a mis­sion to deploy exper­i­men­tal pack­ages, retrieve the Suprather­mal Ion Detec­tor Exper­i­ment (SIDE) from the Apol­lo 14 ALSEP, and inves­ti­gate a poten­tial sky­light cave in Cone Crater. But when ground con­trol orders an abrupt evac­u­a­tion because of live mor­tar rounds in the ALSEP seismograph—a for­got­ten haz­ard from decades past—the duo must nav­i­gate treach­er­ous ter­rain and per­son­al stakes to return to their lan­der, Steam­boat. Decades lat­er, Annie reflects on the inci­dent and its last­ing impact, hint­ing at a lega­cy of per­son­al resilience.
This tale is more than an adven­ture; it’s a trib­ute to the astro­nauts who paved the way. The ten­sion between pre­serv­ing Apollo’s lega­cy and pur­su­ing new sci­ence mir­rors the del­i­cate bal­ance we face in today’s lunar ambitions. 

Science Meets Storytelling

Using my back­ground in sci­ence and engi­neer­ing, Golf and Out­gassing incor­po­rates authen­tic lunar sci­ence. The Fra Mau­ro high­lands, a geo­log­i­cal­ly rich area stud­ied by Apol­lo 14, are a plau­si­ble setting—its rugged ter­rain and poten­tial water vapor detec­tions (tru­ly in the reports from the time but ampli­fied here for dra­ma) align with data from NASA’s Lunar Recon­nais­sance Orbiter. The story’s focus on in situ resource uti­liza­tion (ISRU), like the oxy­gen-extrac­tion exper­i­ment, reflects cur­rent efforts by NASA’s Artemis pro­gram to har­vest lunar resources for sus­tain­able explo­ration. Even the sky­light cave con­cept ties to gen­uine dis­cov­er­ies of lava tubes, which could har­bor ice or volatiles—key to future colonies.
Yet, I’ve added a twist with the live ALSEP mor­tars, a real haz­ard deployed in the fic­tion­al set­ting that under­scores the unpre­dictabil­i­ty of lega­cy tech. This cri­tique chal­lenges the san­i­tized nar­ra­tives often pushed by space agen­cies and corporations.

Characters at the Heart of the Action

  • Annie Mac­In­turn­er: A no-non­sense leader, Annie’s mil­i­tary dis­ci­pline and strate­gic mind shine as she bal­ances mis­sion goals with his­tor­i­cal respect. Her lat­er reflec­tions reveal the emo­tion­al toll of lunar life.
  • Mil­ton John­son: The rook­ie with a knack for research, Milton’s con­fi­dence and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty grow through the mis­sion. His jour­ney con­tin­ues in lat­er sto­ries, includ­ing Thun­der Moon Tus­sle, where he evolves into a key figure.
  • Cy Mac­In­turn­er: Annie’s hus­band and Cap­com, Cy’s sup­port from Earth adds a human touch, con­trast­ing with the mission’s tension.
  • Nils Carmike: Though a minor pres­ence here, Nils’s future promi­nence (e.g., in CME and Thun­der Moon Tus­sle) hints at his role in the broad­er Fab­u­lae Lunae saga.

These char­ac­ters embody the spir­it of explo­ration, shaped by a world where a Yel­low­stone erup­tion has forced human­i­ty to look to the Moon for survival.

Connections to the Fabulae Lunae Universe

Golf and Out­gassing is a cor­ner­stone of the Fab­u­lae Lunae uni­verse, set­ting the stage for the adven­tures that unfold in my nov­el Thun­der Moon Tus­sle, where Nils and Milton’s expe­ri­ences deep­en into a tale of smug­gling and sur­vival. The upcom­ing sequel, Mask of the Joy­ful Moon (set for Decem­ber 2025), will fur­ther expand this world with new chal­lenges and mys­ter­ies. This anthol­o­gy offers a per­fect entry point to trace the evo­lu­tion of these char­ac­ters and the lunar fron­tier they inhabit.

Why Golf and Outgassing Resonates

This sto­ry cap­tures the thrill of lunar explo­ration while ground­ing it in the real­i­ties of radi­a­tion risks, resource scarci­ty, and cor­po­rate influ­ence. Whether you’re drawn to the sci­ence of sky­light caves or the dra­ma of a race against time, Golf and Out­gassing deliv­ers. It’s a tes­ta­ment to the human spirit’s abil­i­ty to adapt—and a reminder of the dan­gers lurk­ing in space’s shadows.

Grab Your Copy Today

Ready to join Annie and Milt on their Fra Mau­ro mis­sion? Pick up The Luna­dyne Inci­dent & Oth­er Sto­ries on Ama­zon now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5F7L3QS. Avail­able in e‑book and paper­back, it’s an essen­tial read for sci-fi fans and lunar enthu­si­asts alike. Drop your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear what you think of this high-stakes lunar tale!

Stay Connected

Stay Con­nect­ed
Vis­it tornmacalester.com reg­u­lar­ly for more insights into the Fab­u­lae Lunae uni­verse, includ­ing updates on Mask of the Joy­ful Moon. Sub­scribe to my newslet­ter (sign-up below) for behind-the-scenes looks at my writ­ing process and lunar inspi­ra­tion. Fol­low me on social media with hash­tags like #Torn­MacAlester and #Fab­u­laeLu­nae to join the con­ver­sa­tion. Let’s explore the Moon together—one sto­ry at a time!
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Wel­come to the Lunar Fron­tier: Dis­cov­er The Luna­dyne Inci­dent & Oth­er Stories
Greet­ings, space enthu­si­asts and sci­ence fic­tion lovers! I’m thrilled to invite you into the rugged, awe-inspir­ing world of The Luna­dyne Inci­dent & Oth­er Sto­ries, my lat­est anthol­o­gy now avail­able on Ama­zon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5F7L3QS. This col­lec­tion of five grip­ping tales trans­ports read­ers to a near-future Moon, where human­i­ty clings to sur­vival amid cor­po­rate intrigue, sci­en­tif­ic dis­cov­ery, per­son­al agen­das, and the unfor­giv­ing lunar land­scape. A Jour­ney into the Fab­u­lae Lunae Uni­verse Set in the Fab­u­lae Lunae universe—a rich­ly imag­ined saga I’ve been craft­ing with a blend of my astro­physics back­ground and a pas­sion for hard sci­ence fiction—these sto­ries fol­low the lives of […]

 

 

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Torn MacAlester’s Fabulae Lunae

The Lunadyne Incident  and Other Stories

 

 

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