Elite Dangerous 014 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 Burn Rise - Pohl Analysis Lab - Georgia Girl II The Grand Tour, PAGE 14
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts. Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
08A Surface 00Burn Rise Scientific Surface Outpost (Porrima)DOCK: Large
Stephen L. Burns is a mainstay of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, celebrated for his character-driven stories and "hard" sci-fi foundations. He is best known for his Syllis and Fleury series, featuring a high-tech medic and her companion, which explores complex bio-ethics and space-faring medicine. His novel Flesh and Silver stands out for its vivid world-building, while acclaimed shorter works like "The Man on the Moon" and "Leap of Faith" showcase his ability to blend human emotion with technical wonder.
I’ve read one of the Syllis and Fleury stories (or book, I can't remember if it was standalone or in an anthology). Been a long time, but I remember it being enjoyable with appealing characters.
08A Surface 01Pohl Analysis Lab Bio Settlement Large (Chronos)DOCK: Large
See “Pohl’s Deposit” for full write-up at (10Ba Surface 00).
08B Orbital 00Georgie Girl II (Formerly Pratchett Landing) Coriolis StarportDOCK: Large
This is the 2nd Memorial for Georgette. She was my Mother-in-Law, but I just called her Mom. She was one-of-a-kind, and took me in without reservation. She was a force of nature. Devoutly faithful, she spent innumerable hours studying her bible and faith-based books. She never let someone dictate faith to her, she did her own research and spoke her mind. I was proud of her. She was one of those people who was always going, and had a never-ending supply of energy.
I believed she was unstoppable, until she wasn’t. I miss her. Sometimes, when I was rambling on the piano and happened to hit on a song she liked, she would dance and/or sing her way into the living room, smiling at some memory the song brought back. I always enjoyed finding a song that she especially liked. In particular, because it was her namesake, she liked "Georgie Girl."
This is actually her 2nd tribute station. My first ever system is near Shinrarta Dezhra. The Primary station in that system, the first station I ever built, was named Georgie Girl after her. Without knowing how hard it might be, (this was before the Panther Clipper Mk 2 came out) I wanted to build a Coriolis, and name it in her honor. It being my first facility, I had no idea how long it would take to build. Because of the time limit, I was afraid of not being able to finish.
Wanting to build a memorial in her honor was what got me interested in colonizing in the first place. I confided my plan to Monique. She backed me 100%, even allowing me to “skip work” (we work from home) until it was done, since the primary comes with that time limit. With my Imperial Cutter, and issues I have with focus and memory, it wound up taking 4 days. And I had been worried about it taking more than the allotted 28 days!!
I placed a second tribute station in this system, WL-L c8-40, for Monique’s Mom, and for my Dad, because this is my home system. I wanted both of them to be represented here, in my “base of operations.”
Elite Dangerous 013 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 (Star Trek Row) Spock's Legacy - McCoy Vista - Kirk's Folly The Grand Tour, PAGE 13
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts. Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
08A Orbital 00 Spock’s Legacy (formerly McCoy’s Pride) Coriolis Starport DOCK: Large
These next 3 stations represent the holy trifecta of any science fiction tribute. Not authors, not scientists, yet it’s hard to imagine space travel and distant worlds without these three. It was...easy enough… to get a Nimoy (not Spock, I never rolled a random Spock), but it was orbiting a different planet. McCoy was more difficult, but eventually two of them showed up, right next to each other. Kirk was exceedingly rare, but one finally rolled. The best I could get this lineup of orbitals orbiting this single planet was, in order, McCoy, McCoy, and Kirk.
But Spock? Never got one. I spent hours clicking the name generator. One guy on facebook said he ‘got a Spock’, which encouraged me for a while. Started wondering if the names are themed, and Spock only shows up on surface settlements? Who knows. After a while you start second guessing. So I paid ARX for a custom name for Spock. Spock went on the Coriolis, giving up one of the McCoys. (Obviously, I kept The Real McCoy... if you know, you're snickering now.)
Now I have all three of them in a row, orbiting the same planet. It was worth it. And ‘Nimoy Point?’ Now that I’ve got Spock, McCoy and Kirk all orbiting one planet, Nimoy Point became the memorial station for my Dad.
So now, just to be cheesy, here's a classic intro for three of the most classic Science Fiction heroes ever to grace the small screen... and the silver screen:
In the vast, churning nebulae of the galaxy, there stands one who anchors himself in the bedrock of absolute truth. Spock, whose mind functions with the crystalline precision of a pulsar, represents the quiet synthesis of two worlds. He does not look upon the stars with wonder or fear, but with a gaze that parses the infinite complexities of the universe into measurable, immutable fact. Here, where the silence of space reigns, his presence is a testament to the power of pure intellect, guiding the way through the uncharted dark with unwavering, analytical resolve.
To traverse the black reaches of the final frontier is to invite the fragility of mortality into the heart of the machine. Leonard McCoy, a man whose hands were as skilled as his wit was sharp, stood as the uncompromising conscience of the mission. He viewed the galaxy not through a telescope, but through the lens of human compassion, standing watch over the heartbeat of the crew. In a universe governed by vast, indifferent forces, he remained the stalwart guardian of the living, a man who never once mistook the cold brilliance of the stars for the warmth of a human life. _______________________________________________________________________________
08A Orbital 02
Kirk’s Folly Scientific Outpost (Prometheus) DOCK: Medium
Also part of the set, and this one was also randomly generated. Not sure if there’s any reason for it, but Spock was the only one of the three I had to pay for. And I was careful to name Spock's station with the same in-game feeling as McCoy and Kirk received. However it happened, I’m thrilled to have them lined up together after all that effort. _______________________________________________________________________________ Captain James T. Kirk
Space, the silent sea that knows no master. To command is to hold the weight of a thousand lives in one’s palm, yet James T. Kirk walked the bridge of the Enterprise with the steady tread of a man who viewed the stars not as obstacles, but as a challenge to be met. A strategist of the unknown, he possessed an uncanny knack for finding the singular, bold path through the chaos of the cosmos, driven by a restless, unyielding faith in the triumph of human spirit over the cold logic of the void.
Note: To make them sound like character intros that would have been written for the show back in the 1960's, I enlisted Gemini's help. I really liked all three, and included them here with no added editing.
Elite Dangerous 012 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 Locket Industrial Base - O'Neill Nurseries - Luna Market - Grabthar's Hammer (Asteroid Base) The Grand Tour, PAGE 12
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts. Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
07A Surface 01 Lockett Industrial Base Industrial Settlement Large (Gaea) DOCK: Large
William Lockett is a darkly speculative worldbuilder. Emerging from the tabletop RPG community as a long-time Campaign Master, he authored I VAMPIRE: A Vampire Planet Story. The book is a gritty, visceral space saga set 3,000 years in the future on a cold, obsidian world called Onyx, where ancient, highly militarized political bloodlines battle for control over scarce biological resources.
Yes, this one was a stretch for me. I accepted Lockett as a facility name it for it’s similarity to “Locke”, which has unique meaning for me. But that was too big a stretch, so I googled for a real connection. I’d never heard of him before, but now I have motivation to read his book. Or not; my reading list is longer than my remaining lifespan, so adding anything to it is... ambitious, on my part.
07A Surface 02 O’Neill Nurseries Agriculture Settlement Large (Fornax) DOCK: Large
O’Neill is arguably the single most important and iconic real-world reference in the entire history of space colonization.
This station honors Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill (1927–1992), a brilliant American physicist, Princeton professor, and space activist. He is single-handedly responsible for providing the mathematical proof and engineering blueprints that made the dream of permanent human space stations a scientific reality.
In his 1977 book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space, O'Neill became the first scientist to demonstrate that humanity didn't need to live on the harsh, high-gravity surfaces of other planets. Instead, he proved we could build colossal, free-floating, self-sustaining orbital habitats. His most famous design, the O’Neill Cylinder (or Island Three), consists of two massive counter-rotating cylinders that spin to perfectly generate 1G of artificial gravity via centripetal force. This concept serves as the direct architectural blueprint for the giant, spinning Orbis starports that players dock inside throughout the Elite Dangerous galaxy.
To make space construction affordable, O'Neill invented the Mass Driver—an electromagnetic railgun designed to catapult raw lunar dust and asteroid ore directly into space to be captured and melted down by orbital manufacturing plants.
O'Neill's lectures at Princeton in the 1970s radically changed the world. One of his most dedicated undergraduate students was a young Jeff Bezos, who openly attributes his lifelong obsession with commercial space infrastructure and his aerospace company, Blue Origin, to the exact space-colony mathematics taught to him by Dr. O'Neill. O’Neill’s physics calculations permanently changed how science fiction was written. His spinning cylinders completely replaced standard, flat sci-fi space bases across popular culture—serving as the direct inspiration for the sweeping, curved world-ships in Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, the entire habitat design of Babylon 5, the Citadel in Mass Effect, and Cooper Station at the climax of the film Interstellar.
O'Neill didn't just want others to colonize space; he wanted to go himself, applying to be a NASA astronaut during the Apollo era. Though health complications kept him grounded, a sample of his remains was officially launched into orbit aboard a Pegasus rocket in 1997, fulfilling his lifelong dream to permanently reside among the stars.
I’m constantly amazed at how much I’ve learned with this project. Before colonizing my system, I’d never even heard of Dr. O’Neill. And there was so much information; this section, more than most, was generated by Gemini. At most, all I did was prune excess sentences and florid prose.
07A Surface 03 Luna Market Civilian Surface Outpost (Clotho) DOCK: Large
1. A “Luna” base for my little four-footed girl. The rule was “Never turn it down when the random name generator rolls a Luna!”
Luna was a little fluffy white bundle of fur and lightning when we got her. At 9 months old, we were the fourth home she’d been passed to. They all had some junk reason for selling her off. She gave one hives. Another allergies. Didn’t get along with “other pets”, “kids”, “goldfish”…
The truth nobody wanted to say, was she was wired, energized, and highly temperamental. She was a happy dog, but nobody touched her unless it was on her terms. She bit a lot. She wasn’t house trained, and was very smart about sneaking somewhere to go when nobody was looking.
The first time I saw her, Monique’s sister Ann had brought her here for us from Jacksonville. I came home for lunch, filled a plate and sat on the couch where all the family were gathered. She was playing outside, came running inside through the open door, aimed straight at me.
Someone hollered “She’s going for your plate!”
No. Where Luna was going, she didn’t need a plate. She leaped into the air, still straight at me, high speed. And she sailed past the plate… over my head… and landed on the back of the couch against the wall. Then she was getting to know me, with lots of licking. Stealing my food was far down her priority list.
That weekend, she found my brand-new very expensive prescription glasses and used them as a chew toy. Thank goodness they were repairable.
The following week, which was the week before Thanksgiving, she ate some Sago Palm she’d found in the yard. Came strutting in carrying a frond that she was chewing. Mom and I thought it was cute, Monique’s the only one that knew Sago was poisonous. We checked the online poison center, it said if you wait for symptoms, it’s already too late.
She spent most of that week living at the vet for daily treatment. I’d take my lunch breaks to go sit with her. She was so pitiful; every time I visited, she’d put her head down and crawl to me, like she’d done something bad and was afraid she’d lost another home. I sat on the floor and held her in my lap for the whole hour.
$2000 later, she came home just in time for the family Thanksgiving celebration. Luna’s still with me, but that Sega Palm is gone.
This was the beginning of our life with Luna. She’s mellowed now. When she’s displeased, she acts like she’s biting our hands, but it’s a gentle “gnawing” that does no harm. Usually. She’s slowed down a bit, but still high-maintenance.
08 Orbital 00Grabthar’s Hammer (was Hope Terminal) Asteroid Starport DOCK: Large
I’ve realized, in spite of it being roughly similar hauling tonnage as Coriolis stations, Asteroid stations are in a class of their own as far as work and time involved. It's not just the ordinary hauling, which wouldn’t be any problem... but you have to account for the planetary ring. No matter which direction the approach is, I have to fly THROUGH the asteroids to get to the construction site. And I usually jump in somewhere around 20mm away, not the usual 9 or 10.
On the other hand, thanks to the brightness of the ring, coming in for a landing on an asteroid under construction is beautiful. More so than most construction sites. There’s a true sense of grandeur.
As far as the station name, if you’re playing Elite Dangerous you’re probably already familiar with the reference. For those who haven’t caught it yet, it’s from Galaxy Quest. And if you’re still not getting it, google Galaxy Quest. It’s a fun evening’s reading, and even more fun watching the movie. As a matter of fact, my 66th birthday is tomorrow, and my son and his wife sent me a 4K DVD copy of Galaxy Quest. My wife and I plan to watch it tomorrow in celebration.
At least 2 of my personal ships reference the movie. My commander name is based on a famously in-movie misspelled version of Tim Allen’s character. It occurs near the end of the movie, when they're showing the intro to "The New Galaxy Quest." For a moment, there's a screen credits showing "Starring Jason Nesmith as Commander Peter Quincy Taggert" It should have been "Taggart," but their movie continuity checkers missed the error. Thus, in actual movie canon, you see the name spelled with an "e."
Alan Rickman’s character immortalized the line “By Grabthar’s Hammer, I swear you shall be avenged!!”
My personal pun here, is that the asteroid station, in the system view, is at the top of a line of several Coriolis stations and Civilian Outposts on-planet. Kind of like a shopping mall, all lined up in a row. So if someone asks me “Where’s the mall?”
I can tell them it starts near Planet 8, right “By Grabthar’s Hammer!” Yeah, I know. But it makes me laugh.
Keep your eyes open, there’s also an orbital tribute to Tim Allen, and a surface facility named for Sigourney Weaver.
Elite Dangerous 010, 11 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 Piper Sanctuary - Gladys Thrift-Always Loved Hope Beacon - Gold's Chemical Hub The Grand Tour, PAGE 10, 11 (There are TWO videos on this post, both only feature 2 stations.)
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts. Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
07 Orbital 00 Piper Sanctuary Commercial Outpost (Plutus) DOCK: Medium
And… Piper Sanctuary. This is one of two “Piper” stations. Both are named after our younger Schnauzer. She’s gone now, but still missed. Schnauzers are among the most loving dogs in existence.
Piper's problem was not that she loved, but she loved too deeply. She loved all of us, but her 'person' was my mother-in-law, Georgette, who I called Mom. When we lost her, Piper lost her entire world. She went from being a joyful, outgoing, happy girl, to a sad, lost little puppy. She started being afraid to walk on the floor. We had to lay small carpets in paths through the house so she could get around. She stopped caring about eating; we had to sit with her and encourage her to eat. She moped, and she quit playing with her toys, even her favorite one. You read about this in romance novels, and it sounds like a made-up thing... but Piper literally pined away for Mom. She only had 2 things left that brought her joy. One was when Monique's sister came to visit; Piper mistook her for Mom, and was overjoyed to see her. The other was our daily walks. Without fail, she was always excited to go for a walk. Her fears left her, she was happy, confident, and acted like she owned the entire world. She finally joined Mom in heaven a little over a year ago. We still miss her.
07A Orbital 00 Gladys Thrift – Always Loved (Was Asimov) Coriolis Starport DOCK: Large
I mentioned with “Satilla Estates”, that Mom has become the de facto matriarch for the extended Thrift family. Gladys Thrift (we knew her as “Nanny” was Mom’s mother, and the family matriarch for decades, until her passing in the early 1990s. Nanny was always the home we all came back to. She’s still missed by those of us fortunate enough to have known her. She loved everybody. My Dad taught me how to fish, but Nanny taught me to love fishing. She was always willing to drop whatever she was doing, walk the half-mile to the river, and spend the day fishing with me.
She used to tell me if a fish is big enough to catch, it's big enough to eat. She'd put the smaller ones in a Mason jar. One day we got back to the house, ready to clean our catch. She poured the Mason jar into the sink, only to see some of her fish go down the drain. That was when she looked at me and said "Maybe not ALL of them are big enough to keep." It's a memory that always makes me smile now. I've also seen her fighting with a water moccasin that decided to steal fish right off of our stringer. She won. We ate all the fish we caught that day, including the one that snake thought he could take. There are a lifetime of memories, but those are two of my favorites.
07A Orbital 01 Hope Beacon Industrial Outpost (Vulcan) DOCK: Medium
Not his first or
last name, but I’m going to give Hope Beacon to William Hope
Hodgson (1877–1918), because I like his stories.
He was a
legendary British author who perfectly bridges the gap between
classic maritime exploration and cosmic sci-fi horror. He is widely
recognized by genre historians as a brilliant, foundational pioneer
of cosmic horror and dying-earth speculative fiction.
He wrote
the monumental 1912 speculative novel The Night Land, a massive
inspiration for later generations of hard sci-fi authors. Set
millions of years in the future after our Sun has completely died
out, the remaining remnants of humanity live inside a colossal, metal
pyramid called the "Great Redoubt," defending themselves
against towering, silent cosmic entities and geometric alien
abominations prowling the pitch-black wasteland.
Hodgson created
Carnacki, one of literature's very first "occult detectives,"
who used early scientific machinery, photographic plates, and
electrical fields to track down reality-warping anomalies.
Hodgson
spent his youth as a merchant sailor and physical culture expert,
surviving brutal ocean voyages. His real-world claustrophobia and
psychological trauma from being trapped on a wooden vessel surrounded
by a vast, pitch-black, uncaring ocean heavily inspired his iconic
Sargasso Sea Stories—perfectly matching the psychological toll
experienced by deep-space pilots trapped inside a ship's
hull.
Personal note – Over the years I’ve run across
some of his Carnacki stories, and enjoyed them a lot. It’s kind of
cool to find a great writer from the early days of Sci-Fi, and
realize I’ve read his work!
07A Surface
00 Golds Chemical Hub
Industrial Settlement Large (Gaea) DOCK:
Large
H. L. Gold (Horace
Leonard Gold, 1914–1996) was an influential American science
fiction writer and editor. Alongside John W. Campbell, he is
universally credited with completely reshaping 1950s science fiction
by launching Galaxy Science Fiction magazine.
Before Gold,
sci-fi magazines focused almost exclusively on gadgets, rocketry, and
mad scientists. Gold revolutionized the genre by shifting the focus
entirely to sociology, psychology, and satire. He demanded stories
that explored how regular people—like corporate desk workers,
interstellar merchants, or stressed colonists—would actually react
to advanced technology.
Under his leadership, Galaxy published
absolute masterpieces like Ray Bradbury’s The Fireman (the early
draft of Fahrenheit 451) and Alfred Bester’s The Demolished
Man.
While serving in the Pacific theater during World War II,
Gold developed a severe, debilitating case of acute agoraphobia. It
became so extreme that he spent the peak of his legendary editing
career completely confined to his small New York apartment, terrified
to step outside. He single-handedly managed, edited, and controlled
one of the most successful galactic literary empires of the 20th
century entirely via telephone and mail.
Elite Dangerous 009 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 Bowers Enterprise - Unsold Depot - Forster Legacy - Robbins Platform - Dino Genetics Installation The Grand Tour, PAGE 9
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts. Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
06C Orbital 02 Bowers Enterprise Space Farm (Demeter) DOCK: NONE
John Bowers is a contemporary science fiction writer who specializes in action-packed space opera, planetary romances, and military sci-fi. He’s the author of the Starport series (including titles like Famine Planet). His books frequently deal with the complex logistics, security, and politics of deep-space orbital hubs.
Bowers is most famous for his Nick Walker, United Federation Marshal stories. Set primarily on remote colony worlds like Sirius 1, these tales play out like futuristic Westerns, featuring gritty planetary romance, localized space operations, corruption, and continuous action against "shady hombres" on the edges of civilized space.
His writing is crisp and fast-paced, leaning into starship skirmishes and tactical ground operations. He has also written The Fighter Queen Saga, involving specialized space marine combat and interstellar royal houses.
06D Orbital 00 Unsold Depot Mining/Industrial Installation (Euthenia) DOCK: NONE
Another bit of humor that caught my fancy. I see Unsold Depot as a real estate agent’s nightmare. They bought it cheap and expected to sell it for big money, but haven’t found a buyer yet.
It's just sitting there in space... Unsold. Drum roll, please.
06D Orbital 01 Forster Legacy Mining/Industrial Installation (Phorcys) DOCK: NONE
E.M. Forster (1879–1970) was an English author famous for realistic novels like A Passage to India, but he also wrote a seminal work of science fiction, "The Machine Stops" (1909). This influential, early dystopian novella predicts a technology-dependent society living underground, anticipating modern themes of isolation and digital connection.
Another author I didn’t recognize in the Science Fiction field; random name from the generator that turned out to only have a single fringe case that qualified him as a Sci-Fi writer. He’s well-known, just in other less exciting categories. I've even watched the first few minutes of "A Passage to India"... but it had no space ships, blasters, nor BEMs. :^)
06Da Orbital 00 Robbins Platform Mining/Industrial Installation (Phorcys) DOCK: NONE
David Robbins is a prolific American author who has written over 300 books across various genres, including science fiction, horror, and westerns. His most famous sci-fi contribution is the Endworld Series, a long-running post-apocalyptic series that began in 1986. It follows a group of survivors in a devastated United States.
Also: Blade Series: A 13-novel sequel to Endworld. Omega Sub Series: Another sci-fi action series he has contributed to.
If he's been writing since the 1980's, it's possible I've read some of his work; but none of it sounds familiar to me. Had to Google search to verify the name qualified as a sci-fi author.
06E Surface 00 Dino Genetics Installation Bio Settlement Large (Chronos) DOCK: Small
An isolated facility named not for a person, but for its primary mission: the synthesis and containment of prehistoric megafauna genome sequences. Operating on the fringes, the facility was established to study massive, volatile biological organisms far from civilian population centers. In the event of a catastrophic containment breach or a massive power failure, the hostile void of space and the unforgiving planetary conditions act as a natural barrier, ensuring that any resurrected genetic anomalies can never escape to threaten the wider galaxy.
This was a surprise. I knew it was unlikely that I'd find an author named “Dino.” When asking Gemini to search, mentioned that if the search failed I was going to lean into a “Jurassic Park” theme.
Gemini not only jumped the gun and wrote my story for me… he overwrote it by about 3 paragraphs. So much enthusiasm. The hardest part was deciding which parts to trim out, and the minor re-wording necessary to make it flow after removing two-thirds of the story. (And worrying about hurting Gemini's feelings!!)
Elite Dangerous 008 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 Boyer Vision - Cowling
Reach The Grand Tour, PAGE 8
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts. Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
06C Orbital 00 Boyer Vision Communication Installation (Alethia) DOCK: NONE
Elizabeth H. Boyer's writing is a blend of Norse-inspired epics and a lighter, more humorous approach to the typical "heroic quest." While her World of the Alfar (1980–1983) and Wizard's War (1986–1991) series established her as a master of atmospheric, winter-bound high fantasy, her later work and stand-alones leaned into a more whimsical and "cozy" tone.
Readers often highlight the comedic elements in her writing, particularly her grumpy wizards and reluctant heroes who spend as much time bickering and being tricked by trolls as they do fighting evil. Her sense of humor is especially evident in the Skyla series (1992–1995), which features an absent-minded wizard named Mistislaus and his misadventures raising a young witch-girl.
Many of her stories are noted for their humor. Her characters frequently encounter tricksters, deceptive villains, and gods who are as prone to mistakes as mortals.
The Skyla Trilogy: Often viewed as a more "laid-back" character-driven set, this series—comprising The Clan of the Warlord, The Black Lynx, and Keeper of Cats—is a favorite for those who enjoy cozy, older-style high fantasy.
Short Stories & Anthologies: Boyer also showcased her range in themed collections, notably contributing to Andre Norton's Catfantastic series with stories like "Borrowing Trouble" and "The Last Gift," further cementing her reputation for blending magic with whimsy.
Boyer was highly prolific. She didn’t always hit a home run, but she did often enough that I tried to buy her books on sight when I had the money. Her stories weren’t always visceral, and sometimes they were too silly. But when she was on-stride, nobody could tell a story the way she could. I liked her story in the Chicks-in-Chain-Mail series. She often leaned into dry humor, but just as often gave her stories a unique twist to the standard tropes.
06C Orbital 01 Cowling Reach Civilian Outpost (Vesta) DOCK: Medium
Ruby Cowling’s celebrated anthology This Paradise (2019) serves as a haunting mirror for life on the galactic frontier. Her writing explores the delicate, anxiety-ridden intersections of human biology, corporate surveillance capitalism, and the psychological toll of trying to survive a changing, capricious environment.
This station stands as a reminder of the classic sci-fi question: when you’ve escaped your homeworld, where do you go when there’s nowhere left to run?
I had never heard of Ruby Cowling until recently. It’s been a long time since I’ve read something current, most of my favorites are from older books and anthologies. This is another case where Gemini provided the information here.
Elite Dangerous 006 Col 285 Sector WL-L c8-40 Wise Town - Darnielle Relay - Underwood Vista - Platt Terminal - Allens Folly The Grand Tour, PAGE 7
NOTE: All 138 facilities built in this system are listed (and shown) in order of distance from the sun. At least, according to the in-game architect’s view. There's a total of slightly over 18 hours of video, so the video, and the descriptions, are broken into smaller portions across multiple posts. Some descriptions were written by myself, some with the help of AI. I've personally edited all of them, so if you must blame someone, blame me. :^)
06A Orbital 00 Wise Town Satellite Installation (Hermes) DOCK: NONE
David
Wise (1955–2020) was an oft-unsung, architect
of science fiction television in the 1970s and 80s. A child
prodigy once dubbed the "Mozart of Cinema", Wise
transitioned into professional writing under the mentorship of Frank Herbert and Harlan Ellison. He is most
celebrated in space-faring circles for writing the Star Trek:
The Animated Series episode "How Sharper Than a Serpent's
Tooth," which won the entire franchise its very first Emmy
Award.
Beyond Star Trek, he was the most prolific
writer for the original Transformers series, crafting
classics like the origin of Optimus Prime in "War Dawn"
and the creation of the Dinobots. His career—including Buck
Rogers, Wonder Woman, and Batman: The Animated Series—
represents broad spectrum of late-20th-century speculative
media.
06A Orbital
01 Darnielle Relay
Relay Installation (Ichnaea) DOCK:
NONE
Darnielle’s Progress is a historic site in Elite Dangerous for Meta-Alloy synthesis in the Pleiades. Also associated with Elite Dangerous history via Salome's story. And who can forget the betrayal by Harry Potter. There's always a showboat whose ego demands attention at all costs. In hindsight, it's amazing how easily he insinuated himself into the command structure. He would have been frighteningly good as a spy...
And back to the author theme:
John Darnielle is an acclaimed American novelist and musician, recognized for his distinct contributions to contemporary literary fiction and psychological suspense. He made an immediate impact on the literary landscape with his 2014 debut novel, Wolf in White Van, which was long-listed for the National Book Award and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Not traditional science fiction, Wolf in White Van focuses on Sean Phillips, a severely disfigured young man who orchestrates Trace Italian, an intricate, text-based science fiction role-playing game conducted entirely through the mail.
Darnielle structured the story to unfold in reverse, examining how the boundaries between a creator's imagined future and the harsh realities of the physical world can tragically collapse.
I have to admit here, Darnielle isn't strictly a sci-fi writer. He wouldn't have been my preference here, had this not been one of those times the random name generator was being vindictive. After wasting wisely investing way too much time, it turned out that Darnielle's dual points of interest (In-game, and the real-world novelist) made it acceptable for a Relay Installation with no landing pads.
06B Orbital
00 Underwood Vista
Mining/Industrial Installation (Euthenia) DOCK: NONE
Michael R.
Underwood Known for urban fantasy, space opera, and science fiction.
Key Works:
Annihilation Aria (found family space
opera).
Genrenauts (novella series).
Ree Reyes series
(Geekomancy, Celebromancy), which focuses on "geek
magic".
Michael Underwood worked in the publishing industry
as a bookseller, sales representative, and as the North American
Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books.
He's certainly qualified to be on this list as an acclaimed sci-fi writer, and other related categories. Maybe it's my age, but until researching names, I had never heard of him. Sounds like someone I'd enjoy reading. If I didn't already have a to-read list that will probably take more than my allotted lifespan to complete.
06B Orbital
01 Platt Terminal
Mining/Industrial Installation (Phorcys) DOCK: NONE
Charles
Platt is a British-born science fiction author, editor, and
electronics engineer whose work focused heavily on technological
advancement and human sociology. During the 1960s and 1970s, Platt
was a prominent figure in the "New Wave" science fiction
movement, serving as an editor for the British magazine
New
Worlds.
His fiction, including novels like The
Silicon Man,
explored early concepts of ultra-humanism, mind uploading, and the
transition of human consciousness into virtual networks. Platt
approached these themes with precision, analyzing the
legal, economic, and psychological friction that occurs when
biological entities merge with digital infrastructure.
Beyond
his literary career, Platt transitioned into real-world electronics,
computer science, and cryonics, working as a senior editor for Make
magazine and authoring highly regarded instructional textbooks on
electronics engineering.
This practical, hardware-focused
background gave him a unique perspective on the physical durability
and logical systems required to sustain technology. His writing
consistently treated automated networks and computing architecture
not as abstract concepts, but as physical components that require
strict maintenance and constant oversight.
Honorable Mention accorded also to Marc Platt, a British writer best known for his work on Doctor Who,
including the famous novel Lungbarrow and the audio drama Spare Parts
(which inspired the modern TV origin of the Cybermen). For the record, I'm not a modern Dr. Who fan; I loved Tom Baker as Dr. Who; the others didn't hold my attention like he could.
06B
Orbital 02 Allen’s Folly
Civilian Outpost (Vesta) DOCK:
Medium
As mentioned with
Grabthar’s Hammer, this one is a tribute to Tim Allen. He’s
famous for a lot of things, especially as a Tool Man who grunted his
way through years of TV sitcom episodes. But to me, he’ll always
be Commander Peter Quincy Taggart (or “Taggert”, if you know the
inside story of the in-movie actual canon mispelling.)
One of the best movies ever. I worked at
Blockbuster in its final years, and every time we pulled overstock
videos I’d buy all the used Galaxy Quests. And when I ran into
people who’d never seen it, but seemed like they’d enjoy it, I
gave them one of my “used stockpile.” No strings attached.
Without fail, the next time they came in, they’d be raving about
how great Galaxy Quest was.
(As of June 2026) In a beautiful piece of poetic justice, my son and his wife just used my old blockbuster playbook against me. Two days ago for my 66th birthday, they gifted me the 4K Ultra HD edition of Galaxy Quest. The movie I spent a lifetime giving away has been given back to me. What a beautiful way to bring a favorite movie full circle!
