Once again, Distant Cousin scoops the news!

Once again, something in today's headlines was foreseen in the world of Ana Darcy's Distant Cousin chronicles. Ana admitted, in her 2005 debut in Distant Cousin Arrival, that she had had her genes slightly modified before she was born, and she went on to explain the main two differences that set her apart from most of her fellows. Today, in a story on NPR's Morning Edition (Swedish Scientist Seeks To Edit DNA Of Healthy Human Embryos) we learn that our own scientists, for better or worse (hopefully for better) are beginning to investigate that very possibility now. 

The Distant Cousin stories have anticipated developments in science and the news many times before--more than a dozen so far (examples). Readers disagree, however,  as to whether the stories are "science fiction" or not. There is no time travel, no hopping blithely from galaxy to galaxy, no worm holes to other dimensions, and the like.  Ana's world is our world, pretty much, our world today. 

But you shouldn't read the Distant Cousin stories merely to wonder about future advancements in science and technology. What you'll love is the  great characters, in colorful places and unexpected situations, situations that intrigue and stir your imagination. That is the reason Distant Cousin is being turned into a series. It may take years to appear, but you don't have to wait. The pleasure is available right now!

Meet your distant cousin!

There are many excerpts in Ana's blog:

Here are two.

Before it's a TV series, it's a series!

Ana finds a poem about perspective: distance and light make anything artistic!

Ana's husband Matt has no problem agreeing that his wife, who traveled here from another planet, after all, knows a great deal more about perspective than he does. He readily understood Ana's instant liking for the poem "Distance and a Certain Light," by May Swenson.*

Consider: in the news these days (June 2013) is that one of our interplanetary probes is going to take a photo of Earth from Saturn this coming November. People who follow such things cannot wait to see how Earth, the "blue marble," might look from the rings of Saturn--it's a matter of perspective, isn't it? It will be a perspective we've never had before, like the famous photo the astronauts took of the Earth from the moon.

Ms. Swenson's poem goes beyond the obvious, however: junkyards, garbage barges, rubbish dumps, can all look lovely from the right altitude. In fact, the poem points out, many an ugly, decomposing thing can be charming, as under a microscope, for example. The poet does not mention it, but Ana well knows that even the planets and stars are not permanent: our bodies, in fact, are made from elements produced in stars, and very likely will end up going around again in some form or other. The people of Ana's planet celebrate this cycle. We can too!

*"Distance and a Certain Light," by May Swenson

A poem about caring for others

A poem about gravity, and the center of things

A puzzle poem: what is this about?

A mysterious poem about a mysterious cat

See many more in the column on the right, under the LOVE sculpture-->

Meet Ana, the extraterrestrial who loves (some of) our poetry!

From a reader: "Things have been extremely difficult around here....The adventures of the Mendez family provided a wonderful distraction. And the ending filled me with hope, for some inexplicable reason. I love the warmth and togetherness of the family."

Observing the transit of Venus: a salute to Ana Darcy!

Eclipses of the sun and moon come along every year or so, and they are always news. Millions of people enjoy watching these majestic evidences of the mechanics of the universe.

A similar, much less frequent phenomenon with a long, fascinating history will occur the fifth of this June, not to be seen again in the lifetime of anyone now on Earth, not until 2117: the transit of Venus.

During the transit of Venus, the shadow of that planet, Venus, can be seen (with special equipment) to pass across the face of the sun. See the photo above. It is not as dramatic as a lunar eclipse, but it was a crucial observation for astronomers in the 18th century, who hoped to use the principle of parallax to accurately calculate the distance from the Earth to the sun. More information may be found HERE.

Ana Darcy Méndez, who crossed 25 light years from her home planet Thomo to reach Earth, is naturally interested in celestial matters. (They are integral to her theology as well.)  There will no doubt be many gatherings and parties on June 5, 2012, to observe and commemorate this event, and we invite participants to sip a toast to the brave young woman who crossed a small corner of the universe to join her people with their home planet, Earth. Cheers to you, ma'am!

John Philip Sousa, the March King, wrote a march in honor of the last transit of Venus, in 1882. Ana was delighted to discover this! 

Meet the extraterrestrial Ana Darcy!

Ana remembers men on the moon

The music Ana says sounds like the engine of the galaxy

Ana's first interview: Planet Thomo, religion, history, culture

Ana's native language

Ana's thoughts on early education and math education

A celestial musical conundrum

See more music, art, and science in the index in the right column -->

Two suns beats two moons

Recently, a team of astronomers using Kepler, NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft, has found a planet that orbits TWO suns. The planet, called Kepler 16-B, is only 200 light years away, in the Cygnus constellation. About the size of Saturn, and of similar density, it is thought to be composed of rock and gas, and is not believed habitable. Most odd to us, an observer on the planet would see two sunrises and two sunsets every day, one orange and one red, and double shadows when both were in the sky.


Ana Darcy Méndez's home planet, Thomo, would also provide an odd astronomical phenomenon to us, but not as odd as a sky with two suns. Thomo has two moons. The larger one, only a little larger in the sky than our moon, does make shadows, but the smaller one is one quarter that size. Its shadows are barely perceptible even on a dark night. Thomo is only 25 light years from Earth, however. If the Thomans' solar system had two suns, Earth astronomers would have found it long ago, and perhaps even found Thomo!

Ana loves our moon, to be sure, but she also misses her meshi and meshijn ("moon" and "baby moon," in Luvit).

Also:

Habitable planets discovered nearby

Ana on Area 51

Did Ana see the Apollo moon landings?
Meet Ana Darcy!