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Speculative Fiction Anthology

Available now: Caltech's first speculative fiction anthology!

Front cover of a book entitled "Inner Space and Outer Thoughts: Speculative Fiction From Caltech and JPL Authors," edited by TechLit with a foreword by David Brin. The cover features an astronaut in a futuristic spacesuit and a companion robot standing on stones mystically floating in space. A purple planet and spherical spaceship can be seen in the background.
Credit: Christian Benavides (Voyager Illustration--IG: @voyager_spirit)

TechLit PublishingTM is proud to present Inner Space and Outer ThoughtsTM: Speculative Fiction from Caltech and JPL Authors, now available on Amazon as a paperback and Kindle Ebook. The paperback can also be purchased from Barnes & Noble, Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena (they will ship to you!), the Caltech bookstore (they will also ship if you order by phone: 626-395-3289), Flintridge Bookstore, and Once Upon a Time in Montrose (please buy locally to support our local businesses if you are able to). All royalties from book purchases will go directly to the TechLit club to support club events and projects. Follow us on Twitter at @TechLitClub for updates. (Love the cover? Check out Voyager Illustration!)

Summary: Fact ignites fiction in this first-of-its-kind anthology of speculative tales by Caltech and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientists, engineers, technologists, and students. Experts at the frontiers of their fields, along with renowned Caltech alumni such as David Brin, S.B. Divya, and Larry Niven, present stories about alien astrobiologists, AI parenthood, a quest to preserve our histories beyond the heat death of the universe, a heist to steal engineering secrets from an ancient monk-scientist, the recovery of a long-lost phase of the human life cycle, the demise of Earth's first intelligent species—billions of years before the rise of humanity, and more!

You can read more about the book and hear the authors describe the science that inspired their stories in this interview article from Amazing Stories Magazine by Veronica Scott!

THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION IS HERE! Edited by Adam Pracht, a producer of Escape Pod: The Original Science Fiction Podcast, the audiobook features 16 hours of dramatic audio by five skilled voice actors. The audiobook is available everywhere audiobooks are sold, but please consider purchasing through Libro.fm to support your local bookstore. To read for free on Libby, ask your local public library to purchase a copy. We acknowledge the Caltech Office of the President, the Caltech Graduate Student Council, and the Student Investment Fund for making this audiobook possible. All royalties support the TechLit Club. Thank you for supporting the budding science fiction authors of the Caltech and JPL community!

Ways to support the TechLit Club

  1. Buy a book! All royalties from book purchases will go directly to the TechLit club, in perpetuity, to support club events and projects. We encourage you to buy from our local bookstores. Vroman's Bookstore and the Caltech bookstore will ship to you! (More details above.)
  2. Post a rating or review of the book on Amazon and Goodreads.
  3. Tell your friends about the book.
  4. Ask your local library to stock the book.
  5. Reach out to us at techlit-info@caltech.edu and say hi! We love to hear from our readers.

Upcoming Events

Past Events

Reading and Book Signing at Vroman's Bookstore - Aug 22, 2023

Meet seven authors of Caltech's first-ever anthology of speculative fiction, Inner Space and Outer Thoughts, at a free public reading and book signing at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, CA on Aug 22, 2023 (6:00 pm). Click the link above to view the list of participating authors.

Public book launch celebration - May 20, 2023

Caltech's creative writing club, TechLit, presented Caltech's first-ever anthology of speculative fiction, Inner Space and Outer Thoughts, at a formal launch event at the Beckman Auditorium and live-streamed on the Caltech YouTube channel on May 20, 2023. You can view the recording here.

This free public event featured an introduction by Caltech PhD Candidate and anthology editor-in-chief Rachael Kuintzle; excerpt readings by renowned Caltech alumni David Brin, S. B. Divya, and Larry Niven; and a panel Q&A where audience members asked the authors questions about their stories, their science, and the intersection of the two. You can read more about the event in this article from the May 23, 2023 edition of the Pasadena Star-News.

For any questions or press inquiries, please e-mail us at techlit-info@caltech.edu.

Inner Space and Outer ThoughtsTM © 2023 California Institute of Technology