posted 03-18-2007 10:14 PM               

So that dovetails into a discussion of how things are different today in the world of unmanned exploration. The main themes there are sophistication and bureaucracy. Then I get up-to-date with the major characters, and whammo that's about the end. The catching-up section won't be so hard, but I find myself constantly reworking the Voyager analysis, and what it contributes to the argument that unmanned spaceflight has contributed many multiples more of scientific discovery than manned flight ever will.

I have some exciting news I want to share about the cover, but that's a tricky one. The publisher enjoys every right to modify or delete the proposed one, so in that sense the news might fizzle if it doesn't come to be. So I guess I'll be keeping that one close until it's finalized!!

Hey, here's a question: I know that Voyager has been used in the first Star Trek movie, and the movie Starman and whatnot, but are there any other instances where people have noticed this particular machine? Video games? TV shows? Just thought I'd ask.

And a big welcome to Chris Dubbs as a new author in the series!

posted 03-19-2007 03:38 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay:
Hey, here's a question: I know that Voyager has been used in the first Star Trek movie, and the movie Starman and whatnot, but are there any other instances where people have noticed this particular machine? Video games? TV shows? Just thought I'd ask.

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There are a number of other cultural references to Voyager on this page (including X-Files), under 'Fiction and Popular Culture'.

posted 01-19-2008 03:47 PM               

I've been very bad in my updating of this, but of course the days have been very busy with writing.

Right now, the book is due in about one calendar month. I will be submitting the manuscript, permissions, photographs - the whole bit.

As the snow begins to melt up here in Minnesota, the text will be gone through by a copy-editor, whom I will be depending upon greatly to correct grammatical errors, clarify any confusion, and perhaps slim it down a bit.

The photographs have been much more of a difficult process than what I imagined. I have space for about fifty of them, and my initial choices brought the count to three times that! With the help of my highly decisive wife, I was able to (eventually) slim that down to the magical fifty. However, I've also sent out several 'last call for photographs' requests to several individuals, so we'll see if anything fun comes through.

Still targeting a Spring 2009 release!

With that, I'll now get back to the final revisions.

posted 02-17-2008 10:38 PM               

And then I celebrated, with a righteous hot fudge & banana malt at Snuffy's up in Minnetonka. Ex-x-xtra malty.

In the middle of it all, I paused to massage my ice-cream headache and inquire, "Hey kids, guess what I'm NOT doing this weekend?!" And in unison they both cried, "Working on the book!" In the case of my seven year-old, this is very strange indeed. I started the project when he was three, and the boy has no memory of his dad not writing a book about space probes.

This afternoon, I found myself before the computer, looking over at my 'Hot-Sheet' - which is a running list of to-dos, facts to reconcile, photographs to check on. The list is empty. It hasn't been like that since 2004.

No e-mails to file; no binders to shelve.

At this point I'm no longer doing any day-to-day writing on the book, but it's still a long road to release day next year - much copy-editing and proofreading to do still. It is not finished, but another milestone has been (successfully!) reached.

posted 02-17-2008 11:14 PM               

This book is no mere chronology of objects being fired into orbit or on to other celestial destinations; this is the incredible and often controversial story of the dreamers and doers who devised and built the satellites and probes, and those whose genius brought us lunar and planetary images and explorations of incredible complexity. It's a breathtaking ride, and though it will be quite a big book (the copyeditor will need to be paid much overtime), this book will definitely become the classic of its genre.

posted 02-27-2008 10:38 PM               

I told them about the series, how it worked with me proposing the book, and the process of creating it. I had a little handout packet with the questions I had to answer for the proposal, part of an interview transcription, and examples of first, second, and third drafts of the same page. I brought along an interview tape to play back while the kids read the part of the transcription I was playing. We discussed the concept of 'getting your ideas on paper', then going back to revise. The teacher really wanted me to punch revisions. I also talked about using quality references like original interviews, special-interest magazines like 'Spaceflight', or books that have stood the test of time.

I was able to work in many details about space exploration in general, and Voyager in particular. Voyager is always a good place to start. "If you made a phone call to your friend on Neptune, it would take hours for your voice to get there." "If Neptune is over two billion miles away, how'd they get this great picture of it?" and what have you. I was there for an hour and the kids seemed to have a good time, although you never know for sure.

Well today Ben brought home a stack of Thank-You cards, which I found to be quite moving. I would like to share some of them. All grammatical errors are verbatim from the kiddos, which only adds to it all:

Dear Mr. Gallentine, Thank you for coming in and explaining all that stuff, I thought it was really interesting. Someday I might do what you did, I think it was awesome Sincerely Jack K.

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Thank you for being our guest writer. I was very kind of you to that for my class. Thank you for the pakets. You were very kind. Thanks, Abby

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Thank you for talking about the book it sounds good I would like to read it but it is too long.

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Thank you for sharing wonderful things

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Thank you for telling us about space. I didn't know that much about space so thank you again. Matt C.

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Thank you for coming in and talking about space. Also thanks for giving us steps to write a book. Last I think space is awesome! Sincerely Erik

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Thank you for coming into our class and sharing important things about writing. I'm a big fan of writing myself and want to be an author when I grow up. I've always wanted to learn more about the solar system but I don't have time. Thanks again! Anna

posted 04-28-2008 09:53 PM               

This is a shot of myself with The Man, James Van Allen, taken on May 5, 2005 at the close of our interview.

Dig the office: no set dressing here. Not only was it always and forever like this, but he knew exactly, precisely where everything was. One memorable moment for me was asking about the night of Sputnik I. Without hesitation he walked directly to a shelf and plucked out his original notebook from the night of October 4th, 1957. Amazing!

posted 11-16-2008 04:26 PM               

Overall, "Ambassadors From Earth" is a very engaging story; one of human frailties, high-visibility failures and ultimate triumphs against the odds. Principal among the leading characters in this book is the late James Van Allen, and Jay was fortunate enough to carry out what was probably the last extensive interview with the great man.

posted 01-05-2009 04:22 PM               

From here it will be another round with the copy-editor for final revisions, and then in a few months I should see page proofs of the finished book.

That's all for now!
Jay Gallentine

posted 04-02-2009 03:38 PM               

By the way, at 544 pages it's a BIG book!

posted 04-02-2009 11:53 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay Gallentine:
Holy cow Chris, I think I'm going to cry.

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posted 04-04-2009 10:44 PM               

The situation prompted my wife to comment, "See? I always said you were long-winded!"

The aforementioned cut-down work was done over the Spring/Summer of 2008. "How did you spend your summer, Jay?" "I was taking out words."

posted 04-24-2009 11:11 PM               

At this stage, only very minor corrections are allowed, and nothing which affects the page count. I'd been advised that this would be the case, so I considered the previous copy-editing stage my last real chance to make any significant changes. Gulp.

How strange to have this work "out of my computer", as it were, and nearly ready to meet the world like a child heading off to school.

With great excitement I've started handing out the University of Nebraska Press' Fall 2009 catalog, as it devotes the entirety of Page 10 to "Ambassadors". This evening I delivered a catalog to my neighbor, who laughed as she recalled moving in five years ago and encountering me, sitting on my deck with my nose in yet another space book. Before standing up for introductions I had to relocate all the highlighters and Post-it tape flags off my lap. She asked was I was reading, so I explained, "I'm researching a book on space probes." With a line like that you learn to expect a certain look: a "gee-that's-not-something-I-hear-too-often" look. Two years later she helped pick the title.

posted 06-01-2009 11:11 PM               

The next three weeks will involve a careful read-through to check for missed spelling errors and whatnot. Then it's back to the publisher.

I reconnected with my 9th-Grade English teacher to confirm the spelling of her name, saying that I'd included a word of thanks to her in "Ambassadors" for encouraging my writing way back in the day. Back then she'd always say things like, "Don't forget to thank me when your first book comes out!" I didn't.