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Eversummer is the planet (in Tourist Trap) on which Marna must try to stop a plague. This is her first impression of the planet.
The planet’s name, Marna thought, must have been picked out by a publicity agent. Everspring would have been more accurate, or Everfall, or perhaps Constancy. Maybe even Boredom.
The planet, with its rotational axis almost perpendicular to its orbital plane, had no seasons. The poles were bitterly cold, glaciated wastelands where the sun forever rolled around the horizon. The equatorial belt was an unchanging steam bath, the permanent home of daily tropical thunderstorms, varied by hurricanes along its poleward borders. The desert belts, inevitable result of the conflict between the planet’s rotation and its unequal heating by its sun, were broad and sharply defined, with no transition zones where the rains came seasonally. The temperate zones, between desert and polar ice, were swept year round by equinoctial storms, varied only by occasional droughts. No monsoons, no seasonal blanket of snow to protect the dormant land, no regular alternation of wet and dry seasons.
All of the settled planets Marna had known or studied—long-lost R’il’n itself, Riya, Central, Falaron, Kovee, Earth—had axial tilts between fifteen and thirty degrees, and a regular progression of seasons. Those seasons might be subtle in the tropics, but they were present. And she was beginning to think they were a lot more important than she had ever realized.
Fascinating blog – I’m enjoying the science!
Comes from all the years as a scientist.
I like the name Boredom!
This planet doesn’t sound fun at all!
Heather
The Publicity agents wouldn’t.
I like the name Boredom, too. Nice description of an awful planet.
It’s not that bad. Just … boring. At least until the plague started.
I love the description of the planet–great job! http://lindacovella.com/my-blog/
Used my geophysics background.
Great post and thanks for visiting my blog.
Wish I had a photo of it, but that’s hard for imaginary planets.
Wow! Great world building! Just a few words and I can see the place and feel how uncomfortable Marna feels in it.
Thanks. I like world building.
Wow, that is a detailed delving into science! Loving the imagery you’ve woven in!
*Shailaja*
Introspection in Shades of 11
A to Z Challenge, 2014
It’s actually a snipppet from a science fiction book I’ve written.
If anyone ever told me I’d be so riveted by a description of a planet’s weather, I might not have believed them, but you present the information so vividly – great excerpt. Can’t wait for more!
Great descriptions. I appreciate when writers are knowledgeable about a subject even in fiction.
Have a great A to Z month
Moondustwriter
Spent most of my life as a working scientist (geophysics/atmospheric sciences) now writing science fiction.
Interesting writing! Love the name Eversummer!
But eversummer does get kind of boring.