Scott Azmus

**Pssst** Tired of Reality? Woohoo! Murdoch McRae’s narration of Orphans of Fire is now available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes! https://www.amazon.com/Orphans-Fire-Time-Wing-Novel/dp/B0G625NKF2

What happens when aliens discover a way to weaponize solar flares? Follow Daryle Chantree on his third mission with America’s Time Travel Forces as he races through time, faces impossible choices, and confronts threats that could alter the future itself.

If you’ve been waiting to take one of Time Wing Six’s adventures with you on your commute, workout, or late-night adventure, now’s your chance!

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New Article Drop!

If humanity makes first contact with extraterrestrials… what could possibly go wrong?

From diplomatic disasters to cosmic misunderstandings, my newest piece explores the chaos, wonder, and wild possibilities of that moment when “We are not alone” becomes breaking news.

Are you ready for first contact?

👉 Read it here: https://quantumtempest.com/blog/first-contact-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-are-you-ready-for-some

Let me know what you’d do if aliens landed tomorrow — panic? offer snacks? Ask them about dark matter?

Last night's imaging session, while we watched the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers play (October 26). This is M33, aka The Triangulum Galaxy. This image is a stack of 51 (out of 60) 120-second exposures with an Askar 140 APO (at f/5.6) and a ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera. Only minor processing with Seti Astro Suite Pro.

This week's deep-space image is part of the Veil Nebula. This is a composite of only 30 30-second sub exposures as I learn astrophotography. Telescope: Askar 140 APO. Camera: ZWO ASI533MCCPro.

The Veil Nebula is the spectacular remnant of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago in the constellation Cygnus. Spanning roughly 110 light-years across, it’s part of the larger Cygnus Loop supernova remnant and lies about 2,400 light-years from Earth. The delicate, colorful filaments you see are shock waves and ionized gases—mainly hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur—still expanding through interstellar space. The Veil is a vivid reminder that even in destruction, stars seed the cosmos with the elements needed for new generations of stars and planets.

So the other day I went back in time — you know, as one does — and handed Nikola Tesla a Serbian 100 dinar bill with his own face on it. Long story short, I left him still trying to reverse-engineer the hologram. (Such things happen when doing research for a new novel.)

Colorado Springs, 1899

The laboratory smells faintly of ozone and hot varnish. Sparks crawl like restless insects across the brass spheres of Tesla’s newest coil, painting the air with the scent of thunder. He moves through it all as if immune — tall, severe, his hands conducting invisible symphonies of voltage.

“Mr. Tesla,” I begin, reaching into my coat. The fabric crackles with static. “I brought something you’ll find interesting.”

He pauses, eyes bright as glass lenses. “A new device?”

“Not exactly.”

Tesla’s great coils chatter and hiss, weaving blue fire into the air. I wait near a long wooden bench cluttered with glass tubes, copper wire, and small journals filled with symbols that could be music or mathematics.

I reach into my coat and withdraw the banknote, still crisp, still impossibly modern. The moment I hold it out, the hairs on my wrist rise. Static finds it — or perhaps something deeper in nature recognizes the dissonance it carries.

The paper — impossibly crisp and strange under the yellow glow — catches Tesla's eye. “This… is currency?” He speaks as though tasting the word. "From where?"

“Serbia,” I say.

“Serbian dinar — but the printing, the inks…” He takes the note and holds it to the light. “Impossible. These patterns — so fine they must be etched by lightning itself. The engraving, the color separation… this cannot be printed by any press I know. And these micro-patterns — see hotw they dance when I tilt it?”

He reaches for a magnifier, bends to the bench lamp, and studies every millimeter. I can see the moment his breath catches. His hand stills.

He’s staring at his own portrait.

The coil hum fades into silence, as if the room itself is holding its breath. “This — this is me.” His voice trembles between disbelief and wonder. “But older. More weary, perhaps. The eyes…” He looks up sharply. “Sir, from where did you obtain this?”

“From where,” I say softly, “is harder to explain than when. It’s a hundred dinar note, printed in 2006.”

He blinks, once, slowly — like a man recalibrating the known universe. “Two… thousand and six.” He repeats it carefully, each word weighed. “You mean to say that—” He stops himself. His mind is too quick for disbelief. “The inks, the fibers, the iridescent film — this material is beyond cellulose, beyond linen… synthetic, perhaps.”

He fetches a small coil, runs a fine arc across the surface. The current snakes harmlessly over the bill, throwing off a metallic gleam. “It conducts differently,” he murmurs. “As if layered with glass.”

For the first time, Tesla smiles — not a smile of amusement, but of recognition. “Then we must speak of frequencies beyond the ordinary,” he says, slipping the note into a leather-bound notebook. “Because if this is true, then time itself is not fixed. It is an ocean — and you, my friend, have brought me a bottle from across the waves.”

He laughs softly, half in awe, half in triumph. “To think,” he says, retrieving the bill and lifting it once more to the light, “that my likeness might one day be worth one hundred dinars. But tell me—” he glances back at me, eyes alight with mischief— “in your age, is that a fortune?”

I can’t help but smile. “For you, Nikola,” I say, “it’s priceless.”

As a long-time observer and newbie imager, I can’t believe I just stumbled on Gary Imm’s Deep Sky Compendium — how did I miss this for so long? If you love deep-sky observing or imaging, this is worth a look: https://garyimm.com/compendium.

It’s an amazing resource: over 3,000 objects, with notes, images, and even groups of objects organized by features like loops, shells, and jets. It’s made exploring the sky feel fresh again.

Seriously… I’m blown away. This is the kind of resource that makes you want to stay up all night at the scope.

I’m thrilled to share my latest small article: "Why I Hunt Space Rocks and Write About Alien Minds." In it, I explore how a backyard observatory can contribute to asteroid tracking, why electronically assisted astronomy matters, and how all of this feeds into the stories I write.

If you’ve ever felt a tug of wonder looking up at the night sky, this one’s for you.

Read it here:
🔗 https://quantumtempest.com/blog/why-i-hunt-space-rocks-and-write-about-alien-minds-the-next-time-you-re-on

Let me know what you think — and share if you love space as much as I do!

Why I Hunt Space Rocks and Write About Alien Minds | Scott Azmus The next time you’re on a flight and the seat-belt sign clicks off, glance out the window. Six miles below, the landscape looks peaceful and small. Now picture a single rock—silent, ancient—so massive it could stretch from the ground up to that cruising altitude. That was the size of the aster...

Please visit to get a free copy of my NEW Alien Field Guide!: https://quantumtempest.com/landers/exclusive-offer

Ever wish you could outsmart the system that’s always three steps ahead?

That’s what Lissaya Anning does best. In Double Take, she doesn’t just rob Chersis Station. She strips it bare. Vaults, manifests, blackmail caches, the whole corrupt backbone. But that’s just a warm-up.

Because Lissaya doesn’t want the loot. She wants what it lets her steal next—Chrome Jade Helioprase!
Reality-bending. Universe-tilting. And if she pulls it off, she might just tip the balance of power across the multiverse.

Then comes the twist. There’s another Lissaya. From another timeline. Just as clever. Just as dangerous. And just as determined to win.

Now the job isn’t just about treasure. It’s about identity. Fate. And which version of yourself walks away when the dust settles.

Double Take
A standalone sequel to Cross the Sky
The best heists don’t just change the odds. They change everything.

The game’s on. Are you playing, or sitting out? (Amazon link in the comments.)

Getting ready for the night! That's a 140mm apochromatic refractor and an 18" Obsession, eager for starlight. My next science fiction book involves Jupiter, so we'll be taking a look in the early morning hours!