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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652

 

You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.


Justin Hayward – Forever Autumn

An evening pause: This song, sung mostly by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, was written by Jeff Wayne and is performed here as part of his musical concert of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. And yes, that is Richard Burton’s voice for the narrator.

Hat tip Wayne DeVette.

As always, I am looking for more suggestions for future evening pauses from my readers. If there’s something entertaining that you think will fit, comment here (without giving the link to the piece), and I will email you!

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

6 comments

  • INSOMNiOUS

    Looking for something short but good? Maybe something to generate comments? From music to the bizarre, I’ll send you a couple of links.

  • Localfluff

    This is the good reading of the audio book:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3G9v9idje4

    I love audio books because they allow me (my eyes parallel to my ears) to multi task. But it must be read by a great reader. And this is. And it’s legally free. At 8 minutes into it the main character visits the observatory.

    The battle with the dreadnoughts in the River Thames, imaged in what I think the broken link wanted to link to, is a very memorable scene in the story. Our battleships against theirs. This is a very foresightful science fiction, published in 1896. It begins with a “present day” astronomy about what’s known about Mars. The main character is then taking lessons to learn how to ride the bicycle. As a new communication gadget back then, as the iPhone is today.

  • Lee Stevenson

    Thanks Bob, this inspired me to a listening of the full show… wonderful music and a great way to spend a lazy saturday morning here in Sweden.
    A suggestion for a pause, the debut single from a little known group “Camara Obscura” , great lyrically and musically, a perfect slice of pop, I think you will approve!

  • Lee Stevenson

    Sorry, it would help if I posted the link also!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjftSv3zq1w

  • Mike Nelson

    Love your blog and evening pauses. Google “Nils Lofgren dream big” for a mellow and nicely messaged song on youtube.

  • INSOMNiOUS

    “Nils Lofgren dream big”

    That’s new to me Mike, thanks!

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