Alien Conversations – National Science Fiction Day

I do enjoy celebrating random holidays with nail art. You get all the fun of a theme you enjoy and none of the stress of an action you have to take. So today is Science Fiction Day, which is a genre that I enjoy watching and reading as well as painting nail art for. It is full of endless possibilities from alien minds to cool critters, and incredible landscapes. And science fiction is one of those larger genres that can encompass other themes: romance, mystery, westerns, farces of manners, and more. Love it.

Meanwhile, I figured since these aliens had their mouths open so wide, maybe they were trying to communicate. Moyou London must have been thinking the same thing since the stamping plate had text right on it. Win.

But what are they saying? Are they saying hi? Or are they planning which parts of the astronaut they’re going to eat?

Such a delightful (or delicious!) mystery. 🤣

Nail art products used

Base Polishes:

Bee’s Knees Lacquer’s “The Bunny Man“ and ILNP’s “Quicksand“

Stamping Polishes:

Maniology’s “Red Sea” and UberChic’s “Essential White“

Advanced Stamping Polishes:

Maniology’s “Hibiscus“, Smacker’s “Wickedly Stylish“, and Zoya’s “Perrie“

Stamping Plates:

Born Pretty BP-A09 Deep Cosmos (astronaut on the moon scene) and Outer Space-L002 (stars and tiny UFO); Moyou London Sci-fi Collection-01 (aliens, “BAAA!” and “HHHH!”), and XJ4 (“HI”)

I’ve had Bee’s Knees Lacquer’s “The Bunny Man” around for over a year and even painted my nails with it once and failed to nail art with it. But I got “Quicksand” during the Black Friday sales and they felt like a good match. So here we are. I decided I’ve been going too monochrome lately so I picked an analogous color scheme for everything else.

I originally wasn’t going to stamp anything onto my pinky and index finger, but I thought a little scattering of stars would look cute and then I wanted a teeny tiny UFO as well. I found both images on Born Pretty’s Outer Space-L002 stamping plate. The UFO was part of a larger image, but I stole it for my own purposes. It’s so wee and fragile in that sea of stars. It makes me disgustingly happy.

Science fiction reads

Since it’s science fiction day, I thought it would be a good time to share two science fiction series that I’ve enjoyed recently:

The Expanse by James S.A. Corey

This series may sound familiar because it’s the basis for the tv series The Expanse which has been running for six seasons. I haven’t seen the show yet so I can’t tell you where the differences lie, but I’ve read the series to date and wow is it a journey. We start with a semi-colonized solar system and two mysteries. One is a missing member of a wealthy family and the other is a derelict ship found by Jim Holden, the XO of an ice miner.

The story explodes outward from there covering class warfare, corrupt corporate practices, and ultimately the fate of humanity as a space-faring species. It also sports a culturally diverse cast, which I love. I can’t wait for the ninth and final book to come out.

Warning: my husband enjoyed the first book, but the direction of the series changes from an investigative bend to a more sweeping struggles of humanity scope that he didn’t care to follow.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Next we spring much farther into humanity’s future. The galaxy has been conquered-ish and droids are basically the new slave race. The series follows one droid, who privately calls itself Murderbot, that has hacked its own governor module and is essentially free, yet still working as a regular droid. Murderbot’s thoughts and assessments of the situations its security work drags it into are both hilarious and insightful. I 💗 Muderbot.

Meanwhile each book is novella sized, so it’s a perfect fit for a short window of reading time. If you have to choose between these two recommendations, I’d say go for this series.

Back to the nail art

Okay, I don’t have much left share. Just this macro of my thumb, which (despite the adorable-ness of the tiny UFO) is actually my favorite nail for this mani. I love a good dark red.

And far away…

Until next time, friends! Enjoy your fiction, however you choose to consume it (and even if it’s not science fiction 😆).