Jack-Abbott
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- Aug 1
- United States
- Deviant for 11 years
- collinskocik.wix.com/collinskocik
- He / Him
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My Bio
Hello! I'm Collin R. Skocik, a lifelong fan of science fiction, the American space program, deep-sea fishing and generally soaking up the good life at the beach.
I started writing when I was in first grade and the teacher showed me how to fold three sheets of paper together and staple them along the fold, thus making a little book. The first story I ever wrote was "The Eyeball That Flew Across the City." Alas, that little gem is long lost.
I didn't do too well in school--my mind was always on my stories--but after graduating from college I poured myself into learning as much about science and technology as I could in order to infuse my science fiction with that all-important dash of realism.
In 2007 I started meeting astronauts--the first astronaut I met was Rick Mastracchio, less than two months before he went on the STS-118 mission aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour--and since then I've availed myself of every opportunity to meet and mingle with astronauts, which in addition to being enormously transformative personally, has also helped me to craft more realistic characters and dialogue in my fiction.
I started writing when I was in first grade and the teacher showed me how to fold three sheets of paper together and staple them along the fold, thus making a little book. The first story I ever wrote was "The Eyeball That Flew Across the City." Alas, that little gem is long lost.
I didn't do too well in school--my mind was always on my stories--but after graduating from college I poured myself into learning as much about science and technology as I could in order to infuse my science fiction with that all-important dash of realism.
In 2007 I started meeting astronauts--the first astronaut I met was Rick Mastracchio, less than two months before he went on the STS-118 mission aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour--and since then I've availed myself of every opportunity to meet and mingle with astronauts, which in addition to being enormously transformative personally, has also helped me to craft more realistic characters and dialogue in my fiction.
Favourite Movies
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Dark Star (1974), Jaws (1975), The Black Hole (1979), A Night to Remember (1958)
Favourite TV Shows
Star Trek (1966-1969), Red Dwarf (1989-present), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), M*A*S*H (1972-1984)
Favourite Books
The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke, The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson, Ring by Stephen Baxter, Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, Watership Down by Richard Adams, A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Favourite Writers
Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter, H. G. Wells, James Patrick Hogan, John Varley, Kevin J. Anderson, Charles Scheffield, Andy Weir, me
Tools of the Trade
Desktop PC
Other Interests
Walking on the beach, deep sea fishing, meeting astronauts
Happy Thanksgiving!
1 min read
On this Thanksgiving I'm thankful to all my loyal readers who have kept Jack Abbott going for these past seventeen years. If it hadn't been for my wide readership sticking with me through all my ridiculous stories and terrible artwork, I would have abandoned this strip long ago. Knowing so many people are interested makes it worth the trouble of drawing each strip every morning and coming up with all the bizarre twists and turns that keep it going. So thanks to all of you!
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APOLLO 16--Even though this was a successful Moon landing mission, I think it was eventful enough that, if done right, could be as exciting on screen as Apollo 13. We follow the astronauts' training, as we did in Apollo 13, and then the story of how the launch was scrubbed and the Saturn V rolled back to the pad because Charlie Duke got double pneumonia. Then the saga of the trip to the Moon, which is so exciting that it doesn't matter if we've seen it before, and the story of the oscillation in the command module that almost scrubbed the Moon landing. I could see some heart-pounding suspense as the Orion rendezvouses with Casper and we await the word--and a big sigh of relief when Mission Control says "Go!" We could get either suspense or humor--or both--in the story of Charlie Duke's helmet filling with orange juice during the landing. And of course the story of how John Young broke the lunar heat flow experiment would probably lead both to laughs and exasperation. On top of all
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The Fall of the Ship of Reinhardt
16 min read
Caution: spoilers abound! Sometime in 1980 or ’81—I can’t be sure of exactly when, but I do know it was between September of 1980, when I started First Grade, and April of 1981, when the Space Shuttle Columbia launched on its maiden voyage—I had one of the most formative experiences of my young life. My parents sat me down and explained to me what a black hole was (I’m sure their explanation was riddled with scientific errors, but I can no longer recall exactly what they said), and told me that there was going to be a movie on that night about a spaceship that gets sucked into a black hole. So, that night, we sat down and watched the amazing, astonishing, fascinating, hypnotizing Disney movie The Black Hole. There has been much criticism of The Black Hole over the years, and in my opinion all of it is unjustified. Some, notably Neil DeGrasse Tyson, have laid out the film’s scientific errors, and yes, those errors do exist, but in my opinion the scientific errors in The Black Hole
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Profile Comments 1.3K
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Thanks for fav'ing :)
My pleasure!
Hi many thanks for the fav! :)
You're welcome!
Thanks for faving my Usher collage!
You're welcome!
Poe stuff is so fun!