A wide-angle view shows the ascent of the shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. In the seconds after ignition, the rocket engines' hot blast began the process of destruction. (Photo by NASA)

A gopher tortoise walks the grounds of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, near the Vehicle Assembly Building on January 18, 2024. An all-European crew including Turkey's first astronaut are poised to blast off to the International Space Station in a mission with Axiom Space, as countries hungry for a taste of space turn increasingly to the private sector. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP Photo)

Actor George Clooney from the film “Ides Of March” arrives at the Hotel Excelsior during the 68th Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2011 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Nursing students attend a capping ceremony on May 10, 2021 in Jinan, Shandong Province of China. International Nurses Day is observed annually on May 12. (Photo by Zhang Yong/China News Service via Getty Images)

Yippie leader Jerry Rubin, barred on December 4, from House Un-American Activities subcommittee hearing, aims a toy gun in “self defense” outside the Washington hearing room on December 5, 1969. Rubin showed up in his Santa Clause suit because he believed it was typical of the committee which, he said, “is a total circus”. (Photo by Bob Daugherty/AP Photo)

The Shannara Chronicles - A Refreshing Adventure in a Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Future

I was sitting idly on the couch, drinking cola and playing Red Flush online casino games while my better half was channel surfing besides me. I was completely immersed in my game, but dragged back with my feet on the ground when I heard a name - Terry Brooks - coming from the telly. And from MTV?!

A full moon rising over the Re Island Bridge in Rivedoux, France is pictured on December 14, 2016. (Photo by Xavier Leoty/AFP Photo)

A blue-tailed bee-eater chases down its prey along the banks of the Kaveri River on the outskirts of the city of Mysore, India in the last decade of June 2025. (Photo by Nitin Jain/Solent News)