Anthropological Science Fiction

Anthropological science fiction. What a name for such a simple concept: science fiction in ancient history. We've seen it multiple times, but the most recent and successful example of it is the StarGate and StarGate Atlantis franchises.

It's not a new concept - most religions have evidences of it. The South American mounds of snakes and spiders that can only be seen the air, biblical stories of flying saucers (Ezekiel's chariot), and suspicious mountaintop experiences (Moses), and stories of the gods that one writer claims are actually stories of the planets. The concepts are there ... but we're so accustomed to interpreting those events in a specific way, we miss alternative and equally valid perspectives. That's where anthropological science fiction comes into play.

It takes historical events, places, and people, and puts another bent on it. For example, the bible says that "in the beginning Gods created the heavens and the earth." Then, in Gen. 6:4 it says that "“During this time (and afterwards) the Neph’lim – children of the gods – fell to the earth. They bred with humans, and bore children: the heroes of old; people of renown.” I admit, this is not the way it is traditionally translated, but then ancient Hebrew texts didn't have vowels, punctuation, capitalization, or spaces in their sentences - and by the time they did start adding vowels, punctuation, capitalization, and spaces, they had to start guessing at what some of the texts actually said. (Let me give you an example: nthbgnnggdcrtdthhvnsndthrth. -- Now, translate that! ) To add to the confusion, it's believed that this section was adapted from much earlier mesopotamian creation myths ... and viola, this translation is a perfect fit.

In any case, this story actually talks about aliens - whether you want to consider them angels, demons, gods, etc., they are still extra-terrestrial beings. Ergo, aliens! These beings came to the earth and bred with humans - as opposed to non-humans. These people were heroes and well-known. (In Greek mythology these would be the half-gods like Hercules.) When we start looking in other ancient texts, we find reference to these aliens teaching humans about herbology and other advanced sciences (which these texts malign as "witchcraft"). And, according to these texts, it is because of this advanced knowledge that God floods the area.

When we take out the superstitions, and insert a creative science fiction mindset, this could reference an advanced technology that created a massive undersea earthquake, and the subsequent tsunami wiped out the whole region. Did that actually happen? Nobody knows. This was pre-history, before people developed writing. So really, everything we know, we know because pseudo-historians, hundred and even thousands of years after the fact, began writing down myths and stories that had been passed down. Since there was nothing to separate fact from fiction, or superstitious from scientific, there is no "for sure," in any of it.

In Twelve Gates From Paradise, I take the above myths and put flesh on them. The Neph'lim, descendents of Nibiru (the lost planet), have taken refuge in our stratopause ... but many are growing restless waiting for their leaders to approve colonizing the planet. Some refuse to wait, and fake glider crashes. Others are stranded on the surface. As mutinous Neph'lim stir up problems aboard the Pavilion, stranded Neph'lim on the surface - worshipped as gods - begin consolidating power.

"When the Gods Came Down" is the first book in this series, that follows the lives of the Neph'lim and the humans that love them. Heroes and villians, romance and murder, mutiny and power fill the pages of a story you're not likely to forget soon.

Saturday Morning

It's early Saturday morning - one of my favorite times of the week. The house is quiet, excerpt for the chirping finches trying to get me to play with them. I just finished a leisure breakfast of mixed fruit, nuts, and whip cream and I'm working on a glass of soy milk (mmmm).

In the stillness, I can think through my stories and play with fantasies and ideas - where I want to take each character, and what kind of a person I want them to be. It's like being God, in a way, and I think that's one of the reasons writing fiction is so appealing. I can decide everyone's fate. Nothing is left to the whims of chance or the vulgarities of randomness.

As the sun rises, it shines through the glass of my sliding back door and into the house. The sun promises us so much: a new day, a new chance to get things right, a renewed hope, renewed energy .... I love mornings, especially ones that start out so beautifully. It is moments like these that I try to write into my books. Moments when life is good and we feel completely alive inside.

I think I'll go back upstairs and cuddle a while longer with my husband.

Taking Time for the Family

Writing is a singular business ... in that, for most writers, we need a lot of alone time. A typical book might take 20-30 hours a week for up to 6 months. That includes 2-3 drafts and 1-2 edits before submitting to the publisher. Unfortunately, like many creative occupations, writing is a feast and famine life ... (all famine, for me!). It's the love of the craft that keeps many of us writing, long after we've given up hope of ever breaking-even. Therein lies the problem.

We love what we do (at least, I do)... but there are other loves in our lives that are competing for our time and attention. It's hard to stop in the middle of an idea or sentence, but supper needs made, the house needs cleaned, the grass mowed, the shrubs trimmed, etc. Life is short ... too short. With a computer in our lap every spare moment, we unknowingly alienate those who want to talk to us. We look busy -- and they don't want to interupt us. So they go on with their lives while we're inventing worlds of our own.

This is mostly a reminder to me, and others like me, to stop. Take time to love on the ones who smile whenever they see you. Take time to play with your children. Take time to enjoy your spouse. Take time to exercise and meditate. Take time to remember who really matter.

SciFi Channel and the Science Fiction Genre

I love science fiction -- I mean, I REALLY love science fiction. It can be corny, B-lister, odd, etc. as long as it makes me think about things in a new, different, backwards, or unusual ways. And that's the rub. Many of the new scifi's coming out on TV (i.e. the SciFi Channel) are run-of-the-mill disaster movies that show little imagination, little respect for the viewers' intelligence, and less respect for the actors who work in them. The thing that turns people into scifi fans is the intelligence factor ... and its the one thing that is singularly lacking in most SciFi Channel made-for-TV movies.

Having said that, I need to qualify it. My favorite scifi series of all time was FarScape - a SciFi Channel series. It was witty, intelligent, fun, occasionally erotic, occasionally silly, and just plain entertaining. But notice that witty and intelligent were the first two things I mentioned! Another show I thoroughly enjoyed was running at the same time as FarScape - the Invisible Man. When the invisible man finally got out from under the agencies thumb, the series really could have taken off ... instead they cancelled the series and that was a genuine loss. And more recently, the SciFi Channel thrilled me with Dresden Files - which they still haven't signed on for a second season despite widespread support from SciFi Channel viewers. Ah well, at least I have Blood Ties on LMN to look forward to this Fall Season!

I have watched Hercules, Xena, and all the mythic god/goddess movies - and mostly enjoyed them. Andromeda, StarGate and StarGate Atlantis got old pretty quickly, and had multiple unresolved issues (like, why do all the worlds they visit speak English?). When I'm bored out of my gourd, I'll sit through the SciFi Channel's horrific disaster flicks but afterwards I inevitably feel like I've murdered a million brain cells. Their shows have gotten so bad, I'm settling for lame movies on the Hallmark Channel!

Where is Dr. Who when you need him???? (my second most favorite series of all time!)

New Romantic Drama Released

It's been a long time coming ... especially since this isn't the book I intended to publish first. My science fiction novel - "Twelve Gates to Paradise: When the Gods Came Down" - has been in the works for nearly three years ... but then I got sidetracked into other projects and viola, "WANTED: Sex Partner for Short-Term Monogamous Relationship" gets finished first.

Many of those who know me were shocked by the title. I'm not a prude, but I am a conservative woman who doesn't get into exhibitionism or the rowdy crowds. The title is provocative, and sometimes I end up mumbling the title under my breath because of embarrassment, but then, I realize why I wrote it and why I chose that title. WANTED represents the culmination of my non-writing knowledgebase.

Like most writers, I have a paying job, and a non-paying job (writing). Both consume about the same amount of work. It was the issues raised in my paying job as an HIV coordinator that stimulated my idea for this romance. I work around a wide variety of people - young, old, gay, straight, bi-, transgender, incarcerated, law-abiding ... you name it - and everyone of them has a story behind the choices they have made. Some of those choices have caused people unimaginable grief in their lives, and sometimes the choices people have NOT made have created just as much regret.

WANTED is meant to be an honest look at what might happen if a woman placed an anonymous ad in the local personal's column. It is a romantic drama, so there's a bit of playful fantasizing in it, but overall, I felt it responsibility looked at the dating scene for older women, some of the hazards (and unexpected pleasures) of dating, and a few of the family issues that might emerge.

This was a joy to write and I hope to write many more romantic dramas about mid-life (being a baby-boomer myself) and the changes that occur along the way.