Guy Stewart's Blog, page 47

Slice of PIE: Creating Alien Aliens, Part 1 (Redux...)

NOT using the panel discussions of the most recent World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, Ireland in August 2019 (to which I be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I would jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But not today. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes reviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the spirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…In 2020, this was my most popular post. I bring it back up because I'm writing about aliens again and I need to do some thinking about what I'm trying to do...

I have created three universes.

In the first, it’s Humans alone. We genetically engineer ourselves to fit the varied environments we encounter. The overarching conflict is between the Empire of Man and the Confluence of Humanity. The first considers someone Human if they are 65% or more “Original Human” DNA. If you’re less, you’re considered SubHuman. The second sees ANY genetic manipulation to be A-OK. 

In the second, it’s us and mobile plants. Humans have gone deep into space and encountered the WheetAh, mobile plants reminiscent of a giant saguaro cactus crossed with a pitcher plant. The conflict is as obvious as it is inevitable – we eat plants. They eat rodents; hence the pejoratives each lays on the other. We call them Weeds; they call us Weasels.

In the third, we are junior members of the Unity of Sapients, some fifty extremely different intelligences (I can’t say species – as in Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species – as there are smart minerals, arthropods, collective, herd, and individual intelligences in the Unity. We haven’t even been certified sapient. (definition: adjective – having or showing great wisdom or sound judgment; Orig –1425–75; late Middle English sapyent < Latin sapient- (stem of sapiēns, present participle of sapere to be wise, literally: to taste, have taste), equivalent to sapi- verb stem + -ent- -ent

So, I’ve written stories in all three universes. How many in each have been published?

Confluence/Empire: I’ve written seven; only one has been published.

WheetAh: Written two; one published.

Unity: Written seventeen, four published…which seems good, until I point out that the four published stories didn’t contain aliens.

So, I CAN’T write believable aliens.

Why not?

Writers who have written believable aliens: David Brin, Julie Czerneda, Hal Clement, James White, Alan Dean Foster, CJ Cherryh, Larry Niven, Octavia Butler, SL Viehl, and others that escape me; clearly depict them. But HOW?

I’ve been doing some superficial analysis and it seems that when Humans and aliens interact closely and the alienness is narrowed down to one or two SPECIFIC differences; the ones that somehow cause the problem; that’s when the aliens are acceptable.

For example, CJ Cherryh’s atevi. Basically giant Humans with golden eyes and coal black skin, bipedal, five digits, and sexually compatible with Humans (though not reproductively compatible); have one difference: they have no concept of love. In place of love, they have a profound sense of association. All large, mammalian life forms on the Earth of the atevi have this same biological urge – to associate under one strong leader. The single Human who interacts with them, Bren Cameron, understands this and can speak their language fluently – but he still makes mistakes when under pressure to assume that the atevi “feel” about him as he does about them. This creates countless situations of tension and have driven the story line for some TWENTY novels over a quarter of a century of time. The reason I go back repeatedly is because I want to see what happens next as the Human population grows and the atevi advance in technology and eventually reach parity with Humans; and possibly visit Earth.

Another example is James White’s famous Sector General novels. Twelve novels spanning over thirty years of writing, they depict the life of a small group of Humans on a massive space station away from the “main thoroughfares” of a vast interstellar civilization as they interact with countless alien cultures and medical personnel. Languages, medicine, morality, humor, and emotions are touchstones – and points of conflict – for the series.

So – what have I learned with my brief analysis?

1) Aliens and Humans HAVE to interact closely; intimately. (I tried this with “May They Rest” and it was quickly bounced by five magazines and my favorite, to which I’d sold several stories…) In “A Complications of Sapients”, my character and an alien, “cockroach” sapient interacted VERY intimately – and didn’t sell…

2) I need more aliens than Humans. I did this in “Peanut Butter and Jellyfish”, podcast from CAST OF WONDERS. It took place on a trimaran carrying cultural exchange WheetAh. Humans need to be at a disadvantage. The aliens should be at an advantage.

3) It needs to be a BROADLY threatening situation. I think I did this in “The Princess’s Brain”, but I’ve got to go back ad reread it. I DID do this in “The Krasiman, Monkey Boy, and the Frogfather”, but that didn’t sell, either.

So, I’m ready to try something new. Cron plus the above…should give me an alien story that will sell.

                                                            

Resource: https://writepop.com/writing/writing-realistic-aliens/, (I’ve used this one: ) https://www.amazon.com/Aliens-Alien-Societies-Extraterrestrial-Life-Forms-ebook/dp/B00B2B8FOO, https://nypost.com/2018/02/24/heres-what-aliens-probably-look-like/,

Image: https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3321076413_10.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 501

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them

H Trope: Hitchhiking ghost
Current Event: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts

Fatima Ozturk peered out through the tiny port of the Space Station Courage repair pod – the SSCRP affectionately known as a “Scrapper”. She said, “What are we supposed to be looking for?”

Her lab partner, Durante Ghandour shrugged, “The query marker path on the screen says we’re supposed to look for a malfunctioning satellite positioning dish.”

“How are we supposed to know if it’s malfunctioning?” Fatima muttered. She shot a look over to Durante. He wasn’t exactly her first choice of partner, but he WAS supposed to be some sort of history genius.

Durante leaned forward and tapped the display screen. “It says that it will be obvious.”

She nodded. “Bent then, most likely.”

“I’m just thinking it might be obvious to you, you’re the mechanical genius. Besides, I’m not sure I’m excited about being here.”

“How can you not be excited? We’ve been running 3D sims ever since we started Class 14! I am SO ready to be in space!” She shook her head. She hadn’t taken him for an agoraphobe.

“Not that I didn’t want to be out here – it’s just the timing…”

Piloting the pod forward, Fatima growled when the computer made a course correction she was just about to make. “It may look like I’m doing the job, but Station is still flying this toolbox.” She concentrated on keeping them oriented toward the body of the station while scanning the com dishes that came up on the screen. She tried to get a visual inspection as well as the two windows swept around. “What about the timing?” she asked as they flew to the next com dish cluster.

“Nothing. You’ll think I’m lunar.”

“I already know you’re lunar, so tell me already.”

Durante bristled, “What do you mean you know I’m lunar?”

She shrugged – a tough move in the heavy EVA suits they had to wear. They wouldn’t graduate to thinkskins until they turned eighteen and could sign all the paperwork saying they were responsible for themselves. “Forget it. What about the history of being here?” She figured that might deflect him.

She was right as he said, “This place we’re in right now? This is where Laika and Vladislav Volkov died. Practically the same place.”

“Who?”

He sighed then said, “The Soviet space dog? First living creature in space? She died around this point when the launch of Sputnik 2 overheated. They lied for about sixty years, then let the truth out. Then, three Soviet cosmonauts died in June of 1971 when their ship pulled away from a really primitive space station and a valve got stuck open and leaked all their air out.” He gestured out the window, “I expect their…” He lurched forward, banging his helmet against the thick quartz, whispering, “Yaa ilaahee!”

Names: ♀ Turkey; ♂ Italy, EgyptImage:  https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg

Finished My 200,000 Word Novel Yesterday...MARTIAN HOLIDAY...that is all

 

Take four characters from the Bible: Queen Esther; Daniel (his real name) and Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego (their Persian names); Steven the Martyr; and Paul the Apostle...

Put them on Mars in the 24th Century.

Add Artificial Intelligence, Human Clones (who are shades of blue to keep them separated...), and an underground.

Toss in Martian artifacts that point to extraterrestrials once having been stranded there...

Then outlaw Old Organized Religions and replace it with the Unified Faith in Humanity and have a bit of harassment going on...

And you have MARTIAN HOLIDAY...(PS - The word "holiday" has another definition linked to the Roman Empire...)

This is IT for today (oh, my foster-daughter got married yesterday, too!

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 500

I started IDEAS ON TUESDAYS a decade ago!

To mark the occasion? The first post I ever made. (Also, I thought I’d add the three gems of wisdom from master practitioners, regarding three of my favorite genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror!)

First, the ORIGINAL POST:

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

February 22, 2011

Ideas On Tuesdays 1: ReVisiting Fermi's Paradox...

This is going to be a regular feature on POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS. Rather than irritating you though, I'd like to both challenge and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them -- and that you can post in the comment section.

My wife ran across this on msn.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41686017/ns/technology_and_science-space/

The comment at the end paraphrases Fermi's Paradox: "the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations."

Idea: What if every world with a technological, pre-atomic civilization is provided with a gate linking them to other worlds with other intelligences -- but the instant an atomic explosion occurs, the gate closes forever?

Posted by GuyStewart at 5:00 AM 

Labels: Fermi's Paradox, Ideas On Tuesdays

And the wisdom?

Regarding Science Fiction: “Octavia Butler said, ‘SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.’”

Regarding Fantasy: “Melissa McPhail wrote, ‘I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.’”

Regarding Horror: “Lou Morgan in The Guardian wrote, ‘We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us.’”

I continue to look forward to tossing ideas out there to see what surfaces!

Image: https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ideas-Social1.png?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200&h=630&crop=1

Slice of PIE: In Terms of My Writing, “Just What AM I Most Passionate About?”

NOT using the Programme Guide of the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, ConZEALAND (The First Virtual World Science Fiction Convention; to which I be unable to go (until I retire from education – which I now have!)), I WOULD jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But not today. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes reviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the spirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…

As an exercise in getting to know a casual friend of mine better, we’ve been exchanging questions and observations with each other. I’d asked about his interest in three seemingly unrelated sports, one IN high school, the other two after he graduated from high school. To my un-sports-interested-eyed, they seemed completely disconnected! Competitive swimming, flag football, and curling…

After he answered my query he sent one of his own. I’d forgotten that one of things that had drawn us together when he was a student on my “list” – as a counselor, we were assigned students by grade level, and as he was a homeschooled “kid”, my fellow counselors deferred to me as we’d homeschooled both of our kids for a period of time.

We found out we had quite a few other things in common, and recently we reconnected. So one of his response questions was about my writing. I responded by sharing the four “worlds” I write in, then he asked the following:
“Wow, this is awesome! I think it’s the coolest when you have stories like example 3 above where you have a well-crafted universe and can continue deeper into it with multiple stories. Obviously a similar sci-fi vibe to each of these... where did that inspiration stem from? Was it something you read as a kid that changed your interest in reading and writing? Was it the science background? Just what you are most passionate about?”

I was startled by that last question – and it was made all the more disconcerting because my last two submissions to my favorite magazine, ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact, have been rejected.

So that I do this in a logical stream, let me answer each of the separate questions:

Where did that inspiration stem from? Was it something you read as a kid that changed your interest in reading and writing?
The inspiration has come from the people I’ve read since Louis Slobodkin in SPACESHIP UNDER THE APPLE TREE and Eleanor Cameron in WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET entered my life in sixth grade. That was the year I discovered science fiction. Those two books drew me in and led me down the path to Robert A Heinlein, Andre Norton, Madeleine L’Engle, Murray Leinster, and finally to the stories that launched me into the life of a writer, John Christopher’s WHITE MOUNTAIN books, THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, CITY OF GOLD AND LEAD, and POOL OF FIRE. These were hard books to read because Humans had been enslaved by aliens and technologically batter back to the 1930s.

When I finished those books, I didn’t want them to end, so I started writing my own stories. Predictably for a 12 year old, they were pretty BAD!

Was it the science background?
Of course! I was crap a sports because I was a tubby little twit with a mouth. My one venture into sports was ‘cause Dad made me. Remember, this was in the time when if you were rotten, the coach told you so and let the rest of the kids do it, too. We didn’t HAVE feelings in sports. So, I spent my one summer playing baseball on a team of 8 and 9-year-olds in LEFT field…

I didn’t discover science until junior high, and then I was hooked…NOT GOOD, mind you. I was no Einstein and was scared to death of Physics. I loved biology. That led to more science fiction reading, and eventually a bachelor’s degree in biology education. I was a teacher and I finally had the tools to HELP other kids not have a wretched school experience. I also learned to keep science FUN! That helped me in my writing, though I didn’t get my first SF story published until early in the 90’s.

Just what you are most passionate about?
So, we arrive at the startling question I’ve been thinking about since I read it this morning (Thanks a lot, Mr. J Stiglicz!) – what IS it that I’m most passionate about?
First thing I’m passionate about is what I spent most of my adult career doing: teaching science. All of the stories I write have a firm FOUNDATION in science; most of them push past the established and into the speculative. But, as in ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact, I work to keep it realistic, if not real.

Second thing is FUN! I usually can’t write “funny” science fiction, but my characters can have a sense of humor. I love to laugh, and I often made my students laugh. I work to make my readers laugh – though I sometimes lapse into too much seriousness; and maybe that’s what’s been wrong lately. A couple of stories in ANALOG had funny bits in them; the characters laughed and so (I hope) the reader laughed. Then I go too serious. I’m NOT a serious person; at least not all the time. I like to make people laugh; I like to laugh. THAT has to change back!

Third thing though, is that I work to write about equity. I will be the first to admit that I’m a big, old, fat, white guy; inheritor of every privilege known to Humanity. But I typically don’t write from that perspective. Again, and again, and again, I will turn people to WRITING THE OTHER: A Practical Approach by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward. They say that someone like me CAN write characters who are NOT like me. There are ways to do it, considerations to make, and sensitivity to be grown and cultivated. But it CAN and HAS TO be done. (See my essay here for more detail: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/07/possibly-irritating-essay-its-mistake.html)

All writing is metaphor, science fiction and fantasy more than any other genre. There ARE no Vulcans from the planet Vulcan…but there ARE biracial Humans and they have to build a shell around “themselves” that can only rarely be lowered. I am privileged and I can be whoever I want to be and there’s no one who can effectively criticize me. But a lesbian woman does NOT have that freedom. So, you can write about difficult issues in SF. A universe I created is split between the Empire of Man, and the Confluence of Humanity. In the Empire, you are NOT Human unless you have 65% Original Human DNA (as compared to the original Human Genome Project’s 2003 database.) If you are LESS, then you aren’t Human.

The Confluence of Humanity rose up to counter that; and for THEM, no amount of genetic engineering will make you anything less than FULLY HUMAN…unless of course, you happen to be a giant, hollow manta ray who was designed from another Human’s DNA to be a living ambulance in the skies of a gas giant…then WHO WILL TREAT YOU AS ANYTHING BUT A MONSTER AND AN ALIEN?

So in answer to JS’s question, “So what are you most passionate about?” I say three things: teaching science, fun with science and with life, and lastly, I can ask hard questions and I am free to explore what it’s like to be Other. When I don’t understand, I ASK. (Sometime ask me what happened on the Cinco de Mayo when I had become the sponsor for the Hispanic Culture Club the first semester I was a temporary counselor…)

Now you know, but equally importantly, NOW I KNOW WHAT I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT.

(PS – I’m also passionate about the fact that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior…but that’s something I only share with those who are close to me, though…ask me someday about the eulogy I was asked to read at the side of a friend of mine who couldn’t read it during her father’s funeral…)

Image: https://futureofworking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/what-are-you-passionate-about.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 599

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: Sword & Sandal (A period set in ancient biblical or mythological times…Sword and Sandal flicks…were especially popular in The Golden Age of Hollywood…Expect the landscape to resemble sand dunes and/or rural Spain throughout, making those sandals look more attractive.
Current Event: Ben Hur (2016) (http://www.stevensaylor.com/StevensBookshopDVDNewMovies.html)

Ota Kte stood on the high bluffs above the roaring, churning brown of the Great River.
Shappa Hollow Wood shook her head and flipped her moccasins over the cliff.

“Shappa! Stop playing!”

“Hardly playing, Ota. I threw it to check the speed of the river water.”

He scowled at her. “This isn’t a joke.”

“I don’t appear to be laughing, consort.”

“I’m not your consort, you’re mine!” She muttered something crude. “You can’t say that!”

“I am not your wife. I am your consort. I am here to cement our factions, not produce children or dynasty.”

“You can’t…”

“I agreed to be your consort because one of your ‘braves’,” she snickered, “Invaded the…territory of one of our major agents.”

Ota snorted then sighed. “Fine. You were saying?”

“I’m testing current speed and direction,” she turned to stare steadily into the distance. I just saw the moccasin disappear from my view.” She paused, “My guess is that it traveled seventy steps in fifteen heartbeats.”

“How do you know that?”

She looked at him, shook her head and said, “Have all of your women been as stupid as a bleached skull?” She stepped around him. “You will need to know the speed of the Great River at this moment if your canoeists intend to outperform the Ojibwe canoeists.”

“We will be better than them by virtue of our…” he paused, then finished lamely, “virtue.”

She sighed and continued down the path from the bluffs to the horses waiting below. As much as she loathed her position in this faction of Lakota, she adored the horses that gave them their advantage over her father’s defiant raiders. Despite their surrender of her physical body to Ota – by the wisdom of the medicine woman, One Who Sings To The Stars – Shappa held tight to her spirit. One Who Sings kept the spirit talisman close by her side with an echo of Shappa’s spirit in the deepest part of her herb satchels. Only her father and youngest brother knew of its existence. Her father because his plan was to humiliate Ota the leader; her brother because no one would think to give such important information to such a young, unimportant person.

Ota had followed her, hurrying clumsily down the rocky trail. She wondered again how such an idiotic man would be made a leader. He called after her, “Consort! Attend me!”

She turned and held out her hand for him to take. He did, roughly, then pulled her to himself as if he were one of the pale-skinned creatures on the shore of the Ilhuicaātl Atlántico come recently to those far lands. Her father had agents spread over the length and breadth of the earth. A tribe of a cold land toward the rising sun called it all the Land of the Haudenosaunee. They told of strange behaviors of strange men and women. She pushed away, saying, “The race will start soon, my consort. You must speak to them; encourage them that they may bend these Ojibwe people to the path of your plans.”

His already thin lips vanished in irritation, but he knew the wisdom of her words as well. He released her and sullenly clambered onto his horse. By contrast, she floated up to the strong back of her horse. Smiling, she added an action that would advance her father’s plan for this silly man, saying, “One of your braves looked at me the other day…”

Names: ♀ Lakota Sioux; ♂ Lakota Sioux
Image:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Creating Alien Aliens, Part 8: Aliens Only Have To Be Different In ONE Way To Make Them Alien!

In September of 2007, I started this blog with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together they write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors, publishers, columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got enough publications now that I can share some of the things I did “right”.

While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the professional writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Part 1: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/01/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 2: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/02/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens-part.html
Part 3: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/02/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 4: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/04/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens-part.html
Part 5: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/09/writing-advice-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 6: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2021/02/writing-advice-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 7: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2021/04/writing-advice-creating-alien-aliens.html

When I create aliens, I have to make sure that they ACT differently.

STAR TREK is guilty of ignoring this to extreme degrees. For example, the ALIEN Sarek, father of Spock, talks to his son about his emotions and gives fatherly advice, even though his dad is fully alien Vulcan and bleeds green blood

The Nova Corp of the Marvel Universe “Guardians of the Galaxy” shows a Nova Prime where rainbow-colored alien bipedal parents walking around on two legs, holding the hands of their children, exactly like Humans in funny suits.

STAR TREK, in a rare display of originality shows a silicon mother whose entire civilization has died out and she is the last one alive. When the zillions of eggs she has been guarding hatch, she becomes the mother of a new civilization…My question has always been when she passes on the wisdom of the old civilization, can she change it? Can Mother Horta alter the way things have been done?

In Marc Steigler’s award-winning short story, “Petals of Rose”, a Human works with the incredibly short-lived Rosans, whose entire life is lived in hours; and the Lazarines, whose lifetimes span millennia. Rosans, Lazarine, and Humans are working together to create a way of communicating faster than the laws of physics would allow; creating a sort of LeGuin’s “ansible”. He accidentally becomes the founder of a new religion – based on an idea he had about how memories are passed from Rosan generation to Rosan generation.

While aliens need to behave differently, the fathers of Humans behave in vastly different ways, varying from brutal to indifferent, to entirely absent. Animal “father” behaviors vary just as much. Some males help keep the nest warm while the female hunts. Some males and females mate for life. Some animals perform gang rape…

How different would an alien have to behave in order to be truly alien?

Turns out, not that much. It turns out that I’ve traveled a lot. I figured it out once that I’ve actually travelled half way around the Earth – not just stopping in airports, but spending more than three weeks at the two end points – from Fambé, Central African Republic to Incheon, South Korea.

I have experienced strange behavior in both places; behaviors that seem inexplicable, yet from Humans.

Two examples. In West Africa, we shared a meal with a group of doctors and nurses. They prepared a regular lunch for us of pounded yam fufu in soup. Fufu has the consistency of uncooked Bisquick (pancake and baking mix). The soup was the thickness of chicken gravy. It was standard fare, but it was eaten one-handed. We had learned to pinch a small ball of fufu from the larger one it’s served as, roll it into a small ball, swipe it through the soup, then pop it in your mouth, SWALLOWING IT WHOLE. As I said, strange, but we’d learned how to do it.

Our hosts had set the table with Western-style silverware and when we sat down together and said our prayers, they also started to eat – cutting small pieces, dipping it in the soup – and CHEWING the fufu.

It took only a moment for use to realize that both groups has set out to make the other comfortable by adhering to the customs of the other group – in this case, the SUPPOSED customs of the other group…

In South Korea, it was customary that when adults meet for a meal and the children were not at table, that Soju would be the traditional drink. Soju is a distilled spirit from Korea that’s traditionally made from rice, though it can also be made from sweet potato, barley, tapioca, wheat or any combination of those ingredients. Sometimes called Korean vodka because of its neutral flavor, Soju and Japanese sake are similar, though Sake is fermented and brewed like beer and soju is distilled like vodka.

I’ve been a teetotaler since before most of my peers started drinking, mostly because of familial pressure – they did, I refused. But it was customary and when I was with my son and his best Korean friend, I shocked my son by drinking Soju.

Creating truly alien behavior is impossible – because we’re Humans and we can’t imagine doing things another way. But authors like CJ Cherryh have given us a clue about how that might be done. In her world of the Atevi and Humans, she has altered one behavior: her Atevi had no concept of love. Love in Atevi is expressed by association. Even in an Atevi family unit, there are associations. Love between a couple is an alien concept to the Atevi. They have STUDIED love, of course, because of a large refugee Human population living on their world, but they don’t understand it. It’s this foundational change that has given rise to Cherryh’s exploration of Human-Atevi interaction for the past 27 years…

One change and figuring out how a civilization would develop based on that SINGLE CHANGE…

Now, that’s some accomplishment and one I’ve been working on developing for years. OTOH, I didn’t realize until recently that to create a truly alien alien, all you need to do is change one thing about Humans. That seems to make the weirdest aliens of all. (I just realized that in the WALKING DEAD series, the only difference between Humans and zombies is that the zombies are dead…)

Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51TZVOLo9tL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 598

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AceCustom (An ace custom is a piece of technology that differs from the normal model due to being tweaked in order to better fit its user...typically Ace Pilots...)

Current Event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn, http://usvsth3m.com/post/78650868521/a-13-year-old-boy-in-preston-just-successfully-built-a

Zsigmond Alajos Becskei pursed his lips to stare at the old man in the wheelchair in the distance and said, “How old did you say he was?”

Sissinnguaq Âviâja, standing beside him, tapped her tablet computer. The answer popped up in front of them and she said, “Sixty-one.”

Zsigmond shook his head, “Looks like he’s a hundred.”

“Radiation exposure can do that to a person,” she paused, “I think he looks sad.”

Zsigmond snorted, “You’d look old, too if you were playing with radioactive materials in your backyard when you were sixteen, too.”

Sissinnguaq shook her head, “We didn’t have back yards in Iceland. They kept getting covered in volcanic ash.”

“At least you had something interesting going on in your country. My parents moved here because they were bored.”

“That’s stupid.”

“You’re stupid.”

“Right,” said Sissinnguaq, “Maybe we should talk to him before he dies. Like in a couple of minutes.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Zsigmond swallowed nervously even though he walked along the sidewalk and up to the nursing home’s security station.

The guard behind the window looked up and slid the palm scanned under the slot and said, “Name and purpose.”

Zsigmond hesitated – this would be the true test of his forgery – and covered it by saying, “I’ve never seen my grandfather before. What if I want to leave before I have to talk to him.”

The guard, who’d been looking bored up to now, shook his head. “Old age ain’t a disease kid. He’s not contagious. He’s your ma or your pa’s dad. You ain’t gonna catch nothing.”

Sissinnguaq leaned and said, “My boyfriend’s not afraid of his grandfather in that way. He’s just never seen anyone…”

“Save it, girl. Are you guys going in or are you gonna run away scared like most of the other snot-noses?”

“You are an incredibly rude man,” she said, slapping her hand down on the scanner.

“I didn’t get to be eighty-three by being a sweetheart.” He looked at Zsigmond, “Either slap the ID pad or get out of here, kid. I ain’t gettin’ younger.”

Zsigmond sighed and laid his hand on the scanner. A moment later the guard pulled it back under, looked at the ID and raised his eyebrows, saying, “Good thing you’re here. I don’t think Dave has many more days left in him.” He typed at his solid keyboard and the first entry door swung open. Zsigmond and Sissinnguaq waited for the second door while the entryway disinfected them. A moment later, the guard said, “Computer says he’s out in the courtyard.”

“Thanks,” said Zsigmond. The headed into the nursing home as the door swung slowly inward. He whispered, “Now if he’ll only be able to remember the last step he screwed up, we can get the reactor started tonight and blow up the city in the morning...”

Names: ♀ Native, Iceland ; ♂ Hungary
Image: https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/49956692363_f73a7a6a69_k.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Short Stories – Advice and Observation #9: John Griffith Chaney “& Me”

In this feature, I’ll be looking at “advice” for writing short stories – not from me, but from other short story writers. In speculative fiction, “short” has very carefully delineated categories: “The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories by word count; Novel 40,000 words or over; Novella 17,500 to 39,999 words; Novelette 7,500 to 17,499 words; Short story under 7,500 words.”

I’m going to use advice from people who, in addition to writing novels, have also spent plenty of time “interning” with short stories. While most of them are speculative fiction writers, I’ll also be looking at plain, old, effective short story writers. The advice will be in the form of one or several quotes off of which I’ll jump and connect it with my own writing experience. While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do most of the professional writers...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Without further ado, short story observations John Griffith Chaney – with a few from myself…

John Griffith Chaney was one of the most prolific and most-read authors of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was given his well-known name after his mother re-married John London and then renamed her son…(“Jack is a common diminutive of John “Jack is a derivative of John that originated in medieval England. The name went from John to Johnkin to Jankin to Jackin to Jack. The name was so common in the Middle Ages that Jack became a generic term for a man.”)

Jack London wrote 205 stories and 15 novels about life – life in the late years of the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century. The life he lived was “primitive” by 21st Century standards and at the time, there were still frontiers then. Certainly, few people were familiar with the Amazon; the North Pole; or Arabia. Japan was a “recent discovery” (“In 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry and the ‘Black Ships’ of the United States Navy forced the opening of Japan to the outside world with the Convention of Kanagawa. Subsequent similar treaties with other Western countries brought economic and political crises. The resignation of the shōgun led to the Boshin War and the establishment of a centralized state nominally unified the Meiji Restoration”). China and Africa were wholly mysterious.)

In particular, Alaska (not the ice cream bar....); Indigenous peoples were the original settlers of what the Russians used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula. “Derived from an Aleut-language idiom, which figuratively refers to the mainland. Literally, it means object to which the action of the sea is directed.” The Russians, Spanish, Polish, and Finnish eventually entered into an agreement with the American government and sold it to them in 1867.

From that place, London produced some of his most popular works. He only wrote for twenty-two years, dying at the age of 40 in 1916. He never wrote extensively about writing, he did leave nuggets of advice that I’m going to craft into a few pieces of writing advice he DID give and then see if I follow them. The original quotes are listed below.

1) “London's books had been lived. They were not autobiographical, yet based upon his close observations and notes.”

Hopefully, ALL of my writing comes from my life – not that I’ve ever met a sapient plantimal. Not that I’ve ever crash-landed on the Moon. Not that I’ve ever become friends with a genetically engineered woman. Not that I’ve ever lived on Mars…but I’ve been able to IMAGINE it; and even when I’ve got aliens in my stories, I have to make them understandable. I have to give them some recognizable Human emotion or response. I think I’ve done that part well, because a part of ME is in every character I build – even a veterinarian who was born piebald.

2) “You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

I’ve NEVER waited for inspiration; like “writer’s block”, I think it was invented by writers who wanted to BE writers rather than become writers by writing something – anything – and polishing it and sending it out. London never waited – he just wrote what he’d experienced and despite the implication, there were times that Jack London used the bathroom, slept, ate meals, got sick, and did any of the mundane things we all do. Even the TV series 24 doesn’t include people using the bathroom. So, in all of our writing, even the most realistic – like London’s – we leave out stuff. We get inspired by the “exciting parts.

3) “Avoid the unhappy ending, the harsh, the brutal, the tragic, the horrible -- if you care to see in print things you write.”

I hate unhappy endings myself. Of course, London didn’t follow his own rule, but that’s all right because in general, the endings of his stories are UNDERSTANDABLE. I’m OK if the main characters dies because they made dumb choices. I’m NOT OK when a character steps out to cross the street and gets hit by a car. Of course, I wasn’t particularly OK with it when that happened to an old friend of mine.

4) “Don't write too much. Concentrate your sweat on one story, rather than dissipate it over a dozen.”

I think he might have meant, “…at a time.” I can’t write “too much”; I write what I want and that never seems like “too much”.

5) “And who knows what Romance, what Adventure, what Love, is lurking around the next turn of the road?”

For me, it’s something I just learned recently: every story, whether SF, F, Mystery, Horror, or contemporary YA…needs to have a mystery at its core. Not that the character has to SOLVE a mystery, but that there is something they don’t know; something that has to reach some kind of resolution so that the main character(s) can move on in life.

6) “Read voraciously.”

This one doesn’t need explanation. ON my “to read” list, I currently have FREAKONOMICS (Dubner/Levitt), RESURGENCE (Cherryh)…I could go on, but I read widely. THE THORN BIRDS and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and BLINK and VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER and DON’T CALL THE WOLF…It comes from a master storyteller. It MUST be right!

7) “It’s sometimes a dreary thing to sit and watch the game played in the small and petty way.”

I get tired of the small game. I live it now; worked in it as a high school teacher and counselor (“He said…” vs “She said…”); the small issues of life that we live every day. And yet…there are BIGGER games to play. Some people are caught up in MASSIVELY HUGE GAMES, like finding a solution to anthropogenic global warming or the conflict between Israel and the rest of the Middle East (do they realize that it’s a conflict that has been ongoing for some THOUSANDS of years?).

There is a middle ground: walking to cure cancer or Alzheimer’s; teaching; maybe even being a writer. Which is what London was, bringing the issues of the time to his short stories and novels, which tens of thousands of people read. He worked to create influence. (I guess they actually call them “influencers” today…)

8) “WORK. WORK all the time.”

Like most serious writers, I do this already. Not as much as I’d like; but more than I should.

9) “Success is just this — retaining the substance and transmuting the potential into the kinetic.”

WOW! A science metaphor! What it means to me is that everyone has the potential to be (in this case) a writer. We all have story. It lives in every Human. That’s the potential. There is no one on Earth who has led a solely boring life. Things have happened to all of us. The challenge to the writer, which London managed to do to spectacular effect, is to take the potential and change it into a story people can read; with the right balance of action and talk, talk, talk – that creates in them a desire to move out and do something similar. That’s kinetic energy.

10) “Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain.”

I did this when I was in Africa and when I went to South Korea to visit my son, daughter-in-law, and my two grandchildren. I’ve started to turn the experience in South Korea into story, but my African life hasn’t made it there yet. OTOH, I just realized that my time in Africa (including being in a country in which the military overthrew the civilian government and formed a junta which still rules today…) was incredibly intense and not only have the feelings faded some, they are hard to write about. I need to look at that again and see if I can bring the emotions out and set them down in story.
_____________________________________________________________

“As Conrad observed, London's books had been lived. They were not autobiographical, yet based upon his close observations and notes. Whether nonfiction reportage or fiction, the sense of realism is present. For this reason it helps to understand how his other activities in life influenced his writing: his socialism, his farming, his travels, his family. One weaves into the other.”

“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

“Avoid the unhappy ending, the harsh, the brutal, the tragic, the horrible -- if you care to see in print things you write. (In this connection don't do as I do, but do as I say).”

“Don't write too much. Concentrate your sweat on one story, rather than dissipate it over a dozen.”

“And who knows what Romance, what Adventure, what Love, is lurking around the next turn of the road, ready to leap out on us if we’ll only travel that far?”

“London also read voraciously, immersed himself in a thorough autodidactic education, taught himself how to write, and became a bestselling author — writing classics like Call of the Wild and White Fang, alongside 20 other books, 200 short stories, and 400 non-fiction pieces.”

“It’s sometimes a dreary thing to sit and watch the game played in the small and petty way. One who not only takes a hand in the game, but calmly sits outside as well and watches, usually sees the small and petty way, and is content to face immediate losses, knowing that the ultimate gain is his. It is so small, so pitifully small, that at worst it can produce only a passing glow of anger, and after that, pity only remains, and remains, and tolerance without confidence. — Oh, why can’t the men and women of this world learn that playing the game in the small way is the losing way? They are always doomed to failure when they play against the one who plays in the large way.”

“Spell it in capital letters, WORK. WORK all the time.” (“Getting Into Print,” The Editor, March 1903)

“Success is just this — retaining the substance and transmuting the potential into the kinetic.” –“The Question of a Name,” The Writer, December 1900

“Find out about this earth, this universe; this force and matter, and the spirit that glimmers up through force and matter from the magnet to Godhead. And by all this I mean WORK for a philosophy of life.” –“Getting Into Print,” The Editor, March 1903

“Most people don’t realize it, but Jack London pioneered science fiction. He wrote about germ warfare in one story, about an energy weapon in another, and about men encountering a prehistoric Mammoth in another. His story, “The Shadow and the Flash” was about achieving invisibility. [His scifi stories] were written in the early 1900s. The lesson for writers today is that they should not be stuck in one genre. There is no question that London fictionalized his experiences for the most successful portion of his career, but he later branched out.”

“Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain.”

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London, https://london.sonoma.edu/writings, ,
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/jack-london-quotes/, (A complete list of London’s works: https://www.prosperosisle.org/spip.php?article229#Stories “205 stories, 15 novels…”), https://velocitywriting.com/jack-london/#:~:text=of%20his%20life.-,%E2%9CDon't%20write%20too%20much.,wrote%20in%20his%20short%20career. (DL Hughes says differently: “23 novels, three autobiographical memoirs, 125 short stories, 22 nonfiction pieces and essays, about 40 published poems, and three plays”)
Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41JNnybcihL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 597

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: Attack of the Killer Whatever
Current Event: “In various Stephen King short stories, he has had people attacked by novelty chattering teeth, paintings, a toy monkey, evil toads... If it can be seen as even vaguely creepy by anybody in the Western world, chances are it's killed somebody in a Stephen King story.”

Liam Johnson held his Kindle, staring down at it.

Sophia Smith, sitting next to him, said, “What are you waiting for?”

The roar of voices in the lunch room was almost deafening. He didn’t hear her – or didn’t respond – until she nudged him.

When he looked over at her, there wasn’t any color in even HIS usually pasty face. His freckles, even now that he was fifteen, still stood out on his face like spaghetti sauce blotches. At least he’d got his hair cut super short over winter break, Sophia thought with approval. The red stuff at shoulder length had been almost too much to stand! He said, “The last time I read a new Stephen King book, I almost died.”

Sophia shook her head and took a bite of her taco salad then made a face. “The food didn’t get any better over break, I’ll tell you that much. Why can’t they just order out from Taco Bell?”

“You’re not listening to me!” Liam said.

“Sure I am – the last time you read this guy’s book, you almost pissed yourself.”

“I didn’t say that. I said I almost DIED.”

Shaking her head, she toasted him with another forkful of salad and said, “Whatever.”

He stood up abruptly, looking down at her with the strangest look then said, “I gotta go.”

“Go where? It’s the first day of a new semester. You don’t have any homework.” She sighed, he could be almost as dramatic as her friends. She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him down on his chair again. “OK – let’s start at the beginning.”

The cafeteria was jammed and someone had been moving in on Liam’s seat when she pulled him back. If it had been another freshman, she wouldn’t have bothered, but the look the guy was shooting at her was deadly. She grabbed her lunch tray without letting go of Liam and said, “This was making me sick, anyway.” She tossed it into the nearby garbage can and towing him after her, made her way to the stairwell.

The supervisor knew them both and waved them through. When the door shut behind them, muted to a dull roar, she said, “The last story this guy wrote almost killed you…” she paused.

He wouldn’t meet her eye, looking down at his ereader. Finally he lifted his chin and said, “Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but his stories...they’re somehow linked to me.”

“You mean like ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ linked to you?”

He make as if he were thinking, then shook his head, “Not that closely linked.” He pursed his lips, sucked the top one between his teeth then said, “I love reading…”

“Duh!” she said, slugging him softly on the shoulder. “I do, too.”

“Nah, you like your Ebony and Essence,” he held up one hand defensively, “Not that that’s bad! You’re like my only friend that reads as much as me, but,” he looked down again, “When I read a Stephen King book or story, I get sucked into it. I can’t explain it, exactly. It’s like the book is about me, but not about me. That’s why I don’t dare read his newest one...which I got for Christmas...which I can’t NOT read...which, if I do is gonna kill me. Like, for real...”

She grabbed his Kindle, cussing, and thumbed it on. The cover of the book showed a guy who looked like he was delivering mail in a tornado. In bold, red letters across the bottom – smaller than Stephen King’s name in bolder, redder letters across the top, was the word, MAIL…”

Names: ♀ ; ♂ Most common US names 2014

Image: https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg