Cary Neeper's Blog: Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction - Posts Tagged "relationships"

(Tandra and daughter Shawne, the varok Orram and the elll Conn are a family committed to their mutual well being, but challenged by differences, needs they didn't forsee. Below is Tandra's point of view.) Launch event: Review Op at http://archivesofvarok.com/articles/w...

I bit my lip hard and took a deep breath. "I am a human being, Conn," I said, hoping to buy time for him to calm down. "You know that better than I do. You and I had our problems at first. My possessiveness crimped your loner style more than any school could. My assumption of dominance drove you wild, but so did my sensuality . . . because your sensuality was too much for me. We humans and ellls evolved, with all other species on our planets, with a hearty dose of reproductive hormones. Varokians did not. The mind link is everythng to Orram; it should be enough for me. Yet I am human, nothing more nor less. I couldn't possibly fill all of Orram's needs, any more than yours. The problem is simple. I can't accept Mahntik as Orram might need me to."

"Funny. I have that same trouble." Conn laughed bitterly. Then he realized I was serious.

Here's the link to a review by Douglas Cobb, including an overview of the entire series THE ARCHIVES OF VAROK. WEBS is the second in the series, which is setup in A PLACE BEYOND MAN.
http://www.bookspotcentral.com/2012/1... A Place Beyond Man: The Archives of Varok

Conn watched Nidok with anxious eyes, knowing that the beast had come to some decision. His plans were far too important to be entrusted to an elll who might yet fall into the wrong hands. "So what the hell," Conn laughed to himself. "Might as well put on a good berry-stupor with the clatter-plated chap."

He scooped up a pile of berries from Nidok's wing-plate and stuffed them into his mouth. "Down the hatch, Cave Buddy. Here's to ahlork. May their nests ring forever with praise for the courage of Nidok."

"May their wing-plates crackle with the name of Sartak, enemy of the True Flock," Nidok bellowed in muscular tones, and his greater lip wrapped around a substantial heap of berries.

"The True Flock flies forever." Conn sang out. "May its droppings find Mahntik's long hair."

"May Susheen fly up her fine robes." Nidok laughed heartily—a deep gargling sound—and lumbered off to fill a large skin with berries. He settled on the edge of the pool while Conn relaxed into the water, and, as the light-period waned, the berries disappeared at a great rate.

The elll and the ahlork continued making toasts as their mouths grew thick with the berries' acrid taste and their minds grew loose and careless with its drug. The dark-period turned the cave black, and occasional flashes from far-off sheets of misted lightning lit their faces as they wallowed in exaggerated emotions, verbosely grateful to each other for saving lives and flock.

"I don't know how to pet an ahlork," Conn said drunkenly, looking for a soft spot to vent his inflated affection on Nidok. "If I were a human and you were a dog, I would pat your head. If you were a varok, I'd give you a spiral salute. If you were a human, I'd kiss your fat broken lip. You're the most unlovable piece of walking crockery in this solar system, Nidok. Frustrating.”

What brightened the holidays were gorgeous snows on Christmas and New Years eve, a lovely week with daughter Shawne and her husband Tom, and Darryl Pickett's book The Secret Feast of Father Christmas. His characters came alive from the first page, a likable young teenager you could easily remember as being just-like-you at that age. The fantasy world that engulfed him, though a bit edgy, is one I will not soon forget. The twist near the end turned up the critic in me for a moment, but it was so beautifully handled I decided to give the story a full five stars. It is indeed a good example of the power of story told well, without recourse to toothy danger and violence. There is love out there--real joy that celebrates the human spirit and creative energy at its best. Thank you, Darryl.

The Webs of Varok portrays a steady state economy, with all its differences from our current situation, hence it provides ripe fruit for Book clubs to pick, in discussion. Varok's legal definition of family provides another topic, as does the metaphor represented by the traitor Mahntik's unnatural ability to block her mind from reading.

The Webs of Varok might be called soft or relational or women's science fiction, because it features a mixed family of aliens and humans in an alternate 21st century solar system, dealing with their complex relationships. The book's aliens provide more fun than in most scifi stories, while the main thrust of the story deals with current economic issues.

The family is determined to see that an overcrowded Earth finds a way to solve its dilemmas. They decide that Varok would serve as a good model for how to maintain a sustainable, equitable society. However, when the family arrives on Varok, after a realistically long voyage, they find their trust in each other and in Varokian economics threatened by an ambitious traitor. The story's metaphor for human double-dealing is presaged in the first scene, in which the lovely human protagonist practices her mind-link with her varokian partner. The varokian traitor has learned to block her mind from its natural openness, giving her unusual leverage in the society.

The Webs of Varok is told by two storytellers. The human protagonist TANDRA tells her first person view on things as she leaves Earth for the alien planet Varok. When she is not present, the third person omniscient storyteller gets into the other interesting heads pushing the plot forward. The most fun is the ahlork Nidok, not too literate and yet able to exchange ripe insults with his best friend, the aquatic elll of the mixed family, CONN.

Come join the event I am running until June 20. A two-book prize for the most thoughtful comments in my two blogs on two issues in The Webs of Varok: 1)Tandra's growing awareness and self-actualization and 2) the steady state as portrayed in The Webs, namely balancing regulation with consensus.
Blogs are here on Goodreads and on http://caryneeper.com/blog.htm
Go to the author's page on archivesofvarok.com to see the latest on Tandra's character development.
Here's the link http://bit.ly/Yfg6V6

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Here's an issue that the books in “The Archives of Varok” address--how should we define a "family" and provide it legal rights and protection? Come join the comment contest until June 20—a set of books going to the most thoughtful ideas about two issues. The first issue is directly related to my blog, the Hen House theme of our responsibility to animals that we adopt, as well as humans to whom we commit.

My reviewer at the Los Alamos Daily Post asked the best question yet--could an extended family including aliens and humans really work? The mixed family of The Archives surely do have their problems, and though they’ve met them head-on in The Webs of Varok, there are more to come in the next volume, Conn: The Alien Effect, to be released early this summer.

I’d like to believe that we humans have matured to the point where we could appreciate the alienness of other beings. We’re doing much better now, since Temple Grandin shared her experiences with us in her book Animals In Translation, New York: Scribner, 2005. I agree that my birds do see things in WISIWIG mode. It takes them some time to learn, then to remember, that the gate is really open and that they need to go around the pen to see that it is. Scientist now are not hooted down when they seek to explore the emotional lives of animals.

The grin on DeeDee’s face expresses unmistakable delight when she greets me at the gate, ready to join us in the living room for the evening. So why not aliens? Surely they can also feel emotions, even if their DNA reflects a different code. Does their evolution have to be so different we can’t relate to it? If we connect, can’t we commit to mutual support and be family?

My experience studying biology suggests that our understanding of chemistry, complex systems and self-organizing selection makes it reasonable to expect that evolution on Earth is a sorting process that could occur anywhere conditions are right. Some elements, like carbon, get together more easily than others, are more stable, more capable of devising interesting strategies for survival.

This is not to say that we are not unique. Even as individuals we are unique, though the details of our existence, the chemistry and physics that define our lives, are universal—and downright awe inspiring in their complexity and precision. Makes one very thankful to be alive.

Join the conversation and win a set of books. Place a comment here.

Dear Connie:
I just finished reading your book The Art of Thank You cover to cover. Inspired, I immediately dashed off a few notes. Thank you! Not only for your in-depth summary of how useful appreciation can be in a variety of situations (and how our manners have tanked recently), but for the extraordinary quotes that served as memorable examples of effective thank-you-note writing. The time you invested in researching and in acquiring permission to use those quotes boggles my mind. Then you added a list of useful phrases for easy reference, a reminder list of when thank-yous are needed, and an index. I was going to give this book to a negligent granddaughter or to the one about to make her way into the world of professional behavior, but I think I’ll keep this one for reference and get copies for all four of them. Your publisher, Beyond Words Publishing, also describes a list of books I hope they read.
With admiration for your thorough work, Cary

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter will serve as an example when I feel my writing has faded to pale vanilla. It seems redundant to review a book that has won so many awards, but, as a writer, I wanted to share what I found so valuable in his writing. Though the chapters jump decades and continents--back and forth, here and there--they are carefully titled and the story threads are linked tighter and tighter as you are carried deeper into the warp and weft of a very satisfying experience. Characters speak with distinct language in a variety of ways, and the story progresses with a variety of styles—through bits of plays, the first chapters of a failed memoir and a novel, and an enthusiastic movie pitch. Most helpful to me is the way Jess Walter weaves the characterizations and settings seamlessly into the action. Themes—like the price of fame and the cost of ego--are illustrated brilliantly in the characters’ interactions, without comment. The reader never loses a sense of experiencing the story and its setting. With fifteen years in the writing, itself a fascinating story, Walters’ agonizing effort has woven a beautiful and life-enhancing tapestry.