Diane Rapp's Blog: She's a Mystery and Science Fiction Writer!, page 18

Tribute to Anne McCaffrey

On November 21, 2011 Anne Inez McCaffrey passed away at the age of 85, and the world of science fiction lost a beloved friend. A Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master, Anne McCaffrey won many prestigious awards during her 46-year career. I fell in love with her Dragon Riders of Pern series, read every book she published, and plan to reread them often. Anne McCaffrey inspired me to write science fiction and I’m grateful.

I plan to dedicate my newest novel, Dragon Defense, to her memory. I can’t claim that my book compares to McCaffrey’s gems, but I believe she’d enjoy another dragon story. The dragons in my book can’t teleport and they don’t breathe fire, but mine don’t need to fight thread. Like any writer who populates a world with dragons, my dragons have their own unique characteristics.

In The Havenshire Resistance I introduced Flash, a baby dragon, whose mother was killed by a large white eel. Flash was raised by telepathic humans, Felesia and Jordan. My favorite scene shows them coaxing Flash to fly for the first time. She’s inside a cave with a strong updraft and leans into the wind with her wings stretched wide. She trembles, afraid to jump, but Arrow (the hawk) demonstrates how a bird hovers overhead. Can you imagine the scene? Flash eventually flew and helped her human friends attack an evil enemy in battle.

Drako got its name when planet surveyors noticed flying creatures that looked like dragons. These dragons are an intelligent species that cooperate while hunting. Colors ripple through their wings in specific patterns, allowing the dragons to communicate during an organized attack against giant white eels. Dragons hate the color white which sends them into a frenzied attack—not good for ships using white sails. Dragons ripped sails with their sharp talons and sank ships until their dragon cliffs were avoided. Maps were printed with the words “Here be Dragons” in red ink.

Do you scoff at the idea of a dragon sending ripples of color across its wings? We have a perfect example on Earth of a similar phenomenon. Nothing is more incredible than real live creatures, so I watch television programs about animals on a regular basis. When I saw a program featuring cuttlefish, I got very excited. Cuttlefish move layers of skin cells to send pulses of color across their bodies. I already “imagined” my colorful dragons and was rewarded with a real-life example. Don’t believe me? Google “flamboyant cuttlefish” and see the videos for yourself.

When Anne McCaffrey wrote her first dragon novel, she couldn’t know how many people around the world might love her work. I’m one of many authors who followed her path into a world filled with dragons. Anne McCaffrey will be missed.

THE WOLVES OF DRAKO

Has your dog ever stared into your eyes unblinking, focused so intently that you’re sure he (or she) is trying to tell you something important? Kriegen used to do that. Sometimes he’d add a chin lift to emphasize the message. The easiest way he got through to me was the “stare-shift.” He’d get my attention by staring, and then he’d shift his gaze to his dog bowl or the kitchen and quickly shift back to me. Sometimes it took several stare-shifts to make me understand. He said, “Feed me you fool.” Finally the message came through my dense human mind but we communicated. He was a very patient dog but trained me eventually.
I asked the question: What if dogs are telepathic and we stupid humans just can’t hear what they’re saying? The idea nagged me until I made it true. What? I can’t wave a magic wand and make dogs telepathic. As an author I can do just that.
My computer is my magic wand. I imagined a whole world (Drako) where dogs (in the form of wolves) are a telepathic species waiting for dumb humans to hear them mind-speak. When telepathic humans finally arrive from space, the wolves communicate. Cool. My wish was granted.
What is sapience anyway? The dictionary defines the word as “wise, or attempting to appear wise or (chiefly in science fiction) intelligent. Science fiction writers often use the word sentient to mean the same thing, although the dictionary defines sentient as “able to perceive or feel things.” The definition could apply to animals, but are all animals intelligent and self-aware? Animal lovers would say “yes.”
How can humans tell whether a species is intelligent? Communication is a sign of intelligence; building things, using tools, and forming societies are other signs of intelligence. When I watch Animal Planet I see many examples of intelligence on planet Earth: Monkeys and gorillas use sign language; dolphins and whales travel in groups and cooperate with each other; and wolves form packs to hunt and raise their young together. Animals don’t built skyscrapers or computers, but humans didn’t accomplish those mile markers for thousands of years.
I believe Kriegen was very intelligent. He trained his humans to take him places, keep him in a warm house, and feed him on demand. Why invent an automobile or build a house when humans can do it for you? Cats must be intelligent because humans serve them without always getting loyalty or affection as a reward.
The “wolves of Drako” exhibit another sign of intelligence. They preserve and learn from an ancestral history. Humans did the same thing, using an oral history for centuries, until they learned to write. The wolves on Drako don’t write their history. Wolves “host” the minds of their ancestors and get information as needed, like a living computer. The ancestors are better than a computer; they provide real-time counseling to living wolves from actual experience. Smart.
A telepathic society with a means of preserving their history by hosting minds should be considered a form of advanced intelligence. No wonder the wolves don’t believe humans are intelligent.
When we lost Kriegen (over a year ago) we grieved for the loss of our friend. Now he lives in our memories, photos, videos, and as an intelligent wolf on the planet Drako. He’s my hero. When I want to visit him I send my mind to Drako and we talk. Did he teach me to “host” him?

High Seas Mystery Writer

When my daughter, Laura got tired of working as a cruise ship purser, she submitted eleven proposal packets to publishers and got a contract. Since I love to write, Laura and I decided to write the book together. We scheduled three months for the research trip.

It sounded like a vacation, sipping cocktails on the veranda each evening after gathering details for the book. Wrong! We visited eleven islands and spent three days on each, running ourselves into the ground. Writing a factual guidebook became really hard work.

Don’t get me wrong; I loved the scent of exotic flowers, the sounds of string bands playing Christmas carols, and the feel of gentle ocean breezes on my sunburned skin (I am a redhead). I road a community taxi across St. Martin and tried to decipher the patois spoken by locals. My daughter and I floated over coral reefs filled with neon-colored tropical fish and felt "champagne bubbles" from hot springs in the ocean. We ate weird and wonderful cuisine. Unfortunately, we couldn't properly convey the ambiance of the islands in a factual guide book.

After the guidebook was published, Laura began writing a mystery novel set in the Caribbean. She hated writing fiction and gave the book idea to me.

Writing a mystery novel takes planning, especially when I wanted the heroine, Kayla, to visit real tourist attractions in the Caribbean. I invented a cruise ship company and a complex docking schedule. Kayla explores the islands while she tries to solve the murder of her philandering ex-boyfriend. She also falls in love again.

MURDER CARIBBEAN-STYLE is the first book in a High Seas Mystery series. It might be fun for cruise ship passengers to read this book while visiting the most popular islands that cruise ships visit. Take a voyage with Kayla and her friends and solve a mystery along the way.