T.R. Locke
I actually wrote a blog about why I wrote Lunar Options and where the idea for the story came from. You can read it below in my blog. It's titled "Origins of a Techno-Thriller."
In addition to a seeing government corruption and negative intervention in the world throughout my life, the specific idea for this story came to me on a Thurday, 17 years ago, while I was driving into work in Chicago. I was listening to Public Radio--Science Thursday show. I don't know if they still do that show. They mentioned in that show that the the Moon does not rotate, which I didn't know at the time. They said that the same side of the Moon always faces the earth and that we do not clearly know what goes on on the other side. The concept of the "dark side" of the Moon intrigued me. What all could be going on there?
Additionally, they mentioned that there was evidence for water on the Moon. And they speculated about how it may have gotten there--the origin of the Moon. I began to think of the Moon as being a part of Earth. I imagined what the Earth looks like without water--that the entire Pacific Rim is volcanic. I postulated that a meteor may have struck the earth and tore part of out it and that that part is the Moon. Therefore, it has every resource that Earth has--including water. From there, I thought about man and corporations wanting to get their hands on those resources. The most abundant resource on the Moon that cannot be found on the Earth is Helium 3. Helium 3 is fussionable--like the sun. It is believed that it may solve all of Earth's energy needs in the near future. Plus it can be transported economically--unlike oil, for instance.
Later, I saw a show that reported on plants tubes that live in the bottom of the ocean even though there is no sunlight. They get life from the heat of lava tubes. Plants generate oxygen. So, from there I came up with the idea that there could be underground caves, rivers, etc. on the moon and that such plants could produce oxygen for people to live there.
How to make that world believable was the struggle. Lunar Options has a flaw--it was originally intended to be the last film of a three film series. I originally wrote it prior to 9/11 as a screenplay. I wanted to tell a story backwards--the third, the second, finally, the first. It was looked at in Hollywood, but after 9/11 was considered unproducable because it cut too close to home. My attorney at the time, told me to put it away for no less than 10 years. I put it away for 16. The idea was that I would tell a story so wild that people would beg to see how it was possible, what had caused it to happen. But in doing so, I put all the science of the three stories together at once. I believe now it would have been better to start at the beginning with Laz and his parents (MTULTRA--or Mind Thieves) being started. That story introduces one layer of the tech behind the story--How Laz does what he does, where he got his abilities and how he was created and used by the government. The second story, Banyo, tells about the origin of Rockland Corporation and it's exploits around the world--it's tech and abuse of power, the discovery of Helium 3 and the plan to get it first and corner the world market. That story would set up the Moon and how it got developed. Then Lunar Options. Alas, I was determined to do it the original way. I will, however, do Book 1 next, then 2, then 4.
In addition to a seeing government corruption and negative intervention in the world throughout my life, the specific idea for this story came to me on a Thurday, 17 years ago, while I was driving into work in Chicago. I was listening to Public Radio--Science Thursday show. I don't know if they still do that show. They mentioned in that show that the the Moon does not rotate, which I didn't know at the time. They said that the same side of the Moon always faces the earth and that we do not clearly know what goes on on the other side. The concept of the "dark side" of the Moon intrigued me. What all could be going on there?
Additionally, they mentioned that there was evidence for water on the Moon. And they speculated about how it may have gotten there--the origin of the Moon. I began to think of the Moon as being a part of Earth. I imagined what the Earth looks like without water--that the entire Pacific Rim is volcanic. I postulated that a meteor may have struck the earth and tore part of out it and that that part is the Moon. Therefore, it has every resource that Earth has--including water. From there, I thought about man and corporations wanting to get their hands on those resources. The most abundant resource on the Moon that cannot be found on the Earth is Helium 3. Helium 3 is fussionable--like the sun. It is believed that it may solve all of Earth's energy needs in the near future. Plus it can be transported economically--unlike oil, for instance.
Later, I saw a show that reported on plants tubes that live in the bottom of the ocean even though there is no sunlight. They get life from the heat of lava tubes. Plants generate oxygen. So, from there I came up with the idea that there could be underground caves, rivers, etc. on the moon and that such plants could produce oxygen for people to live there.
How to make that world believable was the struggle. Lunar Options has a flaw--it was originally intended to be the last film of a three film series. I originally wrote it prior to 9/11 as a screenplay. I wanted to tell a story backwards--the third, the second, finally, the first. It was looked at in Hollywood, but after 9/11 was considered unproducable because it cut too close to home. My attorney at the time, told me to put it away for no less than 10 years. I put it away for 16. The idea was that I would tell a story so wild that people would beg to see how it was possible, what had caused it to happen. But in doing so, I put all the science of the three stories together at once. I believe now it would have been better to start at the beginning with Laz and his parents (MTULTRA--or Mind Thieves) being started. That story introduces one layer of the tech behind the story--How Laz does what he does, where he got his abilities and how he was created and used by the government. The second story, Banyo, tells about the origin of Rockland Corporation and it's exploits around the world--it's tech and abuse of power, the discovery of Helium 3 and the plan to get it first and corner the world market. That story would set up the Moon and how it got developed. Then Lunar Options. Alas, I was determined to do it the original way. I will, however, do Book 1 next, then 2, then 4.
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