Finding The Science in Science Fiction

This week, I’m going to pull out something I had written a few years ago. I just love science and science fiction and here are some of my thoughts which I’ve written down over the years.

Wow...this topic would be a nice thought for a science fiction book...but the truth of the matter is that we are due for some natural things to start happening to the earth. Being a Geologist, I've had to study the earth's past. And believe it or not, the earth is a violent place. There are things that haven't happened since man started recording time and when looking on the geologic record, it would appear that these things are pretty frequent. Because our lifespan is so small, we can’t really begin to see the big picture.

Basically, we are due for more earthquakes, more volcanic eruptions and those are just for starters. If those things happen, it does change the weather. Part of the reason the weather is changing right now is global warming and ocean currents. No matter what they say. We are a connected system. You can't have something happen somewhere else in the world without it impacting you. It's kinda like your body...if something happens to your toe...your brain knows it. The earth is just like our body, a closed system but we do have outside influences. We all know that there are things we can't help. The weather affects your skin...mine tends to be dry because I live in a dry climate...but put me in Ohio and my skin changes.

Some of the outside influences we earthlings have to look at are meteors, meteor showers, sun flares, going through solar storms and the like. Those are definitely things we can't do anything about. All the meteor movies had a grain of truth in them. There is currently a project that has mapped a fair portion of the sky looking for near earth objects. My problem with that is, so what if we find something heading for us. We might decide on a plan to try and destroy it if we can get every nation to agree on the way we would destroy it. At this point, no one has the authority to do anything to protect this earth. Weird, huh? But the bottom line is we're still stuck here on this rock and we've preserved nothing except what the explorers, should there be any, might find in a distant future should something fall out of the sky on us.

And don’t get even get me started on global warming. Yes, there are a lot of us. Yes, we’re doing damage to this planet with consequences that we can’t even begin to imagine. BUT the undeniable fact is that global warming has happened again and again in the past and is very well documented in the geologic record. At best, all we’ve done is to accelerate something that has happened before and will happen again. We aren’t even a necessary part of the equation for it to happen.

Two of my biggest pet peeves. Global warming and our lack of space travel. We want to preserve humankind, right? So why in the world are we stuck on this rock? We need to explore space. We need to get out there and go other places. Make those alliances of planets that movies like Stargate and StarTrek imply. While it might take its toll, the net worth to the species would be invaluable. And we need to do things to prevent our effect on the planet to become the death knell for mankind.

One of the things that I've been looking at recently is the decline in birth rates and the fertility problems that a lot of humans have. I'm beginning to wonder if that's not going to cause us to die out sometime in a distant future. I have lots of friends who have these problems and some have one child and many have no children. If we aren't replacing ourselves, then the population is declining.

There is just so much bad happening in the world without adding the natural things into the mix. But some days, I just start looking at the big picture and wonder. It’s my geologic nature I guess. There were only two things my professors ever said I did well. One was that I had this unnerving ability to see the big picture which in itself has it's drawbacks. The other was that I could do something most women found hard and that was to spatially see what a deformed crystal looked like when it was whole. Again, two things I found very weird.

Just by writing this, I can still see my love of science and all its permutations coming through. Geez...I should get back to writing science fiction...maybe someday.

I’m happy to report that I am again writing about science and science fiction. After all, it’s the one thing I am truly good at…LOL!

Until next week…

Lynn

A New Day

This week I had really wanted to continue with my sizzle workshop but time crept up on me and suddenly it was Wednesday. Most of the time I am aware of the days but this week I am still recovering from being ill and my mind is like a sieve in all areas but one.

I have one bit of exciting news to impart on everyone. A science fiction erotic romance series, which I had mislabeled as an urban fantasy for Nocturne Bites, has found a home with Loose Id. I signed the five book contract this week and sent all the paperwork back to them. One of the items I had promised was lots of promotion so I might as well start here.

This series called the Protectors of the Earth is about a group of people who were brought to this planet specifically to protect us from coming events. These people are elementals but the reason they are elemental is new and different. When I pitched the idea I said it was like X-men meets Stargate Atlantis. Actually, I said Underworld meets Stargate Atlantis but that’s when I thought it was Urban Fantasy. In reality, I think it is more like Battlestar Galactica meets X-men meets Stargate Atlantis as there are similar elements throughout. This series is dark and edgy with lots of action and elements that are out of this world.

Regardless of what I think it is, at the time when I was trying to define its nature, C.R. and I started a search on Urban Fantasy versus Science Fiction and everything in between. My characters are elemental, which is Urban Fantasy or even paranormal, but not because they have any special powers but because they were engineered that way to protect Earth. Just how they were engineered is revealed in the first part of book 1, Of Earth and Fire. And as we all know, anything engineered is strictly sci-fi, hence no Urban Fantasy. Sigh. I really thought I had something there. LOL!

Originally this was a series of seven books which were repackaged into just five. The first two books, Avenging Aingeal and Playing With Fyre, were combined into one book called Of Earth and Fire as were six out of the seven. I’m still working on the transitions because my original idea was to have a parallel story which takes place in the universe from where they come as the transition story. A much wiser person than me told me no as it needed to be in the final book as that one would be filled with stories about how they actually got here and why.

If you think this sounds confusing to you, imagine how it was to first put together. This, like all my big series, had a lot of time and effort put into it just for the planning. So far, I’ve spent 2 months planning and another 5 months writing off and on the stories in order. This is another first for me. I usually do what the characters dictate but this time, the plot is dictating a lot of what I’m doing. Everything has to be smooth and keep you as the reader on the edge of your seat. Which means I have to write them in order as they come no matter what.

I hope you all will be interested in reading these stores. Sci-fi and fantasy are my first loves and most of my writer friends will say this is where I excel. The moment I have the contracts in my hands, I will be start to follow my progress on the blog, http://www.lc-protectorsoftheearth.blogspot.com/ and you should all go to check it out now. It has some cool graphics on it by Vexiphne who I found accidentally on Renderosity. Grab the button if you want and put it where others can see. The blog design is by Vanessa from Paperback Designs and she incorporated everything I needed and wanted.

For now, I hope that you will read the character sketches and interviews as well as excerpts from the coming series.

Until next week…

Lynn