Aliens or Angels

How We Really See Ourselves Through Alien “Eyes”

            There “ain’t” no such thing as a real alien! Well, there isn’t in the world of science fiction, although oddly enough, there might be such a thing in fact. Somewhere in the universe, there may be creatures that are truly alien, at least to us. They may not think at all the way we think, have any of our emotions, or motivations. They may be that to which we can never relate or could even recognize as being intelligent beings, so being always and forever unknowable by us.

            You see, the common definition of an alien includes “…differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility.” Incompatibility—the kind of alien who comes from “out there,” the “undiscovered country,” and not just some foreign country.

      As writers, we really can’t create one, a true alien, I mean. We may get close at times, but to imagine something that is completely alien may be impossible for humans to do. That’s because we see the world through our own senses and the filters of our own experiences. We always, somehow, someway, base aliens on something we already know. Does your creature have tentacles? Well, so do squids. Does it have wings? So do birds. Is your alien a vicious horrible creature jabbering at you? Big deal, so are some of our politicians! Whether your alien swims, crawls, oozes, floats, gallops, flies, resonates, or sings, it is always something the writer is somehow familiar with to some degree.

            Some writers try to get around this “truly alien” problem by creating what I like to call “lumps.” Lumps come in all shapes and sizes, including actual lumps (blobs?), cubes, spheres, crystals, or whatever; it just sits there like a “lump” doing something unknowable. For the reader, that is just boring! So to avoid that, we usually assign even the most horrible, evil, fang-toothed aliens some kind of recognizable character traits. Even monsters have to earn their keep. They can’t just sit there and be totally non-reactive. At the very least, they have to be cute, deceptive, dangerous, or hungry! Otherwise, one might as well write about a stone, which by the way, we’ve done, too. Writers have come up with slow-thinking crystals, arrangements of atoms in thinking matrices, intelligent rocks, and emotional monoliths; you name it -- we’ve done it. But, even those stones and spires of rock have to have some recognizable traits for us. Otherwise, there is no story.

            Well then, if we can’t really imagine them in their entirety, then why do we even bother making up aliens? Well, the answer to that is simple; we wish to see ourselves in other and new ways. We use aliens to find enlightenment about ourselves. How do we react under fear or stress? Use monsters attacking to find out that answer. How do we respond in a new and strange situation, one that calls into question our basic belief systems? Have enigmatic aliens on strange worlds test us.

            You see? It is as if we are holding up a mirror (smoke and mirrors?) in which to examine ourselves. To put it succinctly (I know, too late!), aliens are a lot like funhouse mirrors. They reflect our motivations and us in different ways. So whether we write about aliens or angels, we are really writing about ourselves. To paraphrase, “we have met the aliens and they are us.”

            Even if your creatures are just really humans in weird disguises, they are still important. They are the “agent provocateurs,” that is, the things that make our characters act and react, and allow the author to give some insight into the human condition, whether through us dealing with these monsters, or through their interactions with us.

            There are some basic dos and don’ts in this regard.

            First, design your aliens to be realistic. Obey the laws of whatever universe in which your story unfolds. Don’t have them violating the laws of physics unless you give us a believable way they can go about doing it. If they weigh three hundred pounds, but can fly on our world, explain how this is possible. (Right, they use airplanes!) And whatever powers or attributes you give them, don’t change them in midstream without a darn good reason. This is old advice, but important.

            Believability is paramount! Recently, I read a short story where a diplomat had great difficulty in understanding some aliens (they sang their language), and he inadvertently kept offending them (the diplomat must sing like William Hung!). They were, seemingly, incapable of communicating fully with humans or vice versa. But (and this is one heck of a big but!), these creatures had their own alien psychologist. It explained (regularly) to the humans the nature of the problems and smoothed over the diplomat’s transgressions with its fellow aliens.

            QUESTION: If the alien psychologist can talk to and understand humans, why can’t his fellow aliens learn to do the same thing? At the very least, why can’t the alien psychologist act as interpreter and permanent liaison for both sides? Weirdly, although this is a glaring inconsistency, a major Sci-Fi magazine still published it. This only goes to show that even editors make mistakes. (Did I say that aloud?) Seriously, what it shows is that somehow, we have to understand our aliens (ourselves?) to some degree or there is no story. The author used an “alien psychiatrist” to do this. To see ourselves; these lines from a poem by Robert Burns say it all:

            “O wad some Power the giftie gie us,

            To see ourselves as ithers see us!”

            As science fiction writers, we use aliens as the “ithers” to give us the gift of seeing ourselves. Even then, back in 1786 C.E., Robert Burns, seeing a louse on the hat of a woman in church, wrote those lines. The louse, a parasite, was his “alien” of the day. And we all remember the movie, Alien, with its parasite, don’t we? Some things never change. Interesting, isn’t it?

END

Science Fiction As Message

Science Fiction As Message

A Tool for Political, Social, and Religious Commentary

"Oh brave new world, that has such people in it”

… William Shakespeare, The Tempest.

John, a prominent character in Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, quotes the above line. Huxley, of course, stole it from Shakespeare. Don’t writers just love to steal from each other? Ray Bradbury once told me that it’s the best way to become a writer. Steal from others, but not as a plagiarist, instead as a means to acquire new ideas and concepts, then to transform them, and thus transmute it into your own work.

In any case, Huxley used Shakespeare’s quotation because his character, John, felt he was embarking on just such an adventure, one to a brave, new, and marvelous world, and one that sounded ideal, even utopian to him. What did he find when he actually reached that marvelous future London? Nothing good! This makes the irony of that quote even more compelling. It also illustrates how one’s expectations can exceed reality by a wide margin, a point driven home with gritty determination by Aldous Huxley in his novel.

That future world, as painted by Huxley, was one of high technology. To paraphrase, it was a joyful place, but one which knew no real joy or love. Conditioned from birth, and manipulated physically and emotionally to feel happy, its people lived in a dismal unfeeling society, one that was immensely rigid in structure.

The inhabitants were not much more than unwitting automatons culturally imbued with the need to perform certain types of tasks, and those tasks only. When reality intruded too much, the authorities freely and widely distributed the drug, soma. It was a euphoric narcotic.

Of course, too much soma brought on physical collapse and an early death, but that wasn’t a problem. They just brought the children into the death wards so they could see that dying was no big deal (whether or not it really was). Why change the circumstances when you can just change people’s innate reactions to them? So much simpler -- the perfect answer to everything.

Charming vision of the future, isn’t it? But that’s what science fiction writers do. We paint landscapes of tomorrow and then we people them with characters, plots, and events. And let’s be honest here; we don’t do it just to entertain. Aldous Huxley didn’t. You see, he wrote Brave New World in 1932. It was a time of intense social change, economic upheaval, and the rise of fascism and communism just across the English Channel in Europe. Frightened for the future of humanity, he created a novel to illustrate the dangers, to point out the wrong paths that societies must take care not to follow.

Later, George Orwell did the same thing with his book, Animal Farm, and again with his appallingly chilling novel, 1984. Oh, and if you are prone to think that these are just silly, out-of-date novels, and no longer relevant; don’t! They keep printing new editions and make them into movies, and not just once, but repeatedly, because they do have lasting value.

Warnings usually do. And they bear repeating. One such example of this, as recently as last season on the Sci-Fi Channel, was yet another version of Brave New World. (It wasn’t the best version I’ve ever seen, by the way.) So even today, many people feel such novels must have value. What they say is still important and needs hearing.

As writers, we all do this to some greater or lesser degree, don’t we? That is, we describe our personal visions of possible futures? Moreover, we put in much of what we personally feel about politics, current social conditions, and religions. In other words, we have our say about things, comment on the state of affairs, and certain trends. We raise warning flags about the future. We try to offer opinions, cautions, and guidance. In short, we try to influence the way events will turn out.

Can anyone doubt, for instance, what Arthur C. Clarke of 2001, A Space Odyssey fame, thought about religion? I’ll bet you anything he was an atheist, or at the very least, an agnostic. His novels ring with such opinions, and they are negative ones where religions are concerned. It’s clear he didn’t think that religious beliefs are so much the “opiate of the masses,” as Karl Marx stated, but instead he thought of them as superstitious holdovers from primitive times. For him, such beliefs were just drawbacks, or obstacles to our continued progress. At least, that seems to have been his view.

If you need more proof of writers stating their political and social views, just pick up some old issues of Analog. There was one story there about hippies taking over the world and the intelligent people (e.g., scientists, engineers, pilots) fleeing to the moon, struggling to get there against great odds. The young hippies didn’t want them to go, you see, and they controlled access. They went to extreme lengths to stop the brain drain. Does that tell you what the author thought of hippies at the time, and where such “bizarre” behavior might lead if allowed to continue its course unchecked? I think so! And Analog is full of such types of stories, year after year. Warnings all, and warnings raised by authors about everything one can imagine, from religion to cloning, abortion to racism -- you name it -- it’s all there.

Okay, okay, so the secret is out. We all do it, big names, as well as small-fry writers. So how can we do it without coming across like political pundits and/or table-pounding extremists?

Well, there is that old writing adage, “show, don’t tell.” It particularly applies here. Instead of having a character on a soapbox spouting your viewpoints in your future landscape, paint your feelings in with specific events that illustrate your points. Your descriptions will set the tone, as well. That’s extremely important.

     Atmosphere, mood “shows” the reader what you feel about your future world without some character having to “tell” them. Here’s a good example of this from the opening paragraph of Brave New World:

“A SQUAT grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.”

You see? The first two lines of his book set the tone, thus the mood, in clear and concise terms. It immediately tells the reader what is most important in that world. That is, community, identity, stability. These ideals then, are paramount in Huxley’s vision, over self-expression, freedom, charity, true love, and hosts of other things that we feel are so necessary in our lives today. And don’t forget that word “CONDITIONING.” It immediately lets the reader know something unsavory is happening. Do notice he capitalizes entire words. It makes them leap out at the reader, and screams “significant point here!”

George Orwell’s, 1984, is even more grim and gray. It is a world that, frankly, I would rather die than live in, with its Stalin-like leaders, miserable living conditions, endless wars, thought-police, and all the rest. It is a true dystopia. But there is no mistaking the somber mood. It endures, virtually nonstop, throughout the entire work. And that mood tells you precisely how the author feels about such a reality.

Anyway, once you have set the mood, maintain it throughout your story, or as long as needed to get the point across. Make events in your plot actively illustrate whatever kind of future you feel it is to be.

Are thought-police sensing your characters’ dread secrets in an “Orwellian” future? Is Captain Kirk trying to preserve a peace-loving Federation against a grasping “evil empire?” And don’t forget the dark dripping world of Blade Runner, with its dire warnings on multiple subjects.

Environmental degradation aside, though, I think the point of that novel was to question the definition of what it is that makes us human. Furthermore, it asks under what circumstances that definition may become confused or lost. Again, which opinions one stresses in a story are all entirely up to the individual writer.

One final, but important point, and I can’t stress this enough; writers have tremendous power over their readership. It is far more subtle than people realize. Psychological experiments and studies have shown that people who are very against something, and who then read information about the opposite viewpoint from their own, will immediately reject it out of hand. At first!

As time goes by, it is also an established point that those same people will start quoting facts and statements from the very thing that they themselves initially and utterly rejected. Time, apparently, distances people from the disagreeable source of facts and ideas; their minds then make it okay to use and even accept some of them. They then incorporate them into their opinions and worldview. Conditioning, anyone?

So as writers, our statements on all sorts of issues have immense power to sway people, if not right away, then in the near future. And that’s the whole point, isn’t it, to do just that? But be careful with such power. As the Master said in the television series, Kung Fu, “use it wisely, little grasshopper!” For science fiction writers, it just may be that truer words were never spoken!

THE CROSSROADS GHOST NOMINATED FOR BEST PNR GHOST 2011

This is so cool! My novella, The Crossroads Ghost, has been nominated for BEST GHOST PNR 2011. I'm doing a happy dance!

Selling Yourself As An Author

Selling Yourself As An Author

     Written a truly great story? And now you just bet you're going to be the next J.K. Rowling, because it's such an awesome tale? You're just positive every editor you send it to will have to love it, because how could they possibly not? Right? So, amidst them all wrangling over which one gets the wonderful privilege of publishing your literary masterpiece, you suddenly discover, TA-DA! YOU'VE ARRIVED! Right again?

     Well, probably not, that is, most likely, this will not be the case. You see, it just "ain't" that easy to become known as a truly great author. By "great author," I mean here the kind of author whose last name is "Creighton," "King," "Rice," "Rowling," or some such other fabled name. Heck, for that matter, I'm even talking about achieving mid- to low-level author status. None of it is easy to attain, not easy at all!

     Why is this? Well, I'm sure we've all heard the trite phrase "having to pay one's dues." We all know what it means, that we as "artists have to suffer," blah, blah, yada, yada — and all that cliché stuff. How tiresome to hear it again. What a bummer! And the mental image this "suffering" thingy usually evokes isn't really so bad, is it? I mean, just picture the ancient, but rather romantic idea of living on the Left Bank in Paris. Imagine little "you" starving in some rundown garret, freezing cold, and having to use some old typewriter (with one bad key, of course) to knock out in a mere three months' time THE NEXT GREAT NOVEL! But wonder of wonders, you did!

Hey, it happened sort of that way for J.K. Rowling didn't it, so it could happen for you, too? Well, not exactly. First, there are conflicting stories of how Ms. Rowling wrote her first Harry Potter book and under what conditions, but the circumstances definitely weren't that romantic, or nearly so quick. Ah, well… it makes for a good literary legend. And although legends help us get through our lives, they are not the stuff of life. Reality is the "real" stuff of life, I'm afraid.

So, wake up my little muffins! Smell the bitter coffee. Because, "it's a jungle out there," as "they" like to say. Seriously, all joking and kidding aside, it really is a jungle or worse and that is what you as an author must face in order to make it "big" or otherwise, if at all.

It's no longer enough just to write a great story. Those days for authors are long over. Writing a marvellous tale, then sitting back, and leaving it to editors/publishers to sell your work for you is now history. I've said this before, but it still bears repeating. Now you aren't just a writer anymore, you have to be a salesman as well, and a darn good one. More, you have to be a publicist, a personal assistant, a secretary, an editor, a proof reader, and whatever else it takes to break into the writing-world-as-we-now-know-it.

Why is it so tough? Well, there are thousands and thousands of would-be authors out there, just like you! With e-submissions now common, anyone, anywhere in the world that wants to submit something can, and they do! That means slush piles are huge and growing all the time. Editors wade through mountains of the stuff and often will only read a paragraph or two before tossing a story or novel to one side and moving onto the next. Then there is the cost-of-doing-business factor. The expenses of producing books in hard print rise steadily even as the market for such novels steadily drops. That's so not good! It doesn't look pretty for publishing as a whole and certainly not for you as an aspiring author.

E-publishing is helping — it is slowly growing on an annual basis and that's good news for authors, but there are problems with that as well. Many editors won't proofread your work anymore. If they accept it, they leave it up to you to do almost all the editing and proofing of it. They don't have the time. And worse, much less is often charged for people to read your work in an e-book format and this means, of course, less in the way of royalties for you — often much less. E-publishers mostly don't pay advance fees to authors.

And there are so many e-publishing houses coming and going these days that for a would-be author it's a minefield as to which one they should submit a story or novel to. "Mom and Pop" e-publishers fail on a regular basis. So, pick the wrong e-publisher and you can lose the rights to your novel in bankruptcy proceedings, because it is often considered an "asset" of the publisher's. At the very least, your story may be tied up for months, perhaps even years, before you get the rights to it back again.

Another problem in this area is that some e-publishers will publish almost anything. It doesn't cost much for them to do it, and if even a few such novels are sold it is extra money in their pocket. They "pad" their literary stable this way, as it were. This is just business, it's nothing personal. But this also means there are tons of badly written books and/or stories out there. Readers now must swim through a deluge of such books to find good ones, ones they will like. It makes it that much harder for a good book to stand out in such a crowded field.

So, you say hard print then is the answer for you? Well, as I've already mentioned, hardcover readership is declining, and has been for years. This is a long-term trend, my little cookies. It is going to continue for some time to come, I fear. That's reality again.

So, here you are, an authorial voice crying in a vast wilderness of writers, unheard, unloved, and so unpaid. What can you do about it? Well, here is an approach that seems to work.

1. First, practice your art of writing. Make sure you truly have written something worthwhile. Then,

2. Research the publishers who might publish your work. Just because they publish science fiction, doesn't mean they publish your style of science fiction. Some prefer dark; some prefer technical/hard SF, etc. So dig into it. Make sure you are targeting the right publishers with your work. That's a must. If they want a query letter, look up on the internet how to write a good one. It's amazing how such things can work and work well. The movie "Alien" is said to have been sold as "Jaws in space." The original "Star Trek" series was said to have been promoted to television executives as "Wagon Train in space." (It seems westerns were big at the time, I guess.) If this is true, then your query letter should incorporate this sort of thing. You must sell your work to the editor/publisher. See? Already you're a salesman as well as a writer.

3. It doesn't stop there, as I've already said. Now the real job begins. You may have sold your work to an editor, but now you have to pitch in and help sell it to the readers. You must market your work. Did you know many editors will "Google" you to find out what you've done? It isn't enough to send them your resume; they want to know more, as in how big a name you really are, what your track record is. Lots of links to you often seems to equal lots of popularity in an editor's eyes. At the very least, they want to see how and if you are promoting your own work.

4. You must market yourself as well as your work. Editors Google to see if you are marketing yourself, as well. There are many ways of going about this. Firstly, it is imperative you have your own webpage. That's another absolute must nowadays. You can also attend conventions; hand out personalized bookmarks, flyers, etc., all promoting yourself. Do book signings. Even buying books and selling them to bookshops yourself is something many authors now do. Reviews of your novel/story help. The more and the better they are, the better for you. They generate more links for you if online. So, you may want to send out or inquire of many reviewers and review sites on the internet if they will review your work. Some authors have their book covers designed and paid for by themselves. This is to control the first thing the reader sees, the cover. (You'd be surprised how important that can be.)

Having interviews done is another good way to go. Getting yourself on podcasts is another. Some writers do lectures at schools, libraries, anywhere they can. Some charge for this. Others do it for free. There are many ways to market yourself. Some ways will work better than others will for you.

I'm into book trailers now. It creates multiple links to my name on the internet, and more importantly, to my work. It does this quickly and very cheaply, exposes my writing and me to many possible readers. Give it a shot. For me, conventions are fun, but I don't think they are truly very helpful, unless they are the bigger ones. However, being on panels helps. Other members of panels are usually other authors and — yes — editors and publishers! It doesn't hurt to network with them.

5. Announce yourself. Let everyone know you are an author! Sign all your letters, emails, etc. with your name as being an author. Include your website address, email address, blogs, and/or book trailer sites, as well. Get it in there. You can even add short blurbs about a new novel or story being published. And do blogs! Get your face and name out there. Do book reviews if you want. You'll learn quickly this way what makes for a popular and good book versus a bad one, believe me! Do a newsletter, online or off, they help to announce who you are, what you are doing, what is available from you, etc.

See what I mean? You are no longer just a writer. You have to be a publicist, your own personal assistant, you name it — you have to be it. Editors not only expect this these days, many demand it. They see you as a partner in the business of publishing their/your work. So you had better decide right now you are going to be that partner. And, although you may not romantically starve in a Parisian garret while writing a marvellous tome, you will work your tail off, I'm telling you!

Is it a tough world out there for authors? Oh, yeah! The publishing world has chewed up many a promising author and spit them out, and often over trivial things. SO, PROCEED INTO THE PUBLISHING WORLD WITH CAUTION! It's a dangerous place for newbies, and even oldbies.

However, if you do most of what I'm advising here, and if your stories are actually good ones, you'll start to rise in the publishing world. When I first started, I wrote for the lowest paying magazines, anyone actually, that was kind and generous enough to publish me. That got my name out there. Now, I'm getting published in so-called "pro" markets, but it is the low paying markets I owe my sincere thanks to. They are the ones that were willing to take a chance on me. And remember, just because they were low paying doesn't mean they had less to lose. Being smaller publishers, for them, that "low pay" was still a lot of money to come up with, proportionately-speaking.

Am I at the top or even near the top of my profession? I WISH! But I'm climbing steadily, making headway each month and each year. You can, too. My work is being sold more often and for more money each month. You can have that, too. Be positive! Be persistent and persevering, and above all, work at it! Get off your butt and take an active role in marketing your own work and yourself.

It's not just "publish or perish" anymore. Now it's publish and promote or perish. You can do it, my little minions. I have faith in you. I want to see you all climbing up that ladder behind me (I'll ignore those higher than me on it for now), but remember, if you get too close to me — I kick! Hey, it's an author-eat-author world out there. Yum! Yum! Seriously though, stick to it, and you'll get there. That's a promise. Now, if I can just watch out for those above me on the literary ladder trying to kick me off! Ah well… Hey, you! Yeah, you up there! Get out of my way, because I'm coming up through!

Cars Of The Future--An Important SF Element?

Cars of the Future

            We're in interstellar space.  We want music from Earth.  This far out, those tunes are going to be old because of their light-speed delay in reaching us.  But we're desperate! 

            [RADIO ON]

            ♫"I was widing in muh cahr, I was wistening to my wadio…."♫ [SWITCH STATION]

            ♪"Baby you can drive my car…."♫ [SWITCH STATION]

            ♪"Come away with me Lucille, in my merry Oldsmobile, down the road of life we'll fly, automobubbling you and I…."♪

            [TURN OFF THAT RADIO!]

            After that last one, I think maybe we're a little too far out in space! 

            Badly remembered lyrics aside, I think the point is made.  Cars have been and still are a pervasive part of our culture.  They have radically altered our lives.  This is so true that I won't even bother to belabor the point (well, maybe a little). 

            From work, to play, to travel, to lovemaking – you name it – cars affect it.  But what about tomorrow?  For cars, where does the road ahead lead (yes, pun intended – again!)

            Well, there are three main probabilities:

            1.         Cars will continue to hang around by the millions;

            2.         Cars will become rare or even extinct; and/or

            3.         Cars will evolve, changing form and function.

            Which of these scenarios is correct?  The answer is, probably all three.  You see, despite all the countries signing onto the Kyoto Accords in an effort to slow the Greenhouse Effect, many of those same countries make millions of cars (Kyoto = Japan = Honda, Toyota, etc.).  

            So, with regard to our first two points, to put it succinctly, cars are not going the way of the Dodo Bird any time soon.  Besides, "they" tried getting rid of cars in the 1970's.  But even after the great gas shortages, people were still not willing to switch to mass transport.  Try riding the bus to work sometime and you'll know why! 

            With reference to our second point, if cars are to survive as the dominant species on this planet, they will have to undergo major changes.  Some will become extinct.

            This takes us to our third point that cars will evolve, changing in form, motors, fuels, and functions (not to mention colors).  This is nothing new.  None of us remembers directly, but once there was a real race between steam driven and gasoline engines as to which made the better vehicle.  Steam, unbelievably, almost won out!  So having gasoline driven cars, as it turns out, was a very near thing.  Nevertheless, it won't always be so.   

            Hydrogen power is coming.  Electric cars (battery operated and/or hydrogen or gasoline hybrids) are also out there.  Honda and Toyota have their hybrids available now, as does Ford.  General Motors, along with other manufacturers, have their own prototypes.  Alcohol based fuels, such as methanol and ethanol are also in the running.  Personally, I don't see these last two as a long-term solution, but who knows?

            The real problem, as science fiction writers are aware, is energy.  Find a cheap, clean, abundant energy source and we will always have cars.  Whether the power comes from "rectennae" platforms in space beaming microwaves down to us, hydrogen from our waters, or tiny fusion plants (see the movie, Back to the Future), or just sucking the stuff out of vacuum, plentiful energy is what's needed.  So as a writer, come up with something!  Perhaps, even a dark-energy powered anti-gravity car.

            How automobiles will look is more set in concrete.  Whether flying, amphibious, standard road hogs, or even suborbital, cars will be restricted in their outer designs by the laws of aerodynamics.  Lumpy cars don't do well at high speeds.  They are not efficient or stable.  Hood ornaments are a good example.  Once a must for every make of car, they've either shrunk in size, become mere emblems, or disappeared entirely. 

            Speed is of the essence, and speed means streamlining.  So as a writer, and unless you have some good reason, keep the outer design of your cars streamlined.  Minor cosmetic changes are allowed.   

            Interiors of cars have always been altering.  Cars are becoming intelligent.  On-board navigational instruments, sound systems, diagnostics, safety features, the ability to park themselves, to brake themselves in emergencies, and warn you when you are nodding off, night-vision capabilities, along with a host of other devices are being jammed into cars.  Throw in seat belts, head rests, airbags, etc., and the changes are massive. Look for this trend to continue. 

            On other planets, such as Mars, cars probably will be self-contained and double as small habitats.  Keeping people alive under extreme environmental conditions and traveling safe at low speeds will count as much as surviving high-speed collisions on earthly highways.  

            And if we have the Greenhouse Effect?  Automobiles might become amphibious due to rising sea levels.  They might become sled-like in the event of another ice age because of the so-called Cascade Effect.  ("Honey, you can't get there from here, there's a glacier in the way.  I told you to ask the G.P.S. for directions!")

            The very definition of what we call a car might change.  If we have near-earth habitats, then small vehicles traveling between them might become the new car.  ("Only 1,000K to Habitat L-Five, Fly Slow – Stay Alive!")

            Cheap power, environmental impact, money, and human needs will shape the automobile's future.  These factors will determine if such vehicles are giant land yachts belching lethal fumes, or stripped-down silver arrows that leap between continents. 

            As a writer, do remember humanity's love affair with the automobile.  It would take a lot to wean us from cars.  After all, life is not just a matter of what is expedient, but also of what people want.  Don't forget science and necessity.  Together, they are the parents of invention. 

            So, barring some future catastrophe (like the return of the Ford Edsel), cars are probably here to stay.  Oh, their finishes, of course, will vary with whatever new paints, plastics, or coatings come our way.  Nanites may give us cars that change colors or textures at a moment's notice.  In the future, mirror finishes, the invisible look, radiation-reflecting surfaces, even copies of famous paintings may go zooming by us on the freeway.  And if your cellular phone should fail, cars might even be able to send messages between drivers.  Could I ever use that on the freeway!  Well, then again, considering what I might have to say to that guy that just cut me off...maybe not.

END

WRITING HARD SCIENCE FICTION

Writing Hard Science Fiction

I have to be careful with this subject, because the title makes for some great puns. However, being a veritable model of self-restraint I can control myself – to a point. However, I make no “hard” promises.

Seriously, hard science fiction as opposed to the softer varieties is not easy. In all likelihood, it’s the most difficult form of science fiction to create. What’s that you say -- what about other genres, such as slipstream or fantasy? Well, writing anything well is difficult. That’s a given, but hard science fiction is undoubtedly near the top of the hard-to-do-right list.

To understand our subject better, let’s back up a little. William Wilson in his 1851 A Little Earnest Book upon a Great Old Subject first used the term “science fiction.” This seems the only passing reference to it that long ago and it wasn’t until the 1920’s, and Amazing Stories that they used the term in a more common way. According to Mr. Williams, science fiction was the “revealing of scientific truths” intermeshed with a pleasing story. I suppose that was to make those truths more palatable -- nothing like a little sugar coating!

So back then, science fiction covered just about anything. Fantasy and horror were not separate genres, but lumped in (mostly) with science fiction. However, as the sci-fi field grew, different genres began to precipitate. Horror and fantasy, apparently taking literary affront with each other, were the first to sever their relationships and go their separate ways. “Soft” science fiction; so-called because it leaned heavily toward the humanities/social sciences then diverged from those stories that relied on “hard” subjects such as physics, astronomy, chemistry, and other quantitative sciences. Eureka! The hard science fiction genre was born (sort of).

Sadly, the divergences haven’t stopped there. Like the one-time historical Great Schism of the Catholic Church, there are now strict adherents of hard sci-fi, while others have a more liberal view. For example, there are those readers and writers who don’t want stories with faster-than-light drives, because according to current scientific thinking, they’re impossible. These hard sci-fi devotees want stories detailed, meticulous, and kept in strict orthodoxy with the “truths” of science, natural, and otherwise, as known today (meaning right now).

In the liberal camp, are those that want their stories more character driven. They don’t mind playing a little fast and loose with science, if necessary, in order to do it. If an FTL drive is required (despite no current scientific evidence to support such a thing), then that’s okay. For them, it is the human condition that is paramount, and not the science. Of course, they still place much emphasis on being in accordance with modern scientific thinking, but in the final analysis, it is the story that comes first.

Hard sci-fi, without such fudging, demands a thorough knowledge of all the technical aspects required for a particular plot. Moreover, there are other problems. Because authors must adhere so thoroughly to such technical aspects, often characters can’t do what writers would like them to do. In other words, if you have a faster-than-light space jockey in your novel, get rid of him!

Although you don’t have to be a scientist to write hard sci-fi, it does help. At the very least, a good general grounding, and in-depth research, as well as fact checking are important factors. Failure to get it right will mean a host of readers writing in, maliciously pointing out your mistakes. Don’t believe me? Try reading the “Letters to the Editor” page of Analog sometime. So getting it right in hard sci-fi is a must! If you gain a reputation for poor science in your stories, your career may come to an abrupt end or never really begin.

However, although not easy to write, when done well, accurate science fiction can be a true delight. I’m an avid reader of Analog for that reason. And where do I fall in this hard science fiction versus soft controversy? Am I a techno-fascist and a detail freak, demanding accuracy, or do I allow unsupported “science” in my stories? The biased way I couched these questions should hint at that answer.

Actually, truth be known, I’m a bit of a fence sitter. I like my science fiction hard, but my characters soft. By that, I mean my characters and plot are most important in my stories, but the science does constitute a very close second. I want my works to be as realistic as possible by today’s understanding of the universe.

However, since the jury still seems to be out on much of what the true nature of that understanding is, exactly, I don’t limit myself as some extreme adherents of hard sci-fi like to do. After all, it wasn’t so long ago (turn of the 19th Century), that physicists thought they had about answered it all, and then along came Einstein and others screwing it up. Whoops! Now again, we have some scientists saying we may be on the verge of comprehending it all.

Well, maybe that’s so or maybe not. The universe has a way of repeatedly challenging humanity’s hubris. For example, as recently as a year ago, the scientific community (largely) flatly believed that time travel was possible. Now, Ronald Mallett, who is a theoretical physicist at the Connecticut University, may have developed a practical method to make a time machine, and other scientists are actually helping him to build it. It would be limited to receiving subatomic particles from the future, but that could mean messages! Amazing, isn’t it?

So when I write, I try to use hard science as much as possible, but also if necessary, a certain well based, or at least (I hope), well-projected theory (fudge factor?) to aid my story’s development. I mean, my characters are using faster-than-light, because they ain’t going to take generations to get to them thar stars! My plots aren’t that slow! Well, some editors have hinted otherwise about that, but….

What's New In Rob's World

Well everyone, events are moving fast for me of late! I'm gettin' behind in my writing it's been so busy.

First, early this year I had a contract signed for a new novel of mine, a Regency Romance no less, Veracity in Truth. What's more, Awe-Struck Ebooks asked for a sequel, this one, Faith and Fallibility . And, I have also had a request for a science fiction novel from another publisher, and also another novel as well as -- you guessed it -- a Regency Romance. I don't know why they're so darn popular right now, but they are

Although I love to write in general, science fiction and literary are my favorite ways to go.

In any case, besides these piece of good news, I have a long short story, Avenger Of The People, coming out with Aberrant Dreams Magazine's first hard cover anthology this August, a short story, Serpent Caravan, accepted by Dark Wisdom Magazine, and another, Soap Bubbles, in the final reading pool of Dark Recesses Magazine.

Also, I've posted a movie book trailer for my time travel romance novel, Lost Echoes, at YouTube, Yahoo Video, and Facebook. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojxj91tTmKc

Or, just search Google on "Lost Echoes" and it will pop up for you. Or, you can go to my home website to see it at: http://home.earthlink.net/~robngeorge/

And, I am a columnist for AlienSkin Magazine, Senior Editor Kay Patterson. So check out any and all of this.

See what I mean? I have been busy! And there's more to come this year. I'm planning a three-week trip to England, Scotland, and Wales in early November, but before then, I have two novels to finish.

And, I'd love to hear from people. Let's share writing tips, and experiences. Just email me at:

robshelsky@earthlink.net.