JAX LUNAR LUMBER Chapter 13

On the way to the neighborhood Home Depot for the obligatory weekend project as well as a load of flowers and potting soil, I started musing on my hitch as a “yard ape” for a company called Knox Lumber. We, too were busy this time of year, and it was a familiar feel whenever I went to one of these stored. Know was one of the original “Do It Yourself” (aka DIY) stores, a precursor to today’s Lowes, Menards, and Home Depot. Eventually bought out by Payless Cashways https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payless_Cashways The rumor in the store was that you could build an entire house by waiting patiently for a year while EVERYTHING went on sale…Rolling down the driveway, I suddenly had a thought and snickered.

When my wife asked, “What?” I shook my head. “No, what?”
I reiterated the train of thought above, then added, “I was wondering if it would be possible to build a colony on the Moon using just what you could buy at Knox?”
We pondered it for a few moments, then suddenly said in unison, “Yes!”
Inspired by Matt Weir, the result of my musings continues below.

I searched for Tiananmen – aka “Gate of Heavenly Peace”, or HP for short, said, “Unprepared in every way, the trip to the alien world will kill you. Just as it killed me. I’d have died permanently if the Aliens hadn’t been waiting for me the moment I popped out of transspace.” There was silence. She smiled, looked at me, adding, ‘The only real complication is tat we’ll need the total cooperation of Master Cheat and All-around Pain-in-our-collective-posterior, Sturdlan Vilbix.”

The Board Room exploded in the jeers, catcalls, boos, and an amazing calling-down-of-curses.

The man was the personal manager Roza Rymbayeva Golovkin, named after a famous Kazakh singer and song-writer. She was a Sixth Generation descendant of the last Human to walk on the Moon in the 20th Century – Eugene Andrew Cernan was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the 11th human being to walk on the Moon. As he re-entered the Apollo Lunar Module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he became the Last Man to Walk On the Moon – the Last Lunar Walker in other words.

I touched a switch and said, “Excuse me.” Amplified to a level that made everyone but me wince, I reduced the output to merely loud enough to be heard still winced, but that didn’t bother me. Sturdlan Vilbix had swept into our lives unwanted, the Gang of Four – my grandchildren, Noah, Natalie, Ronan and Lennon introduced themselves as Sturdlan Vilbix grabbed me by the bicep and squeezed. It HURT! He had muscles trained under the full gravity of the world that had nurtured Humanity into intelligence. Now, here he was steering me further into Jax Lunar Lumber, using gestures to station dozens of drones in the ceiling, on the floor, on desks, in trees, and anywhere their cameras – I was pretty sure the glittering light twirling around the back and belly of each one was a camera designed to record, broadcast, and recreate every scene, every motion, and every nuance of the Six-Times-Great-Granddaughter Of The Last Lunar Walker – or “Six-T-Granddaughter-OT Last Lunar Walker”. That quickly morphed to antichrist, or 6T for short.

As suddenly as he’d assaulted me, Turdland crumpled to the ground, all of the cameras focused on his incapacitation. We, the Jax family, had endured exactly as much of his self-important rhetoric as we could handle. I’d delivered the ultimatum, “I will remind you Sturdlan, one more time: ‘Just to show you there’s no hard feelings, the venue you’ve been offered is owned by Jax Lunar Lumber, Limited Liability Lunar Company.’ I was under no illusions that I had won anything but a brief reprieve from conflict between myself, family, and this man. However, 6T said we needed him – for what, I don’t know.

A text message flashed across the back of my hand in distinct ultraviolet. Not that it would be secret from everyone, but most people wouldn’t be running around with eyes sensitive to UV light. I could see in the most common frequencies used for communication.

It was from 6T. It read, “Meet me in orbit.” I acknowledged it and looked across the throng. Turdland was gone. And 6T was gone. I got a sick feeling in my stomach. A rapidly branching probability tree presented itself through my brain booster. None of the branches looked promising – though, squinting, there was very, very long branch that ended with a fascinating cluster of branches.

Sturdlan was in the center of a globe of woven leaves. His gravy train was nowhere near him – in fact, she was somewhere in the skies of Venus! The Solar System was at peace, and hovering somewhere beyond the Oort Cloud, was swarm of very small ships that each had a life signature.

They surrounded Sturdlan. Smiling, I sped to the nearest Space Elevator that would bring me closest to where 6T was signaling and booked a ticket. This was going to be an interesting meeting…

Resources: The Moon Trees, https://www.urbanforestdweller.com/we-almost-forgot-about-the-moon-trees/ ; https://www.space.com/moon-colonists-lunar-lava-tubes.html Image: https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YkAeUwwE2aksDqd5tgwyec-970-80.jpg.webp

CREATING ALIEN ALIENS Part 42C: Space Families – The Last Word???

Five decades ago, I started my college career with the intent of becoming a marine biologist. I found out I had to get a BS in biology before I could even begin work on MARINE biology; especially because there WEREN'T any marine biology programs in Minnesota. Along the way, the science fiction stories I'd been writing since I was 13 began to grow more believable. With my BS in biology and a fascination with genetics, I started to use more science in my fiction. After reading hard SF for the past 50 years, and writing hard SF successfully for the past 20, I've started to dig deeper into what it takes to create realistic alien life forms. In the following series, I'll be sharing some of what I've learned. I've had some of those stories published, some not...I teach a class to GT young people every summer called ALIEN WORLDS. I've learned a lot preparing for that class for the past 25 years...so...I have the opportunity to share with you what I've learned thus far. Take what you can use, leave the rest. Let me know what YOU'VE learned. Without further ado...

We in the speculative fiction world seem to feel like we have a tight bead on the weird – no more so than when “AI” suggests that “For future space settlements, new family structures will be needed to address the unique challenges of microgravity, radiation, and isolation, possibly forming by necessity rather than just biological ties…”

Clearly the programmer that wrote the AI’s program (or put the words in the AI’s figurative mouth) had never read the 1912 classic, RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE by Zane Grey. (“…a Western novel by Zane Grey, first published by Harper & Brothers in 1912. Considered by scholars to have played a significant role in shaping the formula of the popular Western genre, the novel has been called ‘the most popular western novel of all time’.)

For a 113-year-old novel, it has some EXTREMELY STRANGE “family units” encompassed in the story. Not by ANY means unusual to most of us, is the Mormon family unit. I’ll leave you to mull that over and turn to the even WEIRDER family units in this seemingly innocuous “Western”.

Don’t get me wrong, I found my copy for free on a discard pile at my neighborhood GOODWILL store and picked it up, knowing it was a classic, and put it on my library shelf. I finally picked it up a couple weeks ago moved by a wild impulse to read something entirely outside of both my interest range and beyond any compulsion to read anything even vaguely resembling a genre outside of my life experiences. After I started it, I have been reading it in mostly utter amazement.

So far, the most astonishing thing is that the sexual mores of the second decade of the 20th Century are (publicly) so entirely different from those of this second decade of the 21st. The main example is the two lead male characters are madly in love with the two lead female characters. If Grey had written it in 2012, the men and women (or both men or both women or all four of them) would have tumbled into bed two pages after they met and after 200 pages interspersed with lurid (or off-stage) “lovemaking” (aka sex in all of its kinkiness), they would have thought about getting married, skipped that and spent the rest of the book having sex…oh, and Grey might have found a few pages to tell the rest of an incredibly…alien…story.

Example: one of the characters had a good friend who died after she nursed her from an illness to her ultimate death.
Example: turns out one of the characters is the daughter of a truly horrible man who molded her into a criminal and murderer.
Example: while sex of any kind is usually irrelevant to the story line, most novels (SF and F) find some excuse to include either implicit sex or explicit sex in all but the MOST middle of middle-grade novels. If ANY novel includes coarse language, most of the words have sexual connotations and are freely employed.

So, back to ROTPS. Another pairing is between a character who has murdered dozens of other humans (on purpose or for his own financial gain or out of sheer anger at alleged or actual slights and an extremely wayward female character who knows all of this and falls madly in love with him anyway. Together, they plan to take what’s left of her money, leave it all behind and get married in another state.

The biggest point of the novel is one even the BRILLIANT AI didn’t even hint at: polygamous marriages. It takes place in Utah after the Church of Latter-Day Saints has fled their founding state of Ohio because they were chased out due to their commandment to enter into polygamous marriages. The largest “family” mentioned in non-Mormon literature was from the Old Testament. “King Solomon was said to have had 700 wives and 300 concubines, for a total of 1,000 women in his harem.” How about “Ziona Chana? (d. 2021) in India, he had 39 wives, 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law, and 33 grandchildren for a total of 181 family members.”

“Polygamy is most often found in sub-Saharan Africa, where 11% of the population lives in arrangements that include more than one spouse.”

And what about SERIAL marriages? American “Glynn Wolfe married 31 times, fathered approximately 40 children and divorced 30 times.”

What OTHER kinds of families might there be? I mean, Humans are Human. Moving them to Mars, alien worlds, the Asteroid Belt, generational starships, or even able to instantaneously leap across space and time…you’ll STILL be dealing with Humans. How about inanimate objects? “Eija-Riitta Eklöf married the Berlin Wall in 1979, Erica Eiffel married the Eiffel Tower: Eiffel participated in a commitment ceremony with the Eiffel Tower in Paris; and Australian Jodi Rose married the Le Pont du Diable, a bridge in France.

The AI informing me that “new family structures will be needed to address the unique challenges of microgravity, radiation, and isolation, possibly forming by necessity rather than just biological ties…” says more about some programmer trying to excuse their own preference for “shocking” family arrangements. NONE of the things the web says will drastically alter Human relationships regarding family are anything more than weather and location. What OTHER “necessity” could occur that would lead to “new family structures”?

Give me a HINT, please!

Sources: various

Image: https://pics.craiyon.com/2024-09-16/fvE4Btv2SuqE5Y18WTwXXQ.webp

New Website -- FIRST PEEK (BY NO MEANS DONE!)

Use the link below! It's LIVE!

https://www.guystewartworld.space/

THE biggest advantage is that all the places I write and have written are linked here. Eventually, I'll be able to have people order books through my site/Rampant Loon Press (my publisher!) and support a small press!

CREATING ALIEN ALIENS Part 42B: Alien Families and What That Might Mean When Colonizing a Gas Giant…

WAS SUPPOSED TO POST THIS YESTERDAY, 9/6/25!

Five decades ago, I started my college career with the intent of becoming a marine biologist. I found out I had to get a BS in biology before I could even begin work on MARINE biology; especially because there WEREN'T any marine biology programs in Minnesota.

Along the way, the science fiction stories I'd been writing since I was 13 began to grow more believable. With my BS in biology and a fascination with genetics, I started to use more science in my fiction.

After reading hard SF for the past 50 years, and writing hard SF successfully for the past 20, I've started to dig deeper into what it takes to create realistic alien life forms. In the following series, I'll be sharing some of what I've learned. I've had some of those stories published, some not...I teach a class to GT young people every summer called ALIEN WORLDS. I've learned a lot preparing for that class for the past 25 years...so...I have the opportunity to share with you what I've learned thus far. Take what you can use, leave the rest. Let me know what YOU'VE learned. Without further ado...

My quotes below are from something Google calls an “AI Overview” from my query “Families in Space”. While I’ve used them in the past, I was somewhat irritated by a couple of things this overview presented: “For future space settlements, new family structures will be needed to address the unique challenges of microgravity, radiation, and isolation, possibly forming by necessity rather than just biological ties…Behavioral health programs are being developed to support astronauts’ families, addressing issues like…changing family roles…Space settlement families will likely be diverse, forming from biological ties or personal choice, and may take on various forms, including polyamorous or egalitarian structures…In a more metaphorical sense, stars are born in ‘families’ or groups, sharing characteristics and originating from the same place at the same time.”

While I’m sure Google wants to present this as a “totally logical computer speculation” and figures I’ll just accept it as the inevitable Progress Of Humanity, I find it oddly…myopic, blithely setting a “bold new course” into the future as Humanity changes the way families have functioned (admittedly with varying degrees of success) since they have pretty much been the same since the first family units formed half-a-million years ago. So, because of AI, computers, and the boundless wisdom of scientists, all that BS is about to come to an end, thank-technology?

Seems oddly…stupid.

What would alter a family who live on the back of an immense semi-sapient creature floating in the atmosphere of a gas giant, since apparently, “new family structures will be needed to address...unique challenges”? Living on the back of a gigantic blimp would probably present “unique challenges”, eh?

On the other hand, I’m going to assume that Humans will need somewhere to stand, something to breathe, something to eat, and somewhere to breed. None of those basics are unique challenges, are they? Humans have been dealing with them as the biological unit we call families for half-a-million years. The environments on different worlds, OBVIOUSLY will be different. But Humans evolved on the African continent. Of COURSE weather and other factors were different than they were today, in fact, that very change argues that the social groups those original primate families developed it won’t change as radically going so far as to require “new family structures”. But using cold as the environmental challenge, “The coldest place where humans have had a permanent presence is the Russian village of Oymyakon…(which is) The coldest permanently inhabited village…in Siberia, the village of Oymyakon has average winter temperatures of around -58°F. The lowest recorded temperature in this settlement was -89.9°F) in 1933. Despite the extreme cold, Oymyakon has a permanent population of a few hundred residents. The cold is so intense that residents must keep vehicles running constantly so the engines don't freeze. Plumbing is nonexistent due to the permanently frozen ground (permafrost), so most toilets are outhouses.”

Human family structure appears to have remained as it was half-a-million years ago…it seems that Human and/or AI lack faith in the resiliency of the Human family unit.

In the skies of River, a gas giant world I’ve been writing in for several years now (two published stories: “The Baptism of Johnny Ferocious” (Dragons, Knights, and Angels), and “Prince of Blood and Spit” (Perihelion, 2015: https://theworkandworksheetsofguystewart.blogspot.com/2021/06/prince-of-blood-and-spit-perihelion.html) the “nuclear family” is quite healthy. In fact, the backs of these gigantic bags of undulating gas are planted with genetically engineered crops – mostly medicinal, but also designed to concentrate Human-necessary compounds, minerals, and molecules (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218751/), (https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/Vitamins-and-minerals). While gengineering Humans for particular environments may become necessary at some point, and while the propensity of the Human animal appeared to be directed to clumping in family units with variations (Navy Seals, for instance); or Western industrialized civilizations (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8294648/); it’s also clear that while what has been historically defined as a “family unit”, little has changed in Humans over that half-million-year period of time.

Where I take exception, is the assumption that in challenging conditions, the family as we know it will seemingly evaporate to be taken over by something more... “egalitarian” – by which I think those kinds of Human writers mean, “families as I know them are doomed to become whatever people want them to be”…in reading information of SF novels for YA readers, the absurd term I came across is “found family”. It SEEMED to mean that kids can choose whatever kind of family they want willy-nilly and with no thought except “what feels good and meets all of my needs” without giving much thought to the needs of the rest of the people in these “found families”.

It seems to me that the pressure of Humanity moving to alien worlds or living in alien environments and facing interactions with alien peoples – would necessitate the FIRM foundation of the nuclear family unit that evolved here on Earth among the various species of Homo. The idea of a family “forming from biological ties or personal choice, [that] may take on various forms, including polyamorous or egalitarian structures…” is not only silly, but bound to failure. How can an “egalitarian structure” “…a system…that promotes equality and equal access to rights, opportunities, and resources for all its members, regardless of their background or social status. It aims to dismantle hierarchies and power disparities, fostering a sense of shared responsibility, and ensuring everyone is treated with equal fundamental worth and moral status.” make for survival in an inherently hostile environment? How can we colonize and thrive on/in a world deadly to unprotected, naked Human life? If no one’s the boss of anyone and no one can tell anyone else what to do, (which is implied by “equal fundamental worth, status, power, and morality”, and no one’s opinion or experience is more or less valid than anyone else’s…

In the skies of River, there needs to be authority (do NOT read authoritarianism!) and direction (do NOT read dictatorship!) Would Humans – as a species – even exist if hierarchy and disparity of power was forcibly removed (which begs the question, WHO WOULD ENFORCE the disparities? Who would make certain that social status vanished? Who enforces the equal distribution of resources?

No, the pioneers of River, riding on the backs of immense cloudwhales will have families and institutions that have evolved after 500,000 years; NOT family units conceived of over the past 200 years…recognizable. Stable. Not all moms who say, “No, you can’t stick that fork in an electrical outlet! Stop now, or else!” will vanish.

Much to the relief of Human evolution…

Sources: (see embedded in essay above)

Image: 

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 681

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: Effects of super fast cellular regeneration…
Current Event: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38915707/ “…As this lysosome-independent cell cleansing process does not seem to have been priorly described, we termed it "cathartocytosis." Cathartocytosis allows a cell to rapidly eject excess material without waiting for autophagic and lysosomal digestion, providing for efficient cellular downscaling.” Add IRON MAN 3: “Extremis is an advanced form of genetic manipulation…granting the human body the ability to heal and regenerate from physical damages, deformities and even psychological damages. This also includes the regrowth of severed limbs in a very short timespan” this “hyper-healing also generates intense heat that, if a patient is unable to control it, leads to “an exothermic ability”.

“The big question, is what are you going to change?” said Erjan. Shaking his head, he added, “You’re practically perfect in every way.”

Slava snorted. “You make me sound like a Marion Poppins. I don’t want to change just to change. I want to change so I’m a better person.”

Erjan rolled his eyes. “Then do it like normal people do! Commit good works; save babies; contribute some of your inheritance to a cause you really believe in!”

Slava shook his head, “That’s boring! No one’s gonna notice me for doing something so boring!”

Erjan stopped walking. Slava was ten meters past him when he stopped suddenly, looked around, then spotted Erjan. He walked back. “You’re not even breathing hard! That was a great sprint!”

“I didn’t backtrack. I stopped and it took you almost two minutes to notice that you were walking with no one and talking to the air.”

“You did not!” Erjan crossed his arms over his chest and started tapping his foot. A look of pure rage flashed over Slava’s face. He clenched his fists, bending his arms at the elbows as his skin flushed – truly spectacular under his carefully coiffed head of blonde hair. “You’re…” He shut his mouth, noticing that he was attracting a crowd. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, holding his breath and counting backwards to fifty. He let his breath out slowly, then said, “I’m an idiot, aren’t I. Worthless…”

Slava put his hand over Erjan’s mouth. “You’re neither an idiot nor worthless. You’ve just had the universe orbiting around since you were conceived…”

“You forgot to note that THAT happy event happened in a test tube.”

Slava took his hand away. “So you’ve told me. And yet here I stand, talking to you as if you were a normal Human and my friend.”

Erjan shoved his hands in his pockets, turned and slumped away. Slava knew better than to chase him. His friend’s doctor had texted him just before Slava had come out of the hospital. It had been a simple message, “If he gets truly angry or incredibly happy, weird things are going to happen to his physiology. Document and encourage meditative calm.”

Slava had texted back, “What happens if I can’t?”

It took several days for his friend’s MOTHER – whom he never met because she lived on Mars – had replied. “After fervent discussion, the consensus of doctors and researchers is: ‘No idea. Just keep him calm.’” Slava sighed and followed Erjan and called out, “Let’s go to MacDonalds. Shakes. My treat!”

Erjan stopped, turned, scowling, and shouted, “How dare you!” His skin flushed and after another moment, he started to glow…
Names: ♀ Khazak ; ♀Ukrainian
Sideways Idea Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism; rye; IRON MAN 3 https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Extremis

Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg/220px-Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: STAR TREK - Re-Engineering It In Full-Immersion Three-Dimensions!!! Um???

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Eighteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things. My wife and I are now retired senior citizens, our kids are both married, we have a bonus daughter and her wife and we have three grandchildren, (with a fourth on-the-way!) the oldest of which will soon finish his first year in high school, one smack in the center of Middle School; the third almost done with kindergarten. I have forty-five professional publications, plus countless other publications as a slushpile reader, and sometime essay contributor to Stupefying Stories https://stupefyingstories.blogspot.com/.

These days, I write whenever I want to – or when I’m not busy exploring the world with my wife or kids or grandkids. I write and read constantly. Then I discovered that I was writing longer and longer pieces. My new focus is to write shorter; and to write HUMOR. On purpose. Maybe I can still irritate people while being funny. It works pretty well for John Scalzi! We’ll see what happens.

But sadly, not for this short essay…

“I know you all believed that I killed myself because of what I came face-to-face with after making a record number of jumps to interstellar space.” Lots of nods, more wide-eyed-amazement. There were even faces that displayed sheer horror. I nodded to Tiananmen. “I didn’t kill myself. I faked my death in order to talk with Felix and Grandpa about the future of Jax Lunar Lumber and the exploration of Strange New Worlds.” She shot me a look. We both had come to enjoy a century-old flattie “television program”, re-engineered in full-immersive ThreeDee.”

Ever since watching Star Trek: The Original Series, I wanted SO BADLY TO LIVE IN THAT WORLD!

My wife and I have been watching STAR TREK: Strange New Worlds and after several episodes where my fondest dream of being able to live in the Federation Universe kept getting fed. I SO wanted to live in the days of the USS Enterprise (Original through G (which is, in case you don’t know, a Time Ship!).

Then, some…interesting episodes of SNW started to crop up. Perhaps the most startling and revealing was also the BLOODIEST ST I had ever seen and references something that has only been noted in vague hints: The Klingon/Federation War.

While I’m the father of an Army soldier who was stationed in several of the world’s hot-spots during his 11-year hitch whose MOS was 94 Sierra. If you’re really interested, do some digging. That’s all I’ll say.

He related a few incidents that were hard for me to hear as his Dad. I’ll leave it at that, but use it to introduce the ST:SNW episode, “Under the Cloak of War”. I grew up with the slightly rough-and-tumble Universe of ST:TOS and ST:TNG rather than the more refined universe of PICARD (which has brutal issues of its own, but has more to chew on intellectually.) Seeing “Cloak”, my child-like vision of the FUN of space travel was cruelly tempered by what I saw on television every night when, crashing into adolescence, I was faced with the possibility of getting DRAFTED when I turned 18. Initiated in 1948, the US drafted its last soldier (at the time, all soldiers had been male) in 1972 and closed finally in 1973. While I was “just a kid” – I was fifteen and absolutely aware of the Vietnam War.

So, with that background and build up, let’s go back to my fondest dream as a kid watching Star Trek with Dad: circa 1966-1969 (9-12 years old). I wanted to live in the universe of Star Trek and “boldly go where no man (at the time) has gone before”! I wanted to live in a world of transporters, talking computers, food replicators, amazing medical care, and a seemingly clean, sweet world that spent its time “exploring strange new worlds”.

But the Federation didn’t have a very smooth beginning and went back and forth as some civilizations sought expansion, and others chose to vanish. The small slice of Federation history during STRANGE NEW WORLDS was almost as violent as our own time.

So, would I want to REALLY inhabit the Federation of this time? Worf would NOT have existed during the time – in fact, the Federation and the Klingon Empire were busy slaughtering each other. I can no easily imagine a Federation being “all good” and the Klingons being “all bad” than I can imagine all Americans being good and all Chinese being bad. Governments do nasty things – but the scarier part of that is that “government” isn’t visible. It’s RESULTS are apparent, but I can’t point and say, “Look! There’s America!” It’s an entity that has, “as of mid-2025, (has an) estimated total population of the United States and its territories (of) approximately 345.5 million people. This figure includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five main inhabited U.S. territories.”

It's full of people truly nasty, truly wonderful, and truly ciphers (or invisible if you prefer). Times for different parts of the world are horrific: “Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (specifically Gaza), Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).” Check whatever your news source is and these places will usually be prominently displayed.

Now, finally: If I lived in the United Federation of Planets during the time of SNW, there would still be atrocities perpetrated by “aliens” as they are perpetrated by the Humans of this place and time. The faces would be different, but there would STILL be my favorite Star Trek aliens like the Vulcans, the Bajorans, the Iconians, Q, the Horta, and others.

And there would be war, and that’s why “Cloak” brought home to me; even Gene Roddenberry had to invent violent aliens in order to drive the storylines; clearly recognizing that WE AS HUMANS prefer things…(to be mild and polite), SPICY. Not entirely dull and boring which has always been the problem with writing about utopias – no one wanted to read about them because THEY WERE BORING. Violence is what we LIKE, even a romantic comedy would fall flat on its face if there wasn’t CONFLICT (even of the humorous and romantic type).

After reflecting and writing about my childhood dream of living in a STAR TREK world, I find that it really wouldn’t be all that different than the world I live in today (maybe with a couple fun pieces of tech like TRANSPORTERS and STARSHIPS!

Reference: “Under the Cloak of War”, detailed discussion and insights - https://musingsofamiddleagedgeek.blog/2023/07/31/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-s2-8-under-the-cloak-of-war-commits-a-few-atrocities/

Image: https://www.paramountplus.com/collections/star-trek/

IDEA ON TUESDAY 680

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them. Regarding horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: Blue Collar Warlock ("I have an idea that most of the mystics in comics are generally older people, very austere, very proper, very middle class in a lot of ways. They are not at all functional on the street. It struck me that it might be interesting for once to do an almost blue collar warlock. Somebody who was streetwise, working class, and from a different background than the standard run of comic book mystics. Constantine started to grow out of that.")
Current Event: “Forgive me for getting a bit carried away. I find it an entertaining exercise to look for those parallels. I simply wonder if the manner in which we tackle the challenges we face in real life is reflected in the way we tackle our virtual battles. As a side-note, I'd also be interested to see what kind of people the Destiny sub consists of.” (http://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/2n3xfc/whats_your_primary_class_and_what_do_you_do_in/)

Rafael Pai-Teles sighed. “Eu vou estar o trabalhar para a Metrô del Belo Horizonte para o resto de minha vida!”

Eduarda Cisota shook her head and said, “Speak English. Your Portuguese is crappy.”

“I can’t work for the Belo Horizonto Metro for the rest of my life!”

Eduarda said, “What else are you going to do?”

Rafael said, “I can do something else.”

“You can’t do anything,” she said. “Now get back to work.”

Rafael scowled. “I’m worth a lot more than you think I am!” he snapped.

“You’re a kid. Just like me. You’re gonna run the train and I’m gonna take tickets from now until forever. It’s what happened. At least we didn’t get turned into stalagmites. We were lucky to be here when the Donkey Wizard took over Up North.”

“It was the Elephant Sorceress and she turned everyone into obsidian shards,” Eduarda said.

He threw his arms into the air and shouted, “Whatever! I can do something about it!”

“About every living thing being turned into some kind of inorganic obelisk – what can you possibly do?” Rafael crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. Eduarda rolled her eyes and said, “That didn’t come out how I meant it to come out.”

“How did you mean it, as a compliment?”

“No, but I didn’t mean to sound so...” as she spoke, a train roared into Carlos Prates Estação.

“I have to go now! I’ll tell you what I can do later!” he shouted.

She watched him run after the train where he was a porter. His father had been a physicist in the Aryabhata tradition, dealing with solar energy and, accordingly, solar weapons. He’d died when the Wizard or Sorceress or whoever turned life to stone. There was some Christian writer who’d written of a fictional sorceress who had done then, but she didn’t know who. The train started to pull out and she cursed. Now she’d have to...As she watched, the concrete platform under Rafael’s feet shimmered, then appeared to be a mound of living tissue – like a wart or pimple or something equally disgusting. As it rose though, it allowed Rafael to step easily on to the train. She rubbed her eyes and when she opened them, her long-time friend was waving back at her, grinning ear to ear as he pulled from the station.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Horizonte_Metro
Names: ♀ Brazil; ♂ Brazil
Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niGRrH6DL.jpg

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: PunchFace or, Why Do We Like Our Heroes Better When They’re Beat Up?

My wife and I rewatch movies all the time. From rom-coms, to historical, to sci-fi series, to period pieces, to book-to-movies (sometimes in multiple iterations with different actors!) Some don't seem to have been remade -- like Back to the Future. But the one I come back to avidly and my wife willingly, is the STAR TREK movies. All of them; all directors; all series...in particular, I typed this observation in 2009...

In JJ Abrahamson's STAR TREK, skidrow bum/cadet/PunchFace/captain Kirk is slugged by his enemies sixteen times (as opposed to only being slugged by people who would become his friends later four times); shot at with hand weapons, ship weapons and missiles innumerable times; strangled or thrown by his enemies nine times (as opposed to being injected, pushed, slapped, thrown or strangled an additional nine times by his friends); he hurts himself twice, is chased (by security officers, a furry thing and a lizardy thing) three times and mind-melded against his will once. Total number of countable physical and mental injuries in one movie: 40 (allergic reactions are being counted here as one and the same as involuntary injections…)

Kirk in the original series was pummeled as well because of his attitude or by chance or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was always wiping a trickle of blood from his chin and was frequently the punching bag of friend and foe alike.

Lest you think I’m a STARWARS-o-phobe, I've never been compelled to do an actual PunchFace count, I recall Luke Skywalker taking an unnatural number of hits though. Perhaps even more than Han Solo did; though certainly more than those meted out to Princess Leia.

Nevertheless, and in keeping with my theme of exploring the intersection of faith and science fiction, I’m going to throw Jesus into the mix as well. The Bible even prophesied that he was going to be a PunchFace. Isaiah 53:5 says, “ But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” It’s well-known that He was crucified on a cross after being scourged and humiliated.

While according to the internet, both Muhammed and the Buddha died of poisoning it’s clear that they suffered at the end. While Hindus never die and are either reincarnated or achieve Nirvana, many Hindus have suffered and died in their service as well. It is the ones who suffer that we remember best.

Is it any surprise that our heroes and heroines are the ones who suffer most either before they die or at death? Is it a subconscious Human condition that in order to achieve greatness, someone must suffer and die for their cause? Is it something we’re hard-wired to respect and revere? We even have a saying that can be applied to anything from weight-lifting programs to monastic ascetism: “No pain, no gain”.

So, it is any surprise that our SF heroes and heroines also suffer and die in spectacular ways?

Not to me, it isn’t! How about you?

PunchFace to Eternity anyone?

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 679

Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them? Regarding Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity. Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa McPhail.

Fantasy Trope: “wǔxiá (武侠 — literally ‘martial-arts chivalry; or ‘martial arts heroes’, and pronounced roughly woo-seeah in Mandarin) stories are tall tales of honorable warriors (侠 xiá) fighting against evil, whether it be an individual villain, or a corrupt government.”
Current Event: http://achhikhabre.com/mehul-vora-martial-art-instructor-tsi-india/

Rishika Memon said, “Hang on just a second! I’ve never worn a sari before!”

Akshay Vora, her “partner in crime”, said, “Like I’ve ever worn a sherwani? Are there any buttons?”

Rishika sighed and finished wrapping the lime green garment over her shoulder and said, “It’s not the thing itself, it’s the intent.”

“You mean I’m doing all of this...”

“It’s worth it. We’re going to be fighting, not walking a runway,” she said. “I’m ready.”

“Great. I’m not. I don’t even think I can make my moves in this thing.”

Rishika shook her head. “There won’t be any moves to make.”

Akshay stared at her, “What do you mean, we’re here to fight, aren’t we?”

“Sort of,” she said, holding up her hand as he opened his mouth to talk. He scowled fiercely instead. She swallowed hard. “We’re here to fight – but not with our hands. We’re here to fight with our words.”

“Our words,” Akshay said.

“Don’t give me any of your attitude! Swords and karate chops don’t always stop wars!”

He shook his head, “China chops don’t do anything but give me gas.”

She sniffed and stepped forward to the heavy oaken door. “We’re in this together. There’s a corrupt government out there that we have to overthrow!”

“Did you ever stop and think that we’re the corrupt government we’re trying to overthrow, my oldest friend?”

Rishika paused and looked over her should at him. “That’s not true, and you know it.”

“It all depends on how you look at it!”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked, turning around.

“Being that we’re royalty, we’re the government.”

“But neither one of us will ever inherit an actual…like…throne. Your oldest brother and my little sister will be the King and Queen. We aren’t actually the government.”

Akshay looked at him then said, “We could be walking into a slaughter, you know. Us included. There’s only one way to stop this whole thing and that’s if we fight them.”

Rishika went to the door and made a motion over the elaborate carvings, standing with his hands flat over the door, not touching it. He said, “There’s a crowd over there and they’re ugly.”

“Must be your side of the family,” Akshay said.

She scowled, “It’s an angry crowd, Akshay. They’re mad at us...”

“They aren’t mad at us personally, they’re mad at the institution. That’s what we’re here to change.”

“We still haven’t answered the question of how.”

Rishika took a deep breath, held it, then said softly, “We change it by becoming heroes of the people.”

Akshay shook his head and said, “Sounds pretty socialist of you,” he stopped her retort with his hand, “But I agree. We become heroes of the people – sort of like the heroes of the Cultural Revolution. Rénmín Yīngxióng.”

“Exactly.” She pushed the doors open on the square as lightning split the sky...

Names: ♀ India; ♂ India

Image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

Slice of PIE: Why Do We Need Christian Spec Fic Publishers? (First posted in March 2009)

In 2014, I received the monthly announcement of Marcher Lord Press (Rebranded as ENCLAVE PUBLISHING ) (http://www.marcherlordpress.com/MLP_Publishing_Model.htm. Around their slogan, " “Enclave publishes out-of-this-world stories that are informed by a coherent theology.” Enclave Publishing is built around the power of great stories which explore the boundaries of the imagination, while championing powerful expressions of Redemption, Truth, and Hope." 
As a division of Oasis Family Media, "Enclave publishes genres called speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, military, space opera, steam punk, and myths. Whether it’s Christian science fiction you love, or fantasy, time travel, retellings, steampunk—if it’s speculative and it comes from the Christian worldview, Enclave is the place to go. We strive to get Christian speculative fiction into the hands of the fans who love and devour great stories."

An enclave is a group of like-minded people in a place where they are surrounded by those who are not like-minded. It is not a place to hide, instead, Enclave is supposed to be a place where authors and fans of Christian Fantasy and Science Fiction can come together and then go out and make a difference through worlds of words. Our stories can seem strange but underneath they contain powerful expressions of Redemption, Truth, and Hope.

My question: with hundreds of publishers already producing spec fic in the secular world, why do we need a Christian spec fic publisher? While I can't dispute their call to minister to God’s people in this way, I have serious questions to which I’d like to hear answers.

I've yet to find a well-known hard science fiction writer on Enclaves's author list. Some authors have won secular awards, but by no means all of them. By extension then, these authors are not the "best" in the field yet they are being published as representative of the BEST the Christian spec fic market can produce. These authors represent Christ – at least in the speculative fiction field – to the entire world. Scripture is clear in its commission to us: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:17) The fact is that when people buy these books and give them to their spec fic reading unsaved friends, they’ll be compared unfavorably to what is being published in the secular press.

CS Lewis, who not only wrote spec fic for a secular publisher, and published short fiction in the secular market (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction published three of his stories) spoke eloquently to the issue: “What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects with their Christianity latent.” GOD IN THE DOCK, p. 93

Beth Moore as well points out in her scripture workbook: “We cannot seclude ourselves indefinitely in Christian hideouts. Our lives must be poured out like healing ointment on this injured land.” DANIEL: LIVES OF INTEGRITY, WORDS OF PROPHECY, p. 128

Finally, Reggie McNeal: “The truth is that the North American church culture extracts salt from the world and diminishes the amount of light available to those who need to find their way.” THE PRESENT FUTURE, p. 72

It’s clear to me that these Christian publishers have, with the greatest of good will inadvertently created a ghetto in which they might safely believe that they are reaching the world but may be creating a spectacle of themselves at which the secular world peeks, points their fingers, laughs and then moves on its way to the REALLY important work.

And that leaves the secular world effectively unreached. The Church has always been responsible for their loss from the Kingdom of God and leaves us open to the reprimand of our Lord. Matthew 25: 34-46 are verses we often quote to ourselves, patting ourselves on the back. In particular, verses 41-46: "Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”

We still have time to become the BEST in the secular world and reach the lost for Jesus Christ. I went to Minnesota Minicon (link here: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2025/04/caring-over-science-fiction-and-fantasy.html

That’s where my mission is. Here's a letter from another Christian who is reaching the unreached: https://pierpoints.wordpress.com/2024/08/01/christians-increasingly-consider-their-voice-in-secular-culture/

I have no doubt my concern will have zero effect on Enclave -- that's business and the company was founded to make a profit for its investors -- be that a single founder or other stock investors. But that market draws Christians from writing for the secular market to reach the lost. That's where I want to be...How about you?

Image: https://www.equip.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CAB-WEB-Is-There-a-Gospel-in-the-Stars-1080-x-630-px.png