IDEAS ON TUESDAY 649

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.

F Trope: good vs evil If you’ve never read THE DARK IS RISING sequence by Susan Cooper – you should! (https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Rising-Sequence/dp/0689829833)

Current Event: http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/12/politics/ukraine-russia-sanctions-us-eu/

This is just an idea day, so read the article above about the possibility of Vladimir Putin reassembling the old USSR out of its original annexed nations.

What if he was training a group of teens and then lost control of them to the demon Blud, who sows disorientation – chaos – wherever he goes… and a group of them met at an abandoned “reeducation camp” east of Moscow…to discover they were avatars of Perun, Morana, Triglav, and Belobog…and didn’t particularly WANT the Union to pull back together? What if they set out to stop Vladimir Putin, who, by all accounts is a devout Christian? What might happen in Russia then... (http://hollowverse.com/vladimir-putin/)...

Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Slavic_mythological_figures
Names: All Russian or Polish...

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

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS/SLICE OF PIE: The Movie AVENGERS Endgame, the End Times, the Rapture of the Church, and the Final Battle Between Good and Evil – Odd Parallels

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Seventeen years later, I am revising and doing some different things with my blog. 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, the oldest of which just became a teenager. 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.

By the way – I’ve been offline from the blog as well as some emails and Face Book because my computer all of a sudden stopped working a week ago. It just turned off and wouldn’t turn back on. After talking with my son, he made a few connections (he built his own computer from spare parts when he was 12 or 13; it’s been part of his job on the Army for the past 12 years, so he “sorta” knows what he’s doing around computers. Anyway, he had me try a few things, including a charger he’d ordered; and was set to come over yesterday to take it apart and start testing if certain components were fried…when the stupid thing just started working again. He said something in mysterious Computer Mumbo Jumbo which I didn’t understand at all except for a word that might have sounded like “bios” from the Lenovo corporation…and now I’m back online. So, here goes:

I'm almost positive to offend a certain kind of person who would read this...so be warned if you are either a Christian or an Avengers fan.

My wife and I finished watching AVENGERS: Endgame for about the fiftieth time, and for the twentieth time when I suddenly realized that there were startling parallels between AE (Avengers: Endgame) and ETE (End Times Eschatology).

First and foremost, is that Thanos (Greek, short for Athanasios, or “immortal”) causes half of all life IN THE UNIVERSE to vanish into a cloud of gray dust with a snap of his fingers after he gathers the Infinity Stones. Their divinity didn’t matter. Their power didn’t matter. They were gone.

In the Christian Church, there is a doctrine called “Escatology, the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.

‘Christian hope is concerned with eschatology, or the science of last things.” A BRANCH of eschatology is called Dispensational Futurism. “The futurist interpretation of the book of Revelation is one of four approaches to understanding the prophecies of Revelation…The basic premise of the futurist viewpoint is that the majority of the prophecies in Revelation still await a future, literal fulfillment. This view of interpreting Revelation is very popular today, particularly among dispensationalists. It is the method used by the authors of the bestselling Left Behind series. Those who hold this view generally believe that everything after Revelation 3 will be fulfilled in the future.” (https://www.gotquestions.org/futurist-Revelation.html)

Within DF, you’ll find the peculiar variety that attracted me as a kid who loved science fiction. Because the belief is that the Church will suffer a world-wide, all encompassing persectution during which Satan attempts to destroy all Christians. Its duration is divided into three arguments: Pre-Tribulation, during which the Church would be Raptured or “taken up”, and NOT suffer at all. This point of view is based on a single Bible verse: 1 Thessalonians 4:17. Other arguments are that the Church would be taken from Earth DURING the Tribulation (mid-Trib); where the Chuch will suffer for 3.5 years then be Raptured; or Post Trib, during which the Church will suffer for seven years, then the survivors be released without suffering death.

This is eeriely similar to what Thanos did to half of all life in the Universe. With a snap of his fingers, all suffering of those released was stopped – though if you were in the Quantum Universe, you’d apparently survive unscathed.

Before, during, or after a period of suffering, Christian Eschatology sees a huge war between the powers of Good and Evil. In AVENGERS: ENDGAME, the battle comes at the very end of the movie. The remaining, battered, broken, and hurting Avengers and their allies, stand before the numberless throngs of Thanos’ minions.

Then the Lost return, albeit through Magical Portals, including all of the vanished of Earth’s Greatest Heroes – including Spiderman, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and others, equally dear and valued. These heroes engage the armies of Thanos (which also include a High Priest as well as various other generals and monsters).

When the head Archangel Michael…er…Captain Marvel, returns with her God-like powers from protecting the Rest of the Universe, she arrives with Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, as well as Salathiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Jeremiel, to effortlessly slaughter the minions of Thanos/Satan. Together, they not only VANQUISH the forces of Thanos/Satan, but Tony Stark/Iron Man, snaps his fingers to destroy Thanos and his army. He has given his life for the lives of the rest of the UNIVERSE and dies from the irreversible damage the Infinity Stones cause to his body.

Please don’t get me wrong – I LOVE the movies in the Marvel Universe (like everyone I have my favorites!), but Infinity War and Endgame are by far and a long shot my favorites – partly because I can see my own beliefs in the end times in the stories. The movies NEVER fail to bring me to tears when the wreath remembering Tony Stark/Iron Man is pushed out into the pond at the farm he and Pepper Pott had retreated to parent their little girl.

But where some may be thinking that it’s great story telling and a fine ending to a great story line, I AM SEEING the end of the universe as we know it and the defeat of NOT just a guy with an ugly face who claims, “I am inevitable!”, by a guy in a rocket-powered, self important, sometime jerk…

I am seeing the defeat of the one who claimed he was master of the universe, the one who tricked the universe away from Humanity (and however many OTHER sapient peoples Satan tricked); and, who was saved from destruction by the true Son of God, who like Tony Stark, gave his life to redeem the universe from evil, but lived a life a bit more...HOLY than Tony ever thought of doing.

Inspiration: Re-watch of AVENGERS: Endgame

Image: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.polygon.com%2F2018%2F6%2F29%2F17380862%2Favengers-4-title-release-date-trailer&psig=AOvVaw3rKMuxcjdlN_5sgx6g7unS&ust=1730785555189000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBQQjRxqFwoTCMCV3eT8wYkDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAYS: Spider-Man: No Way Home, Men In Black 3, Guardians of the Galaxy 2...and Other Tear-Jerkers…

On October 7, 2007, I started this blog. Sixteen years later, I am revising and doing some different things with my blog. 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, the oldest of which just became a teenager. 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.

Do you find yourself tearing up or weeping uncontrollably whenever you watch Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Back To The Future Trilogy, AVENGERS: Infinity War, and Men In Black 3?

No? It’s only me?

Maybe if I just explain a bit, you’ll recall the time you found yourself crying during these emotionally charged movies and you’ll agree with me!

OK, I’m starting with Spider-Man: No Way Home (herewith: NWH) because my wife and I just finished watching it. First of all, we all know that Peter Parker is a young man with no real male role-model left in his life. His mom and dad were killed (mostly in a plane crash, though sometimes murdered) and he was raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. In NWH, we find three versions of Peter who show up in HIS universe via Ned creating multidimensional portals and them hopping through. Their meeting is convenient at first, until they start “sharing” and they all find out they’ve lost someone important to them. (PS: Apparently ALL the Spider-Mans in this movie are weepy, too). But the scene that gets to me is the very end when they all say “Goodbye” to each other Peter NWH knowing what’s coming. He tells Doctor Strange that he wants EVERYONE to forget that Spider-Man is Peter Parker, and the look Strange gives him – and the understanding on Peter NWH’s face make me weep harder, until I’m using my hanky to wipe my eyes.

In Men in Black 3 (MIB3), J (Will Smith) has been bitter his entire life because he grew up without a father. Sadly, the reason I never questioned this is because I fell prey to the “Black Father” meme – that “all black men are bad fathers and leave their families”. While patently NOT true, if you ask honest White people, they’ll usually admit that they’ve subconsciously bought into the lie.

It's so insidious that even J has bought into it.

MIB3 wouldn’t work if anyone watching it assumes that J’s dad is gone for the same reason we all think we know…What none of us THINK is that J’s dad, Colonel James Darrell Edwards Jr. died a hero, protecting his country. When J witnesses that, realizes that HE was the little boy that K neuralizes…I weep.

In the Back-To-the-Future Trilogy (BTTFT), Marty McFly’s dad is a spineless, fawning twerp whom NOBODY, not even Marty can respect. Instead, Marty has latched onto Doc Brown as a father figure and willingly follows him through alternate timelines (sensing a pattern here yet?) – and helps him fix the past, present and future that MARTY screwed up by creating a terrified by BRAVE George (his dad) and altering the timeline. He and Doc spend the rest of the first and the next three fixing the timeline…

The place where I find myself weeping every time is when Marty tries to keep Doc Brown from being murdered by the “Libyan terrorists”…but fails, even AFTER stealing the De Laurean and working so hard to fix everything. He sees Doc gunned down and runs up to the (bloodlessly) dead Doc Brown and break down, weeping. As I do…then Doc wakes up, show Marty his Kevlar vest, and shrugs off the slight tweak to the timelines…of course, saving Doc Brown from being murdered by Mad Dog Tannen merely changes the PERSON who dies. Horrified, Doc Brown sets out to save Marty…

In Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (GG2), Quill thinks he’s found his father, and has!

The problem is that his father is a psychopathic god who only wanted a child so he could create another creature that was half himself. The purpose of that, is to get his DNA and then recreate himself forever…or something stupid like that. Yondu, the alien with the head fin, who both told him the only reason he kept Quinn around was because he “was a runt and could get into small places” and constantly kept Peter in terror by threatening to eat him”. What we eventually find out is that Yondu saved Quill from certain death when he found out about Ego siring children on every sapient life form in the known universe, then murdering the resulting, “disappointing” child when they proved they didn’t carry his “god genes”. When he realizes the truth, he honors Yondu as his true father.

Lastly, there’s the relationship between Tony Stark and Spider-Man H: and this is one that BOTH of them became a true father and son team. Stark’s father, while he DID have strong feelings about Tony, was totally incapable of sharing them with his SON. He had no trouble sharing those feelings with the adult Tony when they shared a “two-men-whose-wives-were-expecting” moment in the past. Nor did he have any trouble sharing those feelings on a movie made about his “vision” of the future of humanity – but ending with “I built [Stark Expo] for you…it represents a whole lot more than people's inventions…one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is, and will always be, my greatest creation…is you.” Tony’s need to repair his relationship with his father was IMPOSSIBLE TO DO as his father was long dead by the time he found the film.

Spider-Man H/Peter Parker H was in desperate need of a strong father figure. The two of them were a match made in Heaven – or the Multiverse (feel free to choose according to your belief system!) And it worked. Tony Stark turned Stark Industries over to a much more caring and responsible Peter Parker H; and he saved the world by using the Infinity Stones he snatched from Thanos to putting it back to a time BEFORE Thanos had eliminated half of all life in the UNIVERSE…

That cost him his life, but he was almost happy to pay the price. He certainly “won over the Woman”, and he certainly received a son’s adoration from Peter Parker H. When he dies at the end of Infinity War…I cry every time.

So, there you go! Everything you need to know!

“Excuse me?” I listen, then reflect the question back to the Asker, “You still don’t know why I’m the one who weeps at all of these scenes?” (and I’m sure I’ve missed many others). I nod, then reply, “I was hoping that you hadn’t noticed me dodge that bullet.” Listen, then nod sagely, “I suppose I DO owe you that.” I purse my lips, breathe in deeply through my nose, release the breath slowly, conjure up a stool, sit and say:

My relationship with my own father AS SEEN BY ME was fraught. I was born when Mom and Dad didn’t have much money, and after mom quit (it WAS after all, 1957) to stay home and “raise the children”, Dad go another job. He was a general laborer, who’s someone in the construction job site hierarchy whose rank is virtually 0, with 10 being the Site Supervisor (aka The Suit In The Hard Hat). He needed another job to feed his growing family, so he worked oil changing and “whatever” at a local, NON-Chain garage (Tony’s, if you must know). He bowled in the winter, played softball in the summer, and all-in-all, put food on the table in the Best Of Times, and did scab work (non-Union carpentry) when we had to use food stamps in the Worst Of Times.

He didn’t seem to have much time for me; and as I loathed organized sports (after a DISASTROUS attempt at Little League Baseball when I was seven: I was always the right fielder (as it was the position that saw the least action). Remember the scenes in MEET THE ROBINSON’S when Goob (Michael Yagoobian) plays baseball, drops the catch in the Championship Game? That was me at 7…only our team wasn’t that great – and I was the worst of them. Even the coach was disparaging.

I’m pretty sure Dad was embarrassed. I have a picture of me at about two years. Mom and Dad had dressed me up in a baby-sized football helmet, shoulder pads, and put a football in my hands. Scrawled on the back in my mom’s feminine script are the words, “No interest at all!” Yep. Those words might as well have been tattooed on my forehead. My dad had played basketball and football; brother #1: football, hockey (school, traveling, college with scholarship), baseball; brother #2: (choir) football, hockey, track and field (State Record shot-putter); sister: ?, volleyball, softball, Mom: college fencing (!!!).

Me? Reading; just call me a square peg in a round hole.

Near the end, Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and because I was closest physically, much of the day-to-day contact with Mom and Dad fell to me. No problem, but by then, my feelings of animosity toward my dad was pretty much a hard shell. I find myself wishing all these movies were about Dad and me reconciling...but by the end, he hardly knew me, and I was exhausted.

And then, to add insult to injury, I NEVER had a substitute Dad…no male figure ever tucked me under his wing and made certain I was being nurtured and was genuinely interested in whatever it was I was doing. I became very bitter – and I’m quite certain some psychologist would find a goldmine of various and sundry psychological neuroses, etc. to dig up and confront me with and prescribe treatment. But the fact is that I’m not interested because I’ve found my own comfort.

Besides those I note above, IMDb lists some 1300 “sci-fi, father-son relationship” movies. If you drop the sci-fi, the number LEAPS to over 21,000. I’m clearly NOT the only person who has experienced and tried to reconcile this relationship. When I type in, “sci-fi, father-son reconciliation”, I get 70 hits…of which, three are sci-fi (two are actually horror), and one episode of an old TV show…and then the list repeats the 35 selections again to give a nice 70…FWIW, none of the entries are the movies above…

So, why did I write all of this? It’s all fantasy, right? I all of a sudden realized that
I’ve been looking for a reconciliation with my father most of my life. He died of complications of Alzheimer’s five years ago, so there’s no chance that I’ll EVER reconcile in reality, but now I understand why, when I see that happening in movies – and I react with grief.

Now that I know that, perhaps what I’ll start doing is WRITING my way into reconciliation by focusing my narrative on creating those kinds of stories. The kinds of stories I'd LIKE to see…

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_and_Mary_Parker#:~:text=Richard%20and%20Mary%20Parker%20appear,Uncle%20Ben%20and%20Aunt%20May's.,
Image: https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/two-old-men-exchange-a-brotherly-hug-picture-id156894368?s=612x612

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 648

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: “The Space Whale Aesop suggests a real, viable course of action ("don't perform nuclear tests") by presenting fantastic consequences ("radiation from the tests will awaken a giant monster that destroys Tokyo") instead of a more realistic but not quite as dramatic example ("it can burn whole buildings if someone is careless"). Overlaps with Gaia's Vengeance if the intended message is an environmental one, which it often is.”

Recentt Event: Earth Day April 22, 2024

Paraskeui Russo pursed her lips and said, “Everyone’s positive this is a safe test?” She wasn’t one of the science staff overseeing the test of a fast reentry vehicle. In fact, she wasn’t even out of high school yet, but after she won second place in a contest that was supposed to provide a near-instantaneous evacuation of Space Station Courage.

Mychajlo Dąbrowski shook his head and said, “They wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t safe.” It was his project they were testing. His was the First Place Winner. Not that this was exactly what he’d proposed. His idea had been to make a bunch of reentry pods from waste-metal, melted and inflated with pressurized waste CO2. The rapid expansion of the gas would have cooled it, cooling the bubble. Cutting a doorway, outfitting it with a rebreathing mechanism, then coating all of them with melt from the asteroid smelter orbiting a bit higher that SS Courage. They could be tethered anywhere, everywhere.

Para shook her head, “Lots of scientists thought fission was a safe idea.”

Mych grunted. The contest was supposed be an innovative solution that would prevent an incident like the Sindikat Rossiyskikh Soyuznikov Space Station Muzhestvo – which had been badly holed and there hadn’t been enough life pods to save more than a hundred of the five hundred people who lived there. “No argument from me.”

Para looked at him, surprised. “You agree with me?”

Mych shook his head and hissed. “Watch! They’re launching.”

She scowled, but turned her full attention to the viewscreens. Instead of waste-metal bubbles, the Combined Forces part of the station had taken Mych’s idea and left out the rebreathers – those could be snatched while evacuating – and replaced them with variable explosives. Now called Situationally Designed ReEntry Shrapnel – SiDeReES or Sidereez – the things were being live tested today.

The first cluster of what looked like a large bunch of silver grapes was drifting out of orbit, headed down to Earth. They disappeared from sight. The window shivered and a sensor image replaced it. The capsules had started to glow red. Even as they did, the alarms in the space station suddenly began to shrill and wall panels began to glow red, fade, then glow red again. Station Command came over the public address, saying, “All crew please report to emergency stations. All others report to your emergency gathering points. This is not a drill.” The voice went on to repeat.

Para looked at Mych and said, “What do you think’s happening?”

Mych’s eyes bugged wide. She turned to look at the screen. He said, “The planet – something’s happening.”

First a hole appeared to open abruptly in the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Then it widened into a gap, for all the world like a mouth opening. Where the nose would have been on a face, were the Hawaiian Islands. They were fiery pustules in the ocean that spread to engulf the entire chain, spewing lava into the water that boiled into steam. The Sidereez fell toward the mouth. For whatever reason, water was no longer pouring into the mouth-like crevasse. Simultaneously, it appeared that volcanoes had erupted in northern Mexico and on the Russian Syndicated Federation’s side of the Bering Strait.

Para blinked and whispered, “It looks like a face...” Space Station Courage shivered.

The voice said, “All personnel report to evacuation pods immediately. All personnel report…”

That voice cut off and another took its place, low, resonant, but definitely female. It was just definitely not Human and spoke words that neither teen had ever heard before. Mych said, “She’s speaking Russian.”

“Not Russian, Greek,” Para said. They looked at each other, then grabbed hands and ran to an evac pod, a few dozen meters from where they’d been watching. The station shivered, loud groans echoing down hallways whose pressure doors could no longer shut because the frames were no longer true.

The voice of the planet sounded, no matter what language they heard, like an immense Humpback Whale singing as it said, “Enough is enough...”

Names: ♀ Greece, Italy; ♂ Ukraine, Poland
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

SLICE OF PIE: MARTIAN HOLIDAY: Another Layer of Latent…

I’ve written a number of times about C. S. Lewis’ quote regarding Christian writers creating works in which their beliefs are latent rather than blatant:

http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/flashicle-4-writing-longer-short.html 

 http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2010/03/possibly-irritating-essays-latent.html 

 http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2010/02/pie-dragons-and-christians-and.html   http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2007/09/christianity-disappears-in-space-ii.html 

http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2009/07/slice-of-pie-why-do-we-need-christian.html (Until this moment, I didn’t realize just HOW many times I’d written on the subject...

At any rate, today it occurred to me abruptly that any philosophy might be promulgated in this way. In fact, several writers whose work I enjoy immensely and whom I respect use the methodology of injecting their specific belief systems into their writing without “preaching”. Few writers do more than latently promote their ideology; though some do so more blatantly. In fact, Christian writers who try to write science fiction and fantasy and other speculative fiction “with a message”, might learn a thing or two from writers who simply allow their beliefs to permeate their work.

The examples below are single phrases in much larger novels and while they pitch a particular philosophical viewpoint, they don’t hammer the belief, either.

Frank Herbert, DUNE: “When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.” – from “Muad’Dib: The Ninety-Nine Wonders of the Universe” by Princess Irulan (p 408)

Anne McCaffrey, DRAGONSDAWN: “‘We may not be religious in the archaic meaning of the word, but it makes good sense to give worker and beast one day’s rest,’ Emily stated in the second of the mass meetings. ‘The old Judean Bible used by some of the old religious sects on Earth contained a great many commonsensical suggestions for an agricultural society, and some moral and ethical traditions which are worthy of retention, she held up her hand, smiling benignly – ‘but without any hint of fanatic adherence. We left that back on Earth along with war!’” (p 112)

Lois McMaster Bujold, BARRAYAR: “The two shall be made one flesh. How literal that ancient pious mouthing had turned out to be.” (p 474)

Carl Sagan, CONTACT: “But imagine that your kind of god – omnipotent, omniscient, compassionate – really wanted to leave a record for future generations, to make his existence unmistakable to, say, the remote descendants of Moses. It’s easy, trivial. Just a few enigmatic phrases, and some fierce commandments that they be passed on unchanged…Such as ‘The Sun is a star.’” (p 136)

Jack McDevitt, ODYSSEY: “‘It can be a major loss, Mac,’ [Valya] said, finally. ‘There are times when you need to be able to believe in a higher power, or you can’t make it through.’…[Mac replied], ‘Maybe. But the notion that we need a higher power, that’s more a human failing than a reflection of reality. The universe pays no attention to what we need. Truth is what it is, and the inconveniences it might cause us don’t change anything.’” (p 203)

David Weber, OFF ARMAGEDDON REEF: (I’ve commented on his work at length here: http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/slice-of-pie-by-schism-rent-asunder.html )

It's been a long time since I thought about how I can, as a Christian share my faith without coming across as mean-spirited, superior, and anything that Jesus WASN'T (since 2010, so...fourteen years have passed) while writing a true science fiction novel. I need to learn from the masters – only a few phrases can share your faith and get the Word into the hearts and minds of unbelievers who might be seeking life in Christ without even knowing it.

I finished my novel, MARTIAN HOLIDAY (serialized here over a period of several years), and completed about a year ago...and submitted almost two months ago. I sent it first to Christian speculative fiction publisher ENCLAVE PUBLISHING  (https://www.enclavepublishing.com/), who sent it back without comment seven weeks later...

So, I sent it to a secular publisher -- and I'm waiting to see what they think. I'll keep you posted here, though it may take a YEAR before I hear anything at all. Then again, that's the way it IS in publishing.

I'm going to dig back into the book, which is overtly Christian, though without preaching too much. But like I've been doing lately, I wonder if I made a comment or statement in the book that might summarize my own faith and the evangelical intent of the book...

I'll let you know if I find it!

Image: https://www.englishcathedrals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Exeter-Mars-Photo-c-Dave-Parry-Press-Association-P.jpg

IDEA ON TUESDAY 647

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: adaptational heroism
Current Event: “Throughout this work, we advance four primary ideas: (a)The concept of heroism is a way to unify several types of courageous or brave actions that have largely been treated independently in the literature to date; (b) that the simple presence of risk accompanying prosocial behavior is not enoughto define heroism; (c) heroism is viewed as distinct from otherprosocial activities, such as compassion and altruism (and may represent an entirely different behavior); and (d) that while heroism is primarily a positive and prosocial act, a simplistic view of this behavior misses important (and sometimes negative) aspects of the phenomenon.” (http://www.scribd.com/doc/161425346/A-Conceptual-Analysis-and-Differentiation-Between-Heroic-Action-and-Altruism)

Altered Definition: This idea originally meant that when people write scripts of books, they make the main character BETTER than they really were. No doubt – in the HP books, H himself is a jerk. They maintained that pretty much in the movies, but he STILL came across as “wunderkind”. I interpreted this to mean that a normal person will become a hero under the correct set of circumstances: to win the girl, save his parents, get the golden fleece, whatever. It takes a really good writer to create a situation and character in which the character even CAN become a hero…

“My baby sister tells me you can help us find Carlos,” Carmita Rodriguez Cruz said. Her eyes narrowed, “She’d better be right.”

Austin Ventura remembered then that she was also taking kickboxing lessons – and that his best friend was missing. “I’m not sure exactly where he is. I just know that there are certain places he’s likely to be.” He dared, “We’re in probability together. You do the math.”

She scowled darkly at him, but didn’t contradict him.

Score one, he said to himself.

Paulina Rodriguez Cruz, sister to Los Traviesos Gemelos, said, “Quit flirting, you two! Carlos has been kidnapped and we have to rescue him!”

Austin exclaimed, “I’m not flirting!”

Looking at him, Carmita said, “She’s right, A-man.” Looking at Paulina, she said, “¿Qué te hace pensar que fue secuestrado?”

“I have another question for you, dear sister – what would he be doing out in the middle of the night, by himself, without telling one of the three of us? Aren’t those enough reasons?”

“The bigger question is why would anyone kidnap him,” said Austin.

Carmita bristled, “Just ‘cause he’s not rich like you, doesn’t mean that there’s no reason to kidnap him!”

“You two have to cut it out! Carlos may need us out there!” Carmita and Austin looked at each other then looked away, hanging their heads. “You both know that Carlos is a better person than all three of us put together.”

Austin felt a chill run up his spine. He said, “What would that have to do with kidnapping?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. It just…felt right. Don’t you think?”

He grimaced as a chilly breeze blew from across the parking lot, chasing bits and pieces of leaves and paper over to them. “Much as I know about him, I have to say I agree.”

“What do you mean?” Carmita said. “I’m his twin. I’m just as good as him!”

“Better,” Austin said.

“What?”

“You’re better than him in everything. It’s like when you guys were conceived, you sucked all the talent out of him. You got everything.” Carmita was glaring at him. He added slowly, “You got everything except his good heart.” She opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it. Austin said, “You look like los peces de colores loco.”

“A crazy goldfish?” she echoed, puzzled.

“Yep. You ever seen one?”

“No.”

“Sure you have. Someone who’s locked up and can’t do a single thing – and if they don’t start moving, it’s gonna drive ‘em crazy.”

Paulina said, “Fits you like a glove, Cabroncita.”

Carmita snorted and said, “Let’s get going.” She tossed her gigantic purse over her shoulder, “A-man, we’re gonna need your car.”

Source: http://www.remezcla.com/2012/latin/top-5-latino-halloween-legends-and-monsters/ -- Carlos’ kidnapper #1? (http://able2know.org/topic/26631-1)

Names: ♂ Mexico, Mexico; ♂ Minnesota, Italy (= “baby in the woods”, “foundling”); ♀ Spanish form of French name ‘Paul’
Image: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51niGRrH6DL.jpg

MINING THE ASTEROIDS Part 25: “Rez Ex of the Drones vs the Brigands of Space” (currently under submission)

Initially, I started this series because of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…HOWEVER, as time passed, I knew that this was a subject I was going to explore because it interests me…

“…Rura Penthe was said to be an ‘asteroid archipelago’ in the script for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, though the same screenplay otherwise treated it as a single asteroid (with two references to things being ‘on Rura Penthe’) and dialogue in the film also established Rura Penthe as a single asteroid.”

George Zebrowski: “It is the twenty-first century. Convicts are sentenced to asteroids that move in ever-widening solar orbits, timed to return when their terms run out. But a few ambitious administrators discover that small ‘errors’ in velocity can rid them of selected groups altogether: the hardcore violent, the mentally defective, and especially the political dissidents. Enduring the black vise of interstellar space-time, these human rejects--men and women mixed together--create their own Darwinian societies, struggling to survive. Back on Earth, a handful of sympathetic and curious scientists have not forgotten these lost citizens. When a technological breakthrough makes it possible to overtake these scattered asteroids, a courageous team sets out to go where none has willingly gone before. What they discover in these ‘brute orbits’ is both provocative and moving--a startling vision of humanity you will never forget.

So, my idea for making prisons out of asteroids isn’t new; but then, in the Bible, it’s written in Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What has been, it is what will be, And what has been done, it is what will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.”

What am I bringing new to the concept in my short story, “Rez Ex of the Space Drones vs the Brigands of Space”?

Couple things: My prisoners are trained (one might say “brutally”) with the intent of creating a team who will not JUST serve their time, but create something of value for (supposedly “all of Humanity”, but in reality, some corporation that has invested in the infrastructure of an asteroid with the ability to house the prisoners, mine identified minerals, and make a profit – while offering anyone who survives and behaves themselves WHILE making money for the company, will receive a pardon, as well as the opportunity to work-for-pay for the company and leave behind a crowded Earth and become among the first citizens of Sol…)

Of COURSE not everything goes as planned – either with the prisoners OR the mining; and the possibilities of wealth for the plucking without having to WORK for it is too much for some.

Now – notice I called the villains of my story “brigands” rather than “pirates” – which seems to be a normal way of naming the individuals who plunder the loot from others who came by the valuables at LEAST in an approved, criminal-prisoners-sort-of-way…

But why the change? Because of the definitions:

Pirate:
1) “a person who attacks and robs ships at sea.”
2) “a person who appropriates or reproduces the work of another for profit without permission, usually in contravention of patent or copyright.”

3) “rob or plunder (a ship).”

Brigand:
1) “a member of a gang that ambushes and robs people in forests and mountains.”

While neither one of the definitions is really accurate, brigand is the one that fits most of the facts best: “a gang”, and “mountains”. As far as pirates, there is no “sea (implying liquid water)” in space, the second isn’t appropriate (usually and certainly not in this story) because intellectual property isn’t part of the story at all, and again, while they might technically be plundering a “ship”, ships are generally understood to be on liquid water somewhere (though the argument could be made that a vehicle carrying people and their equipment in space COULD be called a “ship”, though just as easily, it could be called a wagon train or a dump truck, or even a “mobile mine”…

I’ve decided to call my erstwhile and stereotypical “pirates”, BRIGANDS instead.

Of COURSE, to keep the story moving, my “bad guys” act like stereotypical “pirates” who lived and worked in the Caribbean. However, Wikipedia notes: “Brigandage is the life and practice of highway (the orbit of an asteroid could certainly correctly be described as being on a “highway” around the Sun) robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who is typically part of a gang and lives by pillage and robbery. (my bad guys/gals are CERTAINLY a gang who are attempting to create a new job by pillaging and robbing orbiting asteroid mines).

“The word brigand entered English as brigant via French from Italian as early as 1400. Under the laws of war, soldiers acting on their own recognizance without operating in chain of command are brigands, liable to be tried under civilian laws as common criminals. However, on occasions brigands are not mere malefactors, but may be rebels against a state or union perceived as the enemy.”

I find that this is enough for today; but NOT all I have to say!

Today’s Source:
Foundational Resource: (A general Wikipedia post detailing what the authors currently know about asteroid mining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining)
Noted Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth, https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_7fcd3ea5-3c14-533f-a8d5-9bf629922f34.html, https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/04/29/like-asteroid-mining-be-careful-what-you-wish-for/, https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/learn/historyculture/theroadtothefirstflight.htm, https://hackaday.com/2019/03/27/extraterrestrial-excavation-digging-holes-on-other-worlds/, https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/every-small-worlds-mission 

Image: https://everydayastronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/Post-Launch-Reviews/CNSA/Long-March-2C_Xinhua-1200x800.jpeg

IDEAS ON TUESDAY 646

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: Fantasy that is an “Appeal to a pastoral ideal: Much genre fantasy, of all genres, appeals to the pastoral ideal…There are some fantasies, however, which…deliberately take the opposite stance...”
Current Event: http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/asia/china-pika-magic-rabbit-new-risk/

Wú Méi Hé pursed her lips and shook her head, saying, “This is bad.”

Sūn Wén, her partner and sometime boyfriend, grunted and said, “So you say.”

Wii, as her friends called her, said, “How can incorporating ancient magical rites into what’s supposed to be a computer-controlled irrigation system be a bad thing?”

Sunny, as her friends insisted on calling him, shrugged. “It just makes things twice as hard. First they’re learning how the system works, then they have to learn antiquated rituals that will only slow things down.”

Wii stood up straight, peering through the heavy security glass. “This is the latter part of the Twenty-first Century, the whole point of the Central Party’s Future Program is to catapult us over the pathetic remnants of the American technological and educational edifice and prove once and for all…”

Sunny rolled his eyes and turned away, “I’m a member of the Communist Party just like you are. We’re ahead of the Americans; after being behind the Americans; after being ahead of the Egyptians; after being behind the Egyptians...”

“Stop already! I get your point. We’re finally a 21st Century people. The religious rituals they want to perform have all the significance of Santa Claus does to American post-Christians.”

Sunny hummed, then said, “I’m not sure the rituals are as insignificant as you think they are.”

She turned on him. “That’s absurd! What makes you think…”

He lifted his chin and said, “It may have something to do with that…um…thing growing over the substation.” She spun back to the window in time to see a cloud of brown-laced storm cloud forming the vague shape of a Chinese magic-rabbit...

Names: ♀ China (woman martial arts); ♂ Guangdong, China

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

JAX LUNAR LUMBER Chapter 8: The Deposing of a Cheat and Swindler and A Man Named Brad...

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.

The grandkids pushed them aside and went to Roza, gently taking her hands and leading her past Sturdlan Vilbix, ignoring them.

As they did, every piece of spy equipment Turdland’s people had brought had its electronics and quantum circuits scrambled. Turdland shouted, “Hey!” and they found themselves alone – and in the flesh without the Image Enhancement Field surrounding them.

I was startled to see “they” were a “he” with blaze orange hair, coiffed into something they’d called a beehive in the 1960s – the grandkids’ great great grandmother had worn one just like it, but brunette instead of orange. It wasn’t really flattering on either Studland’s real or virtual face.

They stood looking like a pretty ordinary early-forties-with-no-life-extension-procedures person with a slightly crooked nose, the skin damage caused by acne just under his eyes, and a remarkable five-feet-eleven-inches (1.8 meters for a small slice of Earth) of non-height, and I said, “Nice to finally meet the unenhanced you, Brad.”

His eyes bugged, he looked wildly around him, seeing his monster-multiple-sense-recording drones and sputtered. “You’ve destroyed a billion credits of…”

“We didn’t destroy anything, Brad. It’s all been deactivated and gently dropped to the lunar surface. The grandkids – two of whom are twenty-nine-year-old-Earth-standard and so are legal chaperones to your superstar.”

“She’s not ‘my’ superstar! She belongs to all of…”

I tapped my Fourfold cellphone and it unfolded into a laptop screen and lit. “According to this, while you do indeed release her artistic output to the rest of the System you both do so solely to,” I glanced down to read it precisely, “ ‘consumers who can appreciate the brilliance of ‘Roza Rymbayeva Golovkin, Six-Times-Great-Granddaughter Of The Last Walker’ and have been rigorously cleared by the RRGSTGGOTSLW Corporation’ – which, my grandkids’ diggerprograms inform me consists entirely of yourself.”

A dark, raging anger burbled to the surface, darkening the person’s face. Their arms twitched and they looked surprised. They twitched harder, then stomped a foot. Their visage darkened even more and they leaned closer to me and breathed, “I can still kill you with my unenhanced muscles. I was once…”

“A fake MMA champion. Yeah, Natalie was quick to find that because her father was a REAL MMA competitor when he legitimately served in Combined Forces back in the day.”

“I served…”

I cut them off, “Beers. At a really…how can I put this diplomatically?” I paused, “Let’s just say that your bartending license was as fake as all of your other licenses. So, lets skip the rest of your empty threats…”

“I’ll show YOU EMPTY!” They twitched and then froze in place.” I could still see their muscles pulling against the restraint-field the grands had thrown up around him.

“You know, Brad, I’m gonna give you exactly one time to make this all right. You’re going to give Rosa back her life – and that includes ownership of all her music that is currently funding your not only greedy lifestyle but a lifestyle astoundingly debauched depraved, and corrupt, reminding me of a politician from the early 21st century who ran for a high office a couple times. Now, I’m going to release the field around your head. You can respond, but before you start cussing me out, I’d like you to remind you that we have all of the records you’ve tampered with, as well as how you’ve set up the dispersal of fees and investments so that most go to you and a fraction goes to Rosa. You can still manage her fame – which appears to have been the case before you got greedy.” Brad’s face grew red. “Hmmm…maybe you do have a conscience that might be shocked back to life. We’ll see. I expect to hear two words from you. Those words are, ‘I accept’. If those are not the words I hear, the AI is recording this entire encounter and will broadcast this event to our lawyers – as well as several lawyers you have retained in various places both normal and amazingly corrupt. Also, in the event you totally lose it, this encounter will instantly be broadcast live to several live feeds – and instantaneously translated into forty-three languages. Am I clear?” Brad’s eyes had nearly bugged out of their sockets. “I expect two words from your mouth. If it’s more than that, all of this as well as your records and passwords will be broadcast to anywhere Humans are listening.”

I grinned at him. I waited. The grands were waiting too. Probably Natalie – who had just finished her training as a sergeant in the Solar Marines – was a specialist. It wasn’t clear exactly what she’d specialized in, but I don’t dig that deeply into my kids or grandkids’ lives.

I waited a bit longer then opened my mouth…

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://external-preview.redd.it/xL2Y2UHb2B0JN5P162FShQfxqCTYNuOp3WEYxdF86j4.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=6955074e421a5e98c69b2da35179a3a91faa5662

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 645

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: Intelligent Robots
Current Event: This Arizona wildfire was predicted to go down in history as the Third Largest in that state. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43290922/ns/weather/ If it continues much longer, it may well go down as the second largest – maybe even the biggest one ever. They’ll bring in everything to stop it. Eventually, there will be robots – not humanoid ones like in I, Robot, but more like water, fire and chemical squirting tanks. Or possibly like the robots above. Of course, they’ll have to have a certain amount of autonomy. So what happens to them after the fire?

“The fire was a decade ago! Everything should be fine!” said Ismat Hassan.

“I’m not worried about the fire. This was one of the first sites that ever used an entirely robotic firefighter team,” said Mohini Jyotsana.

“Whad’ya mean?”

She rolled her eyes, “Do you EVER do anything but watch racing and car part Youtubes?”

“Yeah,” he said, sullen.

“Right. If you did, you’d know that they started using robotic firefighters like “RS1-T2 Thermite, the initial firefighting robot; unveiled in 2012 and based on technology created for the U.S. Army. These robots are, technologically speaking, distant descendants of those, and were deployed in the Western Drought Fires of 2027.”

“Oh, yeah, the year Climate Change almost…”

“It wasn’t Climate Change – that’s massive and happens over periods of thousands of years: this was pure Human stupidity – California doesn’t EVER clear brush, and idiots toss cigarettes wherever they feel like it and figure ‘the government’ will take care of all that stupid stuff. Their job is to eat, drink, and then eat some more, watch Youtubes, and blame someone or something else besides their relentless pursuit of laziness and self-pleasure…”

Ismat was staring at her and finally said, “No, tell me how you REALLY feel.”

“2027 was the first year Californians deployed entirely robotic firefighters.”

Ismat shook his head. “Sounds like using wild robotic firefighters was the stupid part!”

Mohini studied him for a moment then nodding, said, “It might just have been one of the dumbest things we’ve ever done.”

Ismat blinked several times before he could say, “You’re agreeing with me?”

She looked at the edge of the fire through her binoculars, then readjusted her chest microphone and called down the LiveTV drone. When it was buzzing as it hovered in front of her, she said, “This is Mohini Jyotsana reporting at the edge of the Western Drought Fire near East Los Angeles where I just witnessed the recently deployed robotic firefighter squadron lighting fires…”

Names: ♀Korea, Near-east ; ♂ India, Rapper
Source: https://online.eou.edu/resources/article/future-of-firefighting-firefighting-robots/
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