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.
Change of pace for a bit – I’m going to
look at elements of EXTREMELY popular SF, F, and H; break them apart and use
each element as a jumping off point for a story idea…
Popular Science
Fiction Story/Series: Dune
SF Trope: complex
planetary ecology
Current Event: “large-scale
carbon capture and sequestration projects” (http://cleantechnica.com/2014/01/20/gore-rejects-geoengineering-climate-change-panacea/),
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/jul/18/iron-sea-carbon
Logan Andrist frowned
and said, “What do you mean they’re going to dump iron into the lake?”
Nkokoyanga Pomodimo,
far from her land-locked home in the Central African Republic held tight to the
railing of the re-purposed iron ore freighter – a laker – as it dipped down
into the swells of Lake Superior. She said, speaking loudly over the rushing
wind around them, “The iron will cause algae to grow wildly. As they grow they
need more carbon dioxide. As they suck up the CO2, they store the resulting
carbon-rich sugars and then keep it when they die and sink to the bottom of
Superior...”
“I know what
carbon sequestering is! I’m a limnology major...”
She shook her
head in the wild winds and shouted, “This is glorious! Feeling Gaia beneath
your feet is the most...”
“Wouldn’t that
technically be Poseidon? Besides, who gave them permission to do this?”
She turned to
catch his gaze and he recognized her crazy, angry look as she cried back, “Who
gave all you rich white colonialists the right to pollute and rape our world?”
He didn’t want
to shout. What he really wanted to do was kiss her right then and there in the
cold spray from the Lake – but he didn’t want a broken face, so he shouted, “I
didn’t do any of that! Why are you yelling at me?”
“I’m not yelling
at you,” she shouted. “I’m yelling TO you!”
“What’s that,”
the nose of the laker dove deep, nearly flooding the deck and driving a
mountain of spray over them. The water was frigid despite the hot August sun
burning down on them through breaks in the scudding clouds. He wiped his face
clear of water and finished, “Supposed to mean?”
“You’re not to
blame, old friend, but you are responsible! That’s why the captain of this tub
is an old white man!”
“Professor Buddlorem’s
driving the ship? We have to go save all of our lives!” Logan let go of the
railing; Nkokoyanga grabbed him and pulled him tight.
“The computer is
doing most of the driving! He’s just
playing captain!”
Logan eyed her
warily the said, “How are we supposed to get all this iron into Lake Superior?”
‘Ko’ grinned and
shouted, “Now that’s the tricky part!”
Names: ♀ Central
African Republic, Gbaya; ♂ Minnesota, Minnesota
Image:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykDo-R6Yw75cRKGffe0IF1oqO3s1vMcf2jDqaklsEi2ClAzz0_yaqONY0Fn0ghvOpZyV3xTNrilpaZ9rz0UTdma5Kwg-Lu7w_bMY3D56dA0WBlVU8NYKBfG5axn48-vJRDjZBBQm8T7ou/s400/edmund-fitzgerald1.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment