I cannot quite explain the complex mix of emotions I have –
I’m thrilled that they are embarking on a new adventure. I’m terrified that my
grandchildren will forget me the way I forgot my grandfather. (All I can bring
up of him is a black and white picture of him sitting at the desk of his job at
a pipe fitting company. I don’t remember anything else...) I’m proud that my
son – along with his family – are serving the country
As is often the case when I am confused, I turn to writing.
Do any science fiction books have the theme of
“leaving”.
Huh…as I never asked the question before, I never noticed
how profoundly the idea was woven into
the fabric of science fiction.
From Jules Verne’s FROM EARTH TO THE MOON in 1865, to Robert
A Heinlein’s PODKAYNE OF MARS and HAVE SPACESUIT: WILL TRAVEL, through David Gerrold’s
DINGILIAD books, and arriving in the present at Neal Stephenson’s much
anticipated novel, SEVENEVES (which I haven’t read yet) in which, “The world is
ending, and the human race makes a desperate effort to get some survivors off
the planet. Five thousand years later, the descendants of humanity are divided
into seven different races, all of which decide to pay a visit to the old
homeworld.”
Frank Herbert’s DUNE, “...the world's best-selling science
fiction novel”, begins with a leaving that would have completely altered the
storyline if it hadn’t happened, “In the week before their departure to Arrakis,
when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an
old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul. It was a warm night at
Castle Caladan, and the ancient pile of stone that had served the Atreides
family as home for twenty-six generations bore that cooled-sweat feeling it
acquired before a change in the weather.”
I don’t think I’ve ever written a story about “leaving”,
though I clearly began to think about it recently as this line of a story I
wrote – and am agonizing over whether or not an editor’s directions to “shorten
it” are right or not – shows:
From: “Prince of Blood and Spit”“The other man was panting when he finally said, ‘I don’t have to do anything except get you to thumb the contract. Then we’re free of each other.’
“‘What if I have other plans? What if I want to leave, too?’
“‘Where would you go? That stupid university thing? You’ll never get in! That kind of education’s for Pure Humans! You’ve got a life here!’”
In fact, I notice that I’ve been writing more about leaving
lately...
All of this, in this short Slice of PIE, is to shove you
into examining how your life events come out in your writing. Whether you
believe they do or not, our minds are powerful things. They often work without
our conscious volition and clearly, since I found out “my kitlets” were
leaving, my deepest heart and mind have started to churn out fiction along the
same lines as my concern.
Have I produced a solution to my grief at saying goodbye, or
do I need to recognize – like all of the works I cited above – that to leave is
to leap into a new adventure. HOWEVER…these stories are all about the “leavers”.
I’m going to need to find stories about the “ones who stayed behind” and how
they dealt with it.
Anyone have any books they’ve read that deal with the “ones
who stayed behind”?
If they are NOT there, then I guess I have my work cut out
for me!
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