POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY: Can I, a BOFWHIG, Craft a Meaningful Bildungsroman Novel with a BIPOC Main Character?

Using the Programme Guide of the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, ConZEALAND (The First Virtual World Science Fiction Convention), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. I will be using the events to drive me to distraction or revelation – as the case may be. The link is provided below where this appeared on Saturday, August 1, 2020 at 1700 hours (aka 5:00 pm).

                                                    Becoming a Grown-up: the Bildungsroman in Stories for Young People
Stories for younger readers are often about turning into an adult. Bildungsroman is the story of a sensitive teenager leaving home, finding internal strength, and becoming a mature adult. What are some examples of Bildungsromans? Is the story structure a cliché now?

Alison Evans: Author
Kalin M. Nenov: Panelist
Christine Taylor-Butler: Author
Farah Mendlesohn: Moderator

Let’s just start at the beginning: WHAT THE HECK IS A BILDUNGSROMAN?????

Bil·dungs·ro·man: noun, “a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education”

OK, so why don’t you just SAY that?

The Bild…you know what it is! From now on, I’m just typing Bild! Anyway, Wiki says it’s basically a “coming of age story”.

So, why don’t they say that? Because it’s got nuances that, apparently, are important. Again, Wiki: “Bild is…characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features. The term coming-of-age novel is sometimes used interchangeably with Bildungsroman, but its use is usually wider and less technical.” Apparently, the German philosopher, Goethe invented it in 1795-96 with the novel, “Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship”. The “coming of age” novel been around forever, usually in standard YA form, but there are some exceptions that have invaded the speculative fiction field. Novels such as DUNE, THE WIZARD OF EARTHSEA, and ENDER’S GAME are all considered Bild. But WRINKLE IN TIME, UGLIES (Scott Westerfeld), THE HOUSE OF SCORPION (Nancy Farmer), THE AMBER SPYGLASS (Philip Pullman), and others of that ilk, including, of course THE GIVER, and from ancient times, the Heinlein Juveniles (I’m reading HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL at the moment) – these are considered “coming of age” books, though (apparently) not Bild.

OK…hmmm. These are the kinds of stories I LOVE trying to write (I say trying, because I haven’t had many of this type published; possibly for the same reason that the genre appears to have died out a bit since the latter part of the 20th Century. Derek Künsken’s new book, THE HOUSE OF STYX. I read it in its ANALOG Science Fiction & Fact publication, I would definitely consider it a novel of Bildungsroman.

What is it that makes a book Bild or Coming Of Age?

Let’s compare the definitions of the two words:

Bild: “…characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features…a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood…in which character change is important…”

COA literature: “tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action, and are often set in the past…The plot points of coming of age stories are usually emotional changes within the character.”

Those define the type of literature, but the EVENT is the same. The “Coming-of-age”, is defined as: “… a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult…The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual or spiritual event, as practiced by many societies. In the past, and in some societies today, such a change is associated with the age of puberty…In others, it is associated with an age of religious responsibility…in western societies, modern legal conventions which stipulate…17-21 when [people are]…no longer considered minors and…granted the… rights and responsibilities of an adult)…In either case, many cultures retain ceremonies to confirm the coming of age...”

OK – so we have it. I don’t think the story needs to take a LITERAL number of years to complete the COA cycle. Going over my records, it seems that I’ve pretty much stopped writing this kind of story. Of my own attempts at Bild/COA, only one is currently in submission, the rest are aging. Of the published pieces, by far the best is “Invoking Fire”, which you’ll find here: http://theworkandworksheetsofguystewart.blogspot.com/search/label/Invoking%20Fire (Originally published in the defunct online PERIHELION MAGAZINE).

In it, my main character, Na’Rodney Jones Castillo-Vargas Daylight Hatshepsut lost his Mom and brother in a Toronto, Quebec separatist terrorist’s bomb attack. Dad had been unable to deal with the agony and dropped Na’Rodney off at G’Uncle Bruce’s care and vanished. G’Uncle has just perished in a massive fire. G’Uncle however, was fairly sure Na’Rodney would outlive him and had set up a mission. This is actually the first chapter of my next novel, once HEIRS is published (which is a different story altogether), and I’m excited to work on it. (Actually, this is the first time I’ve realized that INVOKING FIRE is my next novel once I finish MARTIAN HOLIDAY, and a true bildungsroman!)

He is tasked with delivering hard copy books, one of which is a “first edition” of the Gutenberg Bible, to the Erg of Bilma, in the middle of Sahara, where a coalition of African nations has constructed the Library of the Information Apocalypse. It’s long, involved, and it’s a “journey novel”. Na’Rodney is joined by his “brother” Payne, a victim of Childhood Disintegrative Disorder which has whittled him down from a smart, sassy pre-adolescent to a twelve-year-old-sized toddler. And there’s Angelique Mary Ozaawindib, G’Uncle’s assistant, sometime housekeeper, and a permanent pain is his backside, Angelique's parents had died in a car crash, though she’d declared her independence from them when she was sixteen because they were, in her words, “failed crack-chemists and everything that that implied”.

The focus of the novel is that Family, no matter how crazy, is everything to Na’Rodney…it’s just that he never expected to have to create his own in the middle of the Information Apocalypse…

To write THAT novel, I need to call on the wisdom of Nisi Shawl & Cynthia Ward (https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/02/possibly-not-irritating-essay-other.html) to make certain I write this well and correctly. But I NEED to write this novel. It’s been bugging me for a long time. So, I guess, when the time is right, I’ll finish what I started.

All in all, I think I would have loved to attend this session.

Program Book: https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/conzealand/en/conzealand/schedule
Image: https://www.deviantart.com/chrisostrowski/art/The-Great-Library-597339967

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 485

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: Planetary/Interplanetary Romance
Current Event: (not immediately current, but… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Nowak)

Sergey Akinpelu shook his head, saying, “Dad, you can’t just go there and talk to her!”

Still climbing on to his electric motorcycle, Sergey’s dad slipped his helmet on his head. “You think I can’t do what I please?”

“It’s not that, Dad! The rocket’s surrounded by soldiers. I don’t want you to get shot.”

Dad cinched the helmet tightly under his chin and said, “They will not shoot me. I love her.” Sergey glared at his dad as he lowered the solar cell umbrella and pushed it into the place where there’d once been a gas tank. Thumbing the ignition, he added, “My love for her is not like that of her previous husband.”

“Five husbands, Dad! The lady married five guys and she dumped all of them!”

“She will not ‘dump’ me. You will see.” He throttled the cycle up and rode away.

Ceeiab Saliguero, Sergey’s best friend and ex-girlfriend, said, “What’s your dad think he’s going to use to win captain Ansari’s love?”

Sergey snorted, “His sex appeal?”

Ceeiab laughed and shook her head. “Are you gonna go after him?”

Sergey frowned. He’d never really thought of it that way. If Dad got shot trying to get into the PAVATAR – the newest Plastic Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace TrAnspoRtation – sent up to the growing International Space Station, then he’d inherit everything. He snorted again and said, “Inheriting all of nothing is still nothing.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Listen, would you lock up the house? I gotta follow Dad and make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.”

“Now there’s my boy!” Ceeiab said with cheery sarcasm. Sergey flipped her off and hopped on his own motorcycle. It started with a bit more of growl than Dad’s toy had. Sergey had modified it based on the research he’d done for his virtual science class. Mr. Bondar was excited about what he’d found out about the new 3DacLion (three dimensional anode-cathode Lithium ion [http://www.extremetech.com/computing/153614-new-lithium-ion-battery-design-thats-2000-times-more-powerful-recharges-1000-times-faster]) battery Sergey had…

He yanked his thoughts away from physics. It was a place he’d retreated more and more lately. He had to find Dad.

He took a few shortcuts Dad would never think of and reached Stonesand Airport before him. It was surrounded both by a three meter tall cyclone fence and a new-generation pain generator field. He sniffed. That was easy enough to overcome, the essential idea being the same as deflecting a sneeze by pressing the upper lip. Except that he used damp, twisted fiberglass draped over a nearby suitably conductive surface. He’d tested it once to meet a girl who worked at the port. He glanced down the face of the fence toward the gate.

His father rolled up, but Sergey was staring through the fence. In the center of the landing strip was thick-bodied rocket on landing pads. On top of the rocket was the rotund, winged PAVATAR passenger vehicle. Tomorrow it would be packed with twenty people submerged in hyper-oxygenated sky-gel against acceleration, hunger, and fear of lift-off and spaceflight.

Gunshots and screams from the gate made him turn abruptly...

Names: ♀ Hmong, Brazilian; ♂ Russia, Nigeria
Image: https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/49956692363_f73a7a6a69_k.jpg

WRITING ADVICE: Creating Alien Aliens, Part 6: The Horrible Alien as a HERO!?!?

In September of 2007, I started this blog with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together they write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors, publishers, columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got enough publications now that I can share some of the things I did “right”.

While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the professional writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

Part 1: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/01/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 2: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/02/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens-part.html
Part 3: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/02/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens.html
Part 4: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/04/slice-of-pie-creating-alien-aliens-part.html
Part 5: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2020/09/writing-advice-creating-alien-aliens.html

Being a Human, how can I POSSIBLY think like an alien? I mean, except for a few forays into the possibility of Humans as “prey”, I can’t think of a huge number of SF writers who have really, truly tried to think like an alien and the write a story from an alien point of view.

One problem with doing such a thing is that – Why would I want to read about an alien that was so different I couldn’t possibly connect with it in any way. Writing such a story would fly directly in the face of Lisa Cron’s foundational paradigm, “We're wired to turn to story to teach us the way of the world.”

If we are in fact biologically wired that way, then how can we possibly read a story that would catch our attention if it was written from a truly alien point of view? It wouldn’t meet the needs of our neural wiring.

The other day, I posted the following Tweet: ( https://twitter.com/gstewart75 “David Brin took time to develop the personality of dolphins in his UPLIFT books…has anyone ever tried to imagine what it would be like to be an intelligent colony of Ichneumonidae?”

What are the Ichneumonidae? Short and sweet. Parasitic wasps, who lay their eggs in living insects (NOT Humans like in the movie “Aliens”! The wasps are where THEY got the idea for the “Aliens” from.)

There are more species in this group of wasps than there are and you can find them anywhere on Earth except for Antarctica. They’ve been around for a zillion years, laying their eggs inside or on the skin of the immature stages of countless insects and spiders. They are a major source of “help” for the constant Human battle against insects to keep them away from our food. They are typically solitary insects, and make no nests or colonies of their own. However, they take over colony space once they’ve eaten all the original residents, or the previous residents abandon it.

They aren’t particularly attached to the eggs they lay, either. Once they inject an egg into a host, they include a polydnavirus that suppresses the immune systems of their host insects so the egg can grow unmolested.

There’s also this creepy tidbit: “Various ichneumonoids are used as biological control agents in controlling horticultural or forest pests. An example is the relationship between the species Ichneumon eumerus and its host butterfly Phengaris rebeli. The butterfly larva is a parasite within Myrmica ant nests. The adult wasp searches for ant nests and only enters when they contain the caterpillars. Once inside, they oviposit within the caterpillars and escape the nest by releasing a chemical which causes the worker ants to fight each other rather than the intruding wasp. The wasp eggs then hatch inside the caterpillar and eventually consume and kill the host.”

So, these horrible, “Alien” monsters that have entered our lexicon of “weird and horrifying” monsters, in the case of the Myrmica ants, are SAVIORS. Do they welcome the marauding Ichneumon with open arms (or legs…or wings as they case may be)? Not at all! The wasp has to release some chemical to keep the ants from hunting it down and killing it – it’s beneficence would be repaid with execution if the wasp didn’t have a magical protection, making it invisible to the ants…

How different would “Alien” have been if instead of showing up to prey on Humans, it was SAVING us from the giant starship pilots?

I’ve always assumed they were defenseless, helpless spacefarers, just like the crew of the Nostromo! What if they were invading Human space and were about to make Humans into tasty kabobs and steaks?

We don’t know, because that wasn’t supposed to be the intent of the movie. The intent was: “They wanted to follow through on Star Wars, and they wanted to follow through fast, and the only spaceship script they had sitting on their desk was Alien.” So, no deep interest in commenting on the state of Humanity. 

No intent on reflecting on the kinds of thoughts an alien hive mind might have (though technically, Ichneumonidae are NOT a hive mind. They are solitary insects.) Even so, they are strange; they are scary; and they justified saliva rivers of GIGANTIC creepy-crawlies whose sole purpose was, of course, to eat Humans…

But let’s play it out with the Aliens as the heroes.

For the large part, you can’t have them suddenly be intelligent, though the parasitic wasps are indeed independent to an extent. They DO have the behaviors that allow them to create a home for more than a single wasp; they are known to both take over abandoned nests or to simply dig in, eat part of a tree branch and set up housekeeping.

How much difference is there between the Alien and their parasitic wasp ancestors? It might be like comparing Humans with a tarsier (“haplorrhine primates of the family Tarsiidae…the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes…all of its species living today are found on a few islands of Southeast Asia…”)

So, let’s move on. We have an individualistic alien civilization descended from parasitic wasps, made up of barely related individuals. There are no family units to speak of, though with technology, I’m sure they’ve identified some sort of useful connections. Those are fleeting and brought up only to gain something.

There are no queens, kings, presidents, or hulking Empire or Free-wheeling Federation of any sort of government that we would recognize. So, how have they become space-faring? They CAN cooperate, just as the Ichneumonidae do. They can create cities, but they don’t HAVE relations…except, perhaps with their PREY…certainly kinds of prey are varied based on the species; certainly some prey is larger and can have numerous eggs laid on them like the image above. Would the hatchlings, after competing for the food, form bonds? Could intelligent wasps then CHOOSE which eggs would be laid on which hosts in order to create possibilities for relationships that they really have little control over? Would it be a chaotic society without a leader?

What if the biological imperative for them was to seek out the Marauders, the giant aliens who seek to devour civilizations. And what if the Marauders were adorable Bears…” The Wasps found a ship of Marauders and attacked, laying wasp eggs in some of the immature forms of the Marauders. The newly hatched would then thwart the invasion…

Now set up “Alien” in such a situation. Of COURSE Humans have no idea who the Marauders or the Bears are.

They don’t know what WE are, either – especially a small crew aboard a wandering ship. The set up might be the same, but as some smart Humans and a smart young Alien communicate, Humans learn that the Wasps are only working to protect Humans from the first wave of the Marauders…in THIS story, the Wasps (aka “Aliens”) aid Humanity…maybe we form a relationship with THEM. Maybe an egg laid in a Human confers some understanding in the hatched young Wasp? What if people, ones with terminal diseases, could CHOOSE to host a Wasp knowing that their death would ultimately protect Humanity from the Marauders…

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichneumonoidea, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film), https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials_images/1c_archives/beneficial-04A-GCMGA14623_braconid_wasp.jpg
Image: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e2/43/35/e24335741a6c49a7bf071fc6d6633fe1.jpg,
https://carminerodi.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/alien-08.jpg?w=515&h=345,

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 484

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: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BarredFromTheAfterlife
Current Event: “…theorize that the nuclear war destroyed the afterlife…”, “…some people...have studied and manipulated The Dark to such an extent that they've become functionally immortal…”
Functional immortality: “Research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age, and that older lobsters may be more fertile than younger lobsters. This longevity may be due to telomerase, an enzyme that repairs long repetitive sections of DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes, referred to as telomeres. Telomerase is expressed by most vertebrates during embryonic stages but is generally absent from adult stages of life. However, unlike vertebrates, lobsters express telomerase as adults through most tissue, which has been suggested to be related to their longevity. Despite internet memes, lobsters are not immortal. Lobsters grow by molting which needs a lot of energy and the larger the shell the more energy, eventually the lobster dies from exhaustion during a molt. Older lobsters are known to stop molting which means the shell will become damaged, infected, or fall apart and they die.”

Juana de Forlán shook herself hard, took a deep breath and said, “I can feel the synthetic lobster juice in me…”

Shaking his head, Koegathe Melamu, “You can’t possibly feel a hundred milliliters of a transparent liquid in your...”

“I know that!” Juana exclaimed. She shook her arms, “My head knows it, but my body says otherwise.” She took a deep breath, shuddering. “I feel like I’m getting younger by the moment.”

“It’s not an elixir of youth! If it worked the way we thought it should, the telomerase will let your cells keep dividing – more or less forever. But it’s not going to make you younger.”

She held out both of her hands, palms up, and said, “Might as well. I’m gonna live forever!”

Koegathe shook his head, saying, “Maybe – but we have no idea what the long-term effects of living forever as a lobster might be.” They both laughed, but after a few minutes, Koegathe reigned his mirth in when he noticed the pitch of his voice had been climbing. He took a deep breath then said, “Maybe that wasn’t as funny as it sounded.”

She shrugged, suddenly feeling light-headed.

"What's wrong?" Koegathe said, stepping toward her.

"I think I'm going to..." It seemed like the world around her rushed into a single dot of focused, bright light. Everything else was dark around her. The point of light remained steady for some time -- she wasn't sure how long because her *-sense of time was abruptly gone. Then the light moved toward her. She might have been moving toward the light. It didn't make any difference. It might have taken time. It might have happened instantaneously, she had no idea.

Once the light grew around her, she found herself standing on solid ground of pearly white. In a throne of the same pearly substance, there sat a being. She knew that it was Death. There was certainly some kind of harvest implement laying on the ground beside the throne, though it looked more like a silver weed whacker. Death didn't wear a robe, it -- he? -- wore solid work clothes, more or less like a technician in a computer manufacturing plant, though he didn't have a mask or gloves. He did have protective goggles pushed up on his head. Black, well-trimmed, wavy hair made it look like he was wearing a cap. The name badge clipped to his collar read, "Greaper".

"Cute," Juana said. "You're the Grim Reaper?" She rolled her eyes as only a young woman who grew up in the booming first two decades of the 21st Century could.

He lifted a leg to drape it over the arm of the throne and said, "You've presented me with a problem I've never faced before, young lady."

"What?"

"You're dying -- but you are functionally immortal -- and I have no idea what to do with you."

Names: ♀ Uruguay; ♂ Botswana

Image: https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg

Slice of PIE: Alien Worlds and the Technology to Live There

Using the Programme Guide of the 2020 World Science Fiction Convention, ConZEALAND (The First Virtual World Science Fiction Convention), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. I will be using the events to drive me to distraction or revelation – as the case may be. The link is provided below where this appeared on Friday, July 31, 2020 at 1400 hours (aka 2:00 pm).

Engineering and the Human Conquest of Hostile Environments: Design for a Space Mission (up close and personal)

All you need to know about space and interplanetary exploration bottled for easy consumption for writers, space fans and DIY space vehicle construction (don't try this at home folks). A walk through the speaker's experience working on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn & Titan in designing an experiment that had to survive the journey, and then the harsh conditions on the surface of Titan. Then, what are the environmental constraints and engineering imperatives for Venusian colonization imposed by the environment?

Mark English: writer, ex-astrophysicist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn as experiment designer/developer and other real-life space missions.
Douglas Van Belle, Ph.D: Senior lecturer, writer

As a science teacher for the past 40 years, I would have LOVED this session!

Also, I figure one of the participants HAD to have been Derek Künsken, whose novel HOUSE OF STYX appeared first in ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact, and will be published as a hardcover in April 2021 – he MUST have been there! His novel is incredibly real and intersectional in that the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination such as racism, sexism, and classism intersect (combine, overlap) in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.

Künsken didn’t interest himself in ONLY the physical aspects of Venus and its exploration and colonization, but also in the people who were the colonists. His approach to the Venus is far, far beyond that of, say CS Lewis, Edgar Rice Burroughs or even Ben Bova. The problem of course, is that our understanding of extreme Solar system environments change daily. Even in my work in progress, I have to read constantly to know what “current” is on Mars; and when or if it’s published, the data will be dreadfully out of date!

Maybe that’s the biggest problem faced by those who are trying to make plans for landing on the surfaces of the various bits of flotsam and jetsam.

In my River Universe, Humans have had experience exploring Jupiter – but the engineering here is biological. The Confluence of Humanity has essentially no taboo on the genetic engineering of Humans. But, giving free reign for science to do whatever it feels it should do, has given rise to a backlash. The Empire of Man has become an empire of hard technology and to a divide between levels of genetic engineering. If you are more that 65 percent Original Human DNA (as defined by the first results of the Human Genome Project in 2003), you are legally Human. If you are NOT 65% or more, you are NOT entitled to the protections and laws of Humanity.

At any rate, I think that this was supposed to be about engineering for survival in brutal environments. Think: the surface of the Moon. It’s airless, lightless (half the time), and the temperature variation swings from 127 C to -173 C a swing of some 300 degrees. How do you not only dress an astronaut for that, but design MACHINERY for that?

Let’s try the more hospitable Mars: temperature variation there is 138 degree swing. Venus? A 188 degree swing – but both of these planets have atmosphere. You’re talking something entirely different if you want to look at survival in raw space.

How can you design stuff to work reliably under conditions that are so far outside of those needed to sustain Human life? Well, apparently, that’s what scientists and engineers are trying to do. I even ran an essay about how we’ve yet to actually CONQUER the oceans on Earth – we can’t even survive well on three fourths of our HOME WORLD! How can we expect to survive on alien worlds? (https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2018/03/slice-of-pie-exploring-solar-system.html)

How would you design a rover for Venus? We’ve sent rovers to the Moon, Mars, and even dropped probes to the surfaces of comets and Titan, one of the Moons of Saturn. Obviously sending Humans to any of those targets would be an entirely different challenge, but engineers are going to need to do it. So, what would a surface probe of Venus look like? Most scientists figure that such an undertaking would be impossible! How could we possibly design anything that would survive those conditions? The heat and pressure alone would destroy anything we made and dropped down to the surface. The RECORD for the survival of Human engineering is 127 minutes for the Russian Venera 13 lander.

Most Venus-explorer types insist that surface exploration is moot. We will need to explore with balloons set adrift in the high atmosphere and perhaps drop gliders…

What if we genetically engineered creatures like, say squirrels or bats or something else we could armor and then let them fly in huge swarms? Hmmm…excuse me while I go work on an idea!

Program Book: https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/conzealand/en/conzealand/schedule
Image: https://spectrum.ieee.org/image/MjkzNzA1MQ.jpeg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 483

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: “Euhemerism – a rationalizing method of interpretation, which treats mythological accounts as a reflection of historical events, or mythological characters as historical personages but which were shaped, exaggerated or altered by retelling and traditional mores”
Current Event: http://etyman.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/euhemerism-juhim%C9%99%CB%8Cr%C9%AAz%C9%99m/, http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/ships/id233.html

Austin Jake Byme shook the water from his blazing red hair, pushing it back with both hands. He’d have to cut it if he wanted to disappear – he’d be identified by his locks for sure, thief that they thought he was. Footsteps on the planks of the stern wheeler IRON MOUNTAIN sent him scurrying back along the sides of the boat and ducked into an open aft door just before the paddle wheel as it strained for a moment, then with a massive groan, began to turn, pushing the boat away from the dock and the copper who’d been chasing him.

The hold was packed with bags of flour and crates of supplies. From the roof hung the cured carcasses of pigs and cow. Chickens scurried out from under his feet, clucking sleepily as he slipped behind a crate, wedging himself into the space. He was asleep in a moment, shivering a bit as the darkness brought up the cool, Mississippi mists.

He woke in the deep darkness to the sound of the creak of a plank and the cluck of a chicken. Immediately aware, he pulled his legs tight to his chest as quietly as possible. The carcasses began to swing together, rhythmically and the panes of glass in the windows rattled in their frames. There was a sudden flash of light and the temperature in the hold dropped. A moment later, a voice said, “I know you’re in here, Master Byme, wedged between the wall and a crate, thinking I’m some sort of ghost.” Austin squirmed. The voice said, “And you’ve no idea who I am, but I’ll tell you when you come out.”

Austin blinked in amazement then slid forward, to his hands and knees then rose up. Pins and needle ran up and down and he caught himself on the leg of a pig. He said, “Who are you?”

The person stood in deep shadow, though Austin could see his legs. Dark material, the pants with pockets though he wore no coat. He stepped into the light. Wearing a waist-length under shirt and nought else, he stepped again and Austin started. The voice belonged to a boy, perhaps a few years older than himself. His head was haloed in hair so red it seemed to glow. Austin said again, “Who are you?”

“Your great-great-grandson from the early 22nd Century.”

“What?”

“That’s funny, your autobiography didn’t mention that you went deaf at the end of the 19th Century.”

“My autobiography?”

“Yeah. It was great reading, and I’m not here to kill you and change the future.”

“What?”

The other boy snorted and said, “HG Well’s THE TIME MACHINE won’t be published for another twenty-three years.”

“Who’s HG Wells?”

“Jules Verne?”

“Oh! FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH! Those are…”

“I know. Your favorites. But neither of them has anything to say about what I just did.”

“You built a time machine?”

The other boy snorted and said, “Not exactly, but sort of.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He cleared his throat and said, “My name’s Jake Austin.”

“That’s my...”

“I said I was your great-great-grandson! There’s proof if you’re wondering about it.”

“It’s not that…it’s just that…”

The planks beneath their feet lurched, throwing both boys backward...

Names: ♂ America, Ireland
Image:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jp

WRITING ADVICE: Short Stories – Advice and Observation #8: Michael F. Flynn “& Me”

In this feature, I’ll be looking at “advice” for writing short stories – not from me, but from other short story writers. In speculative fiction, “short” has very carefully delineated categories: “The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America specifies word lengths for each category of its Nebula award categories by word count; Novel 40,000 words or over; Novella 17,500 to 39,999 words; Novelette 7,500 to 17,499 words; Short story under 7,500 words.”

I’m going to use advice from people who, in addition to writing novels, have also spent plenty of time “interning” with short stories. While most of them are speculative fiction writers, I’ll also be looking at plain, old, effective short story writers. The advice will be in the form of one or several quotes off of which I’ll jump and connect it with my own writing experience. While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do most of the professional writers...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!

All advice is taken from Mr. Flynn’s blog, the link is below in References. Without further ado, short story observations by Michael F. Flynn – with a few from myself…

One of my all-time favorite authors is Michael Flynn. I’ve read most of his books, lots of his short stories, and I KNOW that he writes well. He’s been nominated for most of science fictions awards 86 times, he’s won eighteen times 11 different awards, including the first Heinlein Award, a Locus Award, a Prometheus Award, a Sidewise Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award, and a Seiun. He’s been nominated for a Nebula twice, a Hugo nine times, and the John W. Campbell Award (recently renamed the ASTOUNDING Award) once.

I’d like to quote a few things he says about writing short stories as well as tossing in my two cents as well (or FIVE cents if we get rid of pennies soon…)

“No one will read your story if it isn’t interesting. So one of the first problems of a fiction writer is to make his story interesting. It must be interesting to the writer (else he will not complete it) and it must be interesting to the reader…A story usually presents either a Decision to be Made or a Problem to be Solved.”

That’s an interesting thought. Hmmm…let me look at my most recent professional publications:

STUPEFYING STORIES Blog November 2020 – an article about a Problem
ANALOG SF Nov/Dec 2019 "Kamsahamnida, America" – short story about a Decision
NEBULA TALES MAGAZINE -- Sept 2019 "Cockroach, Gecko..." – short story about a Problem
ANALOG SF Sept/Oct 2019 "Road Veterinarian" – novelette about a Problem

OK – so usually I write problem stories. ANALOG seems to lend itself to the “Problem” type of story. It would make sense as Michael Flynn is a popular ANALOG writer.

How about my works in progress?

“A Quantum Echo at Taconite Harbor” – definitely a problem story…
“Cuyuna” – a problem plus a decision, though not on the part of the main character
“The Murder of Auto Tech #472369” – mystery – so a problem, but in the end a decision also

Flynn, who often writes subtle, thoughtful humor, talks a bit about getting a reader’s attention: “Now, if arresting the reader’s attention were the only quality for a title, every story would be entitled ‘Secret Sex Lives of Famous People’ or perhaps Bimbos of the Death Sun [Note: Sharyn Crumb, a multiple-award-winning mystery writer, DID write this book! Tongue in cheek. Nevertheless...] Indeed, William Sanders once quipped about a certain publisher that he was the sort who would change the title of the Bible to War Gods of the Desert. Michael Swanwick writes that the title ‘should suggest that something really interesting is happening in the story.’ The simplest way to do this is with a title that captures the essence of the story.”

I like “Quantum Echo”, though “Ghostly Echo” might be more intriguing. “Cuyuna” doesn’t interest me at all. The third story has the word “Murder”…that’s obviously interesting! Some of my other stories that sold? “Whey Station” – it was supposed to be a joke, by the same token, I have someone who says they’re a Hollywood producer interested in it…

Possibly the best story title I’ve ever written out of the following: “Warning! Warning!”, “Firestorm!”, “The Penguin Whisperer”, “Dear Hunter”, and “Road Veterinarian” was probably “Firestorm!”, an historical fiction story about the Great Hinckley Fire of 1895. “Road Veterinarian” was second, and “Dear Hunter” probably third. So I’m not TOO bad with writing story titles.

Then we come to the crux of the matter. Flynn wrote a post with the title, “Can a Plot Become Obsolete?” (here – warning: it’s a LONG read! http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/05/can-plot-become-obsolete.html#more).

There was a long, long list of “kinds” of stories. I was completely intrigued, and you can see my thoughts further down in the comments section. I (of course) picked the most difficult type of story. The end result was a story I LOVE. I’ve been looking for a market for it for some time and may have found one.

A sort of side note? I’ve changed the title of that story three times: “Into the Deaths”, “What Fraction Makes a Man?”, and now, the most recent incarnation: “Engineered Monsters”. OK, OK! The first one was sort of a joke; the second an (horrific) stab at being literary, and the third is actually a phrase OUT OF the story, so makes perfectly good sense and is a much more interesting title…so, there you go.

I’ll keep you posted!

References: http://tofspot.blogspot.com/search?q=Short+Stories
Image: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41JNnybcihL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 482

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: Post-cataclysmic rag-tag armies struggle to kick [some bad guy] out of the good ol' US of A
Current Event: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/21/could_north_koreans_invade_america

Salvador Cadenas de la Parras screamed, “¡joda la tierra!”; he also cursed the sky and the very air he breathed. He threw his hat over the cliff and cursed an invisible America two thousand kilometers to the north.

Yomery Kauam smiled, shook her head then laughed, saying, “If only you’d have expressed you passion to the Commander in Chief, you’d be on Haitian and Dominican soil at this moment, smashing through that pestilential wasteland on your way to Florida. Instead, you’re here, throwing your hat over a cliff into the bright morning sun.”

Sal spun around, cursed her, fixing her with as fierce a glare as he could. “I wanted to be there!”

Yomery shook her head, “You didn’t want to be there – you wanted to be a hero with El Presidente’s medallion on your chest and women on your arms.” She gestured to the far-away target. “Invading America today is nothing at all like invading it forty years ago!”

“It’s the same!”

Yomery headed back down the hill. Sal ran after her, grabbed her shoulder. She grabbed his hand, stopped and let gravity and mass work together to flip him over her shoulder. Keep her hand firmly on his wrist, she pulled him back toward herself until he came to a sudden, breathless stop on his back, at her feet. She leaned over, kissed his nose and said, “Let’s talk when you calm down, OK?”

She scramble down the trail, listening carefully to make sure she hadn’t broken anything important on Sal. When she heard him groan and scramble to his feet, she headed to the monitor bunker they’d been sharing since Venezuela had launched its preemptive attack against what had formerly been the glorious US of A. She’d been born there in the Decadent Decade just before the Fizzle. The one-time world power was now reduced to planning invasions of one-time failed countries like Venezuela...

Sal limped up beside her and said, “¿Por qué hizo usted esto?”

She replied in unaccented American English, “Because you tried to bully me.”

“I...I...I...”

“You should practice your English, Sal. We may not be in on the real invasion, but the occupation of America should keep us busy for…oh, the next decade.”

“America might...”

“America’s not going to do anything except surrender.”

He stared at her and said, “Haven’t you ever watched the Mad Max movies?”

“I don’t see what some ancient, flat, American movie...”

“It has everything to do with this whole invasion! We may be strong; we may be brave, but the Americans have corazón profundo.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“They have a deep spirit when they’re forced into a corner.”

She pursed her lips, glanced north in the direction of the legendary “land of the free and the home of the brave” and said, “That may be true, but I’ve heard that El Presidente has a surprise up his sleeve for the Americans.” Sal ran up behind her, reached to grab her arm then jerked his hand back. Without turning around, she said, “Let’s just say that Americans may have a history of resisting oppressors – Brazilians have a history of subverting our oppressors.”

References: http://www.mrqe.com/lists/post-apocalyptic-movies/cinemas-best-to-worst-postapocalyptic-movies
Names: ♀ Venezuela (both); ♂ Venezuela (both)
Image: https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/49956692363_f73a7a6a69_k.jpg