PLUS: I’ve been searching my writing lately to find our WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY.
PLUS: Humans will live in society and while it’s clear societies change, we seem to think that all the things we dislike most will vanish – because somehow, OUR vision of a perfect world is the ONLY one and EXCLUDES anyone who would disagree with us…(read: “me”)…
In the skies of River, a story developed that had a weird and at the same time FAMILIAR milieu…mining on the Iron Range and what that wrought from its heyday and what it left behind when the iron was mined, corporations moved on the strip mine OTHER societies, and people were left standing mute in the wreckage of worthless piles of rock and poisonous taconite tailings…
I wrote to the editor of a website I stumbled on during my research and found LOTS of soil for my imaginary world!
In the skies of River, a story developed that had a weird and at the same time FAMILIAR milieu…mining on the Iron Range and what that wrought from its heyday and what it left behind when the iron was mined, corporations moved on the strip mine OTHER societies, and people were left standing mute in the wreckage of worthless piles of rock and poisonous taconite tailings…
I wrote to the editor of a website I stumbled on during my research and found LOTS of soil for my imaginary world!
“To the Current Editor of the Minnesota Reformer:
“I'm retired and a writer now, and while building a society that lives in the skies of a gas giant in another star system far from the Solar System, I started to think of what it was that formed the foundation of the society in this remote place that supplies the "universe at large" with gases and compounds birthed from the skies of the planet River.
“I realized the kind of place in my science fiction story would have some similarities to the Iron Range.
“So, I wanted to delve into the motivations of the kind of people who would move to and live in such a far-off place, and work under such challenging conditions as those of the iron mines. In my imaginary world, they are also divided into two very different societies. I read Aaron Brown's essay and suddenly realized I had a much better view of the humans who were living in this very alien world and in sometime conflict with a wealthier, more stable part of their world — and living with tensions very similar to those I saw around C-I between the Range and the Cities.”
OK – lots of introduction for a simple idea. While River is an imaginary gas giant, it has a plethora of abundant lifeforms both naturally adapted to it, and lifeforms that Humans have engineered to live in the skies of River. In this story, called (at the moment!) "Hunting For DNA”, the main character is a young adult who has discovered a friend who has interests aligned with his own – which is to get a SOLID sample of the DNA of a natural denizen of River called a “hookhunter” that feeds on much smaller creatures called bobbing shrimp. He wants better sample because there are rumors that the DNA of the hookhunters contains genes that may be infinitely cloneable – in other words, it may create tissue that is immortal.
So, his “girlfriend” Murri is excited to help him. Unbeknownst to HIM, she’s not as interested in getting samples of hookhunter DNA as she is in getting samples of HIS DNA…because she’s been hired to do so because Gordon himself is an artificially structured Human. His dads know. Murri knows.
He doesn’t.
All good, right? But I’d only put a TINY bit of research into developing the society that Gordon, Murri, his dads, the hookhunters and the bobbing shrimp…and several dozen OTHER lifeforms and characters I’ve developed…live in.
And now, all of a sudden, based on memories and reading I’ve done on the interaction of the Iron Range and the Twin Cities…I have the society of a world slowly coming into focus…
I’ve meandered enough for now. Expect more later!
Today’s Source: https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/09/28/the-humbling-of-giants-the-rise-and-decline-of-the-iron-range-essay/
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
Interesting Stuff The Might Apply To Mining Asteroids: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgej7gzg8l0o
“I'm retired and a writer now, and while building a society that lives in the skies of a gas giant in another star system far from the Solar System, I started to think of what it was that formed the foundation of the society in this remote place that supplies the "universe at large" with gases and compounds birthed from the skies of the planet River.
“I realized the kind of place in my science fiction story would have some similarities to the Iron Range.
“So, I wanted to delve into the motivations of the kind of people who would move to and live in such a far-off place, and work under such challenging conditions as those of the iron mines. In my imaginary world, they are also divided into two very different societies. I read Aaron Brown's essay and suddenly realized I had a much better view of the humans who were living in this very alien world and in sometime conflict with a wealthier, more stable part of their world — and living with tensions very similar to those I saw around C-I between the Range and the Cities.”
OK – lots of introduction for a simple idea. While River is an imaginary gas giant, it has a plethora of abundant lifeforms both naturally adapted to it, and lifeforms that Humans have engineered to live in the skies of River. In this story, called (at the moment!) "Hunting For DNA”, the main character is a young adult who has discovered a friend who has interests aligned with his own – which is to get a SOLID sample of the DNA of a natural denizen of River called a “hookhunter” that feeds on much smaller creatures called bobbing shrimp. He wants better sample because there are rumors that the DNA of the hookhunters contains genes that may be infinitely cloneable – in other words, it may create tissue that is immortal.
So, his “girlfriend” Murri is excited to help him. Unbeknownst to HIM, she’s not as interested in getting samples of hookhunter DNA as she is in getting samples of HIS DNA…because she’s been hired to do so because Gordon himself is an artificially structured Human. His dads know. Murri knows.
He doesn’t.
All good, right? But I’d only put a TINY bit of research into developing the society that Gordon, Murri, his dads, the hookhunters and the bobbing shrimp…and several dozen OTHER lifeforms and characters I’ve developed…live in.
And now, all of a sudden, based on memories and reading I’ve done on the interaction of the Iron Range and the Twin Cities…I have the society of a world slowly coming into focus…
I’ve meandered enough for now. Expect more later!
Today’s Source: https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/09/28/the-humbling-of-giants-the-rise-and-decline-of-the-iron-range-essay/
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
Interesting Stuff The Might Apply To Mining Asteroids: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgej7gzg8l0o
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