Ask the Author: N.A. Walker
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N.A. Walker
My book actually started with my mind pondering what a generation ship would be like! The novel itself only refers to it in passing, since the action all takes place after Landing on the planet. Twenty planet-years after, actually, which is 16 Earth years. the protagonists are the first people who were born on Imagine, and they are 20 (16) years old when the story starts. They have graduated from their classroom studies and assigned to work placements for on-the-job training.
As for the ship, I imagine a large cylindrical vessel propelled at a constant acceleration of 1 g which gives them artificial gravity. Halfway through the journey they must cut the engines, making everything weightless of course, and rotate the ship 180 degrees. Then the engines cut in again, decelerating, and restoring the 1 g gravity. The central core of the ship is taken up with extensive gardens in artificial light. They must produce all the food and all the oxygen the humans need. And in their leisure hours the people love to walk around among all the plants. The ship is run by a cadre of Officers led by the Captain. All the Colonist have jobs producing all the goods that the colony needs, like food, toothbrushes (3D printed), clothing, etc. The toilets are all composting, and their compost plus vegetation waste provides the soil that all the plants grow in. They are by necessity vegan, since it would be very inefficient to keep animals for food. This means they would be lacking in vitamin B12, so they have a mechanism in which a certain bacteria feed on methane (produced from plant waste) and produce B12. Anyway, that's how it functions in my mind, lol. I have ordered your book and am looking forward to see how you have imagined it!
As for the ship, I imagine a large cylindrical vessel propelled at a constant acceleration of 1 g which gives them artificial gravity. Halfway through the journey they must cut the engines, making everything weightless of course, and rotate the ship 180 degrees. Then the engines cut in again, decelerating, and restoring the 1 g gravity. The central core of the ship is taken up with extensive gardens in artificial light. They must produce all the food and all the oxygen the humans need. And in their leisure hours the people love to walk around among all the plants. The ship is run by a cadre of Officers led by the Captain. All the Colonist have jobs producing all the goods that the colony needs, like food, toothbrushes (3D printed), clothing, etc. The toilets are all composting, and their compost plus vegetation waste provides the soil that all the plants grow in. They are by necessity vegan, since it would be very inefficient to keep animals for food. This means they would be lacking in vitamin B12, so they have a mechanism in which a certain bacteria feed on methane (produced from plant waste) and produce B12. Anyway, that's how it functions in my mind, lol. I have ordered your book and am looking forward to see how you have imagined it!
N.A. Walker
Ii tell myself stories as I fall asleep at night. One night I started wondering what it would be like living on a generation spaceship that was travelling for decades to another planet. I imagined a roomful of people on a spaceship knitting socks! Because they would all have to have some kind of job to keep them busy, and socks do wear out! And from there, I thought about what kind of planet they would land on, and the story just kept growing. I didn't know I was writing a novel when I started!
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Apr 23, 2023 05:39AM · flag
Apr 24, 2023 11:36AM · flag