Cary Neeper's Blog: Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction - Posts Tagged "aliens"

Just finished reading tonight your reprint of A Place Beyond Man copy ... I really enjoyed it! You did both a fine multi-cultural, multi-species First Contact along with a siren call to stop 'trashing our planet" in pursuit of profit and status. Bravo! I enjoyed a lot Tandra's personality, including her microbiological research work on the Moon, and found her "culture shock" reactions to aliens as real alien animals to be well done and convincing. The sideline of Shawne's playful acceptance of the aliens adult and small was a fine and fun sideline to the main storyline. And I really liked the blend of musicality and motherhood in Tandra's personality.

On the techy side, your description of Ellason the planet sounds kind of like a Brown Dwarf star that retained lots of water even as it failed to grow to a real star. Anyway, either a brown dwarf star or a planetoid with a highly radioactive inner core would fit the ability to stay liquid water warm well out past Pluto's orbit.

Overall,, your book is a story of people coming to terms with life, love, survival and positive cooperation, versus selfishness and deceit. A very needed parable for our current times, as it was 30 years ago. Looking forward to the follow on book in this series!

Here's a hint at what the series is all about:

If you like Out of a Silent Planet, The Hobbit, Dragon Riders of Pern, A place Beyond Man or Oz, you'll love THE ARCHIVES OF VAROK.

LAUNCHING THE SECOND IN THE SERIES--THE WEBS OF VAROK
Set in an alternate 21st century
--where realistic solutions offer a promising future
--where human assumptions are challenged by aliens too close and too similar to ignore
--where Earth's species, driven by sexuality, are trumped by alien drives even stronger.


Two related websites have just gone online. Check out the series website at ArchivesofVarok.com and read the Prologue and Chapter 1 premiering there. Penscript-Publishing.com is offering ten free copies of A Place Beyond Man to those writing reviews there. Here is the link http://ow.ly/eLAGL I'm putting two more excerpts on My Writing, and will be doing a giveaway here on Goodreads of A Place Beyond Man so you can read the prequel to WEBS before it comes out. Enjoy!

(Tandra and family have just arrived on Varok, and two beasts have jumped onto the speeding train that is taking them home.)

Just then a clacking and thumping sounded overhead. The forced electronic whine of the coach doors accompanied rude noises from two squat beings, scuffling with an enraged Ahlkahn official.

"The human beings are not yet adjusted to Varok," the official insisted loudly, trying to keep two waddling, square-faced beasts away from Shawne and me. "They are not for exhibit."

I turned in my seat to watch the creatures. Their stubby torsos rolled from side to side on monstrous talons. Gargoyle faces tilted curiously between the hunched shoulders of the chitin-plated wings folded at their sides. Their wing tips, tapered cones of sensitive flesh ending in whip-like cords of prehensile tissue, rode in a forward position, as if in supplication.
"Oh oh," said Conn to me in English "Ahlork."

"What strange birds," I said.

"The nearest is a large female," Conn noted, "She's got bright blue scales."

Under converging brow ridges, her square face, heavily armored, carried a lippy sneer punctuated by two tiny black eyes.

"Better not call them birds," Orram said. "Varok's small avioids don't have such a distinguished ancestry as Earth's."

"No dinosaurs?"

"Not enough heat or light out here. And ahlork are built differently than birds, like tanks with external hard parts."

"Insectoids then."

Orram's sense of fun surfaced. "No, no, Tandra. Bad biologist."

He waved an invitation, and with a clatter of broad, plated wings, they came toward us, swooping low over two elder varoks sitting nearby. One varok grimaced and ducked ever so slightly in revulsion. The ahlork noticed, circled, and made another pass over him.

I felt a surge of mirth. Orram warned me to stifle it, but the ahlork had already seen my wavering smile. He flapped toward me and landed on my head, then peered down into my tear-filled eyes. I burst into laughter despite the dig of his talons.

"You are nothing more than an elll, with all that shaking and grimacing, First-Human-Being-On-Varok," the ahlork said in abbreviated Varokian. His flapping lower lip was distorted by a long scar that gave him a permanent questioning leer. "We made you crying, I fear."

I answered in Elllonian, trying to remember the ahlork manners Orram had taught me. "I cry for you, plated one," I croaked, "but not out of sadness." I spoke with some difficulty, for the scene played too vividly in my mind—this ridiculous, clumsy creature careening over the crowd of immaculate varoks. To keep himself safe from an overload of mirth, Orram retreated from my mind and gave the ahlork space.

"Please get off my head," I managed to say. "You are very heavy." With that I burst into another volley of chuckles that gave me some relief.

"Get off my human, Nidok." Conn bellowed.

"It's all right, Conn," I said, though the ahlork's talons were threatening to draw a little blood. "Easy with the toenails—Nidok is it?"

"Conn says my name. I see you are only half mad as varoks."

The blue-plated ahlork standing on the floor spoke in a voice broken with foam. "Surely Earth be beautiful. Not like this heap of ruins. Why do you come to Varok?"

(Tandra and daughter Shawne, the varok Orram and the elll Conn are a family committed to their mutual well being, but challenged by differences, needs they didn't forsee. Below is Tandra's point of view.) Launch event: Review Op at http://archivesofvarok.com/articles/w...

I bit my lip hard and took a deep breath. "I am a human being, Conn," I said, hoping to buy time for him to calm down. "You know that better than I do. You and I had our problems at first. My possessiveness crimped your loner style more than any school could. My assumption of dominance drove you wild, but so did my sensuality . . . because your sensuality was too much for me. We humans and ellls evolved, with all other species on our planets, with a hearty dose of reproductive hormones. Varokians did not. The mind link is everythng to Orram; it should be enough for me. Yet I am human, nothing more nor less. I couldn't possibly fill all of Orram's needs, any more than yours. The problem is simple. I can't accept Mahntik as Orram might need me to."

"Funny. I have that same trouble." Conn laughed bitterly. Then he realized I was serious.

Conn watched Nidok with anxious eyes, knowing that the beast had come to some decision. His plans were far too important to be entrusted to an elll who might yet fall into the wrong hands. "So what the hell," Conn laughed to himself. "Might as well put on a good berry-stupor with the clatter-plated chap."

He scooped up a pile of berries from Nidok's wing-plate and stuffed them into his mouth. "Down the hatch, Cave Buddy. Here's to ahlork. May their nests ring forever with praise for the courage of Nidok."

"May their wing-plates crackle with the name of Sartak, enemy of the True Flock," Nidok bellowed in muscular tones, and his greater lip wrapped around a substantial heap of berries.

"The True Flock flies forever." Conn sang out. "May its droppings find Mahntik's long hair."

"May Susheen fly up her fine robes." Nidok laughed heartily—a deep gargling sound—and lumbered off to fill a large skin with berries. He settled on the edge of the pool while Conn relaxed into the water, and, as the light-period waned, the berries disappeared at a great rate.

The elll and the ahlork continued making toasts as their mouths grew thick with the berries' acrid taste and their minds grew loose and careless with its drug. The dark-period turned the cave black, and occasional flashes from far-off sheets of misted lightning lit their faces as they wallowed in exaggerated emotions, verbosely grateful to each other for saving lives and flock.

"I don't know how to pet an ahlork," Conn said drunkenly, looking for a soft spot to vent his inflated affection on Nidok. "If I were a human and you were a dog, I would pat your head. If you were a varok, I'd give you a spiral salute. If you were a human, I'd kiss your fat broken lip. You're the most unlovable piece of walking crockery in this solar system, Nidok. Frustrating.”

(Yes, "play fast and loose" is in the Dimwit's Dictionary,
so should the title of this blog be "Being Unpredictable with POV?"
The other alternate suggestions are too unkind.)

The Webs of Varok is told by two storytellers--the third person omniscient and Tandra's first person view of things. She is not omniscient, doesn't have a clue what ahlorks or ellls think, not even Conn, though I suspect she thinks she does. We let her tell her view of things to add more dimension to the story. Sorry if it confused you at first. Her first person POV gets even more complicated because she is in "mind-link" with Orram, a talent that is not well developed in humans, so the sharing of thoughts comes and goes. I'm not really sorry about that, either. I think it adds to the fun. Some reviewers liked it.

It is not in the rule books, you know, jumping from first to third person as the story progresses, but in The Webs of Varok I believe it serves a good purpose. You wouldn't want to be stuck in Tandra's head, or even the author's head, would you? Wasn't it fun to get into Nidok's head? Ahlork probably don't share many genes with anyone else except ancient varoks, the same way many of us humans carry Neanderthal genes. Ahlork can gargle noises that almost sound like bipedal language--hence the translation in Webs--but I have taken great artistic license with their thoughts.

I also had fun playing in Mahntik's head, slamming shut her mental block and annoying her mates, just for the power trip it gave her. This talent also came in handy as a metaphor for what's been going on lately with humans and the economic casino games they've been playing. Their minds are slammed shut by nature, so not even the courts can find ways to throw the errant bankers in jail.

My conclusion? It doesn't hurt to break a few rules, if you're consistent about it. I'm doing it again--author's privilege when the publisher agrees. In the next book of the Archives of Varok, Orram tells the story in first person omniscient. Is this another rule broken? Too bad. Orram is a mood- and thought-sensing varok, isn't he? And he's in constant radio communication with everyone else in the story, so we'll give him a break. We'll give him a little character's license.

The Webs of Varok portrays a steady state economy, with all its differences from our current situation, hence it provides ripe fruit for Book clubs to pick, in discussion. Varok's legal definition of family provides another topic, as does the metaphor represented by the traitor Mahntik's unnatural ability to block her mind from reading.

The Webs of Varok might be called soft or relational or women's science fiction, because it features a mixed family of aliens and humans in an alternate 21st century solar system, dealing with their complex relationships. The book's aliens provide more fun than in most scifi stories, while the main thrust of the story deals with current economic issues.

The family is determined to see that an overcrowded Earth finds a way to solve its dilemmas. They decide that Varok would serve as a good model for how to maintain a sustainable, equitable society. However, when the family arrives on Varok, after a realistically long voyage, they find their trust in each other and in Varokian economics threatened by an ambitious traitor. The story's metaphor for human double-dealing is presaged in the first scene, in which the lovely human protagonist practices her mind-link with her varokian partner. The varokian traitor has learned to block her mind from its natural openness, giving her unusual leverage in the society.

The Webs of Varok is told by two storytellers. The human protagonist TANDRA tells her first person view on things as she leaves Earth for the alien planet Varok. When she is not present, the third person omniscient storyteller gets into the other interesting heads pushing the plot forward. The most fun is the ahlork Nidok, not too literate and yet able to exchange ripe insults with his best friend, the aquatic elll of the mixed family, CONN.

Come join the event I am running until June 20. A two-book prize for the most thoughtful comments in my two blogs on two issues in The Webs of Varok: 1)Tandra's growing awareness and self-actualization and 2) the steady state as portrayed in The Webs, namely balancing regulation with consensus.
Blogs are here on Goodreads and on http://caryneeper.com/blog.htm
Go to the author's page on archivesofvarok.com to see the latest on Tandra's character development.
Here's the link http://bit.ly/Yfg6V6

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Here's an issue that the books in “The Archives of Varok” address--how should we define a "family" and provide it legal rights and protection? Come join the comment contest until June 20—a set of books going to the most thoughtful ideas about two issues. The first issue is directly related to my blog, the Hen House theme of our responsibility to animals that we adopt, as well as humans to whom we commit.

My reviewer at the Los Alamos Daily Post asked the best question yet--could an extended family including aliens and humans really work? The mixed family of The Archives surely do have their problems, and though they’ve met them head-on in The Webs of Varok, there are more to come in the next volume, Conn: The Alien Effect, to be released early this summer.

I’d like to believe that we humans have matured to the point where we could appreciate the alienness of other beings. We’re doing much better now, since Temple Grandin shared her experiences with us in her book Animals In Translation, New York: Scribner, 2005. I agree that my birds do see things in WISIWIG mode. It takes them some time to learn, then to remember, that the gate is really open and that they need to go around the pen to see that it is. Scientist now are not hooted down when they seek to explore the emotional lives of animals.

The grin on DeeDee’s face expresses unmistakable delight when she greets me at the gate, ready to join us in the living room for the evening. So why not aliens? Surely they can also feel emotions, even if their DNA reflects a different code. Does their evolution have to be so different we can’t relate to it? If we connect, can’t we commit to mutual support and be family?

My experience studying biology suggests that our understanding of chemistry, complex systems and self-organizing selection makes it reasonable to expect that evolution on Earth is a sorting process that could occur anywhere conditions are right. Some elements, like carbon, get together more easily than others, are more stable, more capable of devising interesting strategies for survival.

This is not to say that we are not unique. Even as individuals we are unique, though the details of our existence, the chemistry and physics that define our lives, are universal—and downright awe inspiring in their complexity and precision. Makes one very thankful to be alive.

Join the conversation and win a set of books. Place a comment here.

Fiction can provide powerful images that change minds; imprinting can result in a lifetime of believing violence is normal. I’m seriously worried about the current obsession with violence and dystopia.

Since I’m so critical, I thought I’d better get educated. My granddaughters watch and read it. They were eager to show me the “Hunger Games” movie, so I sat through the jiggling camera that is supposed to dilute the violence of the games. I was still horrified by the dystopian premise and teen blood-letting, even though the idea is to criticize current TV games.

How about some hope for Christmas? I’m shamelessly providing my award winning book The Webs of Varok to consider for your Holiday giving. It’s not just crass commercialism. Why not a fun story that includes some positive suggestions for securing a stable future? Take a look at a few excerpts below:

“...there are rumors of an Earth launch—more humans coming to Varok.”
“Rumors? Orram and Conn can continue blathering to Earth about water conservation. That doesn’t mean anything to us. But if humans do manage to get here, we must be ready to snuff them out before Conn can raise a fin.”

“Snuff them out? How?” Gitahl’s patches strained to find Mahntik’s true mind. “Let me be clear. Surely you wouldn’t use the diseases you’ve engineered on humans.”

“Why not? I’d use them to keep ahlork in line—even varoks.”

The ahlork Nidok appears on the cover of the Webs. He is one of our heroes, of sorts.
Conn the elll notes to human Tandra that female ahlork have bright blue scales.

“Better not call them birds,” Orram said. “Varok’s small avioids don’t have such a distinguished ancestry as Earth’s.”

“No dinosaurs?”

“Not enough heat or light out here. And ahlork are built differently than birds, like tanks with external hard parts.”

“Insectoids then.”

Orram’s sense of fun surfaced. “No, no, Tandra. Bad biologist.”

He waved an invitation, and with a clatter of broad, plated wings, the ahlork came toward us, swooping low over two elder varoks sitting nearby. One varok grimaced and ducked ever so lightly in revulsion. The ahlork noticed, circled, and made another pass at him.

I felt a surge of mirth. Orram warned me to stifle it, but the ahlork had already seen my wavering smile. He flapped toward me and landed on my head, then peered down into my tear-filled eyes. I burst into laughter despite the dig of his talons.

“You are nothing more than an elll, with all that shaking and grimacing, First-Human-Being-On-Varok,” the ahlork said...

The blue-plated ahlork standing on the floor spoke in a voice broken with foam. “Surely Earth be beautiful. Not this heap of ruins. Why do you come to Varok?”

One more excerpt. The Webs of Varok is a model of what it takes for humans to do long-term survival, based on the nonfiction text Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources by Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill.
The issues are challenging, good for Book Club discussion. Here’s one we can all agree on:
“I thought manufacturers are required to take responsibility for their products throughout their entire lifetime, including final disposal or recycling. So much of this cloth must be disposed of, every cycle. How do they pay the cost, with such low prices?”

“I have often wondered,” Orserah said.

“It’s as though the weavers wanted the cloth to wear out quickly—so we would buy more.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. “You have just defined planned obsolescence, an old trick on Earth—one of the favorites when business ethics turned sour in the interest of profits.”

Check out http://archivesofvarok.com for more excerpts and information about the series.
Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite ResourcesRob Dietz ]