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| Are the Grays real? Survey says "yes!" |
Between the pages of every book is an entire world
created by its author. Each world comes
complete with a physical topography, a social and political landscape, a diverse
population of characters (heroes, heroines, villains, supporting players, innocent
bystanders), even, sometimes, a philosophical or emotional foundation. Building this world and making it believable
is one of the most important jobs the author has.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know
that the world of Unchained Memory,
my science fiction suspense romance set to debut February 24, is the familiar
one of Earth, here and now. As the novel opens, we are on the solid and
well-trodden ground of rural Tennessee (and later, Nashville), a place as
salt-of-the-Earth as you can get. This
is the heart of country music odes to hearth and home, a land of continuity and
tradition, even in the midst of the huge growth of the last thirty years.
Other settings in the novel keep us tethered
to that sense of place and connection: the mountains of West Virginia, the
lakes of the Adirondacks. A secure
lifeline is necessary because what happens to our heroine shakes the foundation
of everything she knows and changes the way she perceives her world. That shift in perception alters what the hero
sees, too, and, inevitably, what the reader sees. All of a sudden, the world is not what it
was.
Asia Burdette experiences a life-altering
tragedy. In her quest to understand what has happened, she seeks the help of
psychiatrist Ethan Roberts. In their
search for answers they draw back a curtain on a much-expanded, much darker
vision of Earth and its place in the galaxy.
Not only are we not alone, but apparently we are the last ones to know
it.
Earth is the clandestine battlefield in an
ongoing struggle between an intergalactic slave-trading empire and the
abolitionist crusaders that oppose it. The sexy/gutsy men and women of Rescue
(the Interstellar Council for Abolition and Rescue), some of them human and
some of them not, fight slavery in all the organized systems of the
galaxy. Earth, with its proximity to one
of the major jump nodes (permanent wormholes) used for space travel, and ready
supply of adaptable sentient beings, is a frequent target of the “Grays”
.
And here a note about interstellar
slavery: Imagine a galaxy in which
technology is very much available and advanced, but is still expensive and
prone to breakdown, especially on, say, mining or agricultural planets. Imagine,
too, that space travel is easy and cheap, and labor is there for the taking. Add
in a few details: the Grays are puny
little things, not very strong, and have a violent psychological reaction to
certain vital mineral crystals being mined. Humans breathe roughly the same
oxygen/nitrogen mix as the Grays, eat virtually anything and don’t react at all
to those crystals. Finally, the Gray society itself is in conflict about the
benefits and disadvantages of using slaves, but for now, they can, so they do.
And before you say we’d know if aliens were
taking us, well, some people say they are. Do you believe them?
A 2012 National Geographic poll cited by both
ABC and Fox News showed that 36 percent of Americans believed UFOs were
real. Ten percent had seen one. Seventy-nine percent believed the government
was withholding evidence of aliens from the public. And 55 percent believed there were black ops
teams, similar to the Men in Black, whose job it was to track down people with
knowledge of aliens and UFOs and “silence” them.
Hmm.
Sounds like the basis of a good story.
(As it happens, Asia and Ethan end up on the run from some of those very
same “Men in Black”.) It also sounds
like we may already be living in the world I created for Unchained Memory. If we just
open our eyes.
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL!
Stay with us for all the excitement in the
next few weeks as Sharon Lynn Fisher’s SFR novel Echo 8 debuts Monday, February 2; meet the heroes, heroines and
villains of Unchained Memory and
Laurie A. Green’s Inherit the Stars; and
both books debut at the end of the month (Inherit
the Stars February 22; Unchained
Memory February 24). It’s a Triple
Launch Extravaganza all month on Spacefreighters!
THIRD ANNUAL SFR GALAXY AWARDS
10 am Charlee Allden
11 am Donna S. Frelick
12 pm Laurie A. Green
1 pm. Marlene Harris
2 pm. Jo Jones
3 pm. Heather Massey
4 pm Anna McLain
Cheers, Donna
Love the theory and premise behind Unchained Memory, Donna. There are some people who believe that aliens came to Earth thousands of years ago and used the local inhabitants (our ancestors) to mine gold in Africa. If it happened, who's to say they aren't still doing the same. Your explanation about cheap slave labor vs. expensive, must-be-served and maintained robotics or other technology is a great point!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting the info on The Galaxy Awards. I'm excited to see what authors and books were chosen this year! It's always a fun time.
Thanks, Laurie! Yeah, some dark nights I even freak myself out thinking there may be aliens waiting to scoop me up!
ReplyDeleteAnd the SFR Galaxy Awards are here! Checking them out now!