Guest Post and #Giveaway with Diane Dooley

Motherhood in Science Fiction

 

I love to read and watch science fiction, particularly space opera, and I’m always kind of surprised that there isn’t more emphasis on the future of motherhood, the family group, parenthood, etc. A major theme in space opera is space travel and colonization of new planets. The first people on a new planet may very well be scientists, explorers, military types, but at some point the goal is usually to provide a habitable planet that will then be colonized by people who are, presumably, boldly going and popping out the future generations. I would imagine that on lengthy space journeys, too, people will still be doing what comes naturally.

I’ve encountered several characters whose role as a mother is a large part of their identity - think Sarah Connor from the Terminator franchise - and I do love these characters. They’re always so determined and fierce in defense of their children that they make for extremely dynamic and active characters. Watching Sarah change from a rather timid girl to the warrior she became was fascinating, and I can enjoy this type of character over and over again.

But sometimes I long for a quieter story; one in which the female character struggles with her identity as a mother, rather than picking up a really big gun and blowing her child’s enemies to smithereens. I’m as protective a mother as the next, I guess, but in my real life I often struggle with the demands of children and the difficulty of retaining my identity as a person in the face of constant demands of raising the offspring.

My recent release, Blue Nebula, from Carina Press very much deals with this kind of interpersonal struggle. Sola de la Vega has an enemy that she must destroy if she is ever to know safety and happiness, but she’s also pregnant, and is not having the easiest time with her pregnancy. It’s, erm, challenging to be a kick-ass mutha with a really big gun when you keep getting laid low by morning sickness. Sola also has a very protective husband to deal with. Captain Javan Rhodes would much rather they left the intergalactic shenanigans to other people. And just to complicate the parenthood issues even more, the enemy Sola must destroy is her own father. The story follows Sola as she attempts to deal with all these difficulties, and the poor thing doesn’t have an easy time with any of them, I’m afraid. *grin* 

Blue Nebula is the sequel to Blue Galaxy, also from Carina Press. Although both books stand alone I do recommend you read Blue Galaxy, in which Sola and Javan meet and fall in love, first. I am therefore giving away an e-copy of both books to a random commenter on this post. To enter the giveaway please answer the following question: who is your favorite mother in science fiction, books or film? Remember to include your contact info. 

Thanks, Pippa, for hosting me! 

Blurb: Sola de la Vega is on a mission to save the galaxy, and nothing will sway her. Not even the pleas of her beloved husband, Captain Javan Rhodes, to keep herself and their unborn child safe. Fitted with a series of technological "enhancements" entwined with her central nervous system, Sola is not fully human. Her father is the undisputed leader of Earth, and Sola is driven to put an end to his genocidal rule--before he can follow through with his plans to consolidate power over the universe into the hands of the aristocracy. Despite Javan's fears for her safety, and coping with a difficult pregnancy, Sola's quest has become an obsession she cannot control. Compelled to choose, duty must come before her love for Javan. And when Sola joins forces with Destin Grady--her father's sworn enemy--in a plot to execute the dictator and seize power, she soon uncovers secrets from the past that have her facing a future she never could have imagined... 

32,000 words 

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Diane Dooley writes science fiction, romance and horror - sometimes all in the same story. You can keep tabs on her website for current and future releases, check out the links to her short stories on her blog or interact with her on Facebook or Twitter. She blogs at Contact: Infinite Futures and is also a regular contributor to The Galaxy Express.

Health Care of the Future: Guest Blog by A.R. Norris

Please welcome our special guest to Spacefreighters Lounge today, multi-published author A.R. Norris, who on October 11th released END OF ETERNITY, the final novel in the Telomere Trilogy. 

I am so excited to be hanging out at Spacefreighter's Lounge today. Oh, what to geek out about, what to geek out about? Hmm... I know! One of my favorite SF concepts to work on is healthcare and medical.

Diagnosing, treating, monitoring, all of it interests me. Maybe it's because my day job is researching all the cool advancements in the healthcare field. It's really fun to read a report or research study on a new technology or approach and then sit back and imagine what it will become in 50 or 100 years.

Most of these little tidbits I put into my blog on posts I call Science Update. It's an inconsistent post series, depending on what I find that's interesting. Now, in The Telomere Trilogy one of the main characters is a doctor, and gave me a great opportunity to include more of my ideas in my writing than usual.

Some of my favorites included in the story?

Portable Imaging Unit

This neato gadget fits in a med bag when the medical team is in the field. It folds out into a wand, ran over the injured part of the body and reads like a 3D CT scan.

Body Tome

This is a stationary chamber is similar to the MRI machine, but not only does it screen and diagnose the problem, it can do autonomous robotic surgery repair what's broken or torn. As it scans, a smaller 3D holographic form of the person materializes and highlights their injury points and recommends treatment or surgery.

Regeneration Treatment Chamber

For those things that are not broken, torn or otherwise obliterated, there's the regeneration chamber. The injured person lies in a tank of liquid medication that reacts to electric currents and special lighting to heal the wounds, bruises and infections.

Those are some of the big technologies, but there's also smaller things like  gel pads that when activated will stem blood flow and antiseptic spray with nano treating technology to sterilize and then prep wound edges for surgery by dissolving the damaged edges.

"Okay, breath A. R., breath." Sorry all, my geekfest ran away from me a little. Let me just include a short excerpt and call it a day. Of course, one commenter will win the first book in the trilogy, Revelations of Tomorrow. And if anyone wants to like my Facebook Fan Page (link below), they can enter an opportunity to win the whole trilogy.

Excerpt:

"Get him on the bed." She pulled the bed scanner from the ceiling and ran it across him from head to toe, then moved to his miniature image on the screen, on the bedrail's patient network system. "Severe lung damage, at least one tear... here." She made a mark. "Several broken bones along the rib and hip bones. Dislocated shoulder and serious bruising, well, all over."

She pushed the scanner up into its ceiling carriage. Gripping the small image, she turned it, eyeing his damages from all angles. She entered her treatment plan and sequence. "Get him in as soon as possible--"

He stirred and woke with a start. Trying to sit up, he cursed and rolled. She grabbed his upper body to prevent him from falling and his steely green eyes focused and glared.

"Telomere bitch." It was an injured whisper, but said with such venom Brenda flinched. "Don't touch me. I won't have you touching me."

"Too bad, Mr. Rafferty." Brenda pushed him down again, firm but careful of his injuries. "I can't let you die on my table."

She pulled out a sedative patch and rubbed it to activate the cells.

"I see him in you... Howell's blood through and through." He squinted at her. "Where is she? Where is the woman who let my baby girl die while she pined for that monster?"

"I'm right here, Rafferty." Noah stepped into view and braced the patient rail. "We'll talk once Dr. Bonney has done her job."

"I won't talk to you. I'll kill you is what I'll do." He winced and grasped his side but still pushed up. "I've waited forty years!"

Brenda pressed the patch to his neck and he dropped instantly. She glanced at her mother, recognized the masked expression. No, not her mother right now. Her captain right now. Over this last mission, she learned to respect that and after quick orders to her medics, began working.

"I'll let you know when he's done," Brenda said to her.

Purchase Links: All Romance, Amazon,  B&N, and Books on Board

Where to Find Me: Facebook, Blog, Website

Thanks so much, A.R., for making Spacefreighters Lounge one of your blog tour stops. 

Please leave a comment below for a chance to win the first Telomere Trilogy novel, REVELATIONS OF TOMORROW. And if you want a shot at the whole trilogy, you can "like" A. R.'s Facebook fan page at the link above.

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