A science fiction romance by Edward Hoornaert, author of
Alien Contact for Idiots.
Cover by Eerilyfair Design
Catt Sayer, an abused peasant and a fugitive from justice on
her home planet, makes a meager living flying a decrepit airship that delivers
supplies to scattered military bases on an isolated, inhospitable mining
moon. When enemies invade the moon and
destroy the bases, Catt rescues the lone survivor—Captain Hank Dukelsky, an upper-class
army captain. Now Hank wants her to risk
her life on an impossible quest to attack the enemy headquarters…and Catt is
falling in love with both the man and his magnificently quixotic ambition.
Escapee is
available for pre-sale, with a release date of April 19, 2016. Rediscover the
thrills and romance of one of the all-time great movies, now in a science
fiction setting—reserve your copy of Escapee
today.
My upcoming SFRom novel, Escapee, is coming out in early 2016 from MuseItUp Publishing out of Montreal. The book is unabashedly based on the 1951 movie, The African Queen.
My version is set on an inhospitable moon, rather than the African Jungle, but in both tales the hero and heroine battle nature and, ultimately, the invading enemy.
How did I transform a movie into a science fiction romance? So glad you asked.
Analyzing the movie I rented the movie and looked for two things:
• Stages — Charley and Rosie’s relationship go through a number of stages.
• Turning points — The events that caused their relationship to change from one stage to another.
I then devised analogous — but subtly different — stages and turning points for Escapee. Here are a few of them, so you get the feel for how the analysis worked.
Stage 1: Polite disconnect between hero and heroine.
• AQ — Rosie, a missionary in German East Africa, disapproves of Charley, a crude freighter captain who brings supplies, but treats him with chilly politeness.
• Escapee — Hector, a stuffy career army officer, disapproves of the freewheeling, lower-class airship pilot, Cattaroon who supplies his base.
Turning point: The enemy invades.
In AQ, it’s the Germans, who leave Rosie alone and stranded — until Charley comes by and saves her.
In Escapee, it’s humans from the Proxima system. While Hector’s on leave, they destroy his entire command, leaving him stranded and alone — until Catt lands, looking for survivors.
Stage 2: Rosie devises a near-impossible goal that he doesn’t agree with.
• AQ — Rosie’s wants to attack a German warship. Charley agrees, knowing she’ll give up when she learns how dangerous the river is.
• Escapee — Hector wants to attack enemy headquarters. Catt agrees only because she’s certain he’ll give up when he realizes how dangerous a flight across the moon is.
So far the two stories are very similar. Now they start to diverge, though the skeleton remains the same.
Turning point: When mild danger fails to deter her from her purpose, his true feelings come out explosively.
In AQ, after shooting rapids doesn’t deter Rosie, Charley gets drunk and insults Rosie. She dumps out all his rum.
In Escapee, after getting caught in a volcano’s updraft doesn’t deter Hector, Catt sabotages a cannon stored in the airship’s hold.
Stage 3: Futile attempts to rebuild a civil relationship.
• AQ — Charley apologizes for insulting her, but she won’t accept his apology unless he agrees to take her to the Germans’ ship.
• Escapee — With the cannon gone, Hector realizes how futile his quest is. Feeling guilty, Catt tries to be nice, but he’s too depressed to talk about it.
Turning point: He agrees to share her goal.
In AQ, Charley’s (deeply buried!) chivalry makes him give in.
In Escapee, Catt remembers all the friends whom the enemy has killed. Hearing her cry during the night, Hector finally talks, voicing his idealistic reasons for wanting to fight. Inspired by his idealism, Catt agrees to make the dangerous voyage to the other side of the moon.
Stage 4: Falling in love
Etc, etc.
“Inspired By”, Not a Ripoff
I won’t bore you with all six stages, but hopefully you get the general idea. Analyzing the movie turned out to be a huge help in developing my plot. You ought to try it some time.
I’d like to emphasize that Escapee is not just a blatant ripoff of the movie. In addition to being science fiction rather than historical drama, here are some of the key differences:
• Although both environments are hostile, they’re different — river rapids vs. hurricanes and volcanoes.
• The characters are very different. The genders are reversed, for one thing. Their wounds are very different, as are the lessons they need to learn.
• I added secondary characters:
> They capture an enemy who tries to sabotage the airship.
> Hector has an alien pet that is ugly/lovable.
> Catt’s android co-pilot provides comic relief as well as the book’s most poignant scene, when he dies.
• The ending is more believable, IMHO. AQ’s ending requires an act of God (a rainstorm that floats their grounded boat) and a wild coincidence (their sunken boat nonetheless sinks the German ship).
Escapee has a logical ending. If you have a favorite movie you love, you might want to turn it into a book of your own. If so, consider analyzing it for stages and turning points.
About Ed Hoornaert
What kind of guy writes romance? A guy who married his high
school sweetheart a week after graduation and still lives the HEA decades
later. A guy who’s a certifiable Harlequin hero—he inspired Vicki Lewis
Thompson’s Rita Award finalist Mr.
Valentine, which is dedicated to him.
Ed started out writing contemporary romances for Silhouette
Books, but these days he concentrates on science fiction romance. He’s been a
teacher, principal, technical writer, salesman, janitor, and symphonic oboist.
He and wife Judi live in Tucson, Arizona. They have three sons, a daughter, a
mutt, and the galaxy’s most adorable grandson. Visit him at http://eahoornaert.com.
