Explorations In Reading, Writing, and Publishing
This post is part of the Friday series: Behind The Scenes of the story Notes from An Alien.
If you want to avoid having “spoilers” intrude on your enjoyment of the book, just grab a free copy and read it before you dive deeply into this series of posts—the book is short… and, deep…
You can also ask Any questions about the book in Any of these Friday posts :-)
Today’s article was prompted by a post on Google Plus by John DeNardo which linked to a post on SF Signal called Love Them Landscapes: The Unique Geography of Speculative Fiction.
He begins that article with: “It’s almost a given these days, especially with fantasy books–you open up the front cover and an enormous map sprawls out before you, denoting various continents, kingdoms, murky forests, coastal ports, and all the other bits and jots composing the world.”
When I was writing Notes from An Alien, a number of people said I needed a map of the Worlds to reduce confusion since the names were so similar.
I made an executive decision and didn’t include any maps…
Here’s a diagram I considered using:
The names are all hyphenated—the first name is what the people on the closest World to the star, Angi, use—the second name is what the people on the next planet out use—all the A-names are used on Anga, all the P-names are used on Purum :-)
It’s probably a bit confusing even with the diagram, eh?—all part of the alienness of the story…
So, the book has no charts or maps but, before I wrote it, I created all the Worlds in a 3-D Space Simulator called Celestia.
Using Celestia, I could move around in my Star-System and get used to living there…
I even packaged up all the files I used to create my Worlds so folks could use Celestia (free) and visit the Worlds of Notes from An Alien. ( Download and install Celestia then drop me a note at amzolt@gmail.com and I’ll send you the files and help you get them installed :-)
Now, I’ll show you the flat maps of the three primary Worlds (since they’re flat, areas at the top and bottom are distorted…):
Anga-Param
Anla-Purum
Angla-Palli
And, since Angla-Palli orbits Beli-Pallos, I’ll include a picture taken inside the Celestia Simulator, from one of the Created Worlds, of that Gas-Giant planet, with its streams of Plasma…
Now, two excerpts from the book with close-up shots of the areas mentioned…
The farming family sat in their kitchen in the hills of Beselima, forty miles from Babur, overlooking the Vesun River.
Helmos, the father, said to his wife, Murlum:
“We can’t make the quota.”
“But, we must or the children will suffer.”
The children—Nesur, twelve; Albes, six; and Iti, five—sat with intense interest in the conversation.
“Murlum, if we can’t, we can’t. So, we must find a way to transfer the children to a safer place.”
“What place? Anla, with its religious idiots?”
“No. A place on Anga. A place I’ve heard of, with a family of Harians.”
“Oh, so dump them with local rather than alien religious idiots, eh?”
Not long after the dispatch of transfer pods paused, to give ShipOne time to return to the proper place in its orbit, a single pod prepared for descent. It contained Akla, Rednaxela, and Morna.
“Morna, check Akla’s coordinates again please.”
“They are fine. We’ll be landing in a deeply forested region of what the Anlans call the Unholy Lands in a country called Ceia-Abi, 50 miles from the main city, Oaur.”
“Yes, yes, I know. Sometimes you’re too consummate in your responses.”
“Thank you, Rednaxela…”
Akla returned from his lengthy meditation and said, “The Nari in this region are anxious for my arrival.”
Rednaxela countered, “Their knowing the time of your arrival is the one part of this plan that I truly don’t understand.”
“It is simple. I told them.”
“Yes, you’ve told me you told them but communicating through plasma waves can only convey general principles and emotions— Why am I repeating myself?”
“You are trying to convince yourself that what I have done is impossible.”
“Yes.”
Morna chimed in with, “Detach.”
There ya have it—Fictional Geography ~ Alien Worlds………
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Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
This Special Behind The Scenes post finishes a series devoted to the request of Jane Watson for my views on various symbols in Notes from An Alien <— Grab a free copy :-)
Reminder: You can ask me Any questions about the book in Any of these Friday posts…
So, “forest”—”Middle English (in the sense ‘wooded area kept for hunting’, also denoting any uncultivated land): via Old French from late Latin forestis (silva), literally ‘(wood) outside’, from Latin foris ‘outside’”
Let’s proceed with examples of its use in Notes from An Alien—spoilers ahead!!
Early in the story, Rednaxela, the leader of the first expedition from the Corporate World to the Religious World; his Artificial Intelligence unit, Morna; and, the purported Prophet Akla are making an escape:
~~~
Not long after the dispatch of transfer pods paused, to give ShipOne time to return to the proper place in its orbit, a single pod prepared for descent. It contained Akla, Rednaxela, and Morna.
“Morna, check Akla’s coordinates again please.”
“They are fine. We’ll be landing in a deeply forested region of what the Anlans call the Unholy Lands in a country called Ceia-Abi, 50 miles from the main city, Oaur.”
“Yes, yes, I know. Sometimes you’re too consummate in your responses.”
“Thank you, Rednaxela…“
~~~
It’s fairly easy to see that the forest is being used as a safe place to hide out; but, do you sense a more symbolic reason for my choice of a forest rather than a desert or other isolated spot?
What about the combination of a forest in a region called the Unholy Lands??
The next excerpt is in the same forested region of the same planet:
~~~
“Surgenta slashed at the small, green, persistent insects swirling around his head. This journey across the forest of Ceia-Abi was the most important thing he’d ever begun in his life. Leaving the lands of the Lord’s Army had been critical to his survival but his life in the Unholy Lands hadn’t been remarkable in any way. Not until he met that strange man who claimed he knew the Promised One. Then he met Akla, Himself, and began to question everything he’d ever believed.”
~~~
Surgenta is a minor character with a major mission—delivering a Message from the Prophet to the leader of the religion called the Lord’s Army.
In this case, I used a forest to introduce him so I could give him a place where those “small, green, persistent insects” could be attacking him—on a secret mission, deep in a forest, menaced by insects—perhaps you can see the insects as the false but pernicious religious dogmas of his former religion?
Perhaps, you can see the start of his mission in a forest as a trial through darkness to reach the Light?
The next excerpt is about Delva, the book’s most important character, as she walks outside to ponder a vision her mother has just told her (that vision is discussed in the post, A Mystery Partly Unraveled ~ A Critical Dream).
~~~
“Delva had left her parents in the room and stepped outside to contemplate, yet again, her mother’s visions. She was carrying Morna. She’d wandered to the edge of the nearby forest and was about to enter the dark and fragrant sanctuary when the trees were suddenly illuminated with a yellow-red glow. The following concussion threw her into the forest. Her last conscious thought was, I have so much to do.”
~~~
Delva is trying to unravel a mystery—a Vision—and I used the forest for two reasons:
First to co-opt the mystery forests can sometimes instill and then to be a “haven” for her explosion-mauled body…
So, those are the instances of my use of forests as symbols in Notes from An Alien.
But, please, don’t assume that as I wrote the story I was consciously aware of the symbolism.
I’m not that kind of writer…
I prepare heavily for each book I write but the preparation has to do with the elements of the themes I need to flesh out—the fleshing happens “on the fly” as I write from sparse notes about various plot necessities.
Still, I can look back at what I’ve written and deduce the unconscious reasons for selecting various symbols—I do trust my Muse and she does inhabit my Unconscious…
Also, I’m happy to have my readers attribute different meanings to my symbols and I hope they’ll share them in the Comments.
By the way, I know a writer who carefully considers the symbolism of her stories and the images she’ll use to bring it to life—the very Jane Watson who asked me to write about my symbols :-)
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Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
This is the second special Friday Behind The Scenes post that will have “severe” spoilers—excerpts from the novel.
Grab a free copy of Notes from An Alien—to read before you explore this post and to use to find the excerpts in the novel.
But, if you’re the kind of reader not bothered by spoilers, this post can serve as an introduction to my book—a chance to decide if you even want to download a free copy…
But, why would I suggest you use a free copy to search out these excerpts about the Alien Mesh or Internet?
Because readers often have different interpretations of symbolism in a story…
Basically, I hope to stimulate you to give your interpretations of my use of Mesh as a symbol—add to the depth of meaning of my book.
The next three Fridays will explore spheres, forests, and the Created Worlds.
So, why did I choose the word “Mesh” for my alien Internet?
Exploring the etymology of the word will help:
“late 14c., mesche, ‘open space in a net’, probably from late Old English max ‘net’, earlier mæscre, from Proto-Germanic *mask- (cf. Old Norse möskvi, Danish maske, Swedish maska, Old Saxon masca, Middle Dutch maessce, Dutch maas ‘mesh’, Old High German masca, German Masche ‘mesh’), from PIE root *mezg- ‘to knit, plait, twist’ (cf. Lithuanian mezgu ‘to knit’, mazgas ‘knot’).”
So, “net” from the word history is a no-brainer to symbolize an Internet.
What about to “knit”, “plait”, or “twist”?
On to the excerpts :-)
If you feel interested enough to explore a larger context for the following excerpts, just grab a free copy (Word .doc, Adobe .pdf, or E-pub), copy a line of the excerpt and paste it into the search box of your copy of the book.
~~~~~~~~~
The first excerpt is Rednaxela, leader of the first space mission from the Corporate World to the Religious World, talking to his artificial intelligence unit, Morna:
“Morna, I’m going to check on our prize passenger.”
“Only place worth going on a ship full of criminals.”
“Settlers, Morna, settlers.”
“Yes, criminal-settlers.”
“It’s a good thing you’re my AI and not a child of the Corporate Mesh.”
“It’s a good thing we have plasma shielding from the Corporate Mesh.”
The arrangement was completely unique but absolutely necessary. The Mesh, corporate or public, operated through electronics that were capable of responding to the streams of plasma surrounding and interpenetrating Anga. The Mesh was the Corporation’s mode of communication and control and it was critical to the planet’s efficient operation.
~~~
The next excerpt is at the Corporate World’s headquarters—they’re trying to figure out what’s happening on Rednaxela’s ship:
The Angan Corporation’s Chief, Brolan Mexur, was finishing his recital of orders to his Board members:
“We need to increase endocrine enhancements in the stable populations in Anselua and Kernuma, get their sexuality functioning at around 20 percent higher levels.”
All present nodded agreement.
“It’s critical that we boost Plot Interactions on the Corporate Mesh and induce bondable people on the Public Mesh to apply for Corporate Interaction.”
All present nodded agreement.
Brolan directed his next comment to Ralm, his deputy: “Report on ShipOne post-launch conditions.”
“Yes, sir. All is proceeding according to plan. ShipOne is now 3,000 miles from orbital launch position and increasing in speed. LightSail is fully functional.”
“Ralm, show us the playback of bridge activity before launch.”
All present directed their attention to the hologram appearing in the center of their conference table—fifteen sets of eyes preparing to analyze the situation.
~~~
This excerpt has Velu, Rednaxela’s biological daughter, and the husband and wife who adopted her:
Suris returned, handed Jalur his drink, looked from him to Velu, and said: “Break it to me gently. I’ve had a hard day.”
“Suris, you know we said we’d tell Velu about her biological parents—”
“Jalur you didn’t. Without me? How could you? Why—”
“Mother!” The force of Velu’s voice shocked them both.
Suris wondered who this young person was: “Velu…?”
“Dad told me because he had to. There’s stuff going on and he’s trying to protect me.”
“Jalur…?”
“Suris, the Corporation is using the Public Mesh to cause accidents; they’re purposefully killing people.”
“Jalur, don’t be—”
“Suris, listen. Your Corporation connections won’t keep me from being branded a mental criminal…“
~~~
There are a multitude of references to the various Meshes in the story but I’ll only include one more short one:
The Leadership Council of Anga, formed from the ranks of the previous Corporate Regeneration Committee, sat at a table in the most secure room of the building. They had mentally blended their connections to the top tier of the Corporate Mesh enabling simultaneous mental rapport with each other and access to Plot Analyses.
Five men dedicated to keeping the provisions of the Trade/Peace Treaty amenable to their manipulation. There was a separate Plot channel just for this. As they spoke to each other, their minds cast up charts and figures from the latest analyses as their emotions resonated to each others’ thought-induced feelings.
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So, can you see the symbolism of “kniting”, “plaiting”, or “twisting” in these excerpts about the alien Mesh?
I’d love your comments about this Mesh that goes beyond our Internet by enabling the blending of thoughts and feelings.
Plus, any comments or questions about the novel—whether I’ve discussed them already or whether I haven’t yet :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
This is the first special Friday Behind The Scenes post that will have “severe” spoilers—excerpts from the novel.
Grab a free copy—to read before you explore this post and to use to find the excerpts in the novel.
But, if you’re the kind of reader not bothered by spoilers, this post can serve as an introduction to my book—a chance to decide if you even want to download a free copy…
But, why would I suggest you use a free copy to search out these excerpts about water?
Because readers often have different interpretations of symbolism in a story…
Basically, I hope to stimulate you to give your interpretations of my use of water—add to the depth of meaning of my book.
The next four Fridays will explore mesh, spheres, forests, and the Created Worlds.
In a previous Friday post, Symbolism In A Novel ~ Who Decides The Meanings?, I revealed the responses I received to that question from a forum on LibraryThing—here they are:
“The readers rule no matter what you do.”
“We sometimes need better readers. LOL”
“The greatest challenge as a writer is to get the reader to experience the same story as the writer. We often love those moments in our own books that go completely unnoticed by even the most attentive readers. The crafting is so beautiful, yet hopefully invisible to the reader.”
“Once the text is out there, it doesn’t do you any good to go around saying ‘That is not what I meant at all; That is not it, at all.’”
“Every reader has a different experience of a story, a different interpretation. I think those make for an interesting conversation rather than everyone ‘getting’ the same thing from the story.”
“Absolutely. In fact, when an author listens to their readers, they can often find more in their stories than they thought was there :-)”
So, I hope those forum responses will get you ready to find your own meanings of the Symbol, Water, in Notes from An Alien.
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If you feel interested enough to explore a larger context for the following excerpts, just grab a free copy (Word .doc, Adobe .pdf, or E-pub), copy a line of the excerpt and paste it into the search box of your copy of the book :-)
First is a scene with Jalur and his adopted daughter Velu, who is the biological daughter of Rednaxela, the leader of the first expedition from the Corporate World to the Religious World. Velu is also the adopted daughter of Suris, mentioned in this excerpt and later revealed to have been killed by the Corporation. The novel itself doesn’t reveal Velu’s biological mother…
~~~
Father and daughter shared laughing vibrations with their brief hug and were jostled along by the stream of passengers/settlers/criminals.
“Dad, you seem perfectly calm.”
“And, you, my sweet, seem perfectly enthralled. Looking forward to the hunt, eh?”
“Can we actually do it? I know we’re both resourceful and all that but…“
“Velu, you’re on a quest and I don’t think it’s just to find a biological father.”
“If I find him, I’ll have two fathers; one I know everything about and one I’ll have to explore.”
She grasped his hand, pulled him to the side of the stream of passengers then around to face her, and said: “Suris was her name—running water—she flows on and on…“
Jalur knew his daughter to be poetic but, “Suris was her name”, shook his being. He hugged Velu, long and hard. She said: “Come on, Father, into our future.”
~~~
So, why do you think I had Suris’ name mean “running water”?
Sure, Velu and Jalur will be “flowing on and on” as they search for Rednaxela but do you sense a deeper meaning?
The next excerpt has Velu, biological daughter of Rednaxela with Zena, biological son of Rednaxela (different mothers):
“Xela’s and Velu’s relationship quickly included Xela’s son, Zena. They often spent time on the waters of the Sea of Renunciation and in the mountains near Erlan. On their third excursion to the mountains, Xela brought along Rednaxela’s AI, Morna.”
Zena and Velu meet here during the early part of their courtship—why the Sea of Renunciation?
The next set of excerpts all deal with the water that is part of the physical form of the character Anglana—the most alien being in Notes from An Alien :
A small vial of the water, along with samples of dirt and rock, was brought back by the crew and subjected to three more days of careful testing. Over that time the water sample had become infused with nearly invisible strands of colored material. They were not bacterial or viral. The strands were, if anything, molecular and seemed to be in complete symbiosis with the water’s microscopic plants and animals.
~~~
One additional difference in the land-based variety—it didn’t take part in the water-born variety’s interaction with the planet’s plasma currents, at least not in any way that could be detected.
~~~
Delva clung to Verluin and stared at the sky. Then, she released Verluin and walked to the edge of the shore. She said: “Morna run an analysis of—”
“I have, Delva, the water-born life form is also dancing in sync with the star and gas giant.”
Delva crouched at the water’s edge and scooped some up to her mouth. As she swallowed, she looked back at Verluin and said: “It looks just like I’m under water.”
Morna said: “Confirmed. The life form is consciously aware. But, I marvel at your extremely unscientific behavior.”
~~~
Verluin approached his wife as he said: “Morna, it appears that even non-believers can have faith.”
Verluin felt an urge to approach the water. Delva sensed it and gave him a small nudge in that direction. Morna nearly screamed: “Stop!”
Verluin crouched and scooped a bit of Anglana into his mouth and swallowed.
He embraced Delva and said: “Faith, sweet Morna, faith.”
~~~
Delva and Mura [Delva's daughter] rose and approached the water.
As they entered Anglana’s liquid presence, the glow intensified around Delva, becoming a swirl of color—red, blue, green, purple.
Mura could feel a process beginning in her loins. She gave herself up to it.
Delva’s physical substance was sublimating in the intense plasma glow and being transferred to Mura’s body.
Morna was in high analysis mode but was incapable of discerning the details of the process.
The water began to churn violently. The display of color intensified. A cone of light grew skyward, aimed at the Mother planet.
Suddenly, a brief and total darkness enveloped the scene. Slowly, the daylight began to return and revealed Mura standing in the water with a baby girl in her arms.
~~~
Those were the main water scenes that include the entity Anglana—a being who is a whole planet and a planet that is a conscious being—entity that communes with the Prophet Akla through the Plasma of the gas giant planet Beli-Pallos.
Why did I create this alien being to mediate between a spiritual Leader and various characters in the story?
Why is water an important aspect of her “body”?
One more excerpt about the Aklans, the most important religion in the novel—followers of the Prophet Akla,
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The Aklans had been in the village for a few days, getting to know the people and helping them implement some simple technology that could give them more control over their efforts to raise crops. The area they were in was mostly rocky with large swaths of sand. There was only a small stream coming from the large hill that dominated the landscape. Within that hill was a supply of water that wept its way out and down, often drying before it reached the huts.
The Aklans didn’t even think of suggesting the group of fifty adults and children move elsewhere. They were led by a very old woman who had known the priests of the Lord’s Army and tried her best to instill what wisdom she had to her group. The Lord’s Army and Faith of Eternity had few followers now, though the Disciples of Faith still flourished. This group had kept the spirit of the Lord’s Army alive for eighty years. They were all related but perilous times had confused the exact genetic lines. Still, these folk were, in all ways, an extended family.
The Aklans were doing what Aklans did—meeting people right where they were and offering, without judgement, whatever help they could.
The old woman said: “God willing, we can use this device to induce the hill to give us its Gift more abundantly.”
The oldest of the five Aklans responded: “Be sure to only use it when the stream is dry. If you keep it on all the time the hill could completely dry up.”
The Aklans had also given the group a bag of seed—a strain of edible grass that was extremely wholesome and grew with little attention.
“Plant the seeds in the pattern we showed you and only snip half the buds that appear so the plants can feed you for a full season.”
“Yes. We have my son’s talent in making clay urns to store the buds for times of scarcity. We will dig a cave in the hill for the storage.”
“God willing, you can set yourselves free of the harsh labor of the city and live here in peace.”
“You must return some day and tell me more of Akla.”
“We will and—”
A small transport was heard from beyond the hill. It swerved into view and came to a stop. Plasma, the killing kind, swept through the air and wiped out the Aklans. The transport swiftly departed, leaving the villagers in stunned stupefaction.
The old woman fell to her knees and began a chant:
“O God of Mercy.
“O God of Light.
“O God of Death.
“O God of Life.
“Forgive us.
“Protect us.
“Give us strength.
“Keep us firm.”
She rose and added: “And, help those poor souls in their flight towards Thee…“
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This water is “weak”, it “wept its way out and down…”
Yet the scene shows the strength of the Aklans desire to be of service to followers of the “worst” Faith in the novel.
Why did I use weeping water—what is the symbolism of the seeds—why do you think I found it necessary to have the Aklans killed??
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Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
After more than two years of faithful blogging—attempting to provide solid information and valuable resources—this blog has become a deep mine of knowledge—a web of posts that refer to each other—a Space that deserves exploration…
The Top Posts & Pages, in the left side-bar is a guide to the most visited posts but for only a short amount of recent time…
Top Tags spans all the posts, but it’s a system devised by me and may not give someone the information they want…
The Search: type, hit enter box, on the upper right of the site, is a place to put individualized words and phrases…
So, there are three ways to find things in this Space/web/mine of posts…
Then, there are the statistics of the top posts visited by readers—some by hitting the front page, some by using search engines.
I’ll list the top ten posts and pages visited here over the last 2 years and 3.5 months; but, let me explain a couple things:
The top listing below is for Home page / Archives—basically, a visit to the front page and whichever post happens to be there.
It shows 15,784 visits; but, the blog has had a total of 48,758 views…
This means 32,974 visits were to somewhere in the Space/web/mine of posts that weren’t the most recent…
Knowing that the majority of people visiting here did not land on the front page is valuable information for me as a blogger—kind of like realizing that people in a magazine store were not seeing the covers of magazines as often as they were using x-ray vision to look at stories inside…
Weird analogy, maybe, but still the way things work in our Digital Information Age :-)
So…
Here are the Top Ten:
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Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
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