It is my pleasure to share a guest post by author Robert Sell, who explains...
How I Write
by
Robert Sells
Would that I were a
more clever writer. Better writers than me start with an outline, a description
of characters, a plot. Not me. I start with an idea, the tiniest seed of a
story. And then, BOOM, I start writing a long novel, start to finish. But it
always starts with a thought, simple and sometimes profound.
Okay, what was the
“thought” launching my latest novel, Revelations?
My college and graduate education in physics and math propelled me into
teaching. Along the way, I had a love affair with astronomy and, in fact,
taught a few introductory courses in astronomy. While I admit to being
enthralled with both Star Wars and Star Trek, the physics for both simply doesn’t
work. There won’t be spaceships whizzing around the galaxy, far too costly.
And, heck, if it was true, then where are they? You and I have only seen the
Enterprise or the Millennium Falcon type ships in the movies and on television.
And, sadly, that is the only place they will show up.
Damn! No alien
contact. Heck, no First Contact! Who doesn’t love a good First Contact story?
So (here comes the “thought”)… is there a way for alien contact without the
fantastic spaceships that don’t exist? Well, yes. Hmm. Maybe.
We could interact
with a distant species through electromagnetic waves. Faster than a “speeding
bullet” or any spaceship and certainly less expensive. While the technology for
such communication is not quite there yet, the science is sound. We just send
large, information-packed messages, wait a few decades (or centuries) and get a
response. So, we can have First Contact. Hurray. But, let’s face it… long
distance phone calls are simply not as much fun as fighting aliens face to
face. Hmm.
What we really want is
a mano a mano scene. Nose to nose… or whatever counts as a nose for aliens. But…
but… how? Ahh. Another idea. Communication through electromagnetic waves is
possible so, let’s suppose there is a secret embedded message within the main
message from the aliens. Yeah! That’s it! Now, I had it. The seed to start my
story. Now, let’s see, how where should I start this story start? At an
observatory. Maybe Arecibo. Okay. Got it. I started typing.
And, three years
later, I was done. Oh, it took over twenty rewrites, a dozen or so characters
birthed and thrown out, ten serious edits. Then I gave it to some friends who
just happened to be English majors (not physics geeks) and they helped me clean
up the prose. My final reviewer was my wife who, God bless her, found over
twenty more errors and made some great suggestions improving the manuscript.
As ever, it was a
long, annoying, wonderfully exciting process. In the end I have a love story
intertwined with a unique First Contact story. Oh, and big-time scary stuff
with strange creatures and edge of your seat battle scenes. All from one little
idea… how could aliens get here without spaceships.
***************
by
Robert
Sells
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Science Fiction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Aster Worthington spearheads the First Contact Team who are
unraveling a message from an alien race. The altruistic extraterrestrials
promise free energy and an excited Earth builds a massive structure called the
Dome to house the alien enterprise
Seven years later, no "free energy" and strange things are reported in and around the Dome. When Aster and her colleagues mount an expedition to investigate the interior, they are shocked to find it filled with humanoids having insect-like deformities. It becomes obvious their true purpose is to take over our planet. Now Aster and the scientists are trying to come up with a defense to fend off the invasion. A defense that is tied to a 2000 year old document hidden by the church. But, will it be too late?
Seven years later, no "free energy" and strange things are reported in and around the Dome. When Aster and her colleagues mount an expedition to investigate the interior, they are shocked to find it filled with humanoids having insect-like deformities. It becomes obvious their true purpose is to take over our planet. Now Aster and the scientists are trying to come up with a defense to fend off the invasion. A defense that is tied to a 2000 year old document hidden by the church. But, will it be too late?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
The Message
“Maybe it’s just a
coincidence,” Stenton suggested.
“No. There won’t be
coincidences in this message, Dr. Stenton,” said Demarco in a dismissive voice.
He then went to the podium, which Henry ceded, tapped some keys and a moment
later, the ones and zeros of the binary message aligned themselves in the form
of a perfect square. With a flourish, Demarco pushed the last button. A black
square appeared for every zero in the message and a white square for everyone.
A black and white array appeared, rendering a clear, unambiguous picture of a
planetary system. One with four planets, the second one from the sun circled.
“My God!” someone shouted
from the back. “They sent us a picture.”
Henry smiled and yelled to
Louis. “Hey, Louis, I told you a picture would be easy.”
Without taking his eyes off
the screen, Demarco asked, “Is that the Lambda system, Dr. Worthington?”
Heads swiveled to Aster. She
nodded. “Yes. That is the correct spacing for the Lambda star system.”
“Another large number after
the last spacer. Different one, but the same number of bits,” Jeremy announced,
speaking loud over the din.
Demarco did his magic again,
and a humanoid body filled the screen, strikingly similar to a human, except
for a slightly larger head. Their hands had three digits, not five.
“It’s them.”
“They’re like us.”
Someone from the back shouted,
“The Lambdons.” Now the aliens had a face and a name.
Louis, however, scrunched
his face in consternation. He shuffled close to the screen, studying it.
Aster watched the muttering
biologist. “Louis, what’s wrong?”
Louis turned around, his
face worried. “These Lambdons… they look like us.”
“Not exactly like us. They
have three fingers and a larger head.”
“Too close,” mumbled the
biologist.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Robert
Sells has taught physics for over forty years, but he has been a storyteller
for over half a century, entertaining children, grandchildren, and
students. He has written the
award-winning novel, Return of the White Deer, historical fiction about
Penda of Mercia. His second fiction book, Reap the Whirlwind, was a
thriller about the dawn of artificial intelligence and the subsequent decline
of humanity. His third book, The
Runner and the Robbery, was a young adult novel about a teenager and his
grandfather who had Alzheimer’s disease. Revelations, a science fiction novel,
is his fourth book.
He lives with his
wife, Dale, in the idyllic village of Geneseo, New York with two attentive dogs
who are uncritical sounding boards for his new stories. He is intrigued by poker and history,
in love with Disney and writing, and amused by religion and politics.
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by Robert Sells is a young adult story that centers around William (Bill) Taylor, who has moved with his widowed mom to New York so they can take care of his paternal grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s. A high school junior, Bill has not really made any friends except for an eighth-grader, so he is startled when his chemistry partner, Sarah, gradually starts insinuating herself into his life. A mystery involving a decades-old crime seems to snowball and Bill finds himself driven to solve it, not least due to Sarah’s interest. Unfortunately, there are others interested in the case, and the danger escalates until it becomes apparent that Bill has more friends than he realizes—and he’s going to need help from almost all of them!