Where Human Meets Machine

As much as I’ve been losing sleep recently over Affrar’s next scene in chapter 2, a question that’s been bugging me for the better part of a year now, is the role of Nik Rhostov in the course of the novel itself.

When I first presented the outline during a writers’ workshop that I belonged to, the tutor (a published crime writer, with many years of experience in other genres as well, including sci-fi), said to me that she thought that Rhostov’s part in the novel needed to be bigger – if not one of the main threads of the story. I had expressed concern as to whether or not to include him at all during the course of Use’ara: Thirteen Stars because the original vision was for a series of stories (whether novels, or novellas), that would follow on from the introductory tale presented in the first novel, and Rhostov’s was to be one of those. The scope of the outline for Thirteen Stars was already huge, and I worried that including elements of Rhostov’s journey would make it simply too unwieldy. So, I thanked her for her feedback, and tucked the comment into the dark recesses of my mind, doubtful that I would ever take any notice. What can I say? I can be headstrong at the best of times. However, the more I’ve worked with the outline, created the scene by scene treatment, and worked with mind mapping and brainstorming ideas, the more I’ve come to realise that Jane was right, and I was wrong to doubt her.

Nikolai Rhostov is a BiSI – a Bio-Synthetic Interface. He is a human that has been genetically altered to allow him to literally interface with the computer systems of space stations, ground stations and colonies, and space ships. The concept isn’t new, I know. In an attempt to prevent computer systems’ artificial intelligences from taking over, and thus protecting humanity from their own creations, human scientists created a way of genetically enhancing certain, already highly intelligent individuals, with the ability to interface, and thereby modify human and computer interactions. There’s a whole back-story that I can explore in some detail either as part of Nik’s story in Thirteen Stars, as Nik’s story itself, or a combination of both, but the question that leaps into my mind in respect of Nik’s first appearance in the Use’ara series is: What happens when that close psionic relationship between a human and his computer, (in this case ZHACIS), breaks down?

During the course of trying to answer that question to my own satisfaction, I’ve come to realise just how ‘big’ Nik’s story, and the possibilities for concept exploration really are. What does it mean to live as a human ‘outside of humanity’? What are the limitations (in statute and law) placed on these genetically enhanced individuals, and how are they viewed by their fellow man? How do the enhancements affect the individuals emotions, attitudes and abilities to form relationships, and in what way does this reflect those abilities of the unenhanced – humanity in general? Through Nik is another opportunity to explore the nature of what it is to be human and how humans differ from their Use’aran ‘cousins.’ The latter exploration comes in the shape of Nik’s relationship with the Use’aran female that rescues him from his LiSSSC when it makes planetfall. E’fframe is not like most other Use’aran females in one important respect, and through the dynamic of the interactions of these two outsiders many interesting facets of human and Use’aran culture can be explored, adding different layers to the other conflict-driven threads in the story.

Ultimately, however, Nik Rhostov does face conflicts and dilemmas of his own, in the changes he will face. From being an ‘expanded’ consciousness in his interface with the ship’s system, through the narrowed, restricted consciousness of living as a ‘simple’ human, and experiencing some parts of human emotion for the first time in a long while, to ultimately sacrificing what remains of his human consciousness in order to save his sanity, and explore planetary consciousness itself, Rhostov’s part in Thirteen Stars certainly does seem to be greater than I had, at first, thought, when it became buried in the action of the other threads in the story that is the beginning of the Use’ara series.

Things That Go Bump In The Night

There is a Scottish saying: From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, may the good lord deliver us! and it’s from this that the title of this post comes, and also the reason why my current status on Yahoo!Messenger reads: I’m going to kill Affrar.

As if balancing a day job as a primary school supply teacher, and a career as a writer were not hard enough already, I can do without being kept awake at night with snippets of scenes, dialogue and other assorted Muse-driven realisations from or about characters or stories. So, when Darius Affrar’s scene from chapter 2 of Use’ara kept me up, I did what any self-respecting writer would do – grabbed a notebook and pencil (I always prefer to use pencil), and scribbled down those things of which I could make sense, and then having – as far as I was concerned – exorcised the issues that were keeping me awake – lay down and went to sleep, right? Wrong!

Well, not exactly wrong, just… mildly apocryphal. I manage to get a few hours of sleep after that, but come 5:30am, I don’t think anything short of a sledge-hammer to the back of the head would have allowed me to sleep longer. Normally I’m awake around 6:45am and up by 7am (though I rarely make it downstairs before 7:20), and anything that deviates from this – unless by choice (which includes the times I am away from the UK) – upsets the “delicate balance of my housekeeper” as it were. (I love Narnia).

So Affrar is a dead man. I’m sure at some point in the series that might well prove to be true, although for the time being, and since he plays a somewhat key role in Thirteen Stars I must make that a suspended sentence – a noose awaiting the fit of his neck, and a plaque beneath bearing the epitaph; a snippet of the thoughts with which he’d kept me awake:

Affrar knew his agitation had become unacceptable when he noticed his accent had slipped past the carefully cultivated Andromi III standard. It was somewhere between a lilting Old Earth Irish and a rich Scottish brogue, though he had never been to either place; like most of his generation he had never even trodden the dust of Old Earth at all…

Where Have I Been?

Barely a week after my last entry to the blog here, we lost my grandfather, and after that, things began to shift in focus, and what I would have been doing – writing-wise, gave way to family matters, as was fitting. Then came April… and after a brief mess involving a well known UK coach company, a major US airline, and my endeavors to reach my guy in North Carolina, I finally made it into the arms of comforting domesticity.

It’s hard to describe what that feels like to anyone that’s never been away from their spouse for any protracted periods of time. It’s relief, and joy and hope and love all wrapped up together into a vast embrace of togetherness. My spouse and I usually manage around 13 weeks of every year together, unless one or other of us take extra time out of work to add to that, and in this financial climate, that’s not very possible. Anyway, mid April to Mid May I spent in cicada-infested Chapel Hill, NC. There’s video somewhere, of the sound Mir and I lived with the last month of so, and when it’s uploaded I’ll be sure to share… suffice to day that to offset the constant hum – which sounded like a Star Trek phaser set to overload – we had to put on the TV, or some music. It was enough to drive anyone insane.

That’s not to say I didn’t get any writing or writing related activities done during the time I was away. I did. I sent out a short story, which came back to me a couple of weeks later, and has been sent out again today. I also finished chapter one of Use’ara: Thirteen Stars to a point where I’m happy with it for a first draft.

I also did a lot of reading. They say a writer should read, read, read… and that’s what I spent a lot of time doing. As well as reading my way through Author Mark A. Roeder’s Gay Youth Chronicles. I’ve also been reading and reviewing for fellow authors on LibraryThing, which really should be discovered. It’s an excellent place for bibliophiles everywhere. I managed three reviews and still have another 11 or so to go.

I was going to sit down today and start on chapter 2 of Use’ara, but my copy of Writing Magazine came in the post, and I got caught up in reading that for all the helpful tips and web pages. I had to make myself stop part way through so that I could get some writing done. Which is what I’m going to go and do right now – or at least make a start.

My Writing Week

The week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Setting up the site took a little while and then sorting out all the research and maps and vocabulary lists for Use’ara into a place where they were all accessible added to the seemingly organised chaos of my room. I spent the rest of the week’s writing time – I write in the evenings after I get home from tutoring young readers and writers – was spent reviewing the outline and starting work on a scene by scene treatment. I didn’t get that finished by any stretch of the imagination.

Going through the outline in that manner, with a fine tooth comb, one might say, led me to realise that I have a lot more material than I originally thought I had. I probably won’t know for certain until I’ve finished the treatment at least, and written a few more of the scenes, but it’s feeling increasingly likely that Thirteen Stars will span more than one book. It’s not really what I had wanted, but I worry that it would otherwise be too long.

Now, I’ve nothing against long books, particularly not in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre, my book cases will attest to that and I have confidence in the book’s premise and my ability to write it, but sometimes a writer worries. It’s a big ask sometimes, to ask readers to come with you on a journey of such magnitude… and then of course there are the publishers, who are a breed of their own. Time will tell and we shall see. For now I must dive back into the remainder of the treatment. After that, who knows?

Beginnings…

Ever had one of those mornings when you wake up and realise that the only person holding you back is yourself? That was my morning. To be fair, it’s something I’ve realised on a number of occasions, but other than whining and complaining, haven’t really done anything about it. Actually that’s not even really fair either – it’s not that I haven’t done anything about it, just that other areas of my life have taken priority, and rightfully so.

If you’re read the ‘about’ page (and brownie points for you if you have), you’ll already know that I’m one half of a bi-national couple. If you’re unfamiliar with what that means, it means that, although I’m in a committed relationship with someone, because of ‘immigration and the art of being a same-gendered couple’ we’re not actually able to live in the same country. I’m here – she’s there, and hundreds of cozy happily ‘opposite-gendered’ couples say that’s the way it must be because our very existence threatens the sacred institution of marriage. Ahem – I’ll step off my soap box now. This wasn’t meant to be a bitter, overly political post. Anyway, a lot of my energy and free time goes into trying to be in a position where ‘my guy’ and I can actually live in the same household for more than a week or two at a time, several times a year.

There comes a time though, where you have to jump in with both feet and wrap that rope around your hand, riding the bull for all you’re worth. Aside from being able to live with my spouse and raise a family together, the goal I set myself for the year was to make Use’ara: Thirteen Stars available for publication. A quarter of the year gone and it still hasn’t happened, and here’s where my morning realisation comes in. (You were wondering, right?) The only reason it hasn’t, is because I haven’t done anything about it, but that’s all changed now.

Starting today – I’m dusting off the cobwebs from the notes and outline and files that, thankfully, are not saved on the hard drive of my computer that died a week ago, polishing it all up, and sending it on its way toddling out into the world – my literary baby. Like any mother, naturally I’m anxious, who wouldn’t be? I’m also confident, and happy with decisions made, and pathways mapped. So here goes – this first step – my shiny new website and blog devoted to my fiction and getting myself ‘out there!’