 Action/Adventure: October 27, 2010 Issue [#4039] |
  Action/Adventure
This week: Postulating Alien Encounters Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Welcome to this week's WDC Action & Adventure Newsletter ~ where we embark on adventures known and imagined ~ and share what we know, imagine and dream with our readers earthbound and who knows where else?
The only way to discover the limits of the possible
is to go beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke
That's the method: restructure the world
we live in in some way,
then see what happens.
Frederik Pohl
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Greetings fellow adventurers. Recall that an adventure has at its heart a quest, a reason for the adventure that drives the characters to action. Science fiction poses a quest of imagined innovations in known or postulated science or technology. It's often a futuristic setting, taking what we know and envisioning either the next level or an alternate use for the science. The imaginary elements are possible (or at least not im-possible) within scientifically postulated laws of nature. The quest is largely possible (if not necessarily probable) within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature.
Jules Verne applied known nautical principles to his postulate of sending ships into orbit and exploring the vast unknown outer sea of space. H.G. Wells used known media (radio) to broadcast an invasion of spacecraft and alien mechanized creatures and instilled a suspension of disbelief in a society exploring a new technology (radio, microwaves a new 'alien' technology). And before them, Mary Shelley took the medical practice of exhuming cadavers by doctors' assistants that the physicians may study and teach medical and surgical procedures to create her Frankenstein. These writers past laid the foundation for both the softer science fiction focusing on psychology, anthropology, and social sciences (think 'Superman') to the hard science fiction adventures crafetd by the likes of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov (think "Foundation").
Hard science fiction adventures are postulated upon known scientific principles, like chemistry, mathematics, physics, and taken to another level. The aliens can be mechanized, from other planets, or perhaps they were the Gods and Goddesses of past millenia who crafted Stonehenge and the Maya observatories? Was Elijah's "fiery chariot" upon which he rose to the heavens a spacecraft?
Moving forward a bit in time, if you believe Area 51 is a respository for out-of-gas spacecraft and not a CIA training facility, then perhaps your adventure can begin with a cellphone wrong number that *69's (star+69 = dialback) to an urgent call for WD50 (lubricant) and GPS's to a place in the desert. See where I'm going - taking known technology and postulating an unknown possibility. ET may not have enough particle waves in its transmitter to phone home, but enough to reach your cell. Does your adventurer respond? Why? Why Not? 
But you don't have to be a rocket scientist to engage in an alien encounter. Search online and you will find a number of tales of UFO sightings, some allegedly by military personnel. Online - an intriguing postulate there. Are aliens sending some of those images to introduce themselves or perhaps throw us off guard, let us think they have yet to arrive? Read of the Martian probes, drones yes, but how close are they in technological features to the bathysphere-type craft that can withstand the pressures of deep sea exploration by mortals who return landside without ill effects. Sounds a bit like Jules Verne's nautical postulate, does it not?
And what of all the reports from abductees and contactees. Alien abduction and contact have been so widely reported across so many countries and such a span of time that it would be ridiculous to discount all of them as mere imagination or just downright lies - both the famous ones such as Admiral Byrd's encounters, and those by ordinary folk. Consider the tales of probes physical, mechanical, biological and their scientific probability.
The term alien is relative - based on our ethnocentric mortal perspective. Let your adventurer step outside the realm of human only and explore plant-based or electron-based lifeforms perhaps. Engage the imagination, apply scientific fact and postulate an adventure. Build an 'otherworld' that is based on that postulate and the beings will speak among themselves and perhaps with us. The quest can be engaging the 'aliens' or the 'aliens' exploring otherworlds of their own, perhaps to stumble upon our planet or one of her outposts on the moon or another asteroid or spacestation (see, I'm dealing with some known provable reality as well as postulating an expansion or sidestep of the known).
I think that's the most engaging and riveting part of a science fiction adventure. To embark on a quest that the adventurer and your readers can grasp as a possibility, if not today, someday, then give them some obstacles and make them act to surmount them in order to attain the quest and effect change in our world / galaxy / universe that's satisfying and believable if not always 'happy.' Could even be comical in its engagement - think "Ghostbusters."
If you've got the science down, in fact or postulate, in your adventure, perhaps you'd be interested in exploring the guidelines for Analog and do let us know when to see you in print
http://www.analogsf.com/information/submissions.shtml
Until we next meet, may your encounters, both alien and earthbound, be adventures to engage the senses and incite the muse creative.
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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I'd like to share a story submitted in response to our outer space adventure last month "Adventures in Outer Space" and the request to share more alien encounters (by E.T. per the writer )
Now for some alien and otherworld adventures offered by members of our Community ~ engage in their adventures in prose and, yes, verse
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#1699634 by Not Available. |
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I decided to take a break from work and give writing another chance. Here it goes
#1695730 by chad  |
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#1635141 by Not Available. |
And, yes, here's a sci-fi adventure in verse
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#1396393 by Not Available. |
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A few comments from our members in response to our 'outer space' exploration
From: Raine
Good info, Kate! Most of us who watch Star Trek or any other space drama are familiar with "port" and "starboard" as well as "bow" and "stern" but I did not know about the lights. And space stories are a lot of fun to write, too!
Good info, Kate! Most of us who watch Star Trek or any other space drama are familiar with "port" and "starboard" as well as "bow" and "stern" but I did not know about the lights. And space stories are a lot of fun to write, too!
Check and click "Go!" when used:
Thanks for writing ~ and I too grew up on Star Trek and any space adventures I could find on TV then read Martian Chronicles and was fascinated by the close relevance to nautical terms ~ think Jules Verne as well crafting space adventures from basic nautical adventures of his time ~ Write On!
From: Doug Rainbow
How much science should there be in science fiction? It seems to me that we see a lot of three kinds: (1) alternative propulsion modes; (2) bio-engineering of humans or other sentient beings; (3) "religious" science fiction, which is not science at all, and may not even be fiction.
How much science should there be in science fiction? It seems to me that we see a lot of three kinds: (1) alternative propulsion modes; (2) bio-engineering of humans or other sentient beings; (3) "religious" science fiction, which is not science at all, and may not even be fiction.
Doug -your question ignited this month's exploration ~ Thank You  Enjoy the journey. It becomes fiction when there's a story ~ a quest for the reader and adventurer to solve/accomplish.
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From: BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
Interesting information about Spaceships. only one small problem, no stories were featured.
Oh one moment, phone call.......
What do you know, E.T. just called. He says he likes these newsletters and was saddened to see no stories about aliens.
Feature a few next time. I'm sure you'll find some somewhere. Area 51 perhaps.
I hope you and E.T. enjoy some of the features, including yours, I'm sharing above. Thanks for the inspiration!
May all your Halloween adventures be a treat (or you the trickster not trick-ee)
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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