Delays: A cold blast has delayed my hopes of planting seeds. December’s warmth was a fooler. A friend told me this cold is necessary. I’m sure she’s absolutely right, but I can’t say it’s comfortable. I’m waiting for February to think gardens
Deliberations: Speaking with my older sister about my progress on the final pages of Quantum Quest, I said quite a lot remained. On further examination, I discovered the end is closer than believed. Just one more scene, which I began that same day. (And maybe another after that). Plus the epilogue. This tying up all the threads takes a lot of deliberation.
Derivations: As I’ve said before, my science fiction trilogy had its genesis fifty years ago. Over and over during the last half century, I’ve had to leap my imagination beyond new technology, to find the setting for an imagined future. Being an optimist, I gave free rein to my hopes, and not wanting to write a dystopic novel required jumping beyond looming issues, though there’ll never be a future without its challenges.
For instance, the Military-Industrial Complex—which has been growing ever since Eisenhower warned of its dangers—became my source of a villain (which I dismantled down to a single hold-out family, totally unrealistic!). But nowadays that danger has expanded into the tech industry, which wields even more power.
The health of the planet stands on the brink. It won’t be enough to dismantle the war machine. With a government run by oligarchs, I doubt their powers will be exerted on behalf of a feverish world.
Also, in my series, mentioned in both Pawn Quest and Ty’s Choice, fully one-half of Earth’s surface has been set aside for wild fauna and flora migration. My mind boggles at the struggle required for that to happen.
Yet hope lies in numbers. We the People outnumber the billionaires of the world—if enough people care enough about our planet Earth.
Kate Harrington 