Don't Forget the Droids

The last couple of years have been very tumultuous, but not very productive, in more ways that one.  Thus, it is not surprising that the prospects for speculative fiction -- and science fiction in particular -- have become blurry at best.  Before the beginning of the second Trump presidency, America's race into space appeared to have revived, with bold plans to finally establish a moon colony in the next decade.  Much has changed since then, as NASA's budgets and plans have been continually modified in a less expansive direction and other initiatives have taken precedence of the importance of boots on the moon or Mars.

Setbacks in rocket hardware have turned back the clock on manned missions to outer space.  These have not been serious enough to cancel plans entirely for the goal of an eventual moon settlement, but they have certainly caused some delays and redirections of effort, to the point that it is difficult to see where the short term objectives of lunar settlement and the longer term hopes of Mars landings are clearly articulated.  The place of the International Space Station, projected for abandonment in the relatively near future, and an eventual successor station seem to change continually.  Such a patchwork planning schedule does not bode well for a well organized approach to interplanetary expansion.  Nor does the ongoing exclusion of China from NASA's timetables offer much of a boost to Earth's prospects for exploring the rest of the solar system in a systematic and financially responsible way.  

The muddled nature of Earth's defense priorities also present stumbling blocks to accessing the rest of the solar system.  Distrust among the planet's major powers prevents much cooperation, as resources are directed into competing programs involving secret types of spacecraft, communication systems, and possibly even space-based weaponry aimed at Earth-based targets instead of space-sourced challenges such as rogue meteors.  We are still too obsessed with blowing each other up, instead of dealing with existential threats to our planet and its civilizations, much less exploiting advantages beyond our own thin and increasingly threatened atmosphere.  

Contrast this to the marvelous and burgeoning achievements of our mechanical creations.  Man-made machines have registered unimagined success in outer space.  The Mars exploration devices we have sent to explore that planet have exceeded almost all expectations in their ability to furnish information about that world, outlasting their predicted timespans by large measure.  Incredibly, the "ancient" Voyager technology continues to function almost beyond the limits of believability in the depths of interstellar space.  Other probes have reawakened to further discover new things about the universe, as space telescopes have revealed thought-challenging pictures of wonders previously inaccessible to our senses.  

The success of our machines begs the question of whether we should reassess the role of our physical human bodies in the entire enterprise of interplanetary, and eventually interstellar, activity.  Films such as the extraordinary Interstellar invite us to keep us focussed on the Golden Age obsessions of humans in the cosmos that have prevailed since the time of classics like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  Perhaps we need to concentrate more on getting along among our organic selves and relying to a greater extent on our droid extensions to solve outlying problems that lie more within their capabilities than our own.  The R2D2s and C3POs of our own future may hold the key to being more than just robotic sidekicks to our exploration of the universe.  There are ways that we have to learn to trust them, and also to distrust them at times, in order to profit from ongoing progress.  Droids, not drones, may be the repositories of our futures.

 

 The Mandalorian and Grogu

Finally got so see this much anticipated film.  The audience was surprisingly large for a movie nearing the end of its initial release.  Not expecting much from a story line that had left me rather cold, I was surprised both at how well the film stood up as a story and how well composed the visual product was.  A film where the major character only shows his face --reluctantly -- for a few seconds and where his buddy only speaks in slight whimpers does not seem to offer a lot to engage the spectator.  Yet, The Mandalorian and Grogu moves along extremely efficiently, perhaps because it mixes in just the right amount of detective noir and measured humor to modulate the fight scenes and military sci fi content.  There are tasteful tributes to the rest of the vase Star Wars canon, without the irritating leaning that typifies so many sequel efforts.  Nothing is permitted to steal the show or overpower the various elements, not even the presence of the Queen of Outer Space (not a Gabor, but THE Weaver) as the leader of the rebel/republican alliance.  One of the elements that pleased me most was the way the middle course of the movie, where the Mandalorian is near death and Grogu is forced togrow up quickly and save them both, shifts registers to a more emotive and thoughtful pace.  It is like a changing tempo in a symphony that still blends completely into the themes of the other movements.  Speaking of which, the music in this epic deserves special accolades, covering a range of cohesive themes that underline the sweeping confrontations in the John Williams tradition and also shift without jarring into the suspenseful or gentler parts of the plot.  The more I think of it, The Mandalorian and Grogu stands out for me as a more carefully crafted artwork than the other prequels and sequels, putting it in a class with Rogue One as a masterpiece that can be enjoyed on its own.

 EVER HEARD OF CSA?

No, not Confederate States of America!  It's Community Sustainable Agriculture and it's a way of putting our concern for the planet's future into action.  You make a contract with a farm or group of farms to provide you with a box of produce direct from them every so often.  This year, I decided to try this with our local asparagus farm because we love fresh asparagus spears and have been a little dissatisfied with the super market product.  So we paid about $300 for 10 weeks of boxes, plus a few pick-your-own events right in the fields.  We've now received our first five weeks of boxes, which contained superb asparagus, plus products from three associated farms: salad greens, zucchini squash (courgettes), sweet potatoes, berries, and LOTS of eggs, as well as some honey and blackberry jam.  There were so many eggs that I had to dig into my old quiche recipes and start freezing some of those, besides learning to pickle boiled eggs.  I realize that not everyone has a farm available to do this (here we have a choice of two) or the time to cook a lot of fresh products.  Yet I am very happy we did, because we are helping to preserve local farms that grow something besides corn, wheat and soybeans for Big Ag.  These family farms are an American tradition and a great way to get fresher, tastier, and less chemically-treated items for the diet.  All over the world, there is a need to encourage this sort of sustainable agriculture in order to restore the balance of nature and climate and to make a better world for coming generations.  I think you all should consider ways to consume local products raised by dependable local farms, both for your own personal benefit and that of the Earth.  (And yes, I did think of our own characters the Religious Dissenters on Domremy as I wrote this piece.)

 FELIZ PASCOA NEW VIEWERS FROM BRAZIL!

 

SEE US AT MARSCON

APRIL 24-26   GLEN ALLEN, VIRGINIA

A SCI FI CON THAT'S ALWAYS LOADS OF FUN!

LOOKING FORWARD TO MARSCON THIS COMING WEEKEND IN VIRGINIA BEACH-NORFOLK

AND HOPING MOTHER NATURE WILL BE BACK!

OUR PANELS WILL BE:

HERPETOLOGY, WHAT IS IT?  FRIDAY 4pm

INDIE PUBLISHING FRIDAY 7PM (JIM)

MAKING VILLAINS WICKED AGAIN  FRIDAY 7PM (JOHN)

EVOLUTIONARY MECHANICS AND BEHAVIOR OF SEX   FRIDAY 10 PM

HIDE AND SEEK -- CHAMPIONS OF US CRYPTIDS SATURDAY 2PM

Q, THE MAN BEHIND 007--LET'S TALK SPY TECH AND ITS ROLE IN REALITY AND FICTION   SATURDAY 7PM

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE SUNDAY NOON

 

 BACK TO MYSTICON IN ROANOKE

We're delighted to have been invited back to the Mysticon conference coming up in Roanoke next month.  It's a fantastic gathering of writers, fans, cosplayers, and scifi film buffs that had been on hiatus since the days of Covid and is rebooting this year.  We'll hope to have some new picturess to post soon, so stay tuned to this station!

AN APPEAL TO ASIAN FANS

Here in North America we hear of the strength of the science fiction community in Asia, especially in Chinese-speaking countries, but we receive far too little information.  Apart from a few wonderful classics such as The Three Body Problem and related masterpieces, we have little news of the vast sci fi audience in that part of the world.  I know I am not alone in craving more information on the development of science fiction writing in Asia.  

Several specific questions include: How many science fiction magazines exist either in Chinese, English, or other languages?  How accessible are these publications in bookstores?  What kinds of publishers exist for full length novels or novellas and are these mainly devoted to speculative fiction or do they also publish in other genres?  What sorts of science fiction support groups are popolar in Asia?  Are there sci fi conferences for the general public to attend or do authors gather at smaller conferences to discuss their work?  Are there separate categories within sci fi for subgenres such as military sci fi, hard sci fi, social or anthropological sci fi, cozy sci fi, etc.?  Are there sci fi books stemming from films, such as the Star Trek novels or Star Wars novels?  

We are particularly interested in such questions because the sci fi scene is evolving quickly here in North America.  Some of the mosts established print magazines in English seem to be having trouble maintaining a hard copy presence.  Online magazines seem to be proliferating and organizing themselves more closely.  POD publishers of novels seem to be declining and small press publications often have an ephemeral status, rapidly coming and going in ways that can leave authors and fans baffled.  "Big 5" publishers rely mainly on literary agents as a go-between in the story procurement process and the world of agents also is in rapid transition.  Some groups of authors attempt to solve the publication problems by collectively working on anthologies, but these efforts often face funding and distribution bottlenecks.  It would be most helpful to have an idea of how our Asian colleagues are finding answers to their creative questions.  Please feel free to follow and post your reactions on this site.

                                        Jim and John, writing as J. M. R. Gaines

  

 BIENVENIDOS AMIGOS DEL SUR

We are delighted to welcome new viewers from the republics of Ecuador and Argentina to the Forlani Universe and hope that you will enjoy our posts, stories, and books!

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY!

A NEW STORY TO COME SOON

No, it's not snowing here on the Rappahannock in June, but we feel in good spirits because a new story just got accepted for publication.  The upcoming issue of Virginia Writers Project will contain our latest Forlani Saga story, Essedt, which features Garanian characters (reptilians) on the colony world of Garan Bis.  They must struggle with the imposition of a new totalitarian order on their society that was once based on individual virtues, even if it means paying the ultimate price for resistance.  We hope to be able to post a link soon.  Stay tuned.

 Hello New Fans From the Global South

A special welcome to our new viewers from Brazil and Vietnam!  Be sure to follow our posts for more information about science fiction and our own publications available on Amazon.

 RAVENCON 2025 

You never know who you'll run into at a sci fi con.  How about a vampire?  This is the great Count Gore de Vol, who for over a decade hosted Creature Feature to television fans in the Washington, DC area.  He took time out from his busy schedule presiding over the cosplay at the con to take a picure with me.  Check out his webpage for memorabilia.  It's always a pleasure to see this terrific fellow.

 We're Going Back to Ravencon!

We're returning to Ravencon 2025 this weekend in Glen Allen, Virginia.  This time we're giving ourselves a break from panels, having spoken in a dozen in our last 2 cons, and we're taking time out for some gaming and listening.  These cons stimulate out minds for more creative work.  Last year we had six publications in sci fi and we're hunting for fresh ideas for more short stories, poems, and chapters for Earth Regained.  Stay tuned for more news as we plunge into summer...

Squid Game, the New Orleans Massacre, and Debt Slavery

     The coincidence of beginninng to watch Season 2 of the Korean series Squid Game and the horrifying events of last week in New Orleans has caused me to reflect more on the phenomenon of debt slavery in our culture. Like the indebted Asians recruited for the cynical amusement of billionaires in the series, the driver of the vehicle that mowed down mirth-makers on Bourbon Street was himself a victim of financial disaster and just as desperate to escape, in his own bloody way, as the game players. Shamsud-D had made choices as bad, perhaps worse than the Korean characters. Despite a six figure salary, he had plunged through three marriages and apparently numerous other relationships that not only depleted his impressive funds, but sank him deeper in the pit of borrowing that is even more alluring in our country than in Korea. In Asia, most banks and credit institutions tend to be more circumspect about loaning money to bad risk clients. Though the sums quoted in Squid Game seem astronomical, one must remember that the value of the local currency, the won, resembles the Japanese yen in that it is far below the dollar, so millions of won translate into thousands of US dollars. Nevertheless, the process is essentially the same. Jabbar was, moreover, assaulted daily on ubiquitous media by endless possibilities for credit cards, rollovers, payday loans, second and third mortgages, automobile-secured cash handouts, store accounts, margin trading, and betting come-ons. It is not surprising that the one-time savvy Shamsud-Din was thus enticed to fall into the pit of marketable debt that increasing drives our "good economy." Now even the corporations seeking ostensibly to alleviate and manage household debt are openly admitting that twenty-first century America runs more on what citizens owe than what they actually earn.

     The New Orleans killer reacted in desperation, determined to try to rescue his existence as a success, even when it meant killing and being killed.  Like the Korean game players, he was trying to reassert himself against fate, and like them, he could think of no alternative.  Squid Game's second season emphasizes this point by including a character who, himself, had been a crooked debt manager, luring unsuspecting dupes into get-rich-quick schemes that stripped them of their assets, before falling for just such a trap himself. Jabbar may not have been lurking in alleys like some of the Koreans, but he surely faced the same menace of homelessness, as his three wives quarreled over the properties he had previously amassed and squandered.  In some ways, he was even more rootless.  While serving the shady "auditing and counseling" aims of his employer, he drifted between cities and states, rootless amid the gaudy exteriors, seemingly unaided by social agencies or the military he once idolized.  Korea, like the USA, is a success-driven system, bombarding the rising successful people with spiritual and material glory, but quickly overlooking those who get tangled in the web of finance or deluded by their own dreams.  There is little emphasis on balance, regardless of the time-honored concept of yin and yang embodied in the flag.  It's strictly put up or shut up.  Earn, spend, or get out of the way, and Devil (or geometrically disguised soldiers) take the hindmost.

     One is forced  to wonder if debt slavery is a paradigm for humanity's future.  Will governments condone the exploitation of the debtors and allow them to be carted away in anonymous coffins to some obscure crematorium?  Certainly the police commandoes in Squid Game seem outgunned, out-witted and hopeless against the hordes of mercenaries defended by the game-masters.  I can recall from my past in Louisiana that chemical companies with their own "security" routinely blocked police or even firemen from coming onto their property and interfering with their private business.  As in The Magnificent Seven, guns can be expensive, but humans to shoot them are cheap.  Jabbar and the Las Vegas bomber Livelsberger experienced this for themselves in Afghanistan as they were moved around like pawns in the "Great Game" of geopolitics.  

     And yet, both men chose to try to solve their problems and reassert their identity and importance by means of violence, even if their primary weapons were the vehicles they drove rather than the handguns and automatic long weapons they brought along.   This seems counter-intuitive and paradoxical on the surface.  But on further examination, both men (like the ex-ROK Marines and Air Force fighters in Squid Game, carried with them another feature of military and corporate life in both the USA and Korea, compartmentalization of thought and value.  It is all about targeting a reified goal.  When one is taught to shoot a rifle, one is usually discouraged from thinking of the potential victim as another human being.  Instead, one is urged to imagine the target as an inanimate object, a pumpkin on a fence post or a juicy wataermelon that will naturally splatter its contents when hit.  Should the human shape be specified in the target, it is usually hidden behind a menacing mask, making the shooting of an enemy a legitimate "solution" to any problem. Any qualms about eliminating a human life are compartmentalized, hidden away in a mental "hurt locker" that fills up with more and more relegated guilt until it eventually bursts open in a crisis of PTSD.  Any successful soldier goes through this process.  One not need be a sadist who actually enjoys killing.  Training allows even the reluctant to become complicit to the system.  It is more efficient than most people can imagine.

     Therefore, we should not be surprised if there are more and more developments that drive the failures of a debt-obsessed society to break out in violence.  Squid Game shows conclusively that. whether individually or collectively, humans have a great deal resisting the erosive effects of compartmentalization.  When game players are told that they take part according to their own free will and are free to abandon the games if they vote to do so, enough of them buckle because of the force of greed, pride, guilt, or any of a dozen other weaknesses, that they allow the games to go on.  Nay, they demand it.  They rant and cheer for the certain slaughter to continue.  Debt fuels depression, self-accusation, abandonment, desperation.  

     Can our future Earth-based societies or society devise a way to defuse the smoldering time-bomb of indebtedness?  Examples like that of Finland or Iceland offer some hope that humans can re-engineer economics in such a way to create a more balanced and humane environment.  It will mean getting rid of many of the imperatives of geopolitics and corporate thinking.  Yet that is not impossible.  I yearn for a new kind of "solution" to appear in Squid Game, not just a "solution" that involves someone being shot or run over or exploded.  There is still time.

MARSCON IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

      We've received our scheduling for panels at the Marscon conference in Virginia Beach - Norfolk for Jan. 17-19 and the schedule looks like a lot of fun.  Jim and John will be serving together on sessions, as follows:

     Friday Jan 17, 4-5 PM Speculative Poetry; 8-9 PM Reboots

     Saturday Jan 18,  12-1PM Songwriting 101; 2-3PM Editing Hows and Whys; 3-4PM RPGs As Collaborative Storytelling 

     All events take place at the Holiday Inn Virginia Beach - Norfolk.  Hope to see you there!

     

 

Happy Holidays From Virginia

Looking ahead to a greener season, Jim and John wish all our followers and fellow sci fi fans the happiest of winter holidays and a prosperous and delightful new year 2025.  This photo was taken at Government Island in Stafford County, Virginia.  As you can see, it was used as a quarry during the construction  of numerous buildings in Washington DC, including the White House.  It now serves as a forest refuge in the midst of Aquia Creek, a place of peace and reflection.  What better place to wish for peace for all the world?

 

Hello Hong Kong

    We salute you as science fiction fans and welcome you to the Forlani Universe.  A short story, an essay, and three poems from our works have recently been published in the 9th anthology of Riverside Writers, Reflections by the Riverside.  We happily invite you to check out this title on Amazon.  

     Hong Kong is a wonderful center for culture of Asia and the whole Earth.  We look forward to learning more of the writing tradition that has made it so important to all of us who are interested in speculative fiction.  Continue the good work.

 HAVE YOU TRIED LIFE SENTENCE YET?

If not, what are you waiting for?  It's only a top-rated space thriller filled with alien encounters of all kinds, dilemmas for humans to face, and the struggle for survival on weird and fantastic worlds.  Get it right now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Sentence-Forlani-Saga-1/dp/0998172111

PROJECT BLUE BOOK, THE SERIES

     Having just finished streaming the series, Project Blue Book, originally produced for the History Channel and now available on the Roku Channel streaming, I wanted to jump back into sci fi activity by sharing a few thoughts.  Although the series credits the activity of Prof. J. Allen Hynek as its inspiration, it explicitly states that the influence is strictly fictional, rather than purporting to recreate real events.  Various episodes cherry pick UFO events from the early 1950's, they are not presented in the real life chronological order in which they occurred, nor is Hynek's previous experience with earlier projects, such as Grudge, included in the fictional time line.  Likewise, the identity of Hynek's coworker from the Air Force is not the same.  Russian spies and open and covert ufologists are also included in the cast for dramatic reasons.  Hynek's connections to  Hollywood films of the succeeding decades are also shown in a very different light from reality.  

     The series does indeed present a speculative approach to many recorded controversies of the last years of the Truman administration and the earliest ones of the Eisenhower years.  Some of the UFO reports are dismissed as elaborate hoaxes, though even these are often mitigated by some measure of doubt or unexplained factors.  In particular, an episode set in the Kentucky hills is attributed to trickery on many fronts, including that of Air Force staff itself attempting to capitalize on false reports of aliens for strictly political reasons.  Other episodes, such as those set in Roswell, Area 51, and Wright-Patterson Air Froce Base, are deliberately left to a much more open interpretation because of the huge gaps in reasonable assessment left by intervention from the Air Force or more secretive organizations.  

     Furthermore, the possibility of the existence of UFOs and aliens is lent a great measure of credence by the involvement of the fictional Air Force officer, Captain Quinn.  He is shown experiencing personal close encounters of the third kind in a fighter jet over Washington DC, as well as in a submarine under the North Atlantic.  This is rendered more powerful to the viewer by the fact that Quinn is presented throughout the series as being much more skeptical than Hynek.  He is also shown as having a huge reserve of repressed emotions, to the point that he has an affair with a beautiful Soviet agent.  If Hynek is the brains of the investigation, Quinn is the guts.  For him to personal acknowledge proof of the "impossible" greatly increases the involvement of the viewer in the UFO continuum.

     In a different way, the same may be said of the character of Hynek's wife, Mimi.  First seen as a classic 50s housewife in the Harriet Nelson mold and usually relegated in opening episodes to an indirect experience of the UFO proofs and near proofs, she becomes more and more closely involved in the plots.  As with Quinn, she also functions as an emotional conduit to the viewer.  Her powerful concerns for her husband and son are set in contrast as she develops a deeper relationship with the spy Susie that culminates in a lesbian encounter.  She functions much like the generally practical Han Solo in Star Wars when he mutters, "I have a bad feeling about this."

     I would urge all sci fi fans to take the opportunity to stream Project Blue Book while this chance exists and to form and share their own reactions to this program, which unfortunately was cancelled before a season three could be produced.  The acting and technical aspects of the show are first rate and will not disappoint.  We plan to return to some particular aspects of the events portrayed in coming posts.

WE'RE GOING TO RAVENCON!

April 26-28 at Virginia Crossings in Glen Allen, Virginia 

Jim and John will be reading from their works and talking on panels

Friday 4/26 6-7 PM Readings from the Forlani Saga

9-10 PM Jim and John: Panel on HOW DO YOU SANELY GOVERN A MULTI-PLANET SYSTEM?

Saturday 4/27

10AM-11AM  John: USING HORROR MOVIES TO EXPLORE STRUCTURE

11AM-NOON Jim and John: IT TAKES A VILLAGE: THE LOGISTICS OF HUMAN COLONIES IN SPACE

1PM-2PM John: DCEU VS DCU

8PM-9PM  Jim: THE SCIENCE OF PEOPLE

Sunday 4/28

NOON-1PM Jim and John: SCIENCE BLOOPERS AND IN STORIES AND MOVIES