Alpha 5 – Page 3 – Lights In The Sky

Blog entry supplemental: …it’s about time

By C Stevens | 17th August 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

The series is now complete; I put the finishing touches to The Lost Colony (the final book in the trilogy) just over a week ago, bringing a three year plus writing project to an end.
I’m not sure how I feel…!
Clearly, I’m satisfied that I’ve done it, that I’ve completed a coherent piece of writing, more than one thousand pages (and nearly 300,000 words) long, but feeling slightly bereft that my story is now complete. Of course, I can re-visit the world I’ve created any time I want, but never again will I go there not knowing how it all ends, with the delicious thrill you get from the realisation that you’re still writing the story (or possibly the story is writing itself, using you as the medium?), that your fictional world is still evolving, and everything is still up for grabs! I have viewed the series as a detective story, with me in the role of detective…but now the case is closed…
My intention when I embarked on Lights in the Sky more than three years ago, was to write a post-modernist SF series, and I feel I have largely succeeded…
But how is it postmodernist?
Well, it incorporates a number of the features which have characterised postmodernist literature. Specifically, pastiche and a rather wholesale mixing of genres: including detective fiction, YA, fairy tales, the adventure story, SF (obviously), future history, coming of age, family saga etc…
Thinking I’d only ever write one science fiction work, I decided to chuck everything in! But, as often happens, the process of writing changes your intentions along the way, so there will be a fourth book, a companion volume, set on Earth, and (depending on your relativistic standpoint), either a prequel or a sequel to the Alpha 5 narrative…
Magic realism is also present, through the use of fairy tales and dream sequences; also fabulation, through the incorporation of fantastic elements; temporal distortions, and altered states that turn out to have objective reality, although this cannot be because it would violate relativity! My text also incorporates characters with similar names who are in fact doppelgangers! (there are three in the text!) A scientific explanation is advanced for both of the above (in the case of the relativistic paradoxes, this is based on my rather imperfect knowledge of the phenomenon of quantum tunneling!). This one of the advantage of SF as a form, one can always reach for science (real or imaginary) to provide explanations!
As SF, the text features technology heavily, but also hyperreality; specifically through the game show that features the Children as unwilling actors in a scripted narrative, produced and stage-managed by the robots, acting as agents for the shadowy Mission…
In addition we have paranoia; ‘…the belief in an ordering system behind the chaos of the world’. In Lights in the sky, this system has three distinct agents acting for it; the Mission (of course), the Alphanians, and behind them all, the Divine Architects, who we never actually meet…
My use of genre tropes is obviously self conscious, but not consciously ironic! I have no desire to distance myself from or deconstruct these genre elements which I love, and have loved, in many cases since childhood…
Clearly, I’m a fan of narrative form experimentation (which is in itself postmodern), but this is not an absurdist Universe, and the tale does come to a final resolution, which is less so…
You may become aware that the narrative is intended to work on a number of levels, however it’s not necessary to fully understand all of them to gain enjoyment from reading it…
We have paradigm shifts at the end of each book, and, oh yes…! It’s about time…

Blog entry eleven: Home

By C Stevens | 13th July 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

This blog entry accompanies Home, the third and final part of an extended story that closes the first half of A Children’s Crusade, and should be read after reading the chapter…
Again, we’re in adventure story territory, and the conclusion of the Children’s exploits in the Equatorial regions also brings the first part of the tale to a close…
So where do we find ourselves?
At the end of per ardua, the Children’s immediate difficulties have apparently been resolved… Everyone’s safe, everyone’s now paired-up (with the exception of the childlike Raj!), and two new children (the first of the second generation!) have been born… They’ve made significant progress in understanding their world and are beginning to comprehend (albeit dimly!) the true nature of A5’s indigenous life…
Problems still remain, however! The Equatorial regions have been declared too dangerous for further exploration, and food supply is still an issue…
On a psychological level two significant things have happened; the Children have gone from the womb-like environment of the Dome out into the world, confronting it as adults for first time; secondly, Marta at least, now regards the planet (rather than just the Dome) as hers for the first time. This is the significance of the chapter’s title!
It would too much of a stretch to say that all of her teammates are on the same page with this, but at least some of them will begin to move in the same direction…
Jorja will not be among them, however! Her recent travails have scarred her mentally, and she now regards Alpha 5 as a hostile place, one that threatens her and the boy she loves! And the threats aren’t just coming from outside the Dome…!
The last paragraphs are instructive. It’s here that Marta’s conclusion that Alpha 5 really is home is revealed. It’s also here that one of the major themes of the series is first alluded to, the drama of climate change made actual. Finally, there’s a major revelation right at the end of the chapter…

Blog entry ten: the Age of Exploration

By C Stevens | 30th June 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

As before, this blog entry accompanies chapter ten of A Children’s Crusade and should be read in conjunction with it…
The title The Age of Exploration is alluded to in the previous chapter and is intended to suggest that this is the novel as adventure story. Following American television convention we’re into the second part of a three part story; for this reason the narrative is rather heavy on exposition.
The slightly archaic speech patterns of the children are a deliberate echo of the classic children’s adventure stories that the first part of Lights in the sky pastiches (a sort of ‘Five go Mad in Space’!). But there is a reason for why they speak this way, (to be revealed in chapter twelve), and the formality of their use of Standard English is counterbalanced by the extreme informality of their use of the slang argot, Grok!
(NB the website boasts a complete glossary of all the unfamiliar Mission and Grok words used in the novel)
Following the convention set in the previous chapter, the passages in italics indicate action seen from Jorja’s POV; although again I’m using third person limited narration rather than first person (that will come later!). In this chapter Jorja begins to realise the serious of their situation; as Marta comments,
‘…they’ve really got themselves in a fix!’
By the start of the chapter Rai has apparently regained his equilibrium and has made an important discovery, while Jorja has concluded that the whole adventure is a terrible idea; the discovery of the sleeping pseudo-crustacean in the pod grove only adds to her conviction. This puts her at odds with her best friend.
It’s not clear from the format of the website, but A Children’s Crusade is divided into two parts (note to self, must fix this!). The subtitle of chapters one to eleven is the first half of a commonplace Latin tag, per ardua, and I think you’ may be able to guess what part two is called! I’d like to point out that this is not a reference to the Royal Air Force, and in fact I got the idea from a short story by Isaac Asimov…
In this chapter the children’s difficulties do become a bit overwhelming, and Marta expresses their growing apprehension when she says,
‘…I’m not sure I like the Equatorial regions…’
Essentially the kids are now completely out of their comfort zone as they are forced to take on adult roles and face their first real crisis as an expedition. Marta, in particular, is tested and and steps up to the plate showing true courage, initiative and resolution, but then we always knew she would…
Hope you enjoy the chapter, until next time…

Blog entry nine: If six were nine

By C Stevens | 14th June 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

This post accompanies chapter nine of A Children’s Crusade and should be read in conjunction with it. The title is a fairly obvious musical reference, although I changed the grammar to fit the context; the fact that it’s the ninth chapter was just coincidence, but the action does represent a series of plot reversals (from six to nine is not just an expansion, but also an inversion), although not all of these are immediately obvious. What is obvious is that Marta’s role as Mission rebel has been decisively usurped by her arch enemies, Rai and Jorja, who go much further than she would have ever dared at this stage in her personal journey!
The focus of the story shifts; we are not seeing entirely from our heroine’s POV, and this is reflected by a change in the narrative style. In previous chapters my normal practice has been to use a privileged third person, telling the story as if we’re looking over the protagonist Marta Fernandes’ shoulder. We shift briefly to Jorge’s POV in Fear of flying, but in If six were nine, longer passages are seen from Jorja’s perspective, and the use of italics delineates this…
This can be regarded as foreshadowing, letting us know that Marta Fernandes is no longer going to be the centre of everything; and from a psychological point of view this represents a development in her thinking, the point in a child’s life when she realizes that the world doesn’t entirely revolve around her!
We learn more about the topography of Alpha 5; we now know it has an active volcano, and vast plains beyond the Barrier range which even have lakes. We also get a glimpse of the Polar Barrier where the northern ice sheets begin. The children begin to take possession of their world by naming bits of it!
We learn that Jorja’s loathing of Marta is profound and this is one of the reasons she agrees to Rai’s plan; and the social politics of the expanded group come into sharper focus!
We also learn a lot more about Alphane ecology and its implications for life on the planet. Marta gets to show her leadership qualities once more, but another potential rival emerges in Sal…!
But above all else this is a great adventure! The crew are pioneers, but pioneers who are still children, with all that entails. So on one level it’s a SF Swallows and Amazons at this point in the chronology, but children grow up…
Re-reading the chapter while preparing this post, I realised how much changes in this episode of the story, and how pivotal it actually is. So in a sense the world is turned upside down as six becomes nine…

Another Milestone

By C Stevens | 24th January 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

I reached another milestone today. I’m halfway through the Lost Colony, the third volume in the series. You may have noticed a new look to the site, with more illustrations. I’d like to thank Kati Aitken, a talented artist from Fife in Scotland for giving physical expression to the planet Alpha 5, which has hitherto existed only in my imagination. You can find her illustration in the section on the planet. Thanks also to my web designer Rob, for sourcing the other images. You will also notice that chapter two of a Children’s Crusade, book one in the series is now available on the site for you to read.

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