Update on Forsaken
I submitted the "Forsaken: Searching for God's Fingerprints," manuscript last Friday, April 15. Not sure how fast things will move now. Submission included acknowledgment page, blurb about the author and other copyright information. By the time I got the book formatted the way they wanted, it was about 215 pages. Once they do their formatting I will get a page count and a cost of the finished 5 X 8 paperback.I will keep everyone informed on the progress.
So, I've been working on the sequel. The basic outline is that the hero of Forsaken is called on again to help discover the truth behind a new signal received from the direction of Alpha Centauri, the same area the signal originated from in Forsaken. He will again run into various conspiracies and mysterious forces that are trying to either stop him or help him.
It will probably have a dual plot line, one line about my hero and his quest, and one about the aliens that are sending the signal. Building the alien plot line is going to be very interesting, and challenging. Where will they come from? Probably somewhere near Alpha Centauri. What interest do they have in Earth? Why do they want to contact the human species on Earth? How will they contact us?
What kind of religion do they have? Will it be the same, or similar to anything on Earth? A combination of all the major religions on Earth? Or will it be something totally different based on the environment in which they evolved?
All of this is going to require tons of research and lots of deep thinking. That's why, over the next few months, I'll probably throw out some ideas about alien worlds and cultures and trying to weave together something that is plausible but very alien to the Earthly experience.
Should be lots of fun. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
No Heaven, No Hell. What the heck is a guy to believe in?
Update on "Forsake: Searching for God's Fingerprints"
Copy editing is done. I now have to get the manuscript formatted to meet submission guidelines, attach the before and after pages, and then send it off. That part of it should be done this week.
Now, back to the question of religion on an alien planet where the sun (or their local star, or star) does not elicit worship. No Sun Gods, no place of eternal life up there in the sky someplace. No myths created that look to the heavens for answers. On this planet, let's call it Planet X, you can't even see the stars. There are two normal stars rotating in an alternate fashion, plus there's a red dwarf, so it never really gets dark.
If intelligent species need religion, on this planet they would have to look someplace else. Perhaps they would look to the water -- there's lots of that. The planet is about two-thirds ocean and one-third land mass.
And there's lots of water coming down from the sky. The planet is warmer than our Earth and it rains a lot. There also have been cycles of global warming, and, although there are no polar ice caps on this planet because of the multiple suns, there are lots of mountains and huge mountain-top glaciers, so there have been regular fluctuations of the sea levels which have most people living a considerable way away from any coast.
The flora and fauna of this planet, given the warm climate and dense vegetation, are extremely prolific and varied. It is not uncommon for new species of plants and animals to be found regularly. The reason for this have cause great speculation, but, even though the science on this planet is much more advanced than our is on Earth at this time, there are no concrete answers for the generation of new species.
Some can be explained by natural selection, of which mutations can play a part, but not all.
So, would people on this planet worship Mother Planet, the way some cultures on Earth do? Or might they find something else on which to attach their faith?
Or, perhaps, there would be no need to have a faith-based culture, as in our religious type of faith. Maybe life is what it is, no explanations needed. Can science explain everything. Maybe on Planet X they once had a faith-based religion but after thousands of years of watching their faith betray them, they finally said, "Hey, life is what it is. Things are born, they live and they die. No reasons other that chance are needed to explain what happens to people, animals or any other living thing."
What would that do to a culture? I believe it would make it much richer in terms of resources. Look at how much blood and treasure the human species on Earth has spilled and wasted because people believed they had to defend their faith.
Maybe the Heaven on Earth some religions talk about is an Earth without religion.
Think about it.
Copy editing is done. I now have to get the manuscript formatted to meet submission guidelines, attach the before and after pages, and then send it off. That part of it should be done this week.
Now, back to the question of religion on an alien planet where the sun (or their local star, or star) does not elicit worship. No Sun Gods, no place of eternal life up there in the sky someplace. No myths created that look to the heavens for answers. On this planet, let's call it Planet X, you can't even see the stars. There are two normal stars rotating in an alternate fashion, plus there's a red dwarf, so it never really gets dark.
If intelligent species need religion, on this planet they would have to look someplace else. Perhaps they would look to the water -- there's lots of that. The planet is about two-thirds ocean and one-third land mass.
And there's lots of water coming down from the sky. The planet is warmer than our Earth and it rains a lot. There also have been cycles of global warming, and, although there are no polar ice caps on this planet because of the multiple suns, there are lots of mountains and huge mountain-top glaciers, so there have been regular fluctuations of the sea levels which have most people living a considerable way away from any coast.
The flora and fauna of this planet, given the warm climate and dense vegetation, are extremely prolific and varied. It is not uncommon for new species of plants and animals to be found regularly. The reason for this have cause great speculation, but, even though the science on this planet is much more advanced than our is on Earth at this time, there are no concrete answers for the generation of new species.
Some can be explained by natural selection, of which mutations can play a part, but not all.
So, would people on this planet worship Mother Planet, the way some cultures on Earth do? Or might they find something else on which to attach their faith?
Or, perhaps, there would be no need to have a faith-based culture, as in our religious type of faith. Maybe life is what it is, no explanations needed. Can science explain everything. Maybe on Planet X they once had a faith-based religion but after thousands of years of watching their faith betray them, they finally said, "Hey, life is what it is. Things are born, they live and they die. No reasons other that chance are needed to explain what happens to people, animals or any other living thing."
What would that do to a culture? I believe it would make it much richer in terms of resources. Look at how much blood and treasure the human species on Earth has spilled and wasted because people believed they had to defend their faith.
Maybe the Heaven on Earth some religions talk about is an Earth without religion.
Think about it.
Friday, March 11, 2011
No stars? What would we believe?
So, to follow up on my first blog, if we look to the heavens to create our belief system, what would happen if we could not see the stars?
Imagine living on a planet that is always cloaked in a light cloud cover, not enough to block out the rays of the local sun, but enough that you could never really make out the distant stars.
Now imagine a planet that has two suns, each providing light during different parts of the day so that it was never dark, perhaps dim sometimes, but not inky black like we get on planet Earth.
What would we believe. First, I think, there would be a lot less fear, there would be a lot less suspicion because people could not hide in the dark to do evil deeds. Second, I think our belief system would develop entirely differently.
We probably would look for answers from other things that seemed mysterious. Perhaps that would be the oceans where we can see the surface but not under the surface. Perhaps it would be the earth, from which things grow and where we find precious gems and metals. Perhaps it would be from the clouds if they were prevalent enough and dynamic. Maybe it would be the weather if it spawned thunderstorms, tornadoes or blinding snowstorms.
So how would you build a religion from an entirely different perspective? Where do you start? Would you end up with a supreme being, or have a number of them? Would the mores of societies based on your new religion have the same mores that people on the Earth have developed such as the Golden Rule?
When we start to think of contact with species from another planet, we have to consider such possibilities. We have to prepare ourselves to consider concepts that have been developed from a completely alien environment.
Perhaps the concept of right and wrong, is wrong. What would that do to the morals of the individual? What would be their moral compass? Is goodness, and its counterpart, evil, universal, or is it set by our primary religious beliefs? Perhaps there is no right or wrong, there just IS. That would have to affect how we judge people. It would probably affect where we place blame, where we take credit, for things that impact individuals and societies.
The trouble with trying to develop such a religion and the society it might generate is that we have a hard time imagining the unimaginable. That is why I have so much respect for science fiction writers who can successfully create alien environments, such as Frank Herbert in the "Dune" series or Orson Scott Card in "Speaker for the Dead."
As I develop a sequel to "Foresaken," I have to look at who is calling for my hero and where they are calling from. Developing that story will be the most interesting and challenging writing I have tried.
It should be fun.
Imagine living on a planet that is always cloaked in a light cloud cover, not enough to block out the rays of the local sun, but enough that you could never really make out the distant stars.
Now imagine a planet that has two suns, each providing light during different parts of the day so that it was never dark, perhaps dim sometimes, but not inky black like we get on planet Earth.
What would we believe. First, I think, there would be a lot less fear, there would be a lot less suspicion because people could not hide in the dark to do evil deeds. Second, I think our belief system would develop entirely differently.
We probably would look for answers from other things that seemed mysterious. Perhaps that would be the oceans where we can see the surface but not under the surface. Perhaps it would be the earth, from which things grow and where we find precious gems and metals. Perhaps it would be from the clouds if they were prevalent enough and dynamic. Maybe it would be the weather if it spawned thunderstorms, tornadoes or blinding snowstorms.
So how would you build a religion from an entirely different perspective? Where do you start? Would you end up with a supreme being, or have a number of them? Would the mores of societies based on your new religion have the same mores that people on the Earth have developed such as the Golden Rule?
When we start to think of contact with species from another planet, we have to consider such possibilities. We have to prepare ourselves to consider concepts that have been developed from a completely alien environment.
Perhaps the concept of right and wrong, is wrong. What would that do to the morals of the individual? What would be their moral compass? Is goodness, and its counterpart, evil, universal, or is it set by our primary religious beliefs? Perhaps there is no right or wrong, there just IS. That would have to affect how we judge people. It would probably affect where we place blame, where we take credit, for things that impact individuals and societies.
The trouble with trying to develop such a religion and the society it might generate is that we have a hard time imagining the unimaginable. That is why I have so much respect for science fiction writers who can successfully create alien environments, such as Frank Herbert in the "Dune" series or Orson Scott Card in "Speaker for the Dead."
As I develop a sequel to "Foresaken," I have to look at who is calling for my hero and where they are calling from. Developing that story will be the most interesting and challenging writing I have tried.
It should be fun.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Are we alone?
"Forsaken: Searching for God's Fingerprints" A novel by Richard D. Bangs
Are we alone in the universe? It's one of the most puzzling and persistent questions the human species has ever asked.
Ever since homosapiens looked up in the sky and saw the stars and the moon, we wondered what was up there and how we were affected. Countless myths and religions have been created with an eye to the heavens.
For Christians Heaven and Hell are part of a set of beliefs that are key to the meaning of our existence. Heaven, the place of eternal happiness, the place where we all go if we are good, if we pass muster with those who judge us from above.
For many other religions and cultures, looking toward the heavens for answers is key to their belief systems. From the Egyptian pyramids to the gods of the ancient Greeks, ancient cultures felt a strong connection to the stars.
Is it any wonder, then, that in this scientifically-based culture of today we are still looking to the heavens for answers? The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the ever increasing search for planets in other solar systems are manifestations of the human species' need to prove that we are not alone in the universe.
What would happen if people believed that WE ARE ALONE? That our species, our intelligence, our wandering minds, were just accidents of nature -- the haphazard accumulation of atoms that accidentally gave us life?
That is what the story "Forsaken: Searching for God's Fingerprints" is all about. The tale is set in the not-to-distant future and revolves around that fundamental question. Of course there is danger, mystery, flowering love and action all mixed in to give the story's characters a way to express themselves.
So what do I believe? Are we alone? Is our species just an accident of nature, God's master plan, or something more cosmic?
You will soon get a chance to read about some of my ideas when "Forsaken" is published. Finally preparations are being completed on the manuscript and I've already signed with a publisher.
I'll keep you posted on the progress of the book project. In the meantime, I welcome a discussion of the big question.
Thanks for reading.
Rich Bangs
Are we alone in the universe? It's one of the most puzzling and persistent questions the human species has ever asked.
Ever since homosapiens looked up in the sky and saw the stars and the moon, we wondered what was up there and how we were affected. Countless myths and religions have been created with an eye to the heavens.
For Christians Heaven and Hell are part of a set of beliefs that are key to the meaning of our existence. Heaven, the place of eternal happiness, the place where we all go if we are good, if we pass muster with those who judge us from above.
For many other religions and cultures, looking toward the heavens for answers is key to their belief systems. From the Egyptian pyramids to the gods of the ancient Greeks, ancient cultures felt a strong connection to the stars.
Is it any wonder, then, that in this scientifically-based culture of today we are still looking to the heavens for answers? The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the ever increasing search for planets in other solar systems are manifestations of the human species' need to prove that we are not alone in the universe.
What would happen if people believed that WE ARE ALONE? That our species, our intelligence, our wandering minds, were just accidents of nature -- the haphazard accumulation of atoms that accidentally gave us life?
That is what the story "Forsaken: Searching for God's Fingerprints" is all about. The tale is set in the not-to-distant future and revolves around that fundamental question. Of course there is danger, mystery, flowering love and action all mixed in to give the story's characters a way to express themselves.
So what do I believe? Are we alone? Is our species just an accident of nature, God's master plan, or something more cosmic?
You will soon get a chance to read about some of my ideas when "Forsaken" is published. Finally preparations are being completed on the manuscript and I've already signed with a publisher.
I'll keep you posted on the progress of the book project. In the meantime, I welcome a discussion of the big question.
Thanks for reading.
Rich Bangs
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