If Only Star Wars Remembered Me

Source

One of my fondest memories in the mid 1980s, is sitting on the brown carpet in the TV room, building an X-wing fighter with Constux, all the while, watching the real X-wings destroy the Death Star in Star Wars: a New Hope.

I don’t know how many times I saw the flick.  It was definitely in my top five most watched movies as a kid, right next to Disney’s animated Robin Hood, Home Alone, The Princess Bride, and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.  Out of the lot, Star Wars spoke the deepest to me.  It grew my imagination to such wondrous heights, drawing attention to an escapism that is truly out of this world, in another galaxy, in fact… one that is far, far away…

I’m not alone

Fans from all over the world love the films.  I’m sure anyone from my generation can remember finding that random stick in the woods, or broom in the closet.  Transformed, it became a light saber wielded by a plucky, Jedi adventurer.

It is disheartening for me to see George Lucas retiring from the mega-million dollar film industry.  Does this mean an end to other Star Wars movies?  Lucas was asked this by the The New York Times.  His answer: “Why would I make any more [Star Wars movies] when everybody yells at [me] all the time and says what a terrible person [I am]?”

Yes… nerds can be harsh, especially on the internet.  It is a shame we can’t act more civil towards the founding father of our nerdom.  I would love to meet George Lucas someday.  I’d shake his hand and thank him for what I enjoyed of his art.  I would not express any frustrations… something I will be doing much of here.

The tirades we nerds express are often viewed as over-exaggerated to the outside world.

We view ourselves quite differently…

…then the world sees us.

The above pictures can also be used to describe how George Lucas must have felt when making changes to the original three movies and then creating the prequels; verses how he actually appeared to his avid fan base.

Beneath the gestures of nerds gone angry lie a solid reason of why; the same can be said for George of course–but first, the nerd view of things.

Simply put, most Star Wars fans, ages mid 20’s and up, don’t like the CGI changes to the first movies…

…nor do they enjoy the prequels that followed.

 

Too many long and drawn out debates about Trade Federations and not enough surprising and sudden family relations.

Many fellow nerds have already laid waste to the prequel Star Wars movies.  I won’t be doing that here.  Instead, I want to focus on the nerds’ relationship with George, taken from the perspective of an up-and-coming sci-fi writer.

So far, I’m one book into the Void Voyage universe, a story reminiscent of the Star Wars epic… minus the aliens, faster than light travel, and quirky popcorn feel about it.  Okay, so my tale is nothing like Star Wars, and more like a realistic epic of tragic events, set in our planet’s very own backyard.

Look at all those fireflies

But, Void Voyage still has the grand space opera feel to it.  And this, my friends, had a lot to do with my memory of what Star Wars was to me growing up.

While working on my second novella Void Voyage2: The Haunting Past, I often wonder about what went wrong with George’s own tale.

The first three movies had memorable characters doing heroic deeds.  The love triangle of the roguish Han Solo, the hard-as-nails Princess Leia, and boy-wonder Luke Skywalker touched a sweet spot deep inside, something that nerds have considered as sacred.  The space adventure of rebels overcoming an empire became legend and lore for our Postmodern Era.  Just like Robin Hood and King Arthur were in the Middle Age, or the story of Rip van Winkle to early Americans.

Star Wars has helped shape how all men and women view their lives.  It’s no coincidence that we love to see a good comeback story.  The comeback-kid space opera is one of many forms of art that has solidified this David vs Goliath style of story-telling, a single part to a larger artistic collective that directs our social psyche.  It is ground breaking to think how influential art actually is.  Star Wars is tangible evidence to this.

Everyone enjoyed these movies, in fact, I presume you would be hard pressed to find one person that did not like them.  The misunderstood nerds more than simply enjoyed them though, we worshiped them.  A humble film maker was suddenly thrust into the center of attention.  Lucas saw all the adoration and was fooled into thinking it was directed towards him.  He took it as a license to do anything he wanted.  So, he went unhinged on the very core of his fame, the first-made trilogy, and tweaked with their perfection.

The very creator of Star Wars took our iconic stories and attempted to change what we remembered of them.  I know this wasn’t Lucas’ intent, but it is how the nerds have viewed it.  We feel as if the father of our movement, the one who validated our hopes and dreams, has stabbed us in the back.

Turns out we didn’t really love him as a person.  We don’t even know him.  What we loved is the story he created.  Lucas was only respected so long as he kept making more good stories.  This does sound heartless on the part of the nerdy rabble.  Our only connection to Lucas, though, our only relationship to him was the stories he gave us.  Once trust is broken in any relationship, it turns sour.

But Lucas did not do any of this purposefully.  His intent was rooted in what type of person he is.  Every good artist has a philosophy that they live by.  A lot goes into this foundational value-system, born from the core of their being.  They take this core of their lives—how they grew up, who they have become—and draw all their art from it.

George’s reason for the changes is deeply-rooted in his philosophical idea of film, which is that of the naïve, self-aware adventure.  This worked well during the deep-spiritual depression of the mid-70s.  It made his films stand out amidst the bitterness society felt.  To then go back and change this, only because you can… well, it’s sort of like trying to change time.

The bitterness he overcame from the public has returned—and this time, from the fan base.  Talk to any nerd friend of yours, ages mid 20s and up… bring up their thoughts on the prequels… be prepared for discussions long into the night!

This happened to me, not a few days ago.  A friend mentioned that Star Wars was being re-released in Blue Ray.  My jaw was set… and I began to lecture him on why all these changes Lucas made were a bad thing.  I cut my rage short, but, it could have gone on…

I will take a different approach to writing, one that doesn’t end in such deeply-rooted bitterness.  I’ll work on my books until they are published.  Once published, they will be left alone.  Because, at that point, they are no longer mine to mess with.  They are for the audience that claims them.

Here’s my own writing philosophy, drawn from the core of a man who loves to teach.  Tell a good story before anything else.  Even my ego must be placed in the back seat, even my stickler’s sense of realism will be brushed aside for the sake of a good story.  Well-written characters are only the vehicles for this story.  Some of these characters will become the voice for my ideals, but even those closely-held beliefs will not come between a good, solid tale.  Why do I place the story so high?  Because this is what the audience responds to most.

My job as an artist is to change the culture for the better.  If all else fails, though… I will always, and very simply, tell them a darned good story, one remembered fondly for years to come.

Buy me

The Next Void Voyage

This post is spoiler free

Void Voyage 1: I Shall Not Rest in Peace has been out for the last few months.  I have sold 19 copies so far!  Not bad for an unknown author.  It is kind of weird to finally have a book out.  I’ve spent more than eleven years, writing off and on, preparing for this time in my life.  And now, on to the next venture in my writing career.

Introducing… drum roll… Void Voyage 2: The Haunting Past!

Void Voyage 1: I Shall Not Rest in Peace was about a clone doomed to be sacrificed.  beneath all of this was the undercurrent vice of prejudice.  In today’s time, we deal with prejudice against race and sex.  The Void Voyage universe is set 500 years from now.  I don’t think the majority of people will care very much about the color of your skin or anything else besides that.  So, I set the story up as a prejudice against clones.  It attempts to answer a very curious question, one we will all need to face in the near future.  What makes up a clone’s soul?

brickartist.com

The clones in Void Voyage 1 are born purely through scientific means.  They have no mother or father to claim them.  As Leena-58 says it:

[A clone] is a person replicated from another’s genes, replicated and enhanced by science.  I am the fifty-eighth clone of my Primary, the high priestess Leena.  I was born from a tube instead of a woman’s pure womb.  By Humanitarian Law we are lesser-made bastards, unnatural to behold.

This begs us to question, would something made by science, a human being- yes, but one that is merely a replicated copy of another, would that thing have a soul? High Consular Haru answers this rather well I think:

We perpetuated a lie that you [Leena-58] were somehow inferior to the rest of us, a subhuman.  It was an old belief, easily debunked, when the first clones, illegally created on Earth, were able to reason and think as well as any man.  The soul, it seems, remains unique despite the mimicked shape of a cloned body that it is attached to.  You have as much right to be called human as a twin does, for that is simply what you are, Leena Prime’s 58^th twin.

 

Source

New Questions and a New Plot

Void Voyage 2: The Haunting Past will expand upon the prejudice of clones, adding a striking new question, what happens to the clones that are considered unworthy for sacrifice?  High Priestess Leena has made more than fifty-eight clones of herself.  Other priestesses have made a few of their own, as indicated by Leena-58’s late best friend Abigal-9.

Not all of them are deemed worthy of sacrifice, though.  Since a clone is like a twin, and twins have unique personalities.  This means some clones will be lazy and dumb, while others, like Leena-58 and Abigal-9, will prosper in all that they do.

The Sons and Daughters of Athena believe in the perfect human, one who is physically and mentally sound.  It’s a bit ironic then, that they test their clones, who are considered subhuman, for any flaws that make them unfit to be the symbol of perfection.  Only the best-looking and best-performing clones are chosen to be sacrificed.  And that symbol of perfection is still considered sub to a slobbering drunk born from the womb.  This was Haru’s main point in arguing against the prejudice view of clones as subhuman. 

The fate of these clones dives deep into an issue most people are ignorant of, that being the perverted vice of human trafficking.

 

The notion of people labeled as sub is not science fiction.  It is something our society hides from.  I will be addressing such horrid perversions of human trafficking and sex slavery in my sci-fi series.  My hope is to bring awareness to this pitiful and perverted side of humanity.  It will take many more posts to really explain how despicable this crime against little girls and women is.  Google it yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

A New Planetary Lord of Mars

The first story took you to the tip of Olympus Mons, the tallest known mountain in the worlds.  Here, the seat of Martian power was laid waste by the ruler of the Solar System, High Consular Haru.  He kicked his adopted son, Areso, off the throne of Mars.  Who will take Areso’s place as Planetary Lord?

Digital photo by Kees Veenenbos

The answer reveals a very different, and surprisingly better, use for clones.  A glimpse of this use was revealed in the first book with this description of ex-Planetary Lord, Areso.

Areso had been adopted long ago, one of many male clones rejected by Rudira, the previous Planetary Lord of Mars.  Haru thought he could change the boy, make him an agent of change on Mars itself. 

Areso was adopted and taught to be a better ruler than his Primary, Rudira.  And yet the man, a clone himself, has no remorse for sending Leena-58 to her death.  Haru points all this out while debating with Areso.

“You are a copy, yourself, spawned to be the likeness of the previous tyrannical ruler, Rudira!  She murdered many of her copies; any that she felt were unfit.  If I had not saved you from her clutches—”

Areso interrupted, “There is a difference here.  The clones of [the Sons and Daughters of Athena] are bred to die, Father, as a memento to the selfless sacrifice of Viatrix so long ago.  I was made in Rudira’s image to rule….”

The second story will explain this in greater detail.  Areso has followed in his primary’s footsteps, you see, becoming a Primary and cloning multiple versions of himself.  Only one of them can usurp their father as ruler to the throne of Mars.

New Perspectives and New Settings

The first story was centered on Leena-58’s dooming sacrifice.  The second will follow the footsteps of her would-be savior, Ereb.  Haru may have plans for leaving Mars, but Ereb’s plans lie in the dregs of Martian society, deep in the crevices of Valles Marineris, a Martian canyon almost 9 times longer than our own Grand Canyon.

Imagine the sprawling metropolis that would be built there

The heart of the second story will take place due southeast, in Eos Chasma.

Digital picture by Kees Veenenbos

Eos is made up of two very contrasting terrains: Jutting angular hills up north that rise up to about 1,000 meters high, and sandy smooth southern slopes with bits of aerosols floating about (microscopic dust).

I have taken liberties here with my version of Mars since it is a terraformed one.  A stronger man-made atmosphere will increase the air pressure tremendously.  This, coupled with Martian winds and light gravity, increases the amount of aerosols within Eos’ southern planes, making what would appear to be a sandy sea from a distance.  Up close, it would be a very thick perpetual sand storm.

The town of Yomi lies beneath this sandy sea.  It was once a large mining complex, built before Mars was terraformed.  Only the lowest dregs of society live down in those ancient remains.  In contrast, the new town of Ebisu has been built on top with its high-reaching, New-Modern skyscrapers.  This is reminiscent of the Jetson’s cartoon, with buildings rising high above the pollution of Earth below.

In this case, Ebisu rises above the tumultuous sand storm like shimmering spears of glass.  The skyscrapers of Ebisu try their best to cover up, literally, the shabby old mining town of Yumi.

The city in Metropolis also comes to mind

Such dubious cities are fitting for Ereb to find traces of his past.  Yomi is the Japanese name for underworld.  Ebisu is one of the seven Japanese gods for luck, in this case the luck of the fisherman.  And so Ereb must fish beneath Ebisu, within the underworld of Yomi, and amidst the dregs of society for a trace of his lost love… his Roslyn.  It is this forgotten past that haunts him most.

Look for Void Voyage 2: The Haunting Past in eBook stores sometime in 2012.

Catch up to the sprawling tale set within our Solar System.  It’s only one click away…

~Get Void Voyage 1 at Amazon for your Kindle.

~Get it at Barnes and Noble for your nook.

~Get it at Smashwords and read it on your computer.

Culture Shock: Beware the Belly Dancer Amidst Tasty Lebanese Food

 

Over the last few years, the cities of Shreveport and Bossier have experienced an influx of families moving in from India, East Asia, and the Middle East.  As a piano teacher, I can attest to this fact.  Many of my students are from India, and one family is Kurdish immigrants from Iraq.  All of them are upstanding doctors in the medical field.

I, for one, welcome such vibrant cultures into our twin cities!  They bring about interesting ideas and customs.  I love chatting with them and hearing their stories.  Their kids are always well-behaved and eager to learn.  But most importantly, such diversity bring an outburst of various ethnic restaurants!

I! Love! Food!

Especially, of the exotic variety.  You never know quite what you will get…and it is always a pleasant surprise.

This past Saturday, I went to this wonderful Greek and Lebanese restaurant in Shreveport, called Albasha.  While looking at the menu, I chose, on a whim, a dish with stuffed cabbage, bell peppers, and squash.  All of this was dipped in a savory tomato-based broth.  I can thank my gypsy Romanian friend for knowledge of such a dish.  It was a great choice—the perfect blend of cooked vegetables wrapped around middle-eastern seasoned ground beef.  The broth added a third delightful bite to it.

Turns out on Saturdays, they have a belly dancer entertaining in the restaurant, giving the dinner a very exotic flair.  She danced with zills on her fingers, also known as finger cymbals.

 

 

Mostly, she danced with music from a CD, but at one point, someone from the back brought out a doumbek.

The pair played various styles of belly dancing rhythm, the woman on the zills, and the man on the doumbek.  It was really fun to watch.  My musical mind was abuzz with wonder at the middle-eastern rhythms!  At one point, the audience joined in with a double clap at the end of a two-measure beat.

She also danced with a scimitar balanced on her head.

In passing the dancer, I gave her a playful wink.  Little did I know where this wink would lead me!  On her final act, she called me up with her and proceeded to try and balance the scimitar on my head!  Now, I am pretty darned tall, so I thought it would be nice for me to kneel on my knee.  That, and I wanted to be sure she balanced it right!

 

 

She told me it was sweet of me, but she’d rather I stand up.  I obliged and cringed while she reached up on her tippy toes to place it on my head… at this point, it began to slide off.

I felt the heavy weight of the metal sliding now, but what are you supposed to do when a balanced sword is falling off your head… reach up and grab it?  I opted, instead, to stand very still.  She, on the other hand, attempted to grab the thing.  It cut her a bit in the hand.  I asked if she was okay.  She was very professional with her answer, playing it off as a normal occurrence.  I guess in her line of work, she would be right.  She asked if she could try it again.  I couldn’t say no to such tenacity and let her make another attempt at defeating my height!  This time, it was most successful!

 

 Scene from Titanic: My Heart Will Go On, the Bollywood version of course

 

After the show she apologized, stating that she had thought it was the scimitar with the dull blade.  And, to make it up to me, she put the dull blade on my head and the sharp one on hers for a second, and thankfully, less-eventful photo.

 

 

All in all, I had a wonderful time: Great food, great show, and to top it off, I met a new lady friend (not the belly dancer).  I recommend the place, if you live in Shreveport, that is.  If not, try a local Lebanese or Greek restaurant near you.   You won’t be disappointed.