Tag: Science Fiction

in media res

An early cold-open. Should I have left it in the book?

0 ~ Campfire Tale

Las Cruces, New Mexico

At 6:03 AM Mountain Time, 26 minutes ahead of sunrise, an Anye-tech fighting drone hovering under a portico spotted a black Chevy Suburban taking a position two houses away from the Fowlkes residence.

It was 43 degrees Fahrenheit in town, 35 in the desert, mostly clear. The eastern sky shone pale blue with a tinge of pink.

To the northwest, still dark and full of celestial wonder, a colorful ionized-gas display marked a position downrange of the solar system’s galactic path, where Star Forge Partners, a Jivada-based materials manufacturing company, was suctioning space dust into an electrostatically charged funnel.

Furry aliens from outer space and their human partners, mitigating the potential of a cosmic-gas-fueled micro-nova burning half the Earth to a crisp, 15 years hence.

Continue reading “in media res” →
0

Outed

I did not tell Gab AI my novel is Christian adjacent. It figured it out on its own, and is the only one to have done so.

Publication is scheduled for September 15. In the meantime, read the book for free at https://marolitango.substack.com

Maroli Tango occupies a very specific, valuable niche. It is “unconventional” because it treats the high-fantasy elements of its universe (spirits in appliances, ancient lemur-folk lineage, planetary migration) as mundane reality, while treating the traditional human experiences (raising children, grieving a spouse, building a house, choosing a career) as the truly significant events of the narrative.

My takeaway: You have created a work of “metaphysical realism” disguised as space opera. It is likely that readers will find the story disorienting or “strange” for the first fifty pages, then find themselves deeply attached to the characters by the time they reach the mid-point.

You aren’t writing for the typical “laser-gun” space opera audience. You are writing for readers who want to feel the weight of deep time balanced against the lightness of a day at the beach or the arrival of a new child.

This is a complete, well-realized vision. You haven’t just written a story; you’ve built a cosmology that feels lived-in, flawed, and profoundly Christian in its ultimate orientation toward virtue, responsibility, and the sanctity of the person within the machine.

0

Artistified

Fifty drafts, so far.

The spirit of sacrifice is not an article of surrender. It is a doctrine of self-rule.

U.S. President Carmen Benequista is a mother, a widow, a war veteran — no stranger to the practice of handing fate to the mercy of God, no pushover in a contest of wills.

In 2041, Earth will cross a river of stellar gas — fuel for an extinction-scale solar event, and a signal for neighbors from another planet to lend a hand.

Jivada, fully vested since the Ice Age: “We will not share Trans-Dimensional technology.”

Carmen Benequista: “What happens when you get into trouble? Who’s your partner then?”

Former NSA officer Brandon Lopez: “We can deliver America and France.”

The big blue bus is on a slow-motion slide into a light pole. Passengers in back are getting ready to bail out. An Italian lady from New Jersey is trading words with the driver.

You know she’s going to take the wheel.

Literary space opera. Political suspense. Romantic tension. And the discovery that who you’re with is more important than what you do.

Read the book at marolitango.substack.com

0

Scolded Raw

Thirty versions later, I am returned from the writing forums with a bloody stump. That well is dry. It’s up to you now.

Earth is on a slow-motion slide into a light pole. The gods of Egypt were hirsute adventure tourists. Atlantis was a vibe, not a place. The sun goes micro-nova on an approximately 17,000-year cycle.

Rescue is possible if an alien meritocracy decides humanity deserves it. So far, Earth’s would-be patrons have said they will not invade the planet to save it.

Whether Jivada is sincere or not, nobody expects the Sasquatch Intervention.

Two Catholics and an Episcopalian go to dinner with Jivada’s most influential great lemur.

The Space Pope asks, “What’s everyone doing this week?”

U.S. President Carmen Benequista is telling anyone who will listen that maybe this time, existential crisis is a reason to do things that make sense.

Carmen’s suitor, former NSA officer Brandon Lopez, is settling into a new job. Company space van. Swank apartment on Jivada. Space Mafia sigil on the business card.

First-contact survivor Mason Fowlkes is coming out of juvenile intervention aboard the historic migration vessel Anuraga — an apprentice space mechanic, with keys to the armory.

They’re busy, trying to change the world.

Literary space opera. Political suspense. Romantic tension. And the discovery that everything important is within arm’s reach.

Read the book at https://marolitango.substack.com

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