Remember what use to be Section 5?
The new tone and voice required that section be moved to 3 and edited. Not a lot, and enough.
One of my personal writing mysteries is the boundary between science fiction and fantasy because the subject matters I cover dance at the edge of both, what one might consider the Borderlands.
Consider The Inheritors. It’s a philosophical discussion at its core and that discussion is wrapped in both hard science and magical fantasy elements. Or Empty Sky. Lots of hard and soft science, lots of mythology, and it’s really about the nature of hope.
SearchMagic realism – what some might call “magico-mythical fantasy” – on a science-based pedagogical backbone and it’s really a study in how one chooses to define one’s self and the nature of power.
And let’s not get into The Book of The Wounded Healers. Hard and soft sciences used to describe fantastic situations enwrapped in a discussion on the nature of fate, personal history, and destiny.
Tag is probably my most directly scientific work even though it takes place over one-thousand years ago.
So what do I write? What are my genres? An avid reader told me long ago “You’re genre is ‘Joseph’,” and if somebody can show me the ‘Joseph’ shelf in a bookstore, I’ll make sure my books are there.
How Jerry and Betty Became the Least Entertaining Couple in the Neighborhood (Section 3 Rewritten from Section 5)
Dr. Koss sat in his third floor office, his windows sheltered in summer by a massive elm, warmed in winter by the sun’s rays shrieking through the sleeping tree, his eyes darting from one monitor to the next. Beside him stood his assistant, Doctor Ann Fisher, athletically thin in a conservative business suit, her long auburn hair pulled back into a tight bun, and a tablet cradled in her arms as she tapped Dr. Koss’ thoughts into the system.
The monitors revealed different views of the Fortin’s home. Nothing was private, nothing was safe. Koss no longer asked if the paperwork granting unlimited access was on file. Installed a year pre-flight, VIGIL diligently and faithfully tracked all activity, all movements, all things spoken, and evaluated things unspoken, things hinted at from movements, from facial expressions, from breathes, from heartbeats, from responses to responses to responses, and reported them in its uncanny valley voice to Drs. Koss and Fisher.
Knowing partners often pickup up subtle behavioral changes before any machine intelligence or non-partner human could, they monitored Betty just as diligently while Jerrold was away as they had pre-flight and now upon his return, human and non-human eyes silently monitoring Betty’s movements, changes in her diet, what she watched and when she watched it, where she hid and when she used what Koss called ‘her private woman’s necessities’.
Fisher corrected him once. “Dildo, Dr. Koss. It’s called a ‘dildo’.”
A slight smile broke his lips. “I know it’s name, Dr. Fisher. I simply choose to allow Ms. Fortin some privacy in her times of need.”
Fisher cleared her throat to cover a chuckle.
Koss set a two-hour clip to replay at five-times speed. The effect made Jerry and Betty look like gerbils mating in a cage.
“Tell me, Dr. Fisher, has his technique changed demonstrably? He seems more…”
“Agile? Impassioned? Knowledgeable?”
“Is there anything as – ” he hesitated. “Agile, impassioned, knowledgeable, as you say, in the pre-flight material?”
Fisher’s fingers flipped through tablet screens. “No, Doctor. They were fairly pedestrian. Definitely nothing exotic.” She pulled a stylus from the tight bun of her hair and pointed at one screen. “Definitely nothing like this.”
“Your thoughts, Dr. Fisher?”
Fisher’s head rocked slightly side to side. “He’s experimenting?”
“Experimenting yet knowledgeable?”
Her head stopped rocking. The left side of her face pulled back in a slight smirk, she half-closed her eyes, and smiled. “Yes. He knows what he’s doing. He’s experimenting.”
Questions or comments? Bring ’em on. They’ll help me craft a better story.
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