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I'm not a fan of the cyberpunk sub-genre. I'm not a fan of the alien invasion sub-genre. I'm not a fan of the Frankenstein and R.U.R. wing of fiction that deals with artificial life gone wrong. In general, I'm not a fan of dystopian fantasies that seem to captivate so many Hollywood "visionaries" these days. 

Alien invasion! see also

The idea of space aliens coming to Earth from across vast distances in order to kill us has always been a stupid idea. Count the number of alien invaders who have devastated Earth. Omicron Zero. The idea that with the arrival of digital computers we would soon all be "jacked-in" puppets of our evil artificial intelligence masters was a stupid idea when it was first written into a story. Count the number of people who have uploaded their mind into a computer simulation. Omicron Zero. The idea that a misguided scientist or business man would create an artificial human in his basement and in so doing unleash death and destruction upon Humanity was a stupid fantasy plot from the beginning. Count the number of artificial humans that have been made. Omicron Zero.

cover art by Doug Beekman

Hollywood Zombies. I can't take seriously the folks who endlessly wallow in dystopian literature or horror fantasies. Even if you make millions on your latest Hollywood horror and violence film, I have to ask: why don't you call your horror movie a horror movie and stop marketing it as science fiction?

Lucky for science fiction fans, there is a whole world of interesting and fun writers who don't allow themselves to sink into the latest dystopian fashion craze. That's the segment of the science fiction genre where I spend my time and my entertainment dollars.

I'm currently developing The Historical Archive as a science fiction story about time travel, alien visitors 'on' Earth, robots and telepathy. However, can you have a time travel story in a universe where time travel is impossible? 

original cover art by Douglas Beekman

For The Historical Archive, the entire story is built around the idea that a technology exists for simulating Realities. R. Nyrtia is the last positronic robot 'on' Earth and she is trying to discover exactly how R. Gohrlay modified the Bimanoid Interface before departing from our galaxy. Nyrtia can dip into all of the Reality Simulations and study how the Bimanoid Interface makes possible human telepathy.

R. Nyrtia needed to perform a telepathy experiment with the only two remaining tryp'At on Earth, so she took the Editor to Australia in the year 1814 where a copy of Rylla was available (see Part 6 of The Historical Archive). Previously, for the Exode Saga, I included Isaac Asimov's character Andrew Harlan, who, while on Earth in the 1900s, used the name Merion Iwedon. 

Gwyned

In the past, I never really did much with the Merion character, although I did create significant roles for both Thomas and Gwyned. At the age of 25, Gwyned was removed from Earth, but for The Historical Archive, Nyrtia reveals that Gwyned's analogue Gwen gave birth to a daughter named Gamma in 1959. Nyrtia takes the Editor into another Simulator to meet Gamma. The Editor is intrigued by the possibility that some descendants of Trysta Iwedon might still reside on Earth (see "The Case of the Telepathic Teetotaller"). Gamma explains to the Editor where Trysta's descendants ended up.

Gwen (left)

Having noted my dislike for horror stories masquerading as Sci Fi (at the top of this blog post), I must confess that the longer the Editor watches R. Nyrtia building up her telepathic abilities, the more he wonders if Nyrtia might start abusing her powers and intervening into Earthly affairs. I don't mind if readers wonder if The Historical Archive is going to have a happy ending. However, Nyrtia is not actually on Earth, so how can she possibly alter the course of events on Earth?

Next: Part 7 of The Historical Archive.

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