Science Fiction - by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Enterprise: the new Star Trek series.

Blood Games by Lee Killough, Meisha Merlin Publishing, 2001 (www.meishamerlin.com)

Of Duty And Death by C. J. Merle, Speculation Press Original, 2001 (sequel to Honor and Treason reviewed in September)

Confessions: How to Write & Sell True Stories by Lorraine Henderson, Toad Hall Press, 2001

In the August 2001 column, I wrote the following of Theodore Bikel's recording of The Name of the Rose:

"The Name of the Rose is a novel which tackles the issues underlying the grass-roots swelling of "Fundamentalism" that we have seen in the 1990s and which has carried a Texan to the White House. That fundamentalist trend is worldwide."

Now, we've seen an explosive awakening from a long, long period of trendlessness into something new. We're not sure yet exactly what the new trend will be, or how it will affect art in this country. But may I point out that within the next few years, Neptune (art, theater, fantasy, romance, idealism, among other things) will be transiting this nation's MC [midheaven]. The results of that could be dire or enlightening. The choice may be up to our nation's dreamers.

And as it happens, we are now in the debut season for the new fall television shows. I saw the first episode of the new Star Trek series, Enterprise, today, and suddenly realized what this new trend may in fact become. One line, of a human to a Vulcan, leaps out at me: "That's what Captain Archer is about. He needs to finish what he starts."

At that point, Captain Archer is in sickbay being treated for a disabling wound, and T'Pal has taken charge. T'Pal, the Vulcan Science Officer of the first starship Enterprise, thinks that over and decides not to abort the mission, however ill advised continuing seems to be. She later explains to Archer that her duty as temporary commander in his stead is to continue his policies rather than impose her own. As a result, at the end of the show, Archer offers her the Science Officer position permanently as they head out to explore the galaxy. She accepts.

Enterprise is typical of the Star Trek ensemble format shows. The opening seems clumsy and confusing because there are so many characters to introduce all at once. But it seems this Enterprise will also operate on loyalty to one person, the Captain.

Loyalty, honor and integrity are also the core subjects in Of Duty and Death by C. J. Merle. Speculation Press has another winner here. This novel is a sequel to Honor and Treason, set four years after those events, and obviously leading into the next novel in this series. The series explores a nonhuman species that has genetically engineered its male warriors to need, for survival, a psycho-sexual mating with a fellow male warrior. This mating doesn't preclude their breeding with females.

In this second novel, several new human female characters are introduced, and the story progresses rapidly despite the swift action involved in solving a series of murders. The ending leaves us in terrible suspense because both lead characters have been put into intolerable situations by politics. We see the two men hashing out a working relationship based on friendship but extending to become an alliance. The scene is set for an explosive revolution based on idealism and practicality--not to mention revenge. I can't wait for the sequel!

Blood Games by Lee Killough is from Meisha Merlin Press. This is a publisher which has brought many classics back into print and launched new novels in these series, much the way Sci-Fi Channel has done with a couple of TV series.

Blood Games is a new novel, continuing the saga of Garreth Mikaelian, a cop who happens to be a vampire through no will of his own. You can get the two earlier novels in an omnibus called Blood Walk. Lee Killough invented the cop/vampire long before the TV show Forever Knight. She continues Mikaelian's story as he begins to confront the aging of those he loves--those few who know what he is--and learns how easily his own blood might accidentally infect a human.

To recoup his own honor and deal with the two runaway teens his blood infected, he takes them into his personal custody--simply as a matter of Honor. So once again, I'm dying to read the sequel!

A word about Meisha Merlin publishing. Much older than Speculation Press, they have a fine backlist of novel series reprinted in handy omnibus format, plus more original works. If you've been disappointed by novels you've bought lately, do browse the Meisha Merlin website. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Confessions: How to Write & Sell True Stories by Lorraine Henderson, is nonfiction. So what is it doing in a column about science fiction?

The advice from a successful confessions writer to others who would become True Confessions writers contains the following advice, in Chapter Three: "Remember that confessions are stories—not scenes or vignettes—they have a beginning, middle and end. Use the essential elements of every good fiction piece in developing your confession. Hook your reader, give them a believable plot, make your dialogue sound natural and give your readers an exciting, emotional climax before wrapping up with a satisfying ending." And in Chapter Four: " ... also remember to recycle short stories that haven't sold elsewhere, turning them into confessions, too."

True Confessions are fiction. Which, of course, doesn't mean they're not true—fiction can penetrate the smokescreen of "reality" to reveal the truth behind it all. One piece of advice to new writers of Confessions is to remember that serious topics that can't be discussed any other way can be introduced in this format.

And now it turns out that we as a nation and a world must begin dealing with the issues raised by the September 11th attacks--issues even True Confessions couldn't touch previously—issues of religious fundamentalism.

I titled this column "The Fidelity Trend" and mentioned the upcoming Neptune transit of the USA midheaven. And I've pointed to three wonderfully good novels, each of which focuses on honor, loyalty, integrity and the issues of fidelity.

"Fidelity" is defined by Funk & Wagnalls as "Faithfulness to duties, obligations, vows, etc." or "adherence to truth or fact."

One would have to concede that suicide terrorists who complete their acts have demonstrated fidelity to their beliefs. The question remains, "Can those who lack an equivalent degree of fidelity counter such committed terrorists?"

Fidelity has not been a virtue much practiced and admired in this country for some time. We have the incident where the engineer who blew the whistle on the O-rings on the Challenger spacecraft was fired, and his story was almost buried in secrecy. We have armies of lawyers who make their living suing companies who have broken their words of honor to their customers. Most especially, we have commercials that try to get you to buy a particular brand of toothpaste to make you sexually attractive.

But we also have TV shows like Enterprise, Andromeda, and Farscape. We have novels like the ones highlighted here. We have not lost the concept of fidelity. It can be revived. It can become popular again.

We have indeed broken out of the trend of trendlessness with explosive force. If fidelity becomes "politically correct" before Neptune comes to the USA MC, this nation might well survive this new trend to lead the world in a new idealism.

The problems that our fiction must discuss will include whether the content of an ideal matters more than the fact that it is an ideal. Does adhering to a bad ideal constitute the virtue of fidelity? How do you tell bad ideals from good ones? How do you get people to question their ideals? How do you eradicate an ideal? How do you communicate with people who consider it a sin and a capital crime to entice them into questioning their ideals?

When was the last time you questioned your ideals?

How do you know that what you know is really true? And does it actually matter? Is your opinion as good as anyone else's? Where did your opinion come from? Where did your ideals come from? Or have you lost them all?

Yeah--Neptune transits can be very confusing and we only have until May 2003 when Neptune makes station on the USA MC to get all this straight.