Distant Cousin: Distant Cousin: Repatriation

Friday, December 9, 2011

So you don't like science fiction?

Lots of people love science fiction, but not everybody. Science fiction, basically, deals with "imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities. Exploring the consequences of scientific innovations is one purpose of science fiction, making it a 'literature of ideas.' It is largely based on "writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures" (Wikipedia).

Some people are just not that interested in speculations about aliens, futuristic science, and suchlike ideas. It does, perhaps, take a little extra willingness to suspend belief to accept, for example, two characters in different galaxies talking to each other as if they were telephoning between Houston and Kansas City, or dissolving their molecules to be reassembled in another place. That might be called "hard" science fiction. However, there are degrees of science fiction....

Many, but not all, readers call the Distant Cousin stories science fiction. This is partly because of the book covers and partly because the heroine happens to come from another planet. She reached Earth, where her story begins, on a vessel that was propelled by the controlled force of gravity (though to be sure, she never exceeded the speed of light). Furthermore, that heroine, Ana Darcy, is an alien only by virtue of coming from a planet other than Earth. Except for that, she is as human as any of us...and there, of course, lies our tale.

Here is what readers have said about the science fiction aspect of the Distant Cousin series:

"This sequel to Distant Cousin [DC: Repatriation] is, like its predecessor, more mainstream literature than science fiction. Readers will find the science fiction elements kept to the background in a storyline that is more about character and society than about the arrival of extra-terrestrials on Earth."

"I have read a lot of science fiction in the past, and this had a completely different (and believable) spin. It lacked the 'techno babble' that I often enjoy, but, if we can’t understand gravity propulsion anyway I suppose it is not necessary to explain it. The series was a compelling, heartwarming and sometimes scary page turner."

"I loved this book from the minute I picked it up. I usually don't go for Science Fiction books...they seem to be too outlandish or the authors try to make them too "alien" making up so many words and phrases that you lose your spot in the story. This book was nothing like that. It was a wonderfully written story with engaging characters

"As far as sci-fi's go, it's very light on the sci part. I mean, you really don't get bogged down in techy stuff at all & there's a great story in there."

"I would recommend the book to any of you who like science fiction with some romance and adventure thrown in. No little green men/women will be involved, but there will be characters about whom you will care a great deal."

And finally, this, from "Crusty Old Guy:"

"I cut my teeth on old school science fiction with bug-eyed monsters, ray guns, and inhospitable planets. This isn't about those. Well maybe it is, with Earth and some of it's inhabitants being the antagonists. This is well written, as one page induces you to read the next. Characters have life. The plot is plausible (we are talking SF here). It also gives some insight into the people, places, and culture of Nueva Espana. I read this out of curiosity and to add another dimension to my reading of late. My curiosity was pleasantly slaked but I wouldn't recommend this to other crusty old guys. We just aren't the target audience. I highly recommended this to my grand daughter. My wife should even enjoy it. Oh yeah, I'll probably read the next in the series."

We know of only one reader who adamantly refuses anything to do with science fiction, no matter how "lite." To those more venturesome souls, we think you will enjoy meeting your distant cousin, Ana Darcy. We predict you will not hold it against her that she happened to be born on a planet 25 light years away. In fact, we predict you'll be glad she came here.

Meet Ana Darcy!

Rare Sight: The Back Side of the Moon

Have you ever seen a string of glowing reviews and wondered if there might be another side to the matter? We certainly have. So we're going to let you in on something few people get to see.

There actually haven't been that many pans of the Distant Cousin books (aside from a couple of sockpuppets at Amazon), but there have been a couple. No book, not even the Bible, will please everyone. Readers' reasons for not liking a book are many, and it's sometimes instructive to see what people do NOT like about one's work. In that spirit, we will give you a peek at something few authors dare to publicize: "the REST of the story!"

1. First of all, I could not finish this book. I did read almost three quarters of it.... After reading most of this novel, I still never received much information about Darcy's planet, lifestyle, etc.... I felt the most interesting aspect of the storyline was virtually ignored.... The writing style was extremely simplistic. Sentences were short staccato beats against a nondescript background. There were some nice metaphors and a few vivid descriptions. For the most part, though, the narrative had almost a reporter-like feeling, with the reader being kept at a distance. Editing/Formatting both were of professional quality. Rated PG for some Adult Situations

[Editor's note: Our apologies for not writing the book you wish we had written!]

2. I enjoyed the book right up to the end and then felt I'd been conned into buying the conclusion to the episode.

[Editor's note: The next book, Distant Cousin: Repatriation, is not the conclusion. The Distant Cousin books are the story of an extraterrestrial woman, her growing family, and their adventures. To this day, we do not know when the conclusion will arrive.]

3. The writing is mediocre, at best. Perhaps it is something that readers who do not enjoy a challenge will like but I do not.... One of the roommates, Cheryl, is African American. The author, in writing dialogue for this character, has her speaking in that stereotypical way that others do who want the reader to know this person is 1) black, and 2) ignorant of proper grammar.... I am not an African American and I have no antipathy for dialect which is appropriate for a culture or a time period. But, this character is a college student living in modern America. The author is simply lazy; using a literary device to impart a stereotype to the reader. If the author needed for the reader to know the character was African American, for some reason, it could be done in an intelligent manner rather than perpetuating a negative stereotype because it was easy. I will never read another book by this author!

(Editor's note: Cheryl was not African American, but Barbadian, as was clearly stated many times in the story. For those who may be laboring under a misapprehension, Barbados is not, say, a city in Illinois but an island nation in the Caribbean. The author (who has a PhD in linguistics) lived there for two years.)

4. The writing is somewhat YA, and, in fact, I recommended the book to my 18-year old niece. It's a quick read, though, probably great beach material, but there are large sections I skimmed. The middle is a sleepy domestic interlude (which could have been much shorter) and as a result the book doesn't maintain the grip of the adventure it promises to be in the beginning and returns to at the end

5. The Nitty Gritty: It seems like another age when I started in on Mr. Past’s novel. It was, in fact, the last time I had access to a laptop and I managed to get the whole way through “Book One” in that volume before I found myself preoccupied to too great a degree to carry on. Although I did not feel that the novel was one I was never going to finish it has taken me a while. So Book One is pretty decent, decent enough to finish and want to read more.... It starts out in a blaze of mannered thesaurus-bashing prose that is quite sickly. Once it recovers from this start it settles into a perky economic style that keeps its head down and runs for the finish at a fair old pace. Overall Book One comes in as a pretty well crafted novella.And so, all this time later, on to Books two and three... the plot takes a heavy slug veering away from juggling Darcy’s personal life and her SF adventure into a pure exposition of her integration into earth society and her budding romance....to say that this is an extended meander is to be kind. Basically Book two could have adequately been summarised in about a paragraph with nothing major being missed....There is no hook and no incentive to come back for more and that is a crime that is inexcusable.

And now, to cleanse our editorial palate, we present a review which gives us a chuckle to this day:

6. I know when I'm really loving a book when I don't want to quit reading to go to the bathroom. Distant Cousin was that kind of book for me. I don't like scary books or movies but the alien coming to earth in this book was full of adventure without making me lose sleep at nights. The characters had depth and believability and the plot was not predictable. One of my very favorite reads.

For the brighter side of the moon, see this, and this.

Now, meet Ana Darcy!