Ana Darcy Méndez has always had a soft spot in her heart for the island nation of Barbados. Barbados was the first country to offer her citizenship after she landed on Earth (though it is true they did not know at the time she was from another planet). The credit for that goes to her lawyer friend Harvey Braithwaite, who convinced the ministers of government there that it would be a good idea to give her an official home (in Distant Cousin). It wasn't until later that they realized just how good an idea it had been.
It was a good choice for Ana, too. She still loves the island and returns from time to time (as in Distant Cousin: Reincarnation). Barbados is the easternmost of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean Sea, only about fifteen miles wide and twenty five miles long. Ana loves the easygoing people and the beautiful beaches, hills, and sugar cane fields.
Here are some more scenes from Barbados. Thanks to Bill Brown, who took them on a recent trip to visit the site of one of his most pleasurable duty stations in his U. S. Naval career! (Right click to open in another tab for details.)
Above: an aerial view of the capitol, Bridgetown. Below, another aerial view showing the southern end of the island.
Below are a photo of a beachfront eatery very similar to the one where Ana and her friend Cheryl had lunch in Distant Cousin: Reincarnation, followed by one of the dishes the island is famous for, a flying fish sandwich (or "cutter," as it is called there). Below that, more typical scenes from this most beautiful place.
This photo is NOT reversed. Vehicles drive on the left!
There are many more photos of Ana's venues in the column to the right, under the picture of the blue-eyed kitty, including many from Barbados and the West Indies. West Texas and New Mexico, also central to Ana's history, are represented there as well.
Accounts of sightings of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are usually confused and contradictory, and of great interest to the public. Reports of one sighting, for example, over Henderson, Nevada, are even confused as to the date. One account claims it happened in 1997 , while another puts it in 1999. Henderson seems a hotbed of UFO sightings: YouTube has a video clip of a sighting over Henderson, Nevada in 1991. See above.
That particular YouTube clip is of interest because unlike the others, which feature, apparently, an elaborate display of lights, this sighting can be said to resemble Ana Darcy Méndez's escape pod, carried in the vehicle that brought her from Thomo, her home planet 25 light years away, to our moon. She traveled from the moon to Earth in this escape pod and it has remained here where she uses it occasionally when she needs it.
The state of Nevada is known as the location of one or more highly secret government test sites, where new and strange flying machines are sometimes tested and occasionally glimpsed or even photographed. It's also the site of the famous Area 51, a supposed crash site of an extraterrestrial vehicle, complete with aliens. Nevada has a reputation as a sometimes wild and woolly place, with improbable events and unconventional people making occasionally startling news.
Still, the object in the video could be said to resemble Ana's pod either from the front or the back. Here is a description of it by one man who flew in it with Ana to perform a crucial mission in Distant Cousin: Reincarnation:
"The craft [about the size of a Chevrolet Suburban] sank slowly to head height, then waist height, then knee height, and smoothly floated inside the barn. He rolled the door shut behind it. The hum died away as it settled on its skids. Even though he had been expecting something like this he stared at it in wonder. It looked like a cross between a streamlined egg and an SUV, with a completely smooth hull colored a mousy brownish-black as nearly as he could tell in the dimness. There were no exhaust nozzles or any sign of an engine anywhere about it, not a single antenna or pitot tube protruding. A few squares and circles possibly indicated doors or access hatches and there were groups of shallow depressions spaced evenly around it but it was otherwise cleanly aerodynamic. He’d read up on Thomans and their technology and he knew the vessel supposedly used gravity as an energy source, but this pod thing was a total puzzler; he couldn’t conceive of such a vehicle. "There were several soft crunches and a mechanical click or two and a hatch in the side hissed upwards as Ana Darcy, his favorite extraterrestrial, stepped out."
We can claim with some confidence, however, that whatever the odd object is in that YouTube video, it is NOT Ana's escape pod. Although her pod is invisible to radar, it is perfectly observable if it is close enough to the observer--however, not only are Ana and her family extremely careful to keep it at too high an altitude to be seen during the daytime and they generally use it only during darkness, as far as we know they have never flown it over Nevada.
Some day, if we are very, very fortunate, photographs of Ana's pod may appear. In the meantime, we are sorry to say, you are more likely to win the lottery than lay eyes on Ana's Thoman runabout.
Once again we are pleased to observe Read an E-Book Week, March 4-10, 2012.
All five Distant Cousin volumes are on sale at Smashwords for 50% off!
Smashwords E-books are available in formats to fit practically all e-readers and computers. In just a few minutes you can have hours and hours of fun reading on hand. If you read them out loud to each other as our commuters did, you can enjoy them for months!
Here are the five Distant Cousin volumes at Smashwords. Upon checking out, simply enter REW50 under the coupon code, and an already affordable story will be yours at half the price.
Pilot episode done! First season being written! But you can read it NOW. See below!
To anticipate the series!
A brand new 2nd edition of volume 1, with photos and updates at a lower price: Distant Cousin Arrival!
The Distant Cousin Blog
Welcome to the blog of Ana Darcy Méndez, the one extraterrestrial alien you would love to meet!
Ana's blog, which is a companion to the Distant Cousin stories, is maintained for Ana by Dr. Al Past. It it you will find background on Ana's native language, Luvit, an extended interview with Ana on her the history and culture of her native planet, Thomo, and photographs, maps, and more to accompany the books.
Just for fun you will find samples of Ana's mostly successful poly-national cooking experiments, exhibits of our arts and crafts that fascinate her, and selections of our poetry and music that appeals to extraterrestrials, Mexican-American proverbs and language games from her family's life, puzzles, ideas on early childhood education, astronomical news, and photos of cats, her favorite earthly animals.
The sections below cover (1) the books, (2) photographs, (3) the maps, (4) Ana's interviews and responses to readers, (5) her recipes, (6) her favorite poems, art, and (7) music.
