Why I enjoy reading utopian/dystopian novels.

First of all, let me say that many utopian novels end up as dystopian novels. Even in “1984” it was supposed to be good for society to be watched. That way they could be protected. So it was with “Minority Report”. Philip K. Dick wrote a lot of books based on the idea that society was trying to help things get better. Another book I recall, although an older title, is Robert Silverberg’s “The World Inside”, which was one of my early introductions to the utopian/dystopian novel. One of my favorite movies, (and my novel “Cathedral of Dreams” has been compared to it, although Cathedral is much different) is “Equilibrium”.

The thing I like about these types of stories is that they stretch the boundaries of what is already happening. We live in a world of limitations and freedoms, but it’s difficult to say which is which. What is a limitation to one person, may be a freedom to another. For example, one person may find it limiting to be outside, spending their days in a house or building, yet for others, the freedom to move around in a familiar place without concern over the dangers of the outside world is a pleasant experience.

There are many forms of limitation. Even the Internet, and especially social media, has a certain number of conduct rules. Individuals can be ridiculed for breaking them, and can even be removed from a social media site if they break the rules. Is a site truly social if you have to watch what you say and who you say it too? Is it truly social if you continually need to be sure that you are tactful and kind? I’m not saying that being tactful or kind is wrong, but when it is a prerequisite to the conversation, how can you feel free to express your true feelings about a subject. Are we forever watching what we say? What we do? And how we talk with others?

These are the types of subjects that I love to tackle in fiction. For example, in my novel “Giver of Gifts” I am questioning whether a pending death is a bad thing or a good one dependent on the circumstances of how it helps the people to evolve. In “Wolf’s Rite” I’m exploring the effects of a spiritual breakthrough on a rude and obnoxious person. In “Sweet Song” I question the whole concept of race. As mentioned above, “Cathedral of Dreams” questions the whole idea of what is utopian and what is dystopian. Who are we to say, except for how we feel as individuals?

Novels are the doorway into understanding how we feel, what we believe, and into questioning those feelings and beliefs. Evaluating how we live, and how we’re asked to live, while experiencing huge leaps in technology is essential today. The world changes quickly, and we believe we have to fit into it perfectly, but perhaps that’s not the truth. As intelligent beings, I believe we have to continually question our freedoms and limitations, and be sure that we are living the life that is best for us.

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Exploring the Idea of Free Will in Fiction

Free will is an interesting and long debated subject. Determinism often leans toward faith in the religious sense of the term. God is in control of everything and everyone under this postulate. The whole idea that God is in control of my thoughts about free will appear interesting to me. What if God was in control of everything and wished to explore free will? Is that even possible? Isn’t God manipulating the program, so to speak? And, if God can do anything, is it even possible for him/her to create something or someone who isn’t under his/her control.

Let’s say that I’ve created a computer to run a factory. All the algorithms programmed in were from my experience. Even as the computer adjusted temperatures on vats, or opened or controlled valves on its own, I still programmed it. All the feedback loops work in concert to produce a desired output. The computer software and hardware operate under my algorithms, but to the computer its own complexity may look like free will. Is it? Now, if something goes wrong, if there is a glitch in the works, is it possible that the eventual breakdown of the equipment takes its own course? I haven’t programmed it in. I’m no longer in control. I’ve set it on its own.

We can go in circles with this type of thinking, because there is always the possibility that God is still in control. It’s just that I’m not in control of the machine I built. But, then again, if I’m built in his image, can there be a glitch in the machine of humanity?

My novel, “Cathedral of Dreams” explores this subject through Keith, the main character. Keith lives inside Newcity, which is a highly controlled environment. The people – and machines – who are in control are finding glitches. When Keith escapes, he’s faced with more sensations than when he lived in Newcity. He’s offered different types of freedoms. Ultimately, he has to choose where he wishes to live, but is he really choosing? In the novel, the computer system that runs Newcity is creating hallucinations that help residents to escape. Is the “God in the machine” creating free will? Or is the machine only setting free preprogrammed machines?

Whatever way we wish to think about it, “Cathedral of Dreams” wanders around the subject in multiple ways. At one point, characters actually choose whether or not they live “free” or in Newcity where they will be “controlled.” So are the characters in the novel free or not? I’m hoping that the discussion continues. It’s much more interesting that way, than to have everyone agree.

Dream About It

I just read through a few pieces in the latest issue of “Scientific American Mind” and found them very interesting. They focused on dreams and creativity. While reading through them, I recalled a great book by Robert Olen Butler, “From Where You Dream”. According to Booklist, Butler’s credo is, “Art does not come from the mind. Art comes from the place where we dream.”

Upon reading through “Answers in Your Dreams” by Deirdre Barrett, it appears as though science and scientific innovations may come from dreams as well. And let us not forget the many books published by Robert Moss about dreaming, including conscious dreaming (Sometime, I’ll explain my involvement with Robert and the idea of conscious dreaming). Not only have I read all of Robert’s books, but many other books about dreaming, including lucid dreaming.

The interesting point about dreams and dreaming is that we’ve been doing this since we’ve been on this Earth. To go along with Butler (and Moss), writers and other artists already know the importance of dreaming. They already tap into dreamtime on a regular basis. What’s more interesting is that scientists have always done the same thing. In “The secret History of Dreaming” Moss covers historical figure after historical figure who relied on dreams to help them make decisions of all types, including political.

So, how do I use dreams, conscious or otherwise, to move into a piece of work? Whether I turn to meditation or conscious dreaming (what I often refer to as Native American Drum Journeys), or if I merely sit at my desk in front of the computer; dreaming, to me, is a state of being. Call it flow, if you’d like, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would appreciate it. Or you can call it being in the zone. Whatever it is, it’s the shift in consciousness (into an altered state of consciousness) that allows one’s mind to let go of the physical world and step into the other, if you will.

In this state, I am able to “be” the character, the forest, the machine. It doesn’t matter whether I’ve experienced the exact things that I’m writing about, that state of otherness provides a gate, or a bridge. In this state, I am able to shift from one character to another (animate or inanimate), to sense what they’re sensing, and to think what they might think. Ideas and answers, and conversations that I have never even considered tend to crop up and become a piece of my writing. Yes, writers know about dreams and dreaming.

What’s truly amazing is that inside that space, anything can happen: new worlds can be created, new life forms can come into being, and new, brand new, sparkly thoughts can come through, where you never would have imagined it was possible. I’ve written something in the first five pages of a novel that I thought I’d have to remove and, by the time I finished, found that that piece I’d written was critical to the whole novel’s progression.

Since I write science fiction and fantasy, as well as literary fiction, there is no limit to what my dreams can present to me, no limit to what can come through. And if I don’t appear to have the answer right away, I let it flow anyway. More often than not, I find that my writing is correct.

Did I answer the question? Probably not to everyone’s liking, but I have answered. I use dreams all the time while writing. In fact, many times that I’m at the computer, I’m in a dream state, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Why So Many Naked Aliens?

I read a lot of books and watch a lot of television and movies, and one thing that bothers me is the lack of clothing on Aliens. I know they don’t have to be like us, but come on. Of course, this applies to non-humanoid aliens in particular. Humanoid aliens typically wear something to hide their genitals, if nothing else. And, even though it’s not always the case, naked aliens do proliferate the media.

A lot of bug-like, or reptilian aliens, in particular, don’t wear clothing of any sort. I suppose it’s difficult to sew in all those sleeves for insects, but reptiles shouldn’t be too difficult to dress. And maybe kakis would be a bit much, or bow ties, but something wouldn’t hurt, especially if they’re supposed to be intelligent.

This isn’t my only concern when it comes to aliens. The other thing I wonder about is why aliens with greater intelligence are always bent on eating humans. Crazy as it seems, even humans don’t eat just one breed of animal. I mean, we have chicken, beef, pork, rabbit. And we’ve been known to eat a lot more than just that. But, aliens are fairly bent on eating humans and ignoring most other animals. Oh, and few of them appear to be getting much in the way of vegetables and fruits. Why is that?

Plus, these aliens I’m seeing lately also appear to want to run us down as often as they use weapons against us. In “Cowboys and Aliens” the aliens are stronger and run faster than we do. Yet, as we humans grow more and more technologically savvy, we tend to get weaker. And our hand-to-hand combat skills aren’t as good as they used to be either. So how do aliens stay so fit? I’ve never seen a gym on one of their spaceships.

Then there’s the whole idea that “H.G. Wells” brought up when he wrote “War of the Worlds”. Disease. Why is it that aliens can land on Earth and be relatively impervious to all the viruses we’re catching left and right. And I doubt that they’ve been inoculated with any preventative medicine.

So, the way I see it, writers and directors might wish to consider dressing their aliens, making them a bit weaker against our germs, and giving them technologies that are “truly” beyond ours, and not just a crazier, high-powered rifle that zaps light out the end instead of shooting bullets.

I’m sure there are plenty of aliens that have found their way into books and movies that aren’t naked, have cool technologies, and have, at least, considered eating something besides humans. I just don’t seem to find many of them. Feel free to let me know where I’ve gone wrong. Maybe it’ll ease my mind a bit, so that I can think about something else.

Waking Up

In a world where we are constantly asked to “go with the flow” and “don’t rock the boat”, I find that we’re spending more and more time limiting what we say, how we think, and what we do, than ever before. Even the Internet has rules. Recently, while listening to a panel on using social media, there was a lot of time spent on discussing etiquette. Or, as I like to think of them: the rules.

Being the rebel, breaking the rules, isn’t that how we’ve made advances along the way. The whole idea of “calming down” appears to me as a limitation on passion, a squelching of enthusiasm. As much as people want to say that you can be enthusiastic without being rude (which I agree to), the word rude often appears to mean “of a different mindset.”

So, when I wrote “Cathedral of Dreams” it was with the idea of waking up from the rules, the regulations, the proper ways to act and be. In Cathedral, Keith lives without passion. Everything is handed to him, but he can’t get excited or passionate about anything or an electro-chemical chip in his body would squelch the feelings. Or, if totally out of control, the police would be notified and Keith would be re-chipped with a stronger model.

Even sedated in such as way, Keith eventually finds his way out of Newcity, where he has been living with many other chipped residents. Once outside, the chip is removed and he is taken into the country – my metaphor for waking up. In nature, Keith experiences more feelings, more emotions, and deeper thoughts than he had ever experienced before. Newcity, with its limitations – even though all his needs were cared for – kept him in a sleep state.

The novel explores Keith’s waking, while he gets mixed up in a group of dissidents who wish to close Newcity down. But, it is through his becoming awake that he also becomes compassionate with those not like him. He sees that some people want to be controlled by the system, while others do not. Regardless of his own beliefs, it is the experiences of both sides that allows Keith to accept others who may not believe the way he does.

On a deeper level, “Cathedral of Dreams” explores the idea of God. What if God wanted to escape the world s/he created? Newcity is controlled by a computer system that creates hallucinations that intrigue Keith enough for him to follow them. God escapes his/her own world when Keith escapes. But, the question posed is: once Keith is let go, does he have free will? Has God set himself/herself free as well?

“Cathedral of Dreams” is not meant to predict or to explain the ideas it explores, but to create a way in which we can discuss life on a deeper and more meaningful level. And, while doing that, to offer a fun and interesting storyline as well.