“The Wind and the Sky” – Backstory

Elements LJ sizeBelow, dear reader, please find bonus content for Suzanne’s book: ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction.

This series of posts provides stories-behind-the-stories for each tale in ELEMENTS.

Sitting in the 2nd slot in the Table of Contents is: “The Wind and the Sky”


neo-op five coverI wanted The Wind and the Sky  to read as a classic Science Fiction story.

So I created a space station, populated entirely with androids.

The station is originally built as a place to store the technological and scientific building blocks of Earth before a meteor hits the planet and destroys the ecosystem. The humans left on the surface build underground caves to keep the population alive until the surface is once again habitable.

Time passes. All the humans posted to the space station die off, leaving androids capable of self-replicating. They are charged with the task of protecting the Earth’s scientific treasures, and the long-dead humans programmed them to share the storehouse of wealth with the rebuilt human civilization once it’s deemed “ready”.

The androids consider themselves so superior that the humans on the surface are never deemed “ready.” The androids build in improvements with each successive generational upgrade. I named the various upgrades after elements in The Periodic Table.

In The Wind and the Sky  Polnine is a member of the 84th upgrade Polonium series of androids. His boss, Astfour (a member of the 85th Astatine series) is a typical corporate manager: big ego, no compassion, and always giving Polnine a hard time for paying more attention to his passions  than his job.

Polnine becomes so fascinated by the humans living on the surface that he decides to pay a visit to the surface. The story evolves as this technologically and scientifically superior android interacts with the hunter-gatherer humans on the surface who are scratching their way back to civilization.

Fun Fact

In an earlier draft of The Wind and the Sky  Polnine’s boss was Asttwo or “AST-2”. (Which in my mind, meant he was the second built of the Astatine series.) But when beta readers told me they thought it read as “AST-TWOW”, the dog with a speech impediment from The Jetsons. I changed his name immediately!


Elements LJ sizeELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction  is available in Canada and the USA from EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing.

“Coolies” – The Story Behind the Story

Elements LJ sizeBelow, dear reader, please find bonus content for Suzanne’s book: ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction.

This series of posts provides stories-behind-the-stories for each tale in ELEMENTS.

Sitting in the 1st slot in the Table of Contents is: “Coolies”


On Spec Coolies covCoolies  is the first story in ELEMENTS, and one of my personal favourites, probably because in it, Canada  is at war with the United States. Crazy, right? Why would the little guy take on their big neighbour to the south?

And here’s the kicker: we’re winning!

I wanted to explore the idea that our two countries would be so polarized on an issue that we would take up arms. In this case, the issue is the existence of stem cell factories where organs and other body parts are grown for surgical transplantation.

Near the Alberta/Montana border, we meet Marvin, a sergeant in the Royal Canadian Regiment who leads a coolies detail–soldiers responsible for harvesting organs in the battlefield.

Since our armed forces already make so many sacrifices for our country, I thought I’d push their sacrifice one level deeper. In the few minutes after their deaths, their bodies can be used to save their wounded comrades.

Fun Fact

Jack McD StarhawkBefore I finished writing Coolies  I read the first few pages aloud at Con*Stellation a convention in Huntsville, Alabama.

The amazing and talented Jack McDevitt was in the audience.

After we all finished our readings, Jack told me he loved the story and couldn’t wait to read the rest.

His enthusiasm gave me the drive to finish Coolies  and to not give up on submitting until I sold it to OnSpec.


Elements LJ sizeELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction  is available in Canada and the USA from EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing.

Table of Contents for Elements

I’ve always enjoyed learning how authors create the stories they publish, and I’m not alone. It’s no surprise that the most popular question authors hear is, “Where do you get your ideas?”

To answer that question in my own way, I’ve added extra content here on the blog as a bonus for my readers.

Elements  contains 21 short stories — 14 reprints and 7 new to the collection.

If you click on a story title, the link will take you to extra content!

Introduction “What Becomes a Legend Most” by Sandra Kasturi

Coolies
Originally appeared in On Spec, Volume 20, Number 4, #75

The Wind and the Sky
Originally appeared in Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine, Issue 5

Elements-5.5x8.5-100dpi-c8March of the Forgotten
New to the collection

Storm Child
Originally appeared in Cicada, Volume 9, Number 6

Courting Ice
New to the collection

Hot Furball on a Cold Morning
Originally appeared in Doorways Magazine, Issue 6

Jelly and the D-Machine
New to the collection

Everyone Needs a Couch
Originally appeared in Oceans of the Mind, Fall 2003

Waste Management
Originally appeared in Challenging Destiny, #21

Fuzzy Green Monster Number Two
Originally appeared in Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine, Issue 12

Destiny Lives in the Tattoo’s Needle
Originally appeared in Tesseracts Fourteen, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

Synch Me, Kiss Me, Drop
Originally appeared in Clarkesworld, Issue 68, May 2012

Tattoo Ink
Originally appeared in The Shadow Box e-Anthology, Brimstone Press

Gray Love
Originally appeared in Chimeraworld #2

The Tear Closet
Originally appeared in Tesseracts Thirteen, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

Hell’s Deadline
Originally appeared in Book of Dead Things, Twilight Tales

Mod Me Down
New to the collection

The Needle’s Eye
Originally appeared in Chilling Tales: Evil Did I Dwell, Lewd I Did Live, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing

The Flower Gathering
New to the collection

Muffy and the Belfry
New to the collection

Soul-Hungry
New to the collection