Looking Out The Window: Lisa Lickel Tells Us The Story Behind Parhelion, Book Three In Her Forces Of Nature Series. Calling All Romantic Sci-Fi Reviewers. Free E-Books
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Researching a New Frontier
By Lisa Lickel
I am a mid-level science fiction and fantasy fan. I remember pitching a fit when my parents made me go to bed halfway through episodes of the Original Star Trek because I had to get up for school the next day. I’ve loved dragons and brownies—the little folk who live in the hills—ever since I was in kindergarten. Ray Bradbury is my personal hero. I wake up after visiting Mars on a regular basis.
But I’m not crazy…not really. I mean, I write cute mysteries with cats and romance and family drama. For the same reason I won’t ever write history (again) I don’t want to stray into the strange and fierce world of science fiction: I love it too much and I’m too picky about miscues and things I can’t wrap my head around…like television. Seriously, how does it work?
A Forces of Nature Novel
When I began the third book in my Forces of Nature family drama series, it was natural for me to gradually leave the ground from the story Meander Scar, an older woman-younger man romance, to work out that oddball gravity-affected sensation of Centrifugal Force with Ann’s sister Rachel and her mysterious love interest. Then, in this sequel, Rachel adult daughter Maeve is involved with a test pilot. A test pilot defying gravity on a routine mission to the International Space Station, Harry, who’s nicknamed Sundog, for the prisms of rainbow that dog the sun…otherwise known as Parhelion. I only blinked once…promise…but when I opened my eyes again, Harry had attracted the attention of a weary group of travelers on a journey across the galaxy to find a new home.
Research and More Research
Whoa. Could I? Truly? Dare I? It’s so different. Like, any of my work has a pattern…and those Ceticians just wouldn’t let up. I could attempt research for fun, while I worked out the main storyline, I told myself. I bought Andy Weir’s new book, Artemis, about a colony on the moon. Not exactly what I was going for, but I took notes and learned a lot about energy exchange in enclosed spaces. Still not convinced I could write this stuff, I began gathering information about contemporary space programs, Mars One, and I started to get excited. I have 36 pages of research, studies about the effects of radiation on humans in outer space, real travel times to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system that still takes 80,000 or so years to get there—not to mention the problems of living without natural gravity. But the groovy part is that my Ceticians are building a conduit in stages as they travel. This conduit works like television! I don’t have to explain it, do I?
But what do these people from Alpha Centauri want? What are they like? Well, you’ll have to read the book, called Parhelion by the way, to meet Harry’s friends. Suffice it to say they have some mighty intriguing personalities and gifts. I researched what I thought would be compatible biology and decided their atmosphere had chlorine instead of argon (1%) like ours so their blood chemistry and exhalation is slightly different, but we can swap air. Boy, I had fun with that. And here’s where a couple of other influences came into play. In my new book club, we read a nonfiction book called The Soul of an Octopus. Octopuses can do really awesome and weird things. They have electrical impulses travel along their bodies. Are you jazzed yet?
The Ceticians function as a subplot in Parhelion. They support the framework of a story of Earth gone down a road too far, dabbling at nuclear war that can have no good end. The Ceticians escaped their homeworld only to stumble across another race bent on self-destruction. People are people no matter what they breathe. But they undergird hope for humanity. Harry, who’s got this huge secret and an even huger love for Maeve, wants that future, a chance to start over in a world where being kind and helpful are the base rules.
Thirty-six pages of research on how gravity and radiation and chlorine affect life, the reality of travel through space, how the Air Force works, probable underground living spaces around the Earth, the cost of nuclear weapons…DNA (https://www.sciencealert.com/new-evidence-suggests-at-least-75-of-the-human-genome-is-actually-junk-dna)
…all come together for one amazing adventure. I’m still not sure how I feel about what I’ve done. I only know this book is selling faster than any other I’ve written over the past ten years except for my bookclub mystery. It’s the first book I’ve published on my own, which is another adventure altogether. Time will tell whether it’s working.
From the back cover
New from Lisa J Lickel, book 3 in the Forces of Nature Series
Science Fiction/Alien Encounter/Romance
Inspirational
Maeve Michels hit earth hard, falling in love with a former Air Force test pilot. No longer in the military, Harry Kane’s mysterious work as a consultant for a space engineering company piques Maeve’s interest. Maeve’s sixth sense says there’s more to Harry than he’s telling her, but with the world about to fall apart, she must decide to trust him with her future. Harry is keeping a secret from Maeve—he has to, or his one chance at being a real hero goes up in flames with the rest of the planet. His assignment: get her to join the program, and him. Hopefully willingly.
With war no longer empty threats and posturing, Maeve and Harry are about to take part in the most important experiment in human history. Bigger secrets threaten not only their survival but their fragile co-existence with the cosmos.
If you could choose, what kind of a world do you want to live in?
Fox Ridge Publications
Reader’s Discussion Guide available on the author’s website
March 1, 2019
334 pp.
ISBN 978-0-9967683-5-1
Electronic ISBN 978-0-9967683-9-9
LOC preassigned control number 2018914879
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BIO:
Lisa Lickel is an author, editor, and mentor who lives with her husband in the rolling hills of western Wisconsin. Surrounded by books and dragons, she writes inspiring fiction both short and full-length, including mysteries, romance and family drama, feature articles, and radio theater. She belongs to the Wisconsin Writers Association, the Chicago Writers Association and is a writing coach at Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp & Retreat. Lisa loves to encourage new authors through mentoring, speaking, and leading workshops. Lisa also is an avid book reviewer and blogger, and a freelance editor. Find more at Lisa's Website.
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