Brainstorming Thursday: Plant People?

Who's to say that the intelligent alien we encounter is humanoid or insecticide, or canine, cat like or any other species that we consciously think of as "animal"?

What if the this intellectual being is actually, say, of the plant variety?

I know, I know, your mind is probably jumping to gigantic Venus Fly Traps... and singing one of the songs from Little Shop of Horrors. But I want to think outside the bubble of SF normality for a sec. Come, come with me my geeky buddies into the realm of Outside-Box Land.

What triggered this thought is an episode of Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole titled "How Do Aliens Think?" (LOVE that show by the way.) It put a challenge to watchers about what aliens would actually be when we met up with them. Part of the episode delved into the cognitive processes of plants.

Did you know that plants have several "intellectually charged" behaviors. They are just so much slower, quieter and differently executed than us. They can smell, touch, taste, and possibly hear. Researchers believe they might even have a form of "talk".

For example, there is a problem-solving vine. They don't have roots and they don't thrive through photosynthesis. These ropey vampires attach to other plants and suck the life out of them. To find their next food an "offshoot vine" searches and grows until it finds its next host, smells to detect if its healthy and then begins its feast.

Oh, oh! Then there are plants who can release an odor to call for help from insects to ward off pests. This scent/odor then communicates the dangerous situation to other plants who respond by releasing their own defensive odors.

Now, of course, that doesn't mean they are intellecutally conscious as we mighty humans define it. That takes the special "self-awareness" aspect that seems special to only us. But, wouldn't it be fantastic if plants on another planet had developed self-awareness? What if they had little families, dreams and aspirations, and a sense of community.

There could be dynamic communities of plant "races" and "species" trying to live and exist peacefully together. They could have a partnership with an alien insect that pollinated their community... heck could even be protectors like the wasp when a caterpillar tries to start munching on a plant's leaves.

What do you think? Too farfetched for today's "mature" SF? I know they had killer plants and whatnot in the pop SF of the early days but it seems to have trended away.

On a slightly side note, this post reminded me of a scene I did for Echoes of Regret (Telomere Trilogy, #2). Here it is for the fun of it.

* * * * *

"Beautiful," she (Brenda) whispered then blushed when she realized Captain Yourimoc overheard her and smiled.

"Yes, I agree. Look, all the flowers."

"You notice the beauty? Most men wouldn't," she commented, pleasantly surprised.

"I notice beauty in all things," he said, regarding her with a direct stare for a long moment.

She forced herself to meet his gaze. He grinned and then returned his attention forward. To calm herself, she took in the flowers he'd gestured toward. Vibrantly showcased by the green forest, the flowers posed. Purple blooms with narrow bodies and three petals spun up and then out at the tips. Pink flowers, with tightly packed petals, grouped along the ground. Blue ones, similar to roses, rested on vines, wound around and along the trees. Yellow flowers, soft and puffy like a ball of cotton stood tall and stiff near rocks.

Brenda peered into the trees and spotted a huge blossom growing on the branch of a tree. Folded downward, she only saw a single petal, soft blue with muted purple veins streaked from the base, curved along the body of the petal and accentuated its curves and dips.

The petal vibrated and the purple shimmered. Slowly unfolding, they revealed a petite form curled underneath. What had been mistaken for a petal was in reality a wing, one of two attached to a body of light dusty pink.

"Captain," she whispered. She touched his forearm with one hand and raised her other for the group to stop. She then pointed. The captain's body stiffened, tensed. What power underneath, she couldn't resist noticing, even in the moment.

The creature, skin smooth and shimmery like the wings, stayed in its curled position as the wings unfolded to its sides. The move revealed arms infused into the wings, hands with extremely long fingers extended out at the top corner edge of the spans.

A small head lifted to stare at the group, bright purple eyes stared intently. Ears, long and willowy like petals, rested high on the sides of the head. With no eyelids or eyelashes, the face was round without cheekbones or apparent nose. Small lips indicated a mouth, which seemed to purse together. Cocking the head to one side the creature took on an almost human characteristic, curiosity.

Its lower half, originally tucked down, slowly straightened to show long lean legs and claw-like feet. What had seemed like a small creature was in actuality a very long creature, with more leg than torso. Its chest had no breasts, nipples, or belly button. There was no distinguishing gender.

* * * * *

Purchase Links: All Romance, Amazon, BN

Blog Hop Excerpt Teaser (Yes, another one)

Here's another excerpt from The Case of the Senshi Pearl (Interstellar Intelligence Agency, #1), which I'm giving away to commenters during the SFR Brigader's Midsummer Blog Hop.

21st Day, 13th Month, 3012 G-Year

Planet Nereus

City of Vodnik

Country of Rusalka

A small wind picked up and Kane eyed the vents. Still closed. The temperature of the air heated. Evaline grasped his forearm, and gasped as a small tornado formed in the center. It whirled, first in a wide loose swirl about three feet tall, then grew and tightened. The space around the phenomenon distorted, like a mirage when gazing through the desert.

Two tiny pale feet materialized on the ground, growing calves, knees, and petite thighs.

"Oh my gods, Kane," Evaline whispered in awe.

"It is magic," the emperor commented from the water area.

A chair nearby crackled and splintered. Kane gestured to one of his men and they reached out and jerked it away. The corner piece of the chair arm had disintegrated, leaving only a small splintered gap. Agent Tanuki's naked form slowly appeared. Her athletic hips, fit abdomen, and arms covering her small chest. Kane's mouth went dry.

Evaline excused the security team -- for obvious propriety's sake -- and grabbed the robe. She prepared to drape it over the small naked female.

Small was an understatement.

She barely came to Kane's chest. Slim shoulders held a long narrow neck and diamond-shaped face. The wide cheekbones accented her wide mouth. She had big blue eyes, the color of the night sky before full moonrise. A long thick scar etched from her right eye socket, down across her cheek, before disappearing behind her hairline.

Her pitch-black hair was in a short style, buzzed in the back and angling longer to a point towards the front. Bright blue streaks the color of her eyes highlighted her hair in thick chunks. Her skin was like the little porcelain dolls in the toyshops around town.

She let her arms drop, and turned to them in her full nudity. Kane blushed. She was obviously not shy. She smiled, and then bowed to the mistress and emperor. Evaline stood holding the robe, unsure what to do next.

Raina stepped forward and reached for the robe. She bowed again, and then said something in a foreign tongue. The mistress cast a confused look at Agent Tanuki. The agent searched the space behind them from her position.

The mistress's assistant stepped forward, holding an injection system of some sort. "I think this is what she is looking for, My Mistress."

Raina gave a broad smile, nodded, and took it. She pulled back the holster, and it clicked. Then she pressed it behind her right ear and squeezed the handle. On a small pop, the agent winced, and then closed her eyes.

"Thank you, Mistress," she said in a bold voice contrary to her small size, surprising him.

Evaline stammered for the first time in all the years he'd known her. "I-I thank you for coming, Agent Tanuki."

"That's the way to travel!" The emperor had a boisterous laugh. "Where'd you learn this skill?"

"It's not something you can learn to do unless your meta composite is designed for it from birth," Raina replied.

Her shoulders slumped after putting on the robe. Kane stepped forward. "Do you require rest, Agent?"

She met his stare with her own. Something akin to thunder slapped his chest, and his breath escaped him.

She nodded. "Yes, if there's time. The process can be taxing on the essence, and the newly formed protons require an adjustment period."

Essence? Newly formed protons? These terms zoomed right over Kane's head.

"Of course there is time, Agent." The mistress glanced at the emperor. "How about we meet first thing tomorrow morning to discuss our course of action." The emperor nodded, and slipped under the water. "Your things from IIA arrived via the ionic transport," Evaline crooked a finger for one of her attendants, who answered by slipping an arm under the agent to prop her upright. "Let's get you to a room to rest for now."

Kane followed, still trying to find his equilibrium. The agent wavered at the doorway, stumbling. The attendant struggled to keep her up. Kane cursed under his breath, and lifted her small form in his arms. Her legs were draped over one arm. Her shoulders were tucked against the other. He nudged his chin, and the group moved through the Rusalka House of Despot. Her head dropped against his chest.

This could be trouble.

A Little Taste

Below is a random excerpt of the book I'll be giving away to a post commenter during tomorrow's SFR Brigade Blob Hop event.

*     *     *     *     *

Stepping out onto the garden patio, Kane halted and stared in horror. A large beast of some sort pinned down a still form about ten feet away. Realization brought dread. The tattered and bloodied clothing were Danican's.

Kane pulled out his weapon and aimed, then hesitated. Never had he seen anything like this animal. This monster.

"Raina?" he asked cautiously, his finger on the trigger, in case.

With a growl, it turned its head and snarled. Teeth and jaw dripped blood. The animal's eyes were a brilliant blue. Its pelt was of a darker shade, and shimmered in the night. A long black mane flowed from its head to its shoulder blades. A scar marred the side of its face.

Raina.

He lowered his weapon, and she paced back and forth twice on a low rumbling growl.

Only then did he spot Evaline laid out to their left. Clothes intact with no obvious wounds, she braced her chest and breathed shallowly. He took a step towards her but Raina growled and blocked him.

"Raina, it's me, Kane." He raised his hands.

This was different from the other changes. Raina lowered her head in a confrontational way and tensed her front legs, readying for attack. Raina as the beast didn't recognize him, and had taken on the predatory instinct of the animal.

What an irony he would die by the woman he loved, Kane thought on a huff.

"Raina," he asked again in a smooth, quiet voice. It jerked another foot closer, bloodied drool dripped onto the patio. Kane's heart lodged into his throat.

"Agent Tanuki," came the terse voice of Galleon from the side of them.

Raina growled and stalked the space between the bodies and Kane again, swiping at the dead form of Danican.

"Agent Tanuki, you change back now," Galleon ordered.

For a second, Kane wasn't sure Raina would listen, but finally she sat on her haunches and returned to her human form.

* * * * *

See you all tomorrow - or, er, chat you all up tomorrow. Whatever, you know what I mean.

The Scene is in the Details

What makes an awesome scene? I was thinking about that the other day while reading a very boring scene. It technically had all the components we talk about all the time...you know, the 5 senses. It wasn't too much of the senses or too little.

Yet it was still boring. I laid in bed that night really thinking why the scene wasn't jiving with me and right before I went to bed realized...the details of the scene had no connection to the moment. We've all groaned over the millionth raining scene during heartbreak or mourning and bright blue skies during happy and love. Yeah, not so much talking about that.

What I am talking about is pointing out things in the details that somehow emphasize or contrast with the character(s) moment. Say someone visits a new country. First layer is the experience itself. First Timers...well time is going to seem to rush by and they'll notice the differences in clothes, speech, body language, weather. The taste and preparation of food, the games children play. All this will be in constant comparison to where they're from. It will either be in the extreme of exhilaration or misery (depending on the type of traveler they are and whether they're there by choice or not.)

Now, for the person who's been there before. They might notice some of this, but not all of this anymore. Whatever mood or frame of mind they're in will depict what detail they pick out to compare to their predicament or emotion. Time will not mentally move as fast because their brain won't be as busy logging new experiences. (There's a scientific test proving this...I'll look it up sometime and maybe do an article on just that.)

Then there is the next layer and making sure the character responds to those details based on the plot and the emotions he/she are feeling in the story. Say you have a first time who's just experienced the death of her parents and is now on a new planet to live with her extended family. Yes, she'll notice all the details, but her reaction will not be the same as a first time tourist. Everything she sees will be a painful reminder of her loss and the new/unknown future she's facing.

For fun -- not so much an example of right because, well how do I know if it's right? I wrote it, I'm not the reader -- here's an excerpt example from Duty and Devotion with the new comer scenario. (Just remember, still in line to be edited so might change a little in the final draft.)

Afterwards, let me know your favorite connective scene in a book or poem. One of my favorite is Edgar Allen Poe's Anabel Lee. Man, that guy knew how to draw the emotions of both the character and the reader by highlighting nature and surroundings.

* * * * * * *

Kaitlin and Jenny dragged her to the ground hangar where they joined up with another crew to go to surface cruising. Nettie trained in simulation and gone out a couple times, but the fear of real surface, open space, still unnerved her. Kaitlin once concluded it was because Nettie had been raised in a bubble.

When their surface cruisers rolled out of the hanger decompression area, bile threatened to undo her. Since it would have taken too long to take off the suit, she forced it back. These vehicle models were not enclosed, but had an exposed frame the other crew called a ‘roll cage’. Nettie decided not to ask why they called it that. They might have answered her, and she would have had to de-suit.

She just stayed silent while Kaitlin and Jenny fought over steering privileges, repeating to herself that people had been surface exploring for several hundred years. It was a perfectly sound method of fun and adventure. Yeah, she thought bitterly, fun and adventure. Nettie clung to the vehicle’s handles as they covered ground, heading away from the facility.

"Relax, Nettie. At least we’re not somewhere like Mars…though crater jumping would be fun.” Having lost, Kaitlin sat in the back seat while Jenny steered. The other crew drove ahead of them.

Nettie took a relaxing breath and decided to approach the situation as a soldier would during a mission. She mentally recorded the scene. Behind her loomed the structure of the facility. Several stories of metal and pressurized diamond glass lit up by bright lights. Beyond it, encompassing two-thirds of that part of the sky was Jupiter. The orange and white bands twisted slowly.

Facing forward, she took in Callisto’s open frontier rolling out to caress the horizon. It was a flat surface of eroded and dusty glacier-type ice several hundred miles deep. Beneath that was water that had never seen the light of day.

It wasn’t to say the waters are dark. Hundreds of years ago when man first landed on this moon, they drilled through the glacier to look for little green mermen. Instead, they found small to medium size life forms of the fish variety…and they found brightness. Aptly named the Under Ocean, the core of the moon kept it warmed and lit. The magnetic balance between the core and Jupiter prevented the glacier surface from cracking. The surface’s coldness and the core’s warmth kept the glacier surface from melting, or Under Ocean getting too warm.

Nettie drew her thoughts from under the surface back to the Callisto sky. Without the dampening of the facility lights, Galileo’s constellations shown like diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. Her fears calmed and she forgot the fear of open terrain. She recognized the beauty of it. This was the definition of wonder, of awe. Majestic had no true meaning for her until now. The brightness started where the sky kissed the surface in the distance and went across the whole heavens.

Excerpt: Duty and Devotion

Alright, here's my first excerpt for Duty and Devotion, which will be released by Desert Breeze Publishing June 2011. Duty and Devotion is about sisters, Nettie and Rinny Matterville, who head off to war. Along the way they discover true love can be found even in a time of conflict. Nettie learns true love isn’t always obvious; sometimes it’s right in front of your face. Rinny learns that love at first site can and does happen, but the real challenge is keeping it.

Just a reminder: The following excerpt is unedited and will vary upon edit and publication.

EXCERPT

Sitting down to her music, Rinny meditated a few moments on her mood and decided upon upbeat and romantic. She pulled up a retro-romanticism Mendelssohn composition, one full of drama and energy. The notes flowed from her lips easier than any words ever could. All the passion and sensuality she buried during her average day released through her body and out the trumpet. Rinny displayed a depth of emotion and innermost truth through the composer’s musical elements and harmonies.

On the last note, she leaned back in her chair and enjoyed the moment of accomplishment. She’d booked the room for two hours. It was a great space in the arts and entertainment wing, which used to be part of the civilian city. Since it was a temporary take-over, the militia left it as-is. The owners continued to run it for soldiers on off-duty.

She looked up through the glass wall to see Lieutenant Gubvre. He gestured to the handle with an inquisitive expression. She sat the trumpet down on its holder and waved him in.

“You and I shouldn’t keep meeting like this,” she joked.

He smiled and shrugged, then clasped his hands behind his back. She realized this was a habit of his and for some reason it was appealing. The height of him was refreshing to someone who was always taller then everyone. From her sitting position, the feeling was exaggerated. By his posture, she could tell he came from an upper class family. Not from the Earth region, like her, but somewhere more exotic by his accent. Possibly the Saturn Rings.

“Yes. Well, I was passing through to see the painters and spotted you.” He released a hand long enough to gesture towards the music sheets. “I didn’t realize you played. You play well?”

A sound proof room, he wouldn't have heard her. Rinny patted the chair next to her. After he sat, she picked up the trumpet, pressed for another musical piece, and started playing. After the first few bars, she closed her eyes and continued. She relished the feeling of power that rose in her as she made what so many couldn’t. Felt from it what so many weren’t able too. The notes created a whole world just for her and a select few. She’d loved playing in the concert group and suddenly realized she’d missed it.

Halfway through she stopped, opened her eyes, and looked at him with a grin. It died on her lips. The intensity in his eyes flared the heat in her system. She lost her breath as she watched him look towards her lips and then back at her eyes.

“Don’t stop,” he whispered. “Please.”

Unable to trust her words, she picked the song back up. She closed her eyes again, but this time to keep her concentration. His gaze unnerved her, sending the attraction she felt into overdrive. She felt him draw his chair closer, his knee lightly tapped hers. Only years of experience enabled her to finish the song. For a moment, she kept her eyes closed.

They fluttered open when his fingers lightly grazed along the side of her face. Her breath caught and started again, more shallow. They stopped at her chin before sliding to the back where he grasped the nape of her neck. He looked over her hair, her face, her eyes, then at her mouth before drawing in. The kiss was soft, exploring, and perfect. Rinny let the breath seep out as she leaned in and it deepened. Then it was over and he stood.

“I’m…this…” he seemed to search for words. Stumbled over himself. His hands gestured. His eyes looked a little wild. Rinny stood, turned to put her instrument up.

“It’s okay Lieutenant. It was unexpected. No one needs to know it ever happened.” She turned her head back towards him, where he stood rigid. “Our little secret.”

“Matterville, this would just be impossible. War is not a time to start a relationship.”

The anguish on his face softened her anger. He meant it, and she knew it was the right decision. “I know. It’s okay.”

She took his hand for a fleeting second, squeezed, and then released. He nodded awkwardly and left.

~~~

Okay, well there is my first excerpt to you all. Hope you liked it. This has been such a fun journey getting to publication and I can't wait to see it all together and released. If you'd like to know more or to see other books by Desert Breeze Publishing, click on the link below:

Desert Breeze Publishing: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/StoreFront.bok
Author Page: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-template/ARNorris/Page.bok