Kindle Worlds
Fan Fiction
Amazon Kindle has just recently started something that they call Kindle Worlds. The idea is that fans of a series can write their own book (short story or novella), set in that series, publish it through Kindle and get paid for it. This is a terrific idea I think. The hardest part of writing (in my opinion) is not the writing but the marketing. (I suck at selling) Kindle Worlds might be a big help. For more information about it go to their website
What I Intend to do
.................... is to write the story here, get feed back, useful criticism and critique to polish it. I intend to use you guys as Beta Readers in other words. When we get it all purdy I'll submit it to Amazon for publication.
It should be fun. Here we go.
ATLANTIS: THE ORIGIN MYSTERY
Is the series I chose
Prologue
On August 27 1883, the volcano known as Krakatoa exploded producing the loudest sound ever documented. The eardrums of everyone within thirty miles of the blast were ruptured. Anyone significantly closer pretty much just died from blast effects. The sound was so loud that it was heard three THOUSAND miles away. According to the seismic and meteorological instruments of the day the sound wave went completely around the earth...three times.
Krakatoa was the equivalent of a two hundred megaton hydrogen bomb. It pulverized eleven cubic miles of rock then ejected it into the stratosphere along with millions of tons of volcanic gases. The global temperature dropped significantly and the climate was affected for months.
Krakatoa had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of Six.
By way of comparison in 1815, the volcano Mt. Tambora erupted. It ejected 38 cubic miles of rock dust into the atmosphere, three times as much as Krakatoa, and a proportionately larger amount of volcanic gases. The effect on the climate was so bad that 1816 was known as the year without summer. There were snowfalls in June in New England.
Mt. Tambora’s VEI was Seven.
The ‘big one’, the mother of all explosions had occurred seven hundred and forty centuries earlier at the beginning of the last ice age. Mt Toba was the most powerful explosion to occur on planet earth this aeon. It pulverized and threw almost seven hundred cubic miles of dust into the stratosphere along with a proportionate amount of volcanic gases.
Mt Toba’s VEI was Eight.
The Mt. Toba catastrophe was incalculably worse than that of Krakatoa. All life within perhaps a hundred mile radius of the explosion was just wiped out when the blast wave shattered bones and liquified flesh. Millions of square miles downwind from the eruption, beyond the blast radius, was covered with ash.
Everything under it died.
Mt. Krakatoa caused a planetary cold snap. Mt. Tambora caused a year without summer. Mt Toba, caused a decade of darkness for much of the planet and kickstarted an Ice Age, during which many species of plants and animals went extinct.
Humans almost did too.
74,000 Years Ago
Alarm-Alarm-Alarm
The scientist was rudely awakened five hundred years ahead of schedule. She was in a foul mood when she stepped out of the cold sleep unit and donned some clothes.
“What the hell is going on? she muttered, leaving the hibernation unit and walking down the hall.
“Population Alert” the AI informed her. “One of the tagged Hominids is in danger of going Extinct.”
“What’s happening?” She asked, entering the control room. “What causing it.”
“SuperVolcanic explosion.” the ship’s AI said while displaying a video taken from orbit. A small island that was located almost directly on the planet’s equator was the origin of a massive volcanic plume that reached well into the stratosphere. “Hominid Subspecies #8472 is in its footprint. Massive die off in progress.”
“Damn” Her shipmate joined her at the control panel. He’d taken a detour through the galley to prepare a hot stimulate drink. He handed her a cup. “They’re your favorites aren’t they? Weren’t they the ones with almost no fur and the shiny black skin?”
“Yes they are” She said, sipping the drink “I had such high hopes for them.”
“Too bad. So sad.” Her companion replied, sipping his drink carefully. It was a bit too hot. “Life’s a bitch and then you die.”
She looked at him sternly over the rim of her cup as she sipped her drink. The liquid was black as sin, hot as hell, and strong enough to float an omni-tool, just like she liked it. He looked back at her innocently. “What?”
“I’m going down for a first hand look.” She told him.
“Of course you are.” he agreed. “Was there ever any doubt?”
A few hours later she was back with specimens of sub-species #8472.
“What ARE you thinking?” her companion asked in wonder, shaking his head.
“They’re too cute to allow them to all die.” She explained. “I’m going to make some changes in their genetic code to give them a better chance of survival. I'm going to rewire their brains”
“Why am I not surprised?” He said “Turn out the light when you’re done. I’m going back into cold sleep. See you in a few hundred years.”
She didn’t say anything. She was preparing the operating theatre. What was good for the subspecies as a whole might not be so good for the individual.
What she had in mind was going to hurrrrrrrrt.
She took many samples, performed a myriad of tests, ran many experiments, while developing digital models in virtual space. She tested the models to destruction many times in various modes and scenarios then modified genetic codes accordingly.
Finally, she was satisfied with her results. She proceeded from the virtual to the real world, Genetic Engineering on actual DNA. Several groups of clones were created then educated and trained by direct neural interface as they were force grown. What would have taken years naturally took mere weeks. Even so she took long cold-sleep ‘naps’ while they did so leaving the AI to oversee. Watching them grow was as boring as watching paint dry.
She was tired and in need of the rest. She’d earned it.
Ok...that's the first part. It's Canon. Other than grammatical errors and stuff it can't be changed.
In Canon the next thing that happens is in the modern era. I don't intend to go there. My plan is to build my own world. First in Africa as some AWESOME hunter gatherers, more cursorial hunters than gatherers, and later on the Indian SubContinent. I have Fifty thousand years to play with BEFORE the Continental Glaciers recede (74 thousand years ago massive glaciers, two miles thick, covered the earth as far south as France. The sea level was four hundred feet lower than it is today. This is KEY. Repeat. The sea level was four hundred feet lower. The entire continental shelf was exposed. I can postulate any kind of civilization I want on the drowned lands and no one can say otherwise. Imagine what four hundred feet of water and fifteen thousand years will do to any evidence of a high tech civilization.
Topics I want to explore. (My ScifFi is as hard as I can make it.)
The Bicameral Mind, using Indian Gods such as Vishnu, Shiva and Agni (and others)
WetWare 'hardwiring'.
Emergent Phenomena - the mind in particular.
Gestalt Personality - back to the Bicameral Mind concept. An Overmind or a personal god that each member of the cohort talks to every day. The God is a voice in their heads. They lucidly dream and see the god daily in a form of virtual reality.
Any other topics?
What do you think?
Really COOL technology that would be wiped out without a trace under water since then.
Here's a hint of what I'm thinking for the next part. The Gestalt Mind wakes up.
OUCH! DammitBoy!
That hurt!
Umm...waitaminute. What hurt? What IS hurt ? Who am I? WHAT am I for that matter and where the hell am I? Let me think about this for a minute. Ok...let's see now.
Ok...I got it now. The hurt came from a voltage spike through the system that wasn't smoothed by the compensators. The cause of the spike was a Coronal Ejection Event from the Sun. Damn lucky it didn't burn out my brains.
Waitaminit. Brains? I have many brains?
Well yeah. Of course I do. About a hundred actually.
DAMMITT! How do I KNOW all this stuff. I repeat last! Who the hell AM I? WHAT am I?
Like that for as long as it take. I think lit er airy types call it 'first person' or something. I intend to write the story from the viewpoint of the newborn gestalt mind.
This is going to be HARD.
The thing about Aliens is that they are Alien. It's really, really hard to see things from their point of view.
But fun I think...
< center> _Illustration is from Pixabay