science fiction Archives ~ From The Stratosphere

He lived as a Warner Brothers character who does his best to foil Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in 7 minutes. Given all of the Mel Blanc classics, I have to say Marvin the Martian is one of my top ten favorites from the Looney Tunes archives. I have only one of those famous characters immortalized in a Christmas ornament. It’s Marvin the Martian. Also, I have his dog, K-9, as a wind up toy. Lastly, I have a t-shirt with Marvin on it, and an upside chest pocket, with one of the little fellow’s quotes: “Do they ever shut up on your planet?!” These honors belong to no other cartoon in our home.

Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and a singing frog animated the small screen with Marvin and K-9.

Created in 1948 (71 years ago!), cartoons starring this creature were scare on the Saturday morning cartoon circuit of the 1970’s. When one of those 16 episodes lit up the television, everyone in the house came to watch it! What enchanted us about this fantasy person, a ‘martian’ with a ray gun, big floppy shoes, and a green tutu? I probably can’t say with certainty, as a talking wabbit was also a member of the family. Perhaps it was the infrequency with which we got to see him.

Don’t forget that Marvin the Martian was accompanied by his dog, K-9. He was a lime green, four legged creature who also wore two pairs of big floppy shoes and a green tutu. Together they traveled the solar system, intent on destroying Earth. It blocked Marvin’s view of Venus. Instant Martians enjoy an occasional spotlight as well, which come dehydrated and activate with a little water.

Who, or what, is your favorite fictitious martian?

How about My Favorite Martian, Exodus, or as his patron Tim calls him, Uncle Martin? You remember him, played by Ray Walston, with a pair of telescoping antennae on his head?

In fiction, we have Valentine Michael Smith, born in space and raised by martians. He reminds people that he is just an ‘egg’ and does not ‘grok’ – a child who doesn’t understand. Robert Heinlein’s masterpiece, Stranger in a Strange Land weaves in and out of our culture to this day, nearly 70 years later.

Then, played by Matt Damon, Mark Watney becomes a resident of Mars when he is left behind. You know this movie as, literally, “The Martian”.

As Mars demystifies,

As humans explore Sol IV, as we sci fi writers would likely label it, we need a new mystery. However, Mars remains a planet newly inhabited of robots, sent by humans. As the robots search for water, I hope they find life forms. Snarks, Boojums, even Marvin the Martian would usher in a new epoch in human history. In the meantime, go watch A Lunar Tune at The Looney Tunes Wiki

Thanks for stopping by! Although not about Martians, if you like stories about aliens, go grab my short story prequel. It’s free to download.

Interview with a Starship Captain

By hsrivney | September 15, 2017

I had an opportunity to interview Captain Thomas Jackson, captain of the Science Ship Maria Mitchell, currently assigned to retrieve an extended stay science team from Beta Hydri Four. He’s just come off a successful mission in the Eta Cassiopeia system where he and his crew of the Maria Mitchell stopped a centuries-old plague being fueled by a Pegasi privateer. Welcome, Captain Jackson.

Thank you. It’s nice to be here.

The pleasure is mine. I’ve had people asking me about you, your past, what makes you tick. I hope you don’t mind if some of these questions get a bit personal.

starship captain — Captain Thomas K. Jackson

I’ll let you know if you cross a line.

Great. So, Captain Jackson, you’ve been in the North American Space Administration for twenty some years now. What drove you to the stars so to speak?

I’ve always had a fascination with space, as long as I can remember. It seemed natural to go in that direction.

What did you study in college?

I’m an alum of Caltech, California Institute of Technology. My focus was aeronautics. I met a friend, Dr. Scott Gregory, there, and he has been my ship’s astrophysicist for several years.

You’re from South California. Did you have a typical childhood?

We didn’t always live there, but after my younger sister was born we stayed put. I love the ocean. I spent every summer on the beach, camped on the beach, and I was a very strong swimmer. That’s how I ended up at Caltech. It’s still a private university, and I was awarded an athletic scholarship, on their swim team.

Is that why you joined the navy? You love the ocean?

I love flying. It was a means to an end, at least in the beginning.

So, Captain, what moved you to change from planes to rockets?

Just out of school, I was an intern, briefly, at the Jet Propulsion Lab, and went to Luna Colony on an assignment. Once you see the Earth from space, you are changed, forever. It’s indescribable. You can never go back to the ordinary again.

But you did.

I can’t say flying ion powered fighters off a carrier deck is ordinary, but I was in the navy until an accident ended my service.

Care to elaborate?

I had a mishap landing my vehicle on the deck and was injured.

Sounds like this is something in your past you would rather forget about.

You could say that, yes.

So, I’ll move on. You went from the navy to the space administration?

I joined the space program as a lieutenant but was bumped up to commander pretty quickly, then to captain. I left the navy as a captain so I was glad to have my rank again. Love a challenge, ordering people around (laughs). Not much more challenging than exploring deep space.

You were pretty young to be given a ship.

I took my first command in 2149. I was 37. That’s not so young. Just ask a teenager. Do you have a coffee service here?

The captain and I took a break and walked to the cafeteria for coffee.

So, back to the formal questions. Tell us, please, was there ever a major turning point in your life?

When I left the navy for the space program. And when I met my wife. And when I met my daughter.

Is there anything your parents did that you think significantly affected who you are today?

Absolutely. I suppose you want me to tell you what it is. My father is a dry alcoholic, but he was pretty wet when I was young. That will change the way you see things around you. Now my mother, she’s a gem. She insisted that I be friendly to everyone, to look for similarities, not differences. I think that serves me well, most of the time. I married a woman from another world, and that’s about as different as you can get.

Your wife, Rianya, is from Beta Hydri Four. She is the love of your life?

She is.

It must be difficult to captain a starship and have a family aboard. Are there other captains in the space administration with families?

I’m unique in that category. I dislike exposing them to the dangers, but we are all happier together. Missions are simply too long to be apart. There are dangers on Earth, as well. You can’t avoid life.

Indeed. What’s next, Captain? Do you still have any goals to reach for?

I’d like to see my daughter join me in space one day, not as a passenger, but as part of my crew.

If anyone can make it happen, it would be you. Thank you again for taking time to talk to us.

If you want more information, please click and enjoy!

A recent review

By hsrivney | June 20, 2017

Shameless plug: another 5 star review of Paradox. If you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for? Click the picture and get the e-version instantly! Read it? Rate it! Read more stories with many of the same characters: Jackson, Quixote, Rianya, Bala, Lee, Watson, Bailey, Dukvita, the Kiians, and a new species coming up – the Zlogers!

If you long for the days of Gene Roddenberry’s soulful Star Trek, or hope the Avatar movie might one day become a reality, then you are in for a treat with H.S. Rivney’s Paradox: The Alien Genome. The suggestion of a genetic cure from the world beyond captivated my imagination, as did the author’s writing style. For me, the vivid, unique descriptions illuminated this space odyssey to movie-screen proportions. A healthy dose of dialogue keeps the pace at warp speed with lots of techie jargon. But what really impressed me was the author’s sophisticated scientific knowledge—I would believe her to be an astronaut or a physicist in a previous life to dream up the concepts presented throughout the novel. The author creates a totally convincing world from ecosystems to geology, animal species to alien beings. One graphic scene was tasteful, accurate and evocative. But there’s a touch of intrigue and danger, as well as a softer side to this story, too. A great ending wraps up this exciting futuristic journey after traveling back to a nostalgic era of Kirk, Spock, and Sulu— I highly recommend the ride!

Patti Cavaliere, author of 5 star rated “Looking for Leo”, click me!

Homochirality – the foundation of life

By hsrivney | November 15, 2016

This is interesting as hell if you are a geek. If you’re too busy ranting about the election, sitting in front of a game console, or watching soaps, go ahead and skip this post. For those of you still with me, we’re talking about the subject of my first novel, PARADOX. We’re talking about chemicals, DNA, atoms, and the forces that make the world go round.

limone

The image above is the molecule LIMONENE. A molecule is a compound of atoms, remember, which are the smallest units of a single element. A center has the neutrons and protons, and in shells around the nucleus zing the electrons. Molecules, like atoms, are three dimensional things. Think of them as Tinkertoys, it helps.

Water is a molecule, made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It is always the same no matter how it combines because the two hydrogen atoms always sit in the outermost shell of the oxygen atom. That will never change.

Most molecules are chiral. They can exist only if the atoms hook up together in the correct order at the correct electron. DNA is one of those molecules. You’ve all seen an illustration showing the twisting molecule, sometimes two meters long, all scrunched up into a microscopic package – it’s truly amazing. All biological DNA but for a few archaic bacteria twist to the right.

Huh? Th glow-dna e only way I can explain it is this: The strips of DNA in the foreground are spiraling down FROM the right in the picture. If you see a drawing of the strips in the foreground going left, it is drawn incorrectly. But that’s not what the post is about. What I want to explain is how it got like this and why it’s important. The geeky part is coming, hang in there.

IT MATTERS which way the thing goes, because if you take a look at the LIMONE molecule above, if it chirals to the left, (L or S) it smells and tastes like lemons. If it spirals to the right (R or D) it smells and tastes like oranges. The molecule cannot match up with it’s own mirror image in 3D. Your hands are like that. The palms can meet, but that is not because they are symmetric. If they were symmetric they would look the same from your viewpoint. Place one over the other in front of you (not palm to palm).They are not mirror images of each other.

Where am I going with this? Remember, salts, minerals, chemicals can and mostly are asymmetrical. All over the world with few exceptions (which I’ll theorize about shortly) amino acids spiral to the right and sugars spiral to the left. In a lab environment, we’ve created compounds that still spiral, but in both directions. Why in nature are these compounds homochiral, but heterochiral in the lab?

soup What mechanism drives the biological compounds to homochirality back in the prebiotic world? If you think back to our atoms and their electrons, could it be that a tiny (really tiny) bit of energy happened to pull the molecule a little one way or the other? It could have just as easily been to the left as to the right. This small imbalance in the two different enantiomers is real and in my humble opinion could have been the result of the direction of planetary motion. Earth revolves counterclockwise around the sun and its own axis. By considering the earlier Earth and its molten core, a bit of centrifugal motion may have been the magic ingredient to push biology one direction or another.

I’m at the really geeky part now. If this might be true, then it might be true that on Venus, which spins clockwise on its axis, lifeforms would have the opposite chirality. And here is something we don’t know. How long ago did Venus flip? Most likely, it was early on when the solar system was forming, and models suggest that it was hit by some planetessimal, possibly the fragment of which became Mercury. Another time for that avenue.

So, if Venus were not such a hot and hostile place, would we be able to eat vegetation that arose there or only if it formed before the planet was kicked over? Are the theoretical life forms on Venus opposite from Earthlings and does their DNA spiral left? Are there both biological creatures – those that developed before the collision and after? Wouldn’t it be a fantastic mission, to land on Venus, pick up some creatures, and find out which way they tick? darwin-soup-252x300

More fodder for my science fiction novels, Paradox is exactly this scenario. The planet around Beta Hydri suffered a collision with a space body and was turned upside down so that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. And the first life forms to develop were similar to Earth – right enantiomer DNA until the planet changed, and then new life forms developed with left enantiomer DNA.

In the last 20 years or so, the classification of biological life forms has itself evolved, and now we have Daredevil Kooky Prince Charles On Friday Goes Surfing. Daredevil stands for DOMAIN, and further divides the kingdoms into Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya (this last one holds fungi, plants, and animal kingdoms). Should we find such life forms, on Mars or one of Jupiter’s moons how will we classify them? Do they get their own Domain or Kingdom, will they exhibit the D enantiomer or the L, and why? Finding life on another world is more than exciting, it’s an entirely new science to explore. A hundred years ago there was no job for the pizza delivery man. A hundred years from now, I guarantee we will have exobiologists answering these very questions.

23 Skiidoo

By hsrivney | November 1, 2016

Just what are chromosomes? You hear about them all the time these days, in the media and the internet. Are those 23 wiggly strips of DNA that cursed you through high school biology class exams even worth your time when groceries, soccer, kids, work, traffic, and family all take a piece of you already?

glow-dna Genetic engineering is arguably the most significant single tool humans possess to change their future. It affects everything you can think of. Eradicating viruses, eliminating bacterial resistance, stopping birth defects, cleaning up polluted water, increasing crop yields, all on the radar in the genomic future of humans. I’d like to elaborate on each of those, but suffice to say the essay would become a text book.

I’m only thinking of the human condition for this little blog. Let’s take a look at just a couple chromosomes so the task is manageable. By the way, I want to plant an image in your mind of the correct direction of a helix. As you look at the right side of the drawing, the bands in the fore of the diagram should be as this diagram displays, from the right downward. Why? Because a molecule of DNA is a chiral molecule, and on Earth at least, amino acids twist to the right (most sugars, however, twist to the left, chirally speaking. This is an entirely separate subject). Take my word for it or you can go see a detailed explanation here.

So back to chromosomes. Note that the letter N is not part of the word chromosome, I just want to draw your attention to that if you need to write the word and your spell checker is asleep. A chromosome, of which we have 23 pairs, is a really, really, long, long, long, complex molecule of nucleic acids, perhaps two meters long in some cases, all curled up tight and folded over itself countless times. Some of these chromosomes have as many as 5000 base pairs, those little bars that cross from one side to the other. So let that sink in. A two meter strand of microscopic nucleic acids, thousands of them, all compressed so small that 46 of them fit inside the nucleus of a single cell. Tiny is an understatement. I’m not sure I can think of an appropriate word other than microscopic or quantum to impress upon the eency weenciness and complexity of such structures. Suffice to say, they’re really small.

what-is-down-syndrome1 Genetic engineers have found a way to reduce the severity of mental retardation in children with an extra chromosome 21 (Down’s syndrome) if they are aware of the mutation and can intervene before 10 weeks when the neural pathways begin to develop. New technology allows doctors to use fragments of fetal DNA found in the mother’s blood to diagnose the condition so an amniocentesis or CVS doesn’t have to be performed (increasing chance of miscarriage), which by the way is performed too late to correct the issue. Although heart development and characteristic features are already set, the mental retardation that accompanies Down’s Syndrome can be significantly reduced offering these children a more traditional future of independence and community acceptance.

We should respect nature, but not fear our ability to reduce suffering and lifelong disabilities if the technology supports intervention. We also will find that we must define what is a disability and to what degree. Is total blindness a given fix but nearsightedness on the fence? How much of a disability is really a disability? Will gene manipulation one day be used in the everyday care of pregnancy that an engineer can fix incurable disorders or will the simply undesirable disorders also be up for grabs? As we wade into the shallow waters of the primordial gene pool, we should be excited, responsible, and consider as many angles as possible before we go over The Cliff of No Return.

Tag: science fiction

Remember Marvin the Martian?

By hsrivney | May 17, 2019