"Mission to Blue Grannus" Novel Update

The most consistent thing readers of Green Tara have said is, "When can I read the next one?" And indeed the novel was always meant to be the first in a trilogy. Now, I have a follow-up novel that should be ready late this year. 

The setting for Mission to Blue Grannus is inspired by ice caves that form during high winds and deep freezes. These conditions occur here on Earth on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, where waves freeze solid and swells become ice caves. 

This new one, Mission to Blue Grannus, picks up two years after the end of Green Tara, when the pirate twins invite Gordy, now 15, to join them in a rescue mission. The pirate ship arrives at the edge of the Grannus system soon after his family. They're avoiding a Triumvirate engineering crew sent to reopen a toxic mine on the blue ice moon. 

The Grannus System was at a crossroads. The outer ring is volatile, with a crack in dimensions that offered a faster than light pathway to a network of destinations, including her mom's last known location, and they needed to find her. 

Also, the crossroads was about power and who controls the land and water. On Blue Grannus the original mine had closed decades ago, leaving the miners behind, abandoned refugees. One faction of the refugees lives deep in the blue ice caves, where the mushroom man cultivates strains of mycelia to myco-remediate the moon's toxic water. 

For more stunning landscapes that inspired my story world for this part of Gordy's journey, see these photos by Heather Higham.

The scientific inspiration of Blue Grannus comes from world mycology expert Paul Stamets. I saw his TED talk "How Mushrooms Can Save the World" and immediately understood the implications of his research for repairing damage to our Earth, and also for my sci-fi future vision of human terraforming and myco-remediation efforts. So, just as book 1 was inspired by invisible, essential phytoplankton in the ocean, book 2 is inspired by invisible and essential mycelium networks, the underground rootlike systems of the Fungi Kingdom, and the myco-remediation action of those networks. 

In my story world on the Blue Ice Moon orbiting the gas giant of the Grannus System, the Trivert mining engineers are starting up tests again. Orders from the board were to apply new techniques in the extraction process to yield gold and other precious metals, even though these new methods would put human  refugees at further risk by unleashing even more toxic chemicals into their water system. Gordy and his cousin Virginia, my teenage eco-warrior heroes, volunteer to help the pirates and the refugees make a trade that will protect their myco-remediation efforts. 

The power of mycelial networks to remediate poisoned water is a perfect fit for Mission to Blue Grannus. From Radical Mycology, here's a clear 1-page overview of myco-remediation: https://radicalmycology.com/educational-tools/human-uses-of-mushrooms/mycoremediation-101/

Two years ago, to understand more of the considerations, I put on my literary scientist hat and took a deep dive into all things mycological. I grew oyster mushrooms from a patch, bought the book, and took a weekend seminar Mycelium Running, by Paul Stamets. To the best of my ability I have marinated the entire story with what I learned with him and his team at Fungi Perfecti.

When I do classroom visits with Green Tara, the fifth and sixth graders are thrilled by the adventure, in which the main characters take action steps to regenerate bio-systems. I'm looking forward to taking Mission to Blue Grannus to the classroom, as well. 

We all need action steps, a game plan, for our land and water are under assault locally and globally. The question I try to answer in this series is How can we repair the damage humankind has wrought on our beautiful planet? 

Writing is . . .

Writing is like polishing a mirror.

~Anon

Newton Said

He got his original ideas by standing "on the shoulders of giants." Let's follow his lead.

Or even better: Snatch raw truths fresh from eternity.

Story Poker

This story generating game works best with a group of people 5-25. Part of the game includes building and shuffling the playing cards, so you'll need blank index cards and pencils. We're using six basic element (or suits of cards): character, plot, storyworld, dialog, image, & theme.

For each story element the players write specific, concrete details on one card. For example, if I'm making a card for the storyworld suit I might choose:

An Island in the Great Lakes, accessible only by boat. There are no private automobiles, only bicycles and horses. The resort side of the island feels a little like a theme park without the rides. Outside the town, the blue sky and crystal clear water stretch endlessly, or at least as far as the eye can see.

Every player writes a card for at least two suits. All the cards are organized in piles (not shuffled) according to suit. Now, each player selects two cards (not his or her own) from different suits.

TIP: to help build the deck, some of the cards might describe a favorite film story. For example, for the dialog suit I might choose a man's pick-up lines: "We lost so many good men. (crying) I wish I were stronger." (from THE WEDDING CRASHERS)

The players work in teams of three to five. Using the story cards as inspiration, the goal is to take a wild collection of ingredients and generate an original story. Everyone has the option to trade in cards to find story elements that might make better sense together. But use caution when looking for 'better' cards. Some of the most delicious surprises come when unlikely story elements are put together.

After twenty minutes, each team pitches an original full-length story.

What's in the Bag?

A writing exercise inspired by William Froug and his book Zen and the Art of Screenwriting. It's about the importance of creating the need to know. The scene below is a synopsis of the scene in the chapter "What's going on? Don't tell me."

Imagine a rough looking fellow walking into an upscale jewelry store. He's carrying a paper bag. He steps up to the diamond counter and asks to see the manager. He's in a hurry. Everyone, the sales clerk at the diamond counter, the customer trying on pearls, and especially the security guard's wondering what the dude's got in the paper bag. The audience is desperate to know, too. The longer the writer keeps whatever's in the bag, in the bag the better.

TIP: If he whips out a gun, the audience will be instantly disappointed. Too obvious. Surprise is key.

exercise:

• write down ten things your character wants to keep secret.
• write down ten cool bags or hiding places for the secret objects.
• mix up the lists, putting secrets into different bags and see what happens

Finding story ideas

A former student who is gainfully employed as a non-fiction writer wrote to me recently. He said,

"I know I could write a pretty good story, but I can't seem to will myself to start."

My response:

Bottom line: it’s tough to think and create at a keyboard all day and expect ourselves to think and create for fun in all that ‘extra’ time. Your artist self probably wants to dig in the dirt or whittle wood or play rock guitar--anything that uses different motor skills and brain patterns.

So, first give yourself free play time to nurture your artist self and then play with story ideas. (See writer and creativity coach Julia Cameron for how to fill the creativity well.)

There's the time crunch thing, too. At every stage in life we're faced with multiple demands on our time and attention. Students have multiple classes, a job and a social life. Young careerists have credits to build. Parents have kids to feed and chauffeur. So where do we find the time to generate non-paying, speculative fiction?

My solution is to work with small chunks of time a little bit every day. Even when I have "no" time I can always find fifteen minutes to jot down notes and questions to myself. Anything to keep the pump primed. Then on days when I actually have a couple of hours I'm ready to go. The alternative is to wait for long stretches of really productive time, which may never come, and then spend most of that treasured stretch figuring out how to get started again. I hate this second scenario, so I try to stick with the first. To keep the momentum going I write something, anything everyday.

The cool thing about the small chunks approach is that it doesn't take a strong will to make the commitment. Herculean discipline is desirable when it's time to wield a strong arm. Joyful creation loves a light hearted touch.

TIP: Give your creative work first effort of the day. Then go to work for someone else.