Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Road Between Past and Future


March 1, 2012
“Just because something is unknown does not necessarily mean it needs to be feared.” - Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

As strange as it may sound coming from someone who writes contemporary romance, I’m a fan of most things sci-fi that paint a picture of a bright future. It’s simple, really. I’m a romantic!

“And so it begins.” - Kosh, Babylon 5

It all started with Star Trek. No, I’m not going to confess how young I was in 1966, but I will tell you my father wanted to watch Star Trek so we watched Star Trek. Every week. It broadened my thinking. I started to read science fiction and I fell in love with the genre.

“If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced.” – Mulder, X-Files

This love of sci-fi has been on my mind a lot lately. I’m working on the third installment of the Sundown series. In this story, my shapeshifter has to come clean about his people. Confessions will be in order, and Sundown doesn’t give up his secrets easily. And given the complexity of dealing with prying the secrets out of his alien Chal brain, it will take a while to finish the tale.

“Always in motion is the future.” – Yoda

Everyone is familiar with personal crossroads. Sometimes we see them in the distance and can prepare for them. Sometimes we run up on them so quickly we’re caught off-guard. I’ve come upon one and it surprised me. In order to keep my writing fresh, which road do I take? Who is to say I can’t explode different roads? Who’s to say you can’t? Isn’t it exciting to contemplate new things?

“I offer a toast: the undiscovered country – the future.” - the future (and late) Chancellor Gorkon of the Klingon Empire

If the future is our undiscovered country, then is the past our forgotten future? I always thought mapping my genealogy would be my retirement project, but the universe made it clear the time was now. To that end, I’ve connected with several cousins I didn’t know but who also work toward the common goal of discovering who we were that made us who we are. Finding those unknown people who made my past has added new colors to my future. They are blood strangers, but I will remember their names.

The world has once again expanded in unforeseen ways, and the little gems of wisdom spoken by characters in a future only imagined sparkle with new meaning.

KC Kendricks
website at: http://www.kckendricks.com/

blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys

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