The Fourth Law
by Clayton
Barnett
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Science Fiction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Two things keep her going: her live-in job at a small, Catholic orphanage in the city of Waxahachie, Republic of Texas, and Ai, her odd, but dear friend, whom she met online: a young woman who only shows herself to Lily as a rendered CG image.
Troubled by her past, haunted by her name, and facing an uncertain future, Lily seeks only a quiet, normal life. But, that past and her present conspire against her. A new Morning has come, and with it, delights and terrors, happiness and adversity.
Where do we come from?
What are we?
Where are we going?
I am always fascinated by how authors go about their world building so I asked Clayton Barnett for a guest post on the subject. Here is his reaction to the request and his post on how he does it.
Topic: World Building
Forward: the
Guest Post for this Tour Stop had me stopped in my tracks for days. On the other stops there were occasional
questions that’d I have to look up or ponder a bit, but the topic here was so
wide-open, that I let this sit for almost a week. For a writer, that’s close to “forever.” Finally, in order to do something, I’ve decided to use the
structure of the Wikipedia entry
about World Building, but in discussion of the world of “The Fourth Law” and
Machine Civilization.
History
World building goes as far back
as speculative fiction itself.
Much further than HG Wells or Jules Verne; Dante, for example, could be
seen as a builder of worlds, even if he was working in a pre-existent
milieu. Even the writer/editor of
the Book of Job in the Old Testament might be said to be a world-builder.
With science fiction and
fantasy coming into its own in the mid-20th Century, world building
became commonplace. From the galactic
mega-structures of Larry Niven to the constructions inside the human mind
explored by Philip K. Dick, “all the cool kids were doing it.”
I assure you, I am not one of
the cool kids, but setting a book about seven years in the future, after the
Breakup of the US, and with self-aware machines in the mix, meant that I was
suddenly in the world building business.
Methodology
As I mentioned on a few other
tour stops, I made this story up as I wrote: I’d only two or three ideas in my head as a place to start;
the other’s just came as I wrote.
It was only in the editing phase that I realized I had to reconcile many
of the things that I had said and claimed about what was left of the US: where was there still
civilization? Why? What about the rest of the world? What were the uncivilized parts
like? Just how did the Northern
Federation and Texas beat off first the rump Federal government, then barbarian
waves?
I’d sentences and short
paragraphs scattered through the novel with information like that, and I had to
make sure they now hung together in a coherent narrative. Fortunately, when writing my visual
novels about three years ago, my friend and colleague disabused me of the
notion that I had to explain everything.
“Don’t tell them everything!”
He’d said. “So long as
you’ve a good idea, keep them guessing and wanting to know more!”
Thus, for example, the
proximate cause of the Breakup is a sentence fragment of the thought of one
character. Military matters are
mentioned quickly in just one flash-back.
Do I know fully what’s going on?
Of course not – but I know more now after finishing the sequel – and I
knew enough to keep the story moving.
Elements
I think it was Larry Niven who
said, “In world building, you are obliged to talk in universals; otherwise,
you’re not talking about anything.”
So, here we go….
Physics
Lily is a part of the
RealWorld™ of about 2023 AD; nothing I had to worry about there! Ai and her family…er, well…. Okay, they are self-aware machines;
AI’s largely developed by the Tohsaka Corporation of Hamamatsu, Japan, but now
loose in the world. As complex
clumps of code moving at lightspeed, they effectively exist everywhere and
nowhere at any given instant in time.
Fine, that puts them in a box for a moment… but where can they and
humans – Ai and Lily – meet and grow close to one another? Cyberspace is a great idea, but too
well used. I thought of something
empty that I called ‘their home,’ something Thaad made. What no one expected, even me, is what
would happen to ‘their home’ when a human was introduced into it, a human that
like all carries within her God’s gift of Co-creation. Hijinks ensue (hi there, Henge!).
Cosmology
Again, thank God, I didn’t try
to get beyond myself when hacking out 50k words for National Novel Writing
Month. Lily’s in Waxahachie, Texas
and Ai is, well, here and there.
With a little help from the Somi Corporation of Osaka, a part of her
does make an appearance in the Republic of Texas, as well, but at no point did
I allow myself to be backed into the corner of re-explaining the universe!
There are hints, though, mind
you. Dorina, who came up with the
whole ‘human-mind-interface’ thing has some wild, astonishing ideas about ‘our
home’ and ‘their home,’ only very lightly touched on the end of “Echoes
of Family Lost.” I look
forward to her making me older about these ideas in a future book!
Geography
I give thanks to Google Maps
and Mapquest for allowing me to save the airfare to central Texas! As I am talking about a RealWorld™
place, it is my responsibility to get as much as I can correct. I used to know a lawyer who lived in
Waxahachie with his family; for all I know, they’re still there. Supposed he read my book and I had just
made details of the city up? He
would be right for calling me and taking me to task for making light of what is
his home. Similarly, I’ve much
extended family in central Texas.
When I’m talking about the drive up from Galveston or where the
government buildings are in Austin, I spent many hours looking at overhead
imagery and printing out maps.
If you’re using the real world,
use it properly.
Culture
Harder, but most important of
all. I wrote this book not only
because I want people to see what I saw, and be happy, but also because I think
something is deathly wrong with modern American culture, and I want to try to
fix it, in my own tiny way. Lily’s
Catholicism, the Three
of Four Loves she shares with Ai, the stressing over
and over again of the importance of family – so much that it became my second
book – that’s just a few little things I wanted to do to make a better world
for my two daughters.
From a writing standpoint, it
behooved me to make sure that I got accents and dialects as best I could for
central Texas. They are a rougher,
more independent lot that many others in the US, and those that survived the
Breakup would be even moreso.
“Politics is downstream from
culture,” so I stuck with what’s important. In fact, the two, I think, times that the word ‘politics’ is
said, both characters say it with disgust.
Conclusion
There you go! A light overview of World Building in
general and how I applied it to “The Fourth Law” in particular! I’d like to thank Mixed Book Bag for
putting up with me and all of you for keeping up with me!
Now that you know how he goes about it read an excerpt to see how it works.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
A
young woman, or older girl. Call her twenty, Lily thought. A burnt-orange, silk, Chinese-style
dress. Her face that indeterminate Eurasian that could have her from Hungary to
western China. Her hair, though. Long, and artificially dyed; in this awful
light it was hard to tell exactly, but somewhere between a blue and a green...
aquamarine?
Aquamarine?!
Lily
very slowly put her left hand out, stopping just shy of the girl’s face.
“Is...is
it...you, Ai?” The girl smiled and nodded.
“Welcome
to my home, friend Lily!”
Huh?
Happy
that she finally saw Ai in person, Lily was completely perplexed.
“Your...
home?”
With
a look of surprise and her hands to her cheeks, Ai exclaimed, “Oh! But where
are my manners? I’ve never had a guest before! Let’s sit over here!” She
stepped past Lily’s left. Turning, Lily saw a small wrought-iron table with two
chairs of similar make. Those were
not there a second ago. Ai sat primly and waved at the other chair for Lily.
After a moment’s hesitation, she joined her.
Ai
continued to beam at her. “This is so nice! That’s right, you’re a coffee
drinker, here! I’m going to try some tea, though.” Ai raised a delicate china cup
to her lips, then paused.
Lily
looked down to find a stout white mug in front of her. Her nose told her that
the liquid inside was coffee, but why was the coffee as clear as water?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One time engineer, some time pharmacy technician,
full time husband and father, Clayton Barnett stumbled into writing a
traditional novel last November during National Novel Writing Month. Liking the results, he edited what
would become “The Fourth Law” and set about teaching himself
self-publishing. In July of 2015,
he released a sequel entitled “Echoes of Family Lost,” in what is now called
his Machine Civilization series.
He is working on a third book – for children – and is making notes for a
fourth. Clayton Barnett lives in
central Ohio with his wife, two daughter, and two dogs.
Website
$0.99 Book Purchase Link
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Clayton Barnett will be awarding a $30 Amazon or Barnes and Noble
GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. For more changes visit the other blogs on the tour.
October 5: Rogues Angels
October 6: Archaeolibrarian - I dig good books!
October 7: BooksChatter
October 8: Blog of author Jacey Holbrand
October 9: Long and Short Reviews
October 12: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
October 13: CBY Book Club
October 14: Unabridged Andra's
October 14: Edgar's Books
October 15: It's Raining Books
October 16: Teatime and Books
October 19: Kit 'N Kabookle
October 20: Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock
October 21: Mixed Book Bag
October 22: Room With Books
October 23: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
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