What’s New: Upcoming publications, etc.


Previous publications: Read descriptions and link to AlexLit, where you can read several of my stories for a small fee.


Biography: Favorite SF authors, etc.


Splendor: Learn more about the world featured in much of my fiction.

What’s New

In the May 2002 issue of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION:

“Splendor’s Truth,” a new novelette, the latest featuring my series character Chanda Kasmira. Chanda once again faces a threat to the planet Splendor from Domerlan, a Sobrenian military commander.

Sold to ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION, but still unscheduled:

“The Human Equations,” a story set earlier in my future history, in which Triage Officer Leo Bakri must travel to an orbital habitat to banish a “Volatile” Human to that most-feared world, Earth. The seriousness of the crime that led to his banishment may surprise you.

As yet unsold:

SPLENDOR’S HOPE, the novel that incorporates “A Glimpse of Spendor,” “Splendor’s Law,” and “Splendor’s Truth,” plus much more new material, is “making the rounds.” Wish me luck!

Previous publications

Splendor is featured in the stories “A Glimpse of Splendor,” “Splendor’s Laws,” and the forthcoming (ANALOG, May 2002) “Splendor’s Truth.”

As mentioned above, these stories are included within a novel, SPLENDOR’S HOPE, which I’ve not yet sold.

Distance from primary: 1.49 A.U.
Length of day: 18 hours, 37 minutes
Length of year: Over 1000 Splendorian days Just over 22 Earth months
Surface gravity: 1.3 G
Atmosphere: Oxygen-nitrogen,
Natural satellites: None
Orbital eccentricity: 0.013 (Earth=0.016)
Equatorial inclination: 15% (Earth=25%)
(These two figures mean Splendor is even more stable in its temperature range than the Earth--it may be colder, but its lifeforms have had more opportunity to adapt to their specific conditions.)
Primary: Pinpoint
Spectral class: F7
Absolute Magnitude: 4.1
Mass: 1.27 Sol
Luminosity: 3.80 Sol
Radius: 1.14 Sol
Surface temperature: 6253 K
Density: .79 grams per cubic centimeter
Ecosphere inner radius: 1.32
Ecosphere outer radius: 1.83


Threat from the supernova

In 7918 B.C., the star Aeolus explodes. Humanity is still in the Neolithic Era. The latest in technology is the stone axe with a wooden handle, and the bow and arrow. Intelligent life is just gaining a significant foothold on Splendor.

Aeolus (its Human name comes from the Greek god of the winds) shines brightly in Splendor's heavens for months, then fades. It is not visible in Splendor's northern hemisphere, where most of its life resides. A nebula forms, and within a few hundred years it becomes a major celestial landmark for those sharp-eyed beings who can make out its dim glow. About ten thousand years after the star explodes--about a hundred years from Mike Christopher's time--its expanding gases are expected to reach Splendor.

High-energy particles emitted from the star will increase the intensity of cosmic rays to about a hundred times normal, leading to more mutations on Splendor. Typically, organisms in narrow environmental niches will suffer the most. The intelligent beings on Splendor will soon find their planet inhospitable to them.


Physical features

80% of Splendor's surface is covered by water or ice. A body of water called the Great Sea covers much of the western hemisphere. The high albedo of the planet's icebergs reflects much of the sunlight back into space, which has cooled Splendor even more. The oceans see less evaporation, and therefore less precipitation.

The vast amount of water locked away in ice on the planet means free moisture is virtually non-existent in land areas. Most of the land surface of the planet is a frigid desert. Some warm air comes from the seas and interacts with the cold air masses over the ice to create violent storm fronts that bring blizzards and snowfalls.

The equatorial regions have very little land in them--and those mostly forest. Those forests, however, provide the plant life necessary for a breathable atmosphere.

Less land area means less weathering. The result is less fertilizer to feed the life in the oceans, which causes evolution to proceed at a slower pace. With plant life appearing more slowly, less oxygen is available to give fast metabolisms to the animal life that would eventually appear. There are fewer types of all life--plants, animals, insects.

The soil in most parts of the planet has poor drainage and relatively little aeration. Except in the small spots where birds have perches or animals have made their homes, there is little of the nitrogen or phosphorus needed for plant growth. Decay is slow, but there is much less to decay in the first place.

Trees are short, because heat huddles close to the ground. Above a third of a meter, the wind can lower the temperature of the air by as much as 10 degrees C. Flowering plants bloom quickly in the summer months, spreading their seeds before the onset of winter. Some have leathery leaves that hold water in. The so-called thickvine is sometimes used by the native highlanders to tie objects together, or even to bind wounds.

Parts of the planet are similar to the country of Iceland on Earth. Most of the land area of the planet is cold, dry, and windy.

Many inhabitants live along a ridge formed by ocean plates. Those plates are spreading apart, creating a volatile country filled with volcanoes, and wastelands pocked with craters and lava flows. Life originated, as on Earth, in the sea, and it is near the oceans that fertile valleys provide an abundance of game (including fish) and the opportunity for the valley dwellers to develop the rudiments of agriculture.

The climate can be quite changeable, with a warm oceanic stream and Arctic-temperature currents each influencing the environment near the shoreline.


Geographic features

Great Sea -- most of Splendor's western hemisphere is taken up with this gigantic body of water, a vast ocean about one-tenth wider than the Pacific.

Heavenlock Mountains -- a range to the north of Skyreach Mountain.

Skyreach Mountain -- source of a glacier to the east of the Strait of Ancestors.

Strait of Ancestors -- a narrow water channel, alternately frozen-over and filled with tons of icebergs and floes. Formed by the spreading of the two oceanic plates, the Strait of Ancestors cleaved apart a continent in Splendor's geological past, leaving two vast land areas separated by a stream less than a kilometer across.


Splendorian life

In 1920, Sir John Arthur Thomson, a Scottish biologist, wrote, "Living creatures press up against all barriers; they fill every possible niche all the world over....We see life persistent and intrusive--spreading everywhere, insinuating itself, adapting itself, resisting everything, defying everything, surviving everything!" It's true on Earth, and just as true on Splendor.

Just as in Earth's polar regions, life on Splendor must find ways to keep itself warm. Fur, subcutaneous fat, and feathers are just three of the ways life insulates itself from frigid temperatures. A high metabolism that allows an organism to burn calories rapidly also helps. Birds have the dual advantages of fat and feathers.

Some species can protect extremities by running cold blood through their veins from exposed extremities through an area surrounded by warm arterial blood. Others practice economy of motion, especially in colder times--a practice sometimes called "standing hibernation." Still others may sleep for a few days--and in fact it's not unknown for an explorer to find himself crossing what he thinks is a snow bank only to find out it is an awakening beast!

Some gather in "calving grounds" where their numbers can stretch from horizon to horizon. Their sheer numbers serve to protect the young from predators. Afterwards, they separate into their separate herds again.

Insects are rare. Even plants are uncommon, consisting mostly of species similar to mosses, lichens, and algae. The lichens are often splashes of red, yellow, orange, or green. Some lichen-like species and bacteria can even live within frozen rock. Most plant species are non-flowering. Their metabolisms are slow, meaning they grow slowly, and they can remain dormant during the coldest periods. They can also store trace amounts of water vapor in warmer times. Some such plants can be hundreds or even thousands of years old. Others grow into rocks, like the Earth lichens called cryptoendoliths. The name means "hidden in rock." It's warmer and moister there.

The cycle of life is sometimes a tenuous one; ocean currents can change, for example, taking a species of small fish out of range of birds that feed on it. The birds suffer and their number dwindle. Meanwhile, a larger fish species that also feeds on the small fish thrives.

There are relatively few plant or animal species on Splendor. The ecological niche each fills is narrower than on Earth. Life makes up for that lack of variation by producing large numbers of each species. That helps them survive when the inevitable natural disasters happen. Larger numbers of species, with fewer individuals, would mean that entire species could be wiped out.

On Earth, one could identify over three thousand species of mammal. On Splendor, there are fewer than three dozen such species. Some have developed biological strategies similar to Earthly lifeforms, though. Ice crystals form between their cells rather than inside them, keeping frozen cells from being damaged. Others have developed a substance similar to the glycerol that earthly midges have. It acts as an antifreeze. There are 8600 species of bird on Earth--on Splendor, only about seventy. Earth has uncounted numbers of different insect species. On Splendor, there are fewer than a thousand types of insect. On Earth, there are about 30,000 species of fish--on Splendor, there are about a hundred.

The burrower is a mammal without limbs. Its body resembles that of a snake. It's covered with fur along the sides and top parts of its body. The underside and the head are covered with tough, scaly skin that protects it as it burrows. Its fur is uniformly white; that fur, consisting of dozens of layers running the length of the aminal, also serves many of the functions that scales do on reptilian creatures. It is a stiff, prickly fur that insulates the burrower against the cold and provides some protection against predators.

Burrowers, as their name implies, burrow through snow. When one comes to an icy or rocky area, though, they slither across. This can be a dangerous time for them, and they use their well-developed sense of smell to the utmost before crossing in the open. They can also swim quite well, though they prefer not to.

Most burrowers are about two meters long when they reach adulthood. They eat small rodent-like mammals, invading their dens in the snow. In turn, they are the prey of the quicksleep.

Quicksleep are also mammals, just under a meter tall. They have strong rear legs that propel them across the tundra to chase their prey. A highlander or valley dweller cannot outrun them; they must stand and fight if charged. The front legs are shorter--each has four finger-like appendages that easily grasp fresh kill or build a shelter for its young from rocks and ice.

Their preferred diet is the burrower, smaller mammals called hoarders whose dens they raid, and some small fish. They are omnivores when they have to be--they also eat lichen-like plants they dig out of the ice with their sharp claws.

Quicksleep get their name from their ability to survive on very little sleep--sometimes very short naps for days at a time. This allows them to focus all their energies on catching prey. Many times they can exist on naps as short as three or four seconds every two minutes, the rest of their time spent holding still except for the flicking of their eyes back and forth in search of prey.

A quicksleep's jaws are quite strong, made to rip and shred its prey. Two short tusks, quite sharp, extend from the upper jaw. Between those jaws and the quicksleep's agile fingers, few beasts it captures get away.


Intelligent species

There are three types of intelligent land life on Splendor, with tens of millions of beings among them. The Humans who first investigated the planet discovered two of those species and dubbed them the highlanders and the valley dwellers. Both species have large numbers of young to compensate for a high death rate. Neither species can live in the other's native environment for more than brief periods, thus eliminating a primary motivation for war between them.

It was years before Humanity discovered the third intelligent species, the water-dwelling sweepers.

Highlanders
The highlanders live in the colder regions of Splendor, including both poles. They cannot survive for long in the warmer, volcanically-heated areas of the planet. They can brave the conditions long enough to trade with the valley dwellers, however.

There are about about 10,000 highlander tribes on Splendor. Physically, the highlanders are heavily furred, with broad faces and roundish bodies. They are capable of storing large amounts of fat within their bodies during periods when food is scarce. Their ears are broad, but recessed into their heads. Their eye sockets are very deep, also. Their fingers are quite thick and short and not very well adapted for fine work, although they are quite efficient at handling their spears and crude axes.

Typically, the males are capable of quick bursts of speed as they chase prey. They have two hearts, which allows for such rapid use of energy. Normally only one heart takes the main responsibility for keeping an individual functioning. They must usually rest for several minutes afterwards, though.

They are quite skilled in the arts of survival. A favorite pastime is to trade lore about the habits of prey, weather forecasting, and the changing nature of their icy surroundings while enjoying a feast of their latest kill.

They know precisely what parts of which animals to use to make what they need. They know which skin best makes a waterproof bag, which bones can give a strong, sharp point to a small knife, and what kinds of sinew can be used to stitch skins into clothing or containers.

The highlanders are clearly the less intelligent of the two sentient species on Splendor, but biology has favored them. They are better adapted physically and have existed longer--the valley dwellers are evolutionary newcomers. The adversity fo the lives of the valley dwellers has honed their adaptability and intelligence, however, and the highlanders have come to rely upon them for the primitive technology that has enabled them to expand their own range and the size of their tribes.

A highlander's life is harsh. Many of their young die in childbirth. Many others are killed by the violent climate or by rival tribes. This harshness is mitigated by the deep affection most of those who live in villages have for each other. The term "tribemate" expreses that affection. Even the bond between parent and child is little stronger.

The harshness of their life is reflected in the tradition that a trader travels only with his wares on a journey. If he does not make it back, a precious metal tool or spear is not lost. This is also considered an incentive to avoid danger and make an efficient journey.

Leadership of a highlander tribe is based partly on physical strength and partly on mutual respect. When someone wishes to challenge the leader, his thrusts a spear into the ground between them. If the leader looks at the spear, physical combat begins. If not, the two talk out their problems. They speak of someone having the "heart-strength" to challenge another or make a difficult decision.

Highlander Elders are the day-to-day leaders of the tribe, with Eldests the policy-makers. When an Eldest dies, the Elder takes his place. Often, however, Eldests find themselves cast aside and ignored.

Valley dwellers
The valley dwellers inhabit the many volcanically-heated valleys, which Splendor’s active geology makes quite prevalent. Physically, valley dwellers’ bodies are vaguely reptilian in appearance, with a greenish cast and light scales, although they are actually closer to being mammals. Their faces are wide and the skull juts backward to encase the brain sufficiently.

Their legs are quite strong, with four sharp-clawed toes and webbed feet. They have a tail that helps balance their bodies when walking erect and serves as a rudder when swimming. They've even been known to use it to dip into food to grab a taste or into a river or lake to check its temperature. Most of their species enjoy swimming and bathing and find it relaxing. An extra set of transparent eyelids protects the eyes when underwater.

Valley dwellers' hands have a thumb and three fingers and are quite dextrous, especially compared to the highlanders'. They speak in terms of "eights" and "sixteens" of things because of their four-digit hands. They have honed their skills of tool- and spear-making to a fine art. Their products are aesthetically complex as well as immensely practical.

Because of their access to the metal resources of the volcanically-heated valleys, they have been able to create the tools that allow them to be successful hunters despite their relative lack of natural ability in that area.

The valley dwellers believe in great gods that live within the giant ice cliffs and glaciers. These places are forever barred from them by tradition. This has a basis in physical realities; even with the furs they receive in trade from the highlanders, they cannot stand the colder climates prevalent throught most of the planet. Another problem is religious--they have strong taboos against venturing out very far from the safe, warm valleys and possibly angering the gods who live in colder climes. The decorations of their weapons are usually tributes to those gods, carved into soft metal with the laborious, patient strokes of the claws which normally are kept retracted within their finger sheaths.

Each year, most valley dweller tribes will send a contingent of warriors and priests into the cold lands of the highlanders for a religious ritual. This is a time of great religious significance and has social and political meanings as well. In the sight of the gods, any major disputes among valley dweller tribes are put to rest. The entire gathering is presided over by a tribal chief known as the One Speaker.

The valley dweller society is a female-dominated one. Males are more numerous, but small and weak. A female's eggs are fertilized by a male, but the eggs are then transferred back into the male's body. The evolutionary advantage here is that many children can be conceived without risking the life of the female. The males are relatively expendable because they are much more numerous, and a single male can fertilize many females.

Males are necessarily second-class citizens in the valley dweller society. Females dominate and males have few rights. In part this is because of the females' physical prowess, but another important reason is that the males are simply not very smart--they are generally much less intelligent than the highlanders.


Sweepers
First discovered in 2146 by Earth Unity Ambassador Chanda Kasmira and the crew of the submersible Galathea. Sweepers are amoeba-like creatures that can cover many square kilometers of Splendor's ocean depths. They are sentient, on about the level of an Earth dolphin or Saturnian floater. They are bright enough and aware enough of other lifeforms to attempt to help them if they are in trouble. The first sweeper ever encountered tried to keep a Buruden starcraft that had crashed into Splendor's Great Sea from being crushed by water pressure. When the craft's shrouds failed, the sweeper even mimicked them using its central nervous system.

Sweepers were given their name because they sweep slowly and ponderously over the ocean floor. If they stayed in one place consistently, they would destroy a particular area's plant life, which is not good for it or the ecology. Also, part of the sweeper must be in constant movement to collect water through its gills, much like a shark. That is also how it feeds. The part of the sweeper that moves varies depending on what it's doing in other areas and where the most food is located along its considerable bulk.

Each sweeper also has a large contingent of fish that travels along with it. Messenger fish are small, red-and-white striped fish that accompany the sweeper by the thousands. They often travel between sweepers in journeys of several days, with redundant schools carrying the same message. The fish carry pheromones that generate an electrical response that translates to a message in a sweeper’s brain.

Food runners are tiny fish that gather up mouthfuls of tiny fish. They eat some themselves, then put the rest into one of the sweeper's many mouths. It spends much of its time hiding in the sweeper's folds of skin.

Other fish called stinger-stars have blue stripes and wide fins, and dart around constantly. They stay close to the sweeper, but don't usually touch it. They feed upon the lazyfish, an orange fish that scours the sweeper's hide. It hardly ever leaves the sweeper except to mate. Usually it plants its eggs inside a fold of the sweeper's skin. Mostly it eats the microscopic food that comes past the sweeper itself. Much of what the sweeper misses, the lazyfin feeds upon.

When a sweeper dies, it dissolves quickly, becoming fish food and plant fertilizer.

References:

Alien Planet Designer website, http://www.cix.co.uk/~vicarage/planets/intro.html

Arritt, Susan, The Living Earth Book of Deserts. Pleasantville, NY: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1993.

Chadwick, Douglas H., "Kingdom of Coral: Australia's Great Barrier Reef," National Geographic, January 2001.

Dixon, Dougal, The New Dinosaurs. Topsfield, MA: Salem House Publishers, 1988.

Erickson, Jon, Ice Ages: Past and Future. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: TAB Books, 1990

Hodgson, Bryan, "Antarctica: A Land of Isolation No More, National Geographic, April 1990.

Levathes, Louise E., "Iceland: Life Under the Glaciers," National Geographic, February 1987.

Lopez, Barry, Arctic Dreams. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1986.

Matthews, Samuel W., "Ice on the World," National Geographic, January 1987.

Naveen, Ron, et al, Wild Ice: Antarctic Journeys. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.

Shklovski, I.S., and Carl Sagan, Intelligent Life in the Universe. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1966.

Steger, Will, "North to the Pole," National Geographic, September 1986.

Steger, Will, "Six Across Antarctica," National Geographic, November 1990.

Vander-Molen, Paul, "Iceland's Wild Glacier-born River, National Geographic, September 1984.

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