The Heaviness of Knowing by Sharolyn G. Brown - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Sharolyn G. Brown and her new book, “The Heaviness of Knowing”!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Card.  Also, come back daily to interact with Sharolyn and to increase your chances of winning! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this exciting giveaway!

The Heaviness of Knowing

by Sharolyn G. Brown

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GENRE: Science Fiction

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BLURB:

Roxal has spent her life using her Dream Traveler ability in service to Trebor’s gods, The Keepers. Even after she learns they aren’t all powerful like she was taught, she dutifully continues to manipulate an Earth woman named Lauren to do their bidding. Roxal’s content pretending to be a loyal follower, until her mate’s activities with a rebel faction put both of their lives in jeopardy.

Meanwhile on Earth, Lauren is struggling to find balance at work and at home. To make matters worse, she develops an acute case of insomnia which disrupts her life. While trying to cure her condition, Lauren discovers that not only do aliens exist, but that she’s been in contact with one for most of her life. And that’s just for starters.

Now Lauren’s world is turned upside down. And Roxal has to figure out if she can harness the survival instincts which before told her to hide and use it to now fight for her survival.

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EXCERPT TWO:

Now weightless, her body floated out of her makeshift bed into a dark shapeless place. Fog seemed to swirl around her as she drifted in a strange void. A chair would really be nice, she thought.

Then, when she looked to her left, she saw a purple and green chair surrounded by light from an unknown source. The next moment, she was sitting in this chair. Lauren looked around, trying to see where she was, but beyond the mysterious light circle, there was nothing but blackness and fog. As time passed in this place, she heard beeps and voices talking somewhere around her, but couldn’t see the source of either. Now she was afraid.

Should I speak and let them know I’m here? she questioned to herself.

Just as she was about to take her chances with “them,” another voice spoke.

“No, do not let them know you are here.” The voice spoke in a low whisper but was crystal clear.

The speaker sounded as if she was nearby. Lauren didn’t know why, but the voice seemed familiar and felt like she was someone Lauren could trust, so she kept quiet.

“We will both be in trouble if they find you here. It is time for you to go,” the whispering unseen speaker continued.

“What do you—?”

The sensation of being blown away by a strong wind cut Lauren off mid-sentence. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at her ceiling. Lauren sat up, repositioning herself on the sofa, and looked around the room. She remembered she had come to the den when she saw the bright white numbers on the satellite box’s digital display. A smile spread across her face as she read the time, 3:18 AM. She lay back on the sofa’s cushion, still smiling.

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GUEST POST:

Building a Believable World and Other Rules in Writing Science Fiction

One of the reasons that I love reading, and writing, science fiction is because the only limit to the extraordinary elements of the world is the imagination of the creator. And by this, I don’t just mean the creator’s ability to imagine wild things. But also the creator’s ability to stick to the rules of the world, no matter how it may impact future parts of the story. And, further, if it is decided that a rule has to be broken, then there must be a justification or reason that makes sense according to the logic of that world.

Now someone reading the first paragraph may be staring at the screen wonder what this crazy lady is talking about. So, to better explain myself, I’ll give examples. The first example is a science fiction story that blew my mind the first time I saw the movie. The movie I’m talking about is The Matrix. The weekend that The Matrix opened I went to see it three times. No joke, I went twice on Friday with two different sets of friends and then I went with my boyfriend at the time on Saturday.

WARNING: Sorry to anyone who hasn’t seen The Matrix, but SPOILERS AHEAD.

This story, about how the world that we know is only an illusion being fed to us by computers to keep us docile as they use us as batteries, amazed me. And it’s a good example of how once the writers decided on this premise, every extraordinary thing that followed stayed true to that premise.

People can develop instant abilities and skills they never practiced. And why not? The fact that the world was only a computer simulation meant that uploading the information into a person’s brain was all they would need to use it in the simulation. Phones were used to transfer a person’s consciousness from the matrix’s world into the real world. Of course. A person’s consciousness is basically information, so why can’t it be sent over a phone line like a fax? The enemy can appear anywhere, at any time once the computer realizes your consciousness is back in the matrix. Makes total sense. The enemy is a series of computer programs that can infect the consciousness of people connected to the computer and in the matrix. So they can move around with ease. I could go on, but these few examples show that as a writer, there’s no end to what you can have happen in your science fiction world. You simply have to make sure it has a justification that fits with your world’s rules.

And there were even some comedic moments that also fit with the premise. Déjà vu is described as a glitch in the system. And, the fact that we say so many things taste like chicken is because the system doesn’t have the correct flavor profile on record. Again, these things fit with the idea that the world is just a computer simulation.

Whereas I believe The Matrix is an example of great world building, trying to find an example of bad world building is a bit more difficult. Not because they don’t exist, but because I tend to forget about these books, shows, or movies. But generally speaking, bad examples of world building are when the creator makes something happen that doesn’t make sense in context with the world.

A small example of this is a show I tried to watch on NBC. I can’t remember the name of it, but the premise was that there was this young girl, with some sort of ability, and both the good guys and the bad guys, wanted her. (I realize paranormal ability is technically fantasy, but this is the first example that came to mind.) Well, the good guys got to the little girl, who is in a hospital, just before the bad guys, an assassin, find her. So the good guy is trying to escape out this hospital with the young girl while being chased by a trained killer. The good guy is about to be cornered and killed. Well, he takes the young girl and hides in a patient’s room. The assassin is not far behind. She goes down the same hallway and is looking into every room. And, of course, she sees a curtain moving in the room they happen to be hiding in and goes in to search for them.

The assassin looks under the beds, or whatever, and doesn’t see them. The only other place to hide in this hospital room is in two closets. The assassin opens one of the closets and doesn’t see the man or the child. Then she LEAVES THE ROOM. The trained assassin. The best person the bad guys could find to capture their big prize only looks into ONE of the TWO closets. And then leaves. I did not watch another minute of that show because this just made no sense. Further, if this was the kind of lazy writing they had in the first episode, when they could set the basis for any type of rule or world they wanted, I could only imagine how much worse it would get when in episode 7 they had to stay true to something that was decided in episode 2.

I understand that they needed the good guy and the child to escape for the story to move forward. But you can’t have a character do something stupid, for no reason, and expect the story to be plausible. Because if the bad guys are so bad at what they do, then, of course, the good guys will win. And if I’m assured the good guys will win, because the bad guys are stupid, why do I need to watch any more episodes?

Having the ability to create any type world possible is why I love writing, and reading, science fiction. And generally speaking, the only rule I think creators need to keep in mind is once you make a world, stay true to the rules of that world. And if you have to break one of the rules, only do so if you can give a justification that also fits with your world.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Sharolyn G. Brown is a lifelong science fiction and fantasy fan who decided the best way to deal with all of the characters in her head was to give them stories and put them in a book. She lives with her husband in Houston, Texas where she divides her time between working, writing, and spending time with him.

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AMAZON BUY LINKS:

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Sharolyn G. Brown will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

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