Cat in Space

Today, Larry guest blogs on cats in space. Enjoy!

In the third book of my science fiction series, The McGregor Chronicles, I included a cat named Qittah as one of my characters. Why an animal in space? Animals have traveled as pets or helpers on almost all the journeys of explorers and colonists throughout history. Cats and dogs were used to control stowaway vermin on long sea voyages. Cattle, sheep, and horses were brought aboard for use at their final destination. When mankind travels to the stars, I’m sure animals will accompany them.

Why did I choose a cat? Cats are independent, opinioned, self-sufficient, but if they find you worthy of their love, they can be devoted and affectionate. My cat doesn’t talk, do magic, or anything beyond the ability of an ordinary feline, but her presence greatly affects the wellbeing of the other characters and the outcome of the story.

After reading the history of the first cat in space, I knew this was the creature I wanted.

In October of 1963, the Centre National d’Études in France was set to rocket a small feline, a male named Félix, into space. After all, the Soviet Union had all ready sent dogs into space, and the Americans used monkeys. France was eager to join the space race with Félix. Rumor has it, on launch day, it was discovered that the intended little astro-cat had gone AWOL. A more likely reason was that the selected male cat had gained weight and could not fit in the restrictive carrier. The flight had to be delayed until a suitable replacement could be found to take his place. Her name was Félicette, a shorthair “tuxedo style” kitty.

On October 18th, 1963, Félicette jetted 130 miles above Earth on a liquid-fueled French Véronique AG1 rocket, soaring high above the Algerian Sahara Desert and into the history books. After her successful landing, French scientists at the Education Center of Aviation and Medical Research (CERMA) studied Félicette’s brain waves to see if she had changed at all since her voyage. CERMA officials later reported Félicette had made “a valuable contribution to research.”

You’d think Félicette would have received the recognition due her. However, The French commemorative stamp published after the flight shows a different, longhair cat incorrectly identified as Félix, thus adding to the confusion as to the gender and name of the real first cat in space.

So Qittah as a traveling companion is not very far-fetched.

Escape to Space

Do you sometimes just just want to escape? Larry has always wanted to do so. As a kid, he wanted to be a spaceman. (They weren’t called astronauts at the time.) His favorite reading was science fiction, but for years he never wrote it.

However, in 2014, one of the members of our writing group began to write a sci-fi book. Larry’s interest in the genre was re-energized.

In February of 2015, he published The McGregor Chronicles:  Book 1 – Saving Mike.

This is a family story about two brothers, Matt and Mike. When Mike is kidnapped, Matt sets out to rescue him.

Once he finished the first book, he couldn’t stop. In May of 2015, he published The McGregor Chronicles Book 2 – Escape From Eden. In Book 1, Mike meets Tracy Warren. She learns her mother is being held on a private planed called Eden, so in Book 2, she and Matt, along with his other brother, Marc, sister, Maddie, and Federation Detective Jake Stevens go to Eden to free Tracy’s mother.

Of course, this book didn’t end the series. So in March of 2016, he published The McGregor Chronicles: Book 3 – Alien Invasion.

Their parents have not returned from a distant planet, so the McGregor children set out to find them. When they arrive, they encounter a real crisis, and they have to figure out how to respond. At the end of this book, of course, Larry had even more storylines to resolve. In February 2017, he published the next book in the series, The McGregor Chronicles: Book 4 - Kaùsan’s War.

He is nearly finished with the next in the series: The McGregor Chronicles: Book 5 – Nina’s Revenge. He has also begun on Book 6.

Do you enjoy reading science fiction? Do you like family stories? If so, you will enjoy Larry’s sci-fi series. And if you prefer to listen to books, the first two in the series are also available as audiobooks.

Do you have any sci-fi fans on your gift list? These would make great gifts.

The McGregor Chronicles

My husband, Larry's first attempt at science fiction is now a reality. The McGregor Chronicles: Book 1 – Saving Mike is now available on Kindle and in paperback on Amazon.

Science fiction has always been his favorite genre for reading, but he’s never tried writing it until now. He might not have attempted it at this time except a member of our writing group decided on the genre. He was able to give her some tips for her book, and an idea of his own came to him.

As the story progressed, a romantic element appeared. Keep in mind, Larry is a plotter. Well, he used to be. He always planned his stories out from first chapter to last ahead of writing. But since we have been collaborating, he has learned to trust his characters. Unfortunately, they sometimes have minds of their own!

This book is light action/adventure featuring members of a spacefaring dynasty. Future books in the series will focus on other family members. Book 2 – Escape From Eden is completed and awaiting edit. He has begun Book 3 – Alien Invasion.

His latest project in conjunction with this first book has been to build a model of his spaceship. (All of the technical information in the book is based on real science. Once a space geek, always a space geek.)

His model making began after he saw the movie version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. He came home and built the sets out of old scraps he founding the garage. Then he lined the bathtub with these ‘sets’ and spent hours playing out the movie.

When he first began in engineering, a scale model was built for every new project. He loved wandering through the model shop checking out all of them.

CADD removed the need for models except in one industry: theme parks. While he worked on Universal Studios Japan in Hollywood, he often stopped by to see the scale model of the park.

It was moved to our offices in the World Trade Center in Osaka where everyone could see it. The model became a sales tool to interest vendors, who wished to sell their goods in the park, and for investors.

In our book 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, the chapter called “From Model to Scene…” tells about how he and I and his boss rebuilt the model for the Jurassic Park waterfall when it arrived in Japan. The rockwork expert liked the model so well he had the center part shipped back to the US after the project was completed, so I guess we did a good job reconstructing it. All of Larry’s childhood model making finally paid off.

I must admit, I’m not a great sci-fi reader. I enjoyed the Star Wars movies and the Star Trek TV show. In fact, we had dinner every Wednesday night with friends so we could watch the new episodes together. And this week, when ‘Mr. Spock’ died, I must admit, I cried.

Do you like sci-fi? If so, you might enjoy The McGregor Chronicles. Not a big fan of the genre? You might want to try this one. It could make you a believer—at least in the author, Larry K. Collins.

Me Write Science Fiction? – Larry Collins, Guest Blogger

I have always loved reading science fiction and fantasy, starting with Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.G. Wells when I was in grammar school. Then later A.E. van Vogt, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

In the 1950s, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, originally written as one super-long book, broken into three parts by the publisher, led the fantasy realm into what has been dubbed “Epic Fiction” and “Myth Arc” books.

The 1960s and 1970s exploded with myth arc. It is similar to a standard story arc but is larger than can fit in a single book. It demands sequels. Think the Shannara series by Terry Brooks, the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, the Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven, or the Well of Souls series by Jack L. Chalker, all of which I have read and enjoyed.

The 1980s and 1990s saw more character-driven stories. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling is an example. An epic battle between good and evil is the overall myth arc plot, but how the characters, like Dumbledore, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, change and grow are what make each book interesting.

Okay, So if I like the sci-fi genre, why haven’t I written it?

Science fiction and fantasy usually involve some epic theme: save the world or the universe. I don’t write big themes. My stories tend to involve a small slice of life. In my mysteries, the protagonist solves a murder or saves a friend, but not much more.

As Carl Sagan wrote, "To make an apple pie, you need wheat, apples, a pinch of this and that, and the heat of the oven. The ingredients are made of molecules—sugar, say, or water. The molecules in turn, are made of atoms—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and a few others. Where do these atoms come from? …the Big Bang, the explosion that began the cosmos. If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

I feared writing science fiction required me to invent an entire universe.

Other types of fiction don’t have those requirements. If you’re writing about the old West or the Civil War, the terrain and characters you’ll meet are well known. If you’re collecting characters from present day, you need only to look to the personalities around you. But if you’re making a futuristic universe and populating it with alien species, you need to make all up. Or so I believed.

In our weekly critique group, one of the authors started a young adult science fiction novel. She had questions on how to portray certain events or define an alien landscape. I was able to help her with examples of how other writers handled similar situations.

I realized, as Joseph Campbell said of the hero’s journey, “…we have not even to risk the journey alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path…”

So it is with writing sci-fi. I write my own story, told in my own words. But the concepts of time-travel, faster-than-light spaceflight, or alien encounters are well-known. Readers are familiar with them. I need not re-invent everything.

I’ve finally started a sci-fi story, but in mine, the protagonist sets out to save his kidnapped brother. Another character finds a family. And neither saves the universe. Now I find I’m enjoying writing science fiction as much as I have enjoyed reading it.