Science Fiction
in Antarctica
If there’s any
place on planet Earth where they do research, it’s Antarctica. The only people
who live there, either year round or seasonally, are scientists and their
backup personnel. I was fortunate enough to visit two research bases while I
was there and to meet a field researcher who was counting penguin nesting
grounds.
Most fiction set
in Antarctica is either a thriller (think James Rollins) or science fiction
(think Kim Stanley Robinson). Here’s
part of the book description for his Antarctica:
A stark and
inhospitable place, its landscape poses a challenge to survival; yet its
strange, silent beauty has long fascinated scientists and adventurers. Now
Antarctica faces an uncertain future. The international treaty that protects
the continent is about to dissolve, clearing the way for Antarctica's resources
and eerie beauty to be plundered. As politicians and corporations move to
determine its fate from half a world away, radical environmentalists carry out
a covert campaign of sabotage to reclaim the land. The winner of this critical
battle will determine the future for this last great wilderness....
Interestingly,
while researching titles for Icy Passage, I came across one book with a gal in
a bikini on the cover. That one made me laugh. No sun tops in Antarctica, not
on either of my trips.
Mystery lends
itself to storytelling, and Antarctica is one mysterious place. The single
celled organisms, archaea, that play a starring role in Icy Passage, are real,
as is everything I said about them in the book. One of the hallmarks of science
fiction is the science parts have to be spot on. When I submitted the book to a
well-known science fiction webzine for review, I held my breath because Icy
Passage has paranormal elements in it too. The review turned out fine. More
than fine, actually!
When some think
about scifi, they conjure up images of spaceships and space stations á la Star
Trek and Star Wars. Of the two, at least Star Trek was scifi. Star Wars is
actually a mixed genre with magic liberally laced into the plot lines.
Icy Passage
isn’t about space travel. It’s about single-celled organisms running amok. My
hero is a microbiologist, and my heroine is a doctor, so there’s a lot of room
for them to bat scientific theories back and forth, when they aren’t scrabbling
to stay alive. There truly is a form of archaea that’s unique to the Polar
Regions, and there’s also evidence they slow radioactive decay from the earth’s
core.
Here’s a snippet
from the book:
…Kayna swallowed uncertainty, not
sure what to say. “Your life sounds so barren.” A lot like mine, actually. “Are you married?”
“Why, Doctor.” He cocked his head
to one side, but didn’t stop running his thumb along her jawline. “What a
leading question.”
“Are you going to answer it?” Her
throat was dry, and she’d never been more aware of a man’s presence. He was
alive, electric. If she closed the few inches between their faces, she could
taste his lips. He wouldn’t rebuff her. She sensed his interest, but the wife
question was important. In her mind’s eye, her raven spread its wings, flew a
few feet, and settled again. Approval gleamed from his eyes. Kayna did a double
take. Her spirit guide had never showed his beak in all the years she was with
Derek, but he was certainly front and center tonight.
It’s almost as if he’s giving Brynn his seal of approval…
Oh for the love of Pete. I’m extrapolating all over the fucking place.
Brynn’s voice took on a husky note.
“I had a girlfriend, another M.D. We were together for years. She wanted more
than I could give. Eventually, she left me.” He glanced down and Kayna sensed
his internal conflict, raw and palpable, before he met her gaze again. “I don’t
blame her. I wasn’t very…present.”
“Maybe, she’d still be open to—”
Brynn shook his head. “Too much bad
water under the bridge. She told me not to find her after she left. I ignored
that wish, exactly like I’d ignored most of her other ones.” A muscle twitched
beneath one of his eyes, betraying tension. “The row we had once I tracked her
down wasn’t pretty. Not too long after that, I landed a job with a British
bioresearch firm and left for South Georgia Island.”
“We have at least a few things in
common,” she murmured.
“Like what?” He inscribed small
circles on her cheek before moving his hand down her neck.
“I had a boyfriend—another doc,
like your partner—but he dumped me once I told him I was going to McMurdo for a
year.”
Brynn looked at her, his eyes
brimming with emotions he probably didn’t let out to play often. When he angled
his head and closed his mouth over hers, she wrapped her arms around his
shoulders and drew him close. Hard planes of muscle met her fingertips, and she
reveled in how good he felt. His crisp masculine scent, sandalwood and amber,
eddied about her. When he ran his tongue along the seam in her lips, she opened
her mouth and welcomed him. He tasted sweet like the scotch, and his lips
became harder and more demanding as she let him explore her mouth.
Brynn threaded his arms around her
and buried a hand in her hair, cradling the back of her head. Her breath
quickened, and her nipples hardened where they pressed against his chest. It
had been months since she’d had sex. Even before her blowup with Derek, he
hadn’t touched her in a long time. Need licked at her, hot and urgent, in a
rush of hormones all too aware her biological clock was running out of time.
Encouragement glittered in the raven’s eyes, and she felt him urge her on.
It would be easy to stretch out on
the cushions, slide her tights down, and draw Brynn into her. Too easy. Her
body screamed for release, but common sense intruded and she pulled away,
panting slightly. “You’re a very attractive man, but this isn’t a good idea.”
“Bad call,” her spirit guide spoke up.
Holy crap snackers! I’ve had too much to drink.
Kayna made a grab for rationality,
but the raven stayed put, no longer talking, but with his avian attention glued
to her.
“I’d try to argue,” Brynn said, his
voice thick with need, “except I agree.” He kneaded the back of her neck. It
felt heavenly and she leaned into his touch. “Not that I don’t want to make
love with you,” his gaze, dark gold now, bored into her, “because I do. Very
much. But I want to take this slow. Get to know you.”
His words made something warm and
fluttery begin in her belly and spread outward. She untangled her arms from his
body and got to her feet. “We’ll have time to figure this out.”
“Maybe,” he said carefully, and
something in his voice—perhaps regret—snared her attention.
“Why maybe?”
“You’re staying at McMurdo. I plan
to go home after a couple weeks there.”
With her body buzzing from his
touch, and her spirit guide still making his presence—and opinion—known, she
murmured, “One step at a time. We’ll see how things unfold.”
Brynn looked at her, his hazel gaze
unreadable. “It’s been a long day. Both of us should try to get some sleep.”
She nodded and made her way out of
the bar, lurching with the ship’s motion. Brynn had his secrets, like she had
hers. She sensed his inner turmoil with her paranormal antennae. It was
unlikely he could see into her with the same level of accuracy, but none of
that mattered. Whether they’d even arrive at McMurdo remained to be seen.
Hell, he may not be able to live with my secrets even if we make
McMurdo.
And I might not be able to stomach his.
Secrets aside, why did my raven show up?
Brynn would be a lot easier to
accept if his cultures weren’t part of the deal. With that unsettling thought
scattering her lust like ashes, Kayna plodded back to her surgery, let herself
in, and made her way to her bed. The liquor she’d drunk made her head spin, and
she hoped no one needed her before morning.
She’d just shut her eyes when the
raven formed behind her closed lids. “What do you want?” she asked, but he
didn’t answer. Instead, an image of the Kiao from her earlier trance state formed.
As she stared at the mystical Chinese dragon, she recalled that her father had
a tattoo just like it inked onto his upper arm.
Kayna flopped onto her stomach and
supported her head with her hands, no longer sleepy. The same questions that
had plagued her earlier came screaming back. Why would her father show up now?
What did he have to do with McMurdo, the southern ocean, or Brynn’s accursed
samples?…
An Antarctica Story
Ann Gimpel
Hartwood Publishing Group
96K words
Release Date: 2/5/15
Genre: Science Fiction/Romance with a Splash of Paranormal
Lethal cultures, bizarre illness, and political intrigue create an unlikely backdrop for love in Antarctica, the last true frontier.
Book Description:
Fresh out of residency, Dr. Kayna Quan opts for a tour in Antarctica. Money is short, so she hires on as medical officer aboard a Russian research vessel headed for McMurdo Station. Primed for almost anything, she plays her paranormal ability close to the vest. Being odd man out in a world where most don’t believe in magic makes her wary and feisty.
Brynn McMichaels has been stationed on remote South Georgia Island for two years, and he’s eager for a change. When cultures of the single-celled organism, archaea, overgrow their bins in his lab and begin shifting into another form, he worries he’s losing his mind and talks with scientists at McMurdo, but they have problems of their own—bad ones. After he hears about them, Brynn agrees to help. The weather’s too uncertain to send a plane, so he hitches a ride aboard Kayna’s ship and brings his mutant culture colonies along.
Attraction sparks, hot and powerful, between Brynn and Kayna, but her disclosure about her magic is a tough nut to crack. It doesn’t help that her dead father is stalking her. Lethal cultures, bizarre illness, and McMurdo’s refusal to let them land force Brynn and Kayna into an uneasy alliance. Will their fragile bond be enough to thwart the powers trying to destroy Earth, and them along with it?
About the Author:
Ann Gimpel is a national bestselling author. She’s also a clinical psychologist, with a Jungian bent. Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness photography and, of course, writing. A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Her longer books run the gamut from urban fantasy to paranormal romance. She’s published over 20 books to date, with several more contracted for 2015 and beyond.
A husband, grown children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids round out her family.
@AnnGimpel
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1 comment:
Thanks so much for hosting me, Roxanne! And for an interesting suggestion for a guest post. I truly loved Antarctica. Hence the second trip on the heels of the first.
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