Vivarium And Aliens Thinking Like Aliens
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I watched Vivarium on the weekend.
This movie has romantic elements but it is NOT a Romance. Don’t expect a Romance ending.
It is also a SciFi Fantasy. The world and premise have HUGE plot holes in it. They are intriguing but they make no d@mn sense.
For example, there is a huge amount of effort expended for very little payback and I’m almost certain aliens with that amount of power could design a more efficient means of achieving the same results.
If you plan to watch this movie, put logic aside and simply enjoy it.
Because it IS an enjoyable movie. The world is fresh and interesting and it sparked my muse.
Most alien movies feature an alien species that looks excitingly different but thinks very similarly to humans. One of the things I loved about Vivarium is…they flip this. The aliens in it look similar to humans yet they THINK very differently.
And it isn’t due to culture as it is with the aliens in many of my stories. The BRAINS of the aliens in Vivarium are different. They can’t dream, as one example, and it was implied they don’t have the capacity for imagination or creative thought.
Imagine not being able to imagine. Yeah, that freaked me out a bit. Because much of what we do every day is based on creative thought. That’s how we tackle problems we face for the first time.
And sleep for these aliens must be endless darkness. I LOVE dreaming. That is one of the many enjoyable parts of my day…or night. (grins) Dreaming is like watching a movie that has been especially filmed for me.
I am unlikely to craft an alien hero/heroine who has a different type of brain. Why? Because I adhere to Common Ancestor Theory with my humanoid aliens. That proposes that all humanoids and humans come from one common ancestor, which is why my aliens can make babies with my humans. Their genes are extremely similar. That means their brains would be extremely similar also.
But for writing buddies who don’t adhere to Common Ancestor Theory, messing around with the brains of aliens can be an awesome variation in your worlds. It would cast ripples across every facet of your societies and make them excitingly different.
***
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Other Chameles view him as the enemy.
She sees the warrior hero he never believed he could be.
* * *
Tolui is a Warlord in search of a planet to rule. He has been leading his fellow clones in a stealth battle, fighting for both control of the Chamele sector and the right to exist. The brave warriors he commands warrant respect, and they deserve the best.
That best isn’t the barren, dangerous terrain on Chamele 4. When Tolui crashes on that planet’s surface, he’s determined to leave it as soon as possible. The tiny human female rescuing him might be as beautiful and as wild as the land she inhabits, but her flowing words, trusting gaze, and enthralling submission won’t stop him from rejoining the war.
After many solar cycles of living alone, Lea is overjoyed when a tall, scarred, muscular warrior falls from the sky. Her savage stranger is strong and severe, and he makes her feel safe, an emotion she hasn’t experienced in a long, long time.
He also insists they must part. Before they do, she’ll show him the splendor of her home, and she’ll enjoy his big form, collecting passionate moments she can revisit when she’s solitary once more.
Every additional moment Lea and Tolui spend together increases the chance they’ll both die. Lea is being chased by female-hating fiends. Tolui is being hunted by the best bounty hunters in the universe. War will soon arrive on their threshold, and the blood spilled might be their own.
* * *
Warlord’s Mercy is based on a much shorter story sharing the same title.
It is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian SciFi Romance featuring a villain turned hero and a brave, chatty heroine set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
Warlord’s Mercy is the fifth of six core stories in the Chamele Barbarian Warlord series.
Book 1: Warlord Sky
Book 2: Warlord’s Bounty
Book 3: Warlord Unarmed
Book 4: Warlord Reunited
Book 5: Warlord’s Mercy
Book 6: Warlord’s Return
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0886K65F9
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0886K65F9
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0886K65F9
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/warlords-mercy/id1511995733
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/warlords-mercy-cynthia-sax/1116524052
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warlord-s-mercy-1
SmashWords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1020349
Topics: Movie Reviews | Comments Off on Vivarium And Aliens Thinking Like Aliens
How I First Became Interested In Evolutionary Biology
I love evolutionary biology. It is the science most prevalent in my stories. I’m fascinated by how beings and creatures change and adapt to survive and thrive in different climates and terrains.
Why do ducks have webbed feet and chickens don’t? (Ducks have evolved for water. Their webbed feet help them swim.) Why do people living in hotter climates have darker skin than people living in cooler climates? (Melanin protects humans from harmful ultraviolet radiation.)
These questions interest me. Greatly.
Fjord Horse
I first became intrigued by evolutionary biology when I was a child. I didn’t know that was what it was called. I didn’t even know I was actively pursuing a science.
I LOVED horses (or hay burners, as my farming Granddad would call them – grins) and studied them thoroughly, taking out books from the library, learning every little detail about them.
When my family got our first computer (a Commodore 64), I crafted a program to input all of my horse facts. This database listed the different horse breeds with every detail I could find about them—their average heights, their common colorings, their origins, etc.
I noted, for example, how all thoroughbreds could trace their origins to three stallions, how they’d derived some of their characteristics from these stallions and some from the English mares.
Breeding is human-assisted evolutionary biology. Horses are selected to breed based on certain characteristics. In a thoroughbred’s case, the primary characteristic is speed.
Why horses have hooves also interested me. I completed a separate project, tracing the evolution of paws to hooves and the advantages hooves give horses in their terrain.
Paint Horse
I invested every spare moment I had into this research. When a teacher offered extra credit to students entering the science fair, I didn’t want to divert my efforts so I entered my database and the associated research projects.
I encountered a tiny snippet of the bias evolutionary biologists today endure. The judges didn’t know what to do with my project. One (male) judge told me pompously that it wasn’t ‘real’ science. There wasn’t an experiment he could touch or see. All I had done was gather information and test theories.
The science fair judges considered disqualifying me but, in the end, they relented, relaying that the massive amounts of programming I’d completed for the database deserved SOME recognition. I earned my extra credit and returned happily to my work on the database. (grins) I knew what I was trying to accomplish and who I was trying to accomplish it for—myself.
I didn’t realize that many years later, my fascination with evolutionary biology would lead to me writing hot and sexy romances featuring cyborgs and aliens.
***
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Doc’s Orders
She wants both sides of her cyborg—the medic AND the beast.
A fully functional cyborg is balanced. His machine half and his organic half work together to produce the perfect warrior.
Doc isn’t fully functional.
The G Model operates at the two extremes. When his machine is in complete control, he’s the logic-driven medic, saving lifespans. Once his organics take charge, he becomes the savage beast…and beings die.
Both sides of Doc want to be the first to claim his female.
Allinen is one of the few beings in her small settlement who wasn’t born with a fated mate. Determined to belong somewhere, she has crafted a plan to leave the planet.
That plan doesn’t involve a huge stormy-eyed male who alternates between cool seduction and out-of-control ravishment. Doc isn’t her fated mate. Allinen knows that. But his dual nature and forbidden embraces tempt her to forget forever and indulge in more immediate delights.
Neither side of Doc views their relationship as being temporary. Her conflicted cyborg is prepared to battle her family, her planet and death itself to keep her.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/docs-orders/id1463105812
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/docs-orders-cynthia-sax/1131529760
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/doc-s-orders
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938342
Topics: General SciFi Romance | Comments Off on How I First Became Interested In Evolutionary Biology
The Common Ancestor Theory And Interbreeding With Other Humanoids
I adhere to the common ancestor theory for my alien species.
As a lover of evolutionary biology, I enjoy starting with a common form for all beings and then showing how that form changes or evolves when a being is placed in a different environment. A humanoid living on a wet planet might evolve to have webbed feet, for example.
I also adhere to the common ancestor theory because genetically two species have to be very similar to have viable offspring. I LOVE babies. I want many of my characters to have babies. And, of course, I’m fascinated about how these babies will look and act. Will the baby have his daddy’s wings? Will he have his mommy’s curiosity?
How close genetically do two humanoid species have to be to have viable offspring? Well, if we look at our own human history, our ancestors (homos sapiens) interbred with Neanderthals and the Denisovans, taking traits from both of these species.
See the entire video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdYwMLSNHnU
Knowing this, I do think it is plausible that humanoids with a common ancestor could evolve on two very different planets and still be able to have beautiful babies.
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Doc’s Orders
She wants both sides of her cyborg—the medic AND the beast.
A fully functional cyborg is balanced. His machine half and his organic half work together to produce the perfect warrior.
Doc isn’t fully functional.
The G Model operates at the two extremes. When his machine is in complete control, he’s the logic-driven medic, saving lifespans. Once his organics take charge, he becomes the savage beast…and beings die.
Both sides of Doc want to be the first to claim his female.
Allinen is one of the few beings in her small settlement who wasn’t born with a fated mate. Determined to belong somewhere, she has crafted a plan to leave the planet.
That plan doesn’t involve a huge stormy-eyed male who alternates between cool seduction and out-of-control ravishment. Doc isn’t her fated mate. Allinen knows that. But his dual nature and forbidden embraces tempt her to forget forever and indulge in more immediate delights.
Neither side of Doc views their relationship as being temporary. Her conflicted cyborg is prepared to battle her family, her planet and death itself to keep her.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Docs-Orders-Cyborg-Space-Exploration-ebook/dp/B07RML2WG1
Apple/iTunes:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/docs-orders/id1463105812
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/docs-orders-cynthia-sax/1131529760
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/doc-s-orders
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938342
Topics: General SciFi Romance | Comments Off on The Common Ancestor Theory And Interbreeding With Other Humanoids
