Halflife

‘Either you think, 

or else others have to think for you and take power from you, 

pervert and discipline your natural tastes, 

civilize and sterilize you.’ 

   --F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night

I haven't done much with science fiction as a writer, preferring to focus on near-real novels set in the here and now. However, I've been toying with a sci-fi concept for some time and the more I think about it, the better that I like it.

73% of the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy are red dwarfs, emitting light in the red and infrared spectrum. The nearest 'Earthlike' planet found is Gliese 581d, orbiting Gliese 581, 20 light years from our solar system. Gliese 581 is a red dwarf. The novel isn't set there, but I've thought about that planet, orbiting its tiny star from a fraction of the distance we are from the Sun, basking in its weak heat and red light.  What if it was a binary system with two red dwarf stars?

(Science Fiction is made up of a lot of 'what ifs')

The novel Half Life, set in the distant future explores how humans might change if they lived on a distant Earthlike planet where the red light from the star cast everything in gray tones. And how they might remain the same. Welcome to Libra. And what if they decided that they no longer wanted to be affiliated with their home planet? And what if...

We'll see whether or not I can write that sort of story.