So I’ve obviously written a few superhero stories, and I’ve done a lot of monster yarns as well. Oddly enough though, despite my avowed love of things like Star Trek, I haven’t done an awful lot of science fiction. I suppose it’s the homework aspect of it that intimidates me – you can get away with a lot of breaking the rules in physics in a monster movie or in a universe where people can pick up an airplane without it cracking in half, but sci-fi fans are a different breed. They like things to be accurate, and science isn’t my strong suit.
But a few years ago, I got an idea for a science fiction saga and I did something I don’t do often: I outlined. I conjured up a dozen alien races, the rules of their respective cultures, the history of their interaction with humans once we escape the cradle of Earth and get out into the galaxy, all of that building up to the story I was going to tell with them…but I haven’t. Not yet. I started working on it, but the world – as it tends to do – got into the way. Having a kid, losing loved ones…lots of things derailed my plans for writing, and although I eventually found my way back behind the keyboard I haven’t gotten back to this universe yet. But I’m stressing yet. Unlike some of the other abandoned worlds I’ve alluded to here, this is one I feel I may just make it back to some day. In the meantime, this tale of a creature from another world discovering our Christmas is the sole artifact of that currently-lost world.
Blake M. Petit 