Going Alien by Jeffrey A. Carver

Author:Jeffrey A. Carver [Carver, Jeffrey A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Carver; Science Fiction; short stories
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Published: 2012-08-02T03:36:03+00:00

Alien Persuasion

Behind the story:

"Alien Persuasion" is where the Star Rigger Universe began—in my head, that is, not chronologically. It's the story of a rigger, a star pilot, someone who steers his ship by connecting to a sensory net and reaching out through something resembling virtual reality into the very stuff of space. (This hyperdimensional realm is called "flux-space" in this story and "the Flux" in the novels that followed.) The idea is that there exists a layer of multidimensional space that flows in streams like the luminiferous ether of Nineteenth Century physics, bypassing the tedious light-years between the stars. The rigger can plunge his or her hands into the medium to steer the ship, and can negotiate the streams like a sailing ship, by superimposing mental images onto the real topography of the space. The streams could take the form of ocean currents, or jet streams over mountains, or anything the rigger could imagine. What's out there is real, but the rigger defines the form it seems to take . . . usually. Rigging a ship is a job that melds piloting skills with intuition and imagination, and it requires a particular sort of sensitive personality to do well.

I don't really remember where the idea came from, though I believe I was influenced by the early work of Samuel R. Delany, and also one or two stories by the remarkable Cordwainer Smith. My friend Jane Yolen once told me that star rigging seemed to her to be a metaphor for the artistic and creative process. I hadn't thought of that at all—until she said it. And then it seemed absolutely true, if unconscious on my part.

"Alien Persuasion" was my second professional sale, to Jim Baen at Galaxy magazine—a magazine that over the course of its history had published probably thousands of stories by my favorite authors. I don't remember how much I was paid, but I know it was more than I got for my first sale (which was a promise of $50 upon publication, actually made good on years later). I was living more or less in poverty at the time, and any payment was better than no payment. As it happened, this sale also featured payment upon publication. And I soon learned, in my first visit to a science fiction convention as a professional writer, that Galaxy's parent company was known not to be paying its bills on time. I met Jim Baen in person at the same convention, and when I asked him about the payment issue, he laughed and said, "Just threaten to sue. That's the best way to get your money." That certainly brought me down from my high.

I'm happy to say that no lawsuit was required, and I did get my check, not too many months after publication. The delay only slightly detracted from my pleasure at holding the glossy, digest-sized magazine in my hands, and opening it to my first story to be published in a well-known science fiction magazine. "Alien Persuasion" inspired my first novel, Seas of Ernathe, which I set centuries later in the same universe.

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