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This Perception Bothers Me
Remnants follows the sole remnant of a highly advanced species that comes to earth and struggles to find stability amidst a civilization that is collapsing. What inspired the idea behind this science fiction novel?
The idea behind my debut science fiction novel Remnants was sneaking into my sleeping thoughts for quite some time. I think what triggered the story-line was the perception that most people have about the arrival of a highly advanced species on our planet, namely, that we’d be shocked and terrified of them right at the outset. This perception bothers me, you see, and so I thought what if it were the other way around? What if a highly advanced species came to Earth, only to find that the state of things was so unbelievably appalling? What if we humans, driven to savageness and brutality by our own selfish ways were the ones to fear? This on its own would be brutally difficult for such an advanced species to deal with. For me, it wasn’t enough, though. I needed this highly advanced species to be extremely vulnerable. To need to achieve stability under the worst circumstances imaginable or perish. This heart-wrenching task is what allowed me to build the suspense, the urgency, the thrilling, heart-pounding atmosphere of the novel. It allowed me to pull the reader in, to trap them in the emotional story, to make them feel as if they are that sole remnant on the brink of extinction.
Copy 13 is fascinating. How did you create this character and portray its unique perspective?
Copy 13 has a real special place in my heart. She represents everything I believe a highly advanced species should embody. Her pure logic and reason, her fierce determination to keep her self-replicating species extant, her eco-awareness and respect for nature and the environment, her wisdom, her selflessness and her calculating mindset, all of it makes her who she is. It’s a crazy juxtaposition because her character, her undeniable self, is thrust into a future Earth, a life sphere so utterly different from her own that is essentially her worst nightmare. An Earth and its inhabitants who are so unlike her. So unevolved in her eyes. So primitive. I had to become her character in order to portray her unique perspective and it was quite a character to take on. I had to see through her eyes, to encounter surroundings of dread so foreign and impossible to her that it was literally emotionally taxing on me. I had to feel her struggle and her vulnerability completely, to imagine being in that dire, unthinkable situation in order to fully discover the entire story-line and build the suspense needed to fully grip the reader in the story.
What were some questions you asked yourself while writing this book?
I had to ask myself plenty of difficult question while writing this book. Some of these hard-pressed queries include: How will Copy 13 cope? Who will she encounter on her arduous journey? Will she survive? Will she reach stability? Will her species survive? Will she lose all hope? What personal growth will she achieve? How will she deal with the cannibalistic faction of humanity? Will she seek retribution for what the selfish, primitive humans have done? How will she accomplish her agenda without attracting attention to her vulnerable self?
What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?
I truly hope that readers will think deeply about what we humans, individually and as a collective are doing to our precious planet. We must change our mindset sooner than later because later will be too late. We have to respect our life sphere, all its flora and fauna and its life-supporting atmosphere. We can’t let it get to the point where our harm is truly irreversible and our greed is so encompassing that everything spirals out of control and civilization collapses. We need to be more environmentally conscious like Copy 13.
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But Copy 13’s resolve begins to unravel when she learns the horrific truth about the state of humanity from a plump primitive on the toxic beach. The pitiful economic landscape. Excessive pollution. Greed. Self-destruction. Selfishness. All of it culminated in the turning point. The point of no return. The splitting off of humanity into three distinct remnant factions. The dirters. The leafers. The ruthless, quad-walking, cannibalistic fleshers…
The end of civilization on a global scale…
Copy 13’s convergence with the plump primitive terminates with an auto-replication, the sacrificial primitive freed from the insanity of its own species. Her first copy as Primary. She couldn’t be more relieved… But, her relief is short-lived. The inevitable shakes her to her very core. She will face the nearly impossible task of replicating on a foreign, toxic, uncivilized, tri-factioned life sphere… There is too much at stake… She must reach stability. If not, her highly advanced species will cease to exist….
Her strength, will to live, and sanity will be pushed to the brink as she embarks on a hopeless journey into the remnant city, her sole copy at her side. A journey that will force Primary to decide the fate of the tri-factioned humans…
Remnants
In the year 2044 in a world where the economy is broken due to inflation and overpopulation, people started killing themselves because of overwhelming debt and poverty. There is pollution in the air and water and people are dumping chemicals and destroying animal habitats. People revolted and stopped working because, eventually, money had no value. People gave up eating animal meat because it was too toxic, so they began to eat each other. Copy 13, from the Haldis species, lands on this dying planet to begin replicating itself. It learns that the planet is dying and humanity along with it. Will she be able to replicate and build a new society on this toxic planet?
Author Kristin J. Wall has created a visionary dystopian novel that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. I was enthralled with the depth of the decay of the world and how the author meticulously created it; or in this case, destroyed it. Copy 13 is a fascinating character. She is intelligent but has no emotion, yet as a reader I still had empathy for her. This nuanced balance of emotions reminded me of the character portrayals in the sci fi movie Equilibrium. I especially felt sorry for Copy 13 when she realized that humans had destroyed their planet.
Copy 13’s behavior and thoughts were always interesting, and I felt like she was similar to the Terminator in a cold and calculating way. There were times when I had to reread a sentence because of how Copy 13 describes the things that she sees. They are foreign to her so they come off as foreign to the reader. For instance, when she sees a human, she calls that person a plump and filthy creature. The author does an excellent job describing Copy 13’s surroundings so that I was completely immersed in her world. Although there isn’t much action in the story I was still captivated by Copy 13’s agenda and I wanted to know what was going to happen next.
Remnants is an intellectually invigorating and riveting science fiction novel. With a main character that is complex and compelling and a plot that is engaging and smart, fans of thrillers will have plenty to enjoy in this thoughtful post-apocalyptic suspense novel.
Pages: 250 | ASIN: B0BFQV9CRZ
LITERARY TITAN 