Nuclear Fire

http://www.lillibridgepress.com/book/Meeting

Once again, nightmarish situations once seen only in science fiction break through into the real world as grim reminders that the human race can affect nature with devastating consequences.

For decades, climatologists warned a skeptical public that climate change due to excessive burning of fossil fuels could lead to (among other things) large-scale brush fires.  Sure enough, that's exactly what we're seeing in several American states:  infernos that are all too real.

Now, some of those wildfires are getting dangerously close to nuclear power plants, threatening to damage or destroy the control systems that keep the nuclear cores contained.  Some consider nuclear power to be a "safer" alternative to fossil fuels, since it does not contribute to carbon emissions.  It does however produce deadly nuclear waste which is next to impossible to get rid of.  And, let us not forget the hellish disaster of Chernobyl.  It would be bitterly ironic if the very wildfires caused by fossil fuel consumption let the nuclear demon out of its cage.

We've recently witnessed a potential nuclear disaster in the making in Japan, as the result of tsunami.  So great is the threat, that Germany today announced it was shutting down its own nuclear industry.  We should wise up and follow their example.  Better yet, we should phase out fossil fuel consumption as well, switching to truly safer alternatives such as wind, solar, hydro and natural gas, before more such disasters materialize.

In the dark fantasies of fiction, the misguided think they can control their destinies through a caged demon at their command.  They always learn the hard way that the cage isn't as strong as they think.

Cate Masters - Author Spotlight

Check out my author interview, and other interesting news about unusual and paranormal fiction at Cate Masters fabulous blog:

http://catemasters.blogspot.com/2010/05/thomas-olbert-in-author-spotlight.html

Imaginary Monsters, Real Horror...

Fiction abounds with imaginary monsters of the dark imagination.  But, in real life, more people in these strange times seem to recoil from other kinds of imaginary monsters than from the real dangers and dilemmas that threaten our future.
In a real-life horror story, storms and floods are devastating communities in the southern United States with unprecedented ferocity as the death toll mounts.  Yet, no one dares even consider that man-made global warming might be a contributing factor.  That's just a hoax; global warming's not real.  The ecological consequences of industrial oil spills continue to manifest, yet still no outcry from the public in favor of more government oversight of corporations trying to dismantle what little remains of environmental protection laws.  Everyone knows corporations are more trustworthy than the government.  The evidence of their own senses aside, the public continues to deny the dangers literally destroying their homes daily.
 So, what does the public fear?  What are the monsters that frighten them?  They fear the president might be an illegal alien.   They fear that efforts to make healthcare affordable and corporations manageable are communist plots to re-distribute wealth and promote class warfare.    The cold war is long over, yet they look at Barack Obama and see Stalin's ghost.
Why?  Are we a nation of children unready to face the unpleasant facts of life and choosing instead to live in a world of fantasy and imaginary monsters?  Is it that we've lost the ability to distinguish fact from fantasy?  Is technology to blame?  Is it that cyber-space has proven so enticing a refuge from these paranoid times that opinion blogging has become a substitute for reality?  Have we become so alienated, not only from our own government, but from life itself that pompous reality T.V. clowns with their bald-faced lies and empty rhetoric become more viable candidates for the presidency than people who dwell in the real world?  Has fantasy truly taken the place of substance?
Or, is the source of the madness a much older monster; Racism?  Do we concoct these elaborate paranoid fantasies of forged passports and communist conspiracies merely to cloud the ugly, bigoted face we don't want to see in the mirror?  We create imaginary monsters to hide the real monsters we'd rather not have to fight or acknowledge.   The saddest part is, we created the real ones, too.

Turning Point: The Nuclear Factor

http://www.lillibridgepress.com/book/Meeting

Once again, science fact has caught up with science fiction.  And, not in a good way.

The escalating human tragedy of a tsunami in Japan has triggered the potential for a man-made disaster whose full effects may not be felt for years.  Possibly even generations.  The threat of radiation escaping damaged nuclear reactors.  As of the most recent reports, a reactor containment vessel was cracked by the disaster, and radiation continues to escape, even as the Japanese government struggles to keep the situation contained.

Some contend the reports have been exaggerated by the U.S. government and minimized by the Japanese government.  In either case, this is not the first time a country has been threatened by nuclear accidents.  Three-Mile Island was our wake-up call for acknowledging the dangers of nuclear power.  That incident thankfully ended with no appreciable harm to human life.  Chernobyl, the Russian incident, was a million times worse; the worst nuclear disaster since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The two afore-mentioned incidents were the result of design flaws or human error.  And, while nuclear programs have been run effectively in France and elsewhere, the current disaster in Japan starkly reminds us that, no matter how well designed or efficiently run a nuclear reactor may be, there is no accounting for the whims of nature.  The Japanese disaster has prompted a rapid and desperate re-examination of nuclear safety.  But, perhaps the larger question more people should be asking is whether nuclear power plays a practical role in our future energy needs.

How to guard against radiation leaks.  How to dispose of nuclear waste.  How to protect nuclear plants from terrorist attack.  How to control the proliferation of weapons-grade fissionable material.  No longer science fiction, these are problems we will always have to face until we rid ourselves of nuclear power.  In a time when carbon pollution and global warming are becoming pressing concerns, some are tempted to embrace nuclear power as the energy alternative of the future.  But, we may be leaping at too easy, and potentially dangerous a solution.  Safe, clean energy alternatives such as wind, hydro and solar power should be explored and developed, before we rush headlong into a nuclear age that could threaten the health and security of our world and leave future generations to inherit problems they never created.

Revolution in the Cyber Age

   

As the second decade of the 21st century begins, what may be the beginning of a raging fire of social change sweeps across nation after nation in the middle east, an ancient and fiercely traditional part of the world.  A place where change is almost unknown, and autocratic government is the norm.

As is usually the case in the west, we were all astonished to see the young, angry masses taking to the streets in Tunisia, Egypt and beyond.  We don't expect revolution in such lands.  Now that it's begun, some welcome it as hope for change and eventual democratization in a region where dissent and free thought have been suppressed by military, authoritarian and clerical rule for so long.  Others fear it as the beginning of a still more repressive form of society that may become a breeding ground for terrorism and regional war.  Only time will tell.  But, if one dictatorship can be overthrown, why not another and another?  The important thing is that a spontaneous explosion of dissent among an oppressed, young and restless population happened, seemingly in the blink of an eye.  A very basic, very human form of minimum critical mass, triggering a chain reaction that hasn't stopped yet.

So, what happened?  It started in Tunisia, with one young man who, in the course of rebelling against a simple injustice, a blow to his dignity, committed the ultimate act of defiance:  He set himself on fire.  The news of it, the potency of the image, the young martyr's pain, the event itself spread as fast as the flames.  Because, of course, we live in the age of cyberspace.  A medium that links the youngest children across oceans.  Nothing happens in this world that is hidden from the eyes of the people, especially the young, and there is nothing that a tyrant fears more than the light of day.  That's why the tyrants of this world would love to control cyber space.  The Red Chinese try to, but only with limited success.  The Egyptian regime tried to pull the plug on the whole Internet when dissent broke out in their country, but the simplest cable connection foiled that attempt.

Some say communication is the beginning of civilization.  And, some say revolution is the first step toward all forms of real progress.  One always fuels the other.  The communication networks of today were science fiction a generation ago.  Some say the progress of the last generation has been limited to instantaneous communication, while social progress has lagged behind.  But, recent events remind us starkly that what happens in the real world enters cyber space and emerges a billion times stronger.  Enter the right combination of human energies, bright and dark, and the explosion that may result may shake the world.

Technology only serves the tyrant when it is controlled by the chosen few.  Once it is everywhere, linking people the world over, it sets the people free.  Whether these revolutions lead to good or ill, we may be witnessing a moment in history in which the people glimpsed the light of a power they had within themselves the whole time and never knew.  Like the first humans to see the spark ignite the fire, this could be the beginning of a bright new age.

Suburban Vampire; Beyond Romance

Check out a couple of very interesting blogs for lovers of unusual fiction:  

For lovers of the undead denizens of the night:  Suburban Vampire:  http://suburbanvampire.blogspot.com/

I'm guest blogging there now.  Enter a comment on the Suburban Vampire blog site before Friday 1/14/2010, and win a free pdf of my vampire novelette "Unholy Alliance."

And, for lovers of offbeat romance literature, often involving the bizarre:  Beyond Romance:  http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/?zx=d74325b0064297e8  - I'll be guest blogging there starting Saturday 1/08/2010.

SCIENCE FICTION - NEXUS - Coming soon from Phase 5 Publishing

  Looking for way-out cosmic sci-fi?
  Time travel?
  Intergalactic odysseys?
  Alien societies of the future?

  Check out Phase 5 Publishing--

The first installment of my science fiction novel "Nexus - Dissent" is now available online at Phase 5 Monthly Review:

http://www.phase5publishing.com/

Nexus is the story of a dangerous forbidden love set in a galactic society of the very distant future... composed entirely of women.

Starship combat.  Alternative societies.  Time travel.  Artificial intelligence.  Desperate escapes and political intrigue in a universe beyond time!  Get a taste, and learn how to order the full-length novel, Book I in the Nexus series, as well as many other great works of unusual fiction from Phase 5!