Learning from sci-fi

Welcome to the Earth Day Blog Hop! 

I have to admit, I find it a little ironic that I have a new story about life in a different world than our own coming out the same weekend I'm doing a blog hop for Earth Day. But then again, if you think about it, the best sci-fi stories are the ones that make you appreciate the world we live in even more.

Look at Dune by Frank Herbert. It's widely recognized as the first novel of its kind to address planetary ecology, doing so with such pristine world-building and characterizations that the book has become a classic. In fact, its publication in 1965 is often credited with contributing to the environmental campaigns from which Earth Day was created in 1970.

By using another planet, Herbert had the freedom to address what a delicate balance ecosystems must keep in order to thrive, a criticism readers could translate into their day-to-day worlds. The best part about it is that he does so without preaching, never sacrificing the story for the message. He presented the question of how to maintain the health of an entire ecosystem and compels readers to search for their own answers.

And isn't this what we need to do as individuals in our quest to save our own planet?

Everybody has different needs, different lifestyles, different abilities. The fact of the matter is, the measures we take for Earth Day have to work for us, or we won't stick with them. We can teach our children what we can, but isn't it nice to know they can find the same lessons in genre literature?

I know I take comfort in that thought. I'm proud to be a genre author, now with a sci-fi romance, too!

In celebration of the hop, I'll be giving away an e-copy of of a title from my backlist, in addition to all the other prizes that are being given away. All the winners will be picked Sunday night. Enjoy the hop!